biography Biography Big Life Desire’s debut single on Whimsical Records is the undefeatable Your Love Is– a slice of fresh English pop, written and sung by London-based Keith Harbottle (the nucleus of Big Life Desire). Keith and a rotating roster of musicians and machines has been the way of life for Big Life Desire, and he is currently recruiting musicians for live appearances (he can also be heard at various venues in the capital as an acoustic solo performer, and has resorted to solo gigs in his lounge to keep the live wheels oiled). Big Life Desire came to life via a development scheme run by ex-Tenpole Tudor member, Richard Coppen, who spotted potential in Keith’s middle of the road but weird pop songs. Numerous London gigs followed at such venues as the Bull & Gate, Hope & Anchor and 12 Bar Club (and several other venues that have since closed down!). There were recording sessions with the Sound Joint production company – two resulting tracks (Beautiful World and Judgement Day) reaching the finals of the UK Songwriting Contest in 2003 and 2004 (the contests attracted about 2,000 entrants), and also featuring on separate ‘unsigned artists’ CD compilations (for Gotham Records/Bandit and Chicago-based Another Dreamer). These two songs also received airplay on the UK’s Skywave Radio and Portugal’s BaNgBaNg radio show. The piano ballad Maybe I Should Fly Away (desperate but awesomely beautiful was awarded Song of the issue in the second issue of Bored magazine. What sort of music is it, then? is the question Keith dreads – indie pop, eflective pop, new wavesque with a retro-soothing sensibility, sort of like Syd Barrett meets the Pet Shop Boys meets Blur or something and Ian Dury jamming with Paul McCartney have all been suggested; ‘eclectic’ is a good word. The music is certainly very English, even though Keith’s early childhood was spent in Africa exposed to classical music and the theme music for the BBC World Service news. Pop music was a late but great discovery at the age of 10, which later led to Keith humming his own pop tunes, learning the bass (fewer strings to master), a lucky break as the lesser half of a duo, the obligatory spell in a cover versions band (and its venues that time forgot), then Big Life Desire. In between the music there’ve been stints as a stock controller, radio traffic announcer, teacher and proofreader, and Keith ran the 2006 London Marathon – the song In Pieces seems fitting. join my mailing list sign my guestbook