Tributes to guitarist turned photographer
TRIBUTES have been paid to Neil Jones, the guitarist with Welsh pop band Amen Corner, who has died aged 70.
Neil, from Llanbradach, near Caerphilly, passed away surrounded by friends, family and his former bandmates after battling cancer.
The musician was an integral member of the Cardiff group who had a number of hits in the late 1960s including (If Paradise Is) Half As Nice and Bend Me Shape Me and toured with the likes of Jimi Hendrix and Pink Floyd.
After Amen Corner disbanded at the end of 1969, Neil joined the band Fair Weather with several members of Amen Corner. However, the group was short-lived and split after one album.
The keen photographer then embarked on a long and distinguished photographic career, which started at London Features International Ltd, an agency which supplied photos to NME, Melody Express and the rest of the music press. There he took pics of all the major stars of the day.
Returning to South Wales in 1975, he was appointed as the official Cardiff City Council photographer, a role he held until his retirement in 1998.
According to Neil’s daughter Kirsty Clark, she had a father “like no other.”
“It wasn’t your usual childhood for me,” she said. “Bedtime stories consisted of tales of the Jimi Hendrix tour, stories of what The Small Faces and Amen Corner got up to, chasing Sharon Osbourne around the kitchen and as random as the day Stanley Kubrick popped in and many more, as you can imagine.
“Weekends consisted of trips to Rockfield Studios, he thought nothing of taking me to a gig. 1976 was my first when Queen played at Cardiff Castle, I was three. From this point forward there was no turning back for me. I couldn’t even tell you how many gigs I have been to since, something he was very proud of.”
Kirsty said while many knew her dad from his Amen Corner days, few knew of his prolific photographic career.
“Of course dad already had his foot in the door being a musician himself and got some of the best photos. From Bowie, McCartney, Steve Marriot, Jackson 5, Elton John to Frankie Howerd, Bruce Forsyth and Les Dawson. You name them he had met them, knew them or taken a photo of them.
“This then came to an end when I was born and we moved back from London to Cardiff in 1975. This is when he switched from taking photos of rock and pop royalty to actual royalty.”
She added: “His back catalogue for the council consisted of Princess Diana, Prince Charles, Nelson Mandela, Tony Blair to the Spice Girls and the Manic Street Preachers. Any tourism photos you would’ve seen would’ve been taken by him. I can remember being in the Florida Epcot Centre and finding a book on British tourism and there was a photo of Cardiff Castle with me as a child in the forefront. I can’t tell how proud that made me.
“If you ever meet anyone that knew him they will always have the best stories to tell about him, whether it was work related, music related or his charity work. He is going to be sadly missed by myself, my husband Lee and my two sons Andrew and Christian, my brother Jamie and anyone else that has been lucky enough to have known him. Life will not be the same but his legacy will most certainly live on.”
Amen Corner frontman Andy Fairweather-Low, who was married to Neil’s sister Barbara, paid tribute to his brother-in-law and fellow band member.
“I miss him and I always will,” said Andy. “He was part of my life for over 50 years. As a member of Amen Corner, he was an important part of why we became a successful. He was cute and he could play and that was a fact.”
Fellow Amen Corner member Alan Jones said: “I met Neil for the first time when Amen Corner was put together by Andy and then spent the next four years in each other’s pockets. Although we shared the same surname we were not related, but I always thought of him as my younger brother. Along with the rest of the band we shared some great experiences and adventures and always retained our friendship throughout the years.”
You can view some of Neil’s pictures on display at Coffee a Go Go, St Andrews Place in Cardiff.