Ashley Mulford
Composer. Instruments: electric rhythm and lead guitars. Vocalist.
Ashley was born in Christchurch, southern England, on the April 15th 1955. Educated at the ‘Grange’ school in Somerford, he left early and took his GCE ‘O’ levels at evening classes whilst working towards a career in music. Leaving Christchurch at the ripe old age of 17, ‘Ash’ travelled up to Manchester with two musician friends – John Stimpson (later to play bass in Mandalaband I and Sad Cafe) and Martin Jefferies. They formed the band Friends and then, after meeting David Rohl at a try-out in Camel Studios, Ash and John joined Mandalaband. Once the first Mandalaband record was completed, the singer, Dave Durant, was replaced by the late Paul Young and Sad Café was born, going on to reach number three in the British charts. It was at this time that Ashley began writing songs in his own right.
Moving to Canada in 1981, Ash began composing music for TV and film whilst continuing to play live with various bands of all styles and writing songs with Chilliwack, Champion and the New-York-based Easton West. Alana Miles shot a video with him which helped to get her deal with Atlantic records and, at the same time, Ash was playing live with The Lincolns, Candi and the Back-beats, Champion and The Joni Wilson Band.
After returning to England for a Sad Café Re-union tour, Ash met Mike Rutherford and joined up for Mike and the Mechanics’ first US tour. A year and a half spent in LA passed before more TV and film work in Canada, until he flew back across the pond and moved to Denmark.
Since the ‘Danish chapter’ started, Ash has written with Michael Learns To Rock (earning several platinum CDs) and placed a song with Lis Sørensen, along with TV appearances with Thomas Helmig (all top Danish artists). Presently playing clubs and festivals with his rock band ‘The Remedy’ and recording their first CD, Ash is now back and forth to Spain and England recording and rehearsing with Mandalaband. Strange how the world keeps spinning and lives keep turning full circle!