The story so far....

I was born in Birmingham, England, in 1953. I started learning classical piano at the age of 4, and switched to guitar when I was 12. [heard The Beatles!] For the next few years I played in school and college bands and eventually turned professional after leaving university in 1973. I joined rock group Fumble as lead guitarist in 1975. We made a few records and did a lot of touring, played with some big names all over Europe, did some TV and radio shows but never quite made the big time. After leaving the band in 1977 I spent a few years playing around the London rock scene and writing some music for TV and theatre.  →

I first came to Switzerland with English rock band Rockola in 1982 to play in the night club Chlösterli (Gstaad). As demand for 4- and 5- piece live bands in clubs diminished I developed a solo act using (self-recorded) backing tracks so I could still play lead guitar and sing. At this time I decided to adopt the artist name 'Kevin Noel'. Having fallen in love with the Gstaad area I kept coming back, and for many years I played in The Pub, Hotel Boo, Saanen; sadly no more existing as a regular music venue.

Noel & Mandel unplugged

Songlist

In 1991, back in the UK, during a tour backing Nashville artist & record producer Mark Moseley, I met guitarist Derek Mandel. We formed the duo ‘Noel & Mandel’ playing both in the UK & in Switzerland and together we wrote and recorded the acoustic CD ‘Back to the Mountains’. We are still close friends and Derek has been involved in most of my later projects. We still occasionally do ‘unplugged’ acoustic concerts together playing a mixture of folk, blues, country & some traditional Irish tunes played on the banjo mandoline.

The FunBand

During our tours of Switzerland, Derek & I used to play often at the Braui, Worb run by drummer & restaurateur Cheesy Preisig. Cheesy introduced us to many very good musicians from the Bern area and sometimes we used to jam together just for fun. We started to do a few gigs under the name ‘The FunBand’ and many well-known Swiss musicians have played in the band over the years. Aschi Beyeler first played with us in 1997 & has been playing with me ever since. Derek still joins in when available and currently we have Brad Schecter (USA) on drums and Peter Enderli (CH) on bass.

Kandersteg 2007

short hair in Jacks - 2000

FlatBroke, Jacks

In 1996 I met up with English vocalist & keyboarder Johnny Baker in Gstaad and we began to play together as duo ‘FlatBroke’ and with The FunBand. We formed a musical partnership which lasted some 5 years or so, writing & recording 2 CDs and forming the band ‘Jacks’ with Cheesy and Aschi. In 2002 Johnny and I went our separate ways and Aschi became my regular duo partner. Johnny now lives and works in Marbella.

Songlist

Although the music I play with Aschi is mainly rock and blues oriented, I also enjoy playing country music. For country duo gigs I am joined by Swiss accordionist & lap steel player Putsie Mayr, who I met through my good friend, American singer/songwriter Willie Nininger.

Occasionally I also play with young up & coming Swiss country singer Monika Miller.