soul

Shawn Lee's Ping Pong Orchestra is a project by multi-instrumentalist Shawn Lee. Shawn grew up in a rural area on the outskirts of Wichita, Kansas. His mother is half Lebanese, half American Indian, his father Irish-American. While his peers got off on cheesy corporate rock and the kind of line-dancing tunes recently fashionable in Gap ads, Shawn was groovin to the blaxploitation funk Sly and the Isleys.

Hollie Cook was born and bred in West London in a household dominated by music. She gravitated to the sounds of Marc Bolan, David Bowie and The Cure. With Sex Pistol Paul Cook as her dad, music was always around. Entering professional acting, singing and modelling at a young age; Hollie soon rejected her performance arts schooling for a musical path truer to her influences. Family friend and Slits singer Ari Up persuaded Hollie to sing backing vocals for a new EP Revenge Of The Killer Slits, which she followed by ditching school to join the band on a six week tour.

Donae’o aka Ian Greenidge was always destined to make a career out of music after growing up in a house where melodies were a major force. His mother was a singer and as a youngster growing up in north west London it was common place for her to be heard belting out tunes in the house. A young Donae’o was also a regular companion when she was out performing and loved soaking up the atmosphere. In fact you could say this is where he felt most at home.

Edwin Starr (January 21, 1942 – April 2, 2003) was an American soul music singer. Born Charles Edwin Hatcher in Nashville, Tennessee, Starr is most famous for his Norman Whitfield produced Motown singles of the 1970s, most notably the number one hit War. Edwin Starr was born in Nashville, Tennessee in 1942. He and his cousins (soul singers Roger and Willie Hatcher) moved to Cleveland, Ohio where they were raised.