1986 – Fingertips

Claude Brown – guitar & vocals
Hylton Reiff – bass & vocals
Niall Bell – drums & vocals

Fingertips was a three-piece band I formed with Claude Brown and Niall Bell in Cape Town in 1986, following our time together in Secret Level.

Claude was an exceptional musician — a virtuoso guitarist with an incredible singing voice. His ability on the guitar was extraordinary, but what made him particularly impressive was that he was equally accomplished as a vocalist. Working with someone of that calibre made Fingertips a particularly enjoyable musical project for me.

With Claude handling guitar and lead vocals, Niall on drums and vocals, and myself on bass and vocals, the three-piece format gave us plenty of musical space and produced a strong, full sound.

Rehearsal Recordings – Cape Town, 1986

Fortunately, a number of our rehearsals were recorded in Niall's garage in Cape Town, preserving nine songs from this period. They weren't studio recordings, but they capture the band as we actually sounded playing together.

The surviving recordings include The Power of Love, On the Beach, Don't Be Shy, Livin' It Up, Lessons in Love, Stuck With You, So Far Away, Fill Up the Night and Deep River Woman.

These recordings are a great reminder of the musicianship in this little three-piece — and particularly of Claude's remarkable guitar playing and voice.