John Hedley

Who is John Hedley?

John Hedley is a guitar player from the North East of England. He came to local prominence playing with Brian Davison, the Newcastle Big Band and the jazz rock group Last Exit. Sting, who also played in Last Exit, described Hedley as “my boyhood hero and mentor”.

As a session musician he has played television as a member of the house band on the The Tube backing international stars as varied as Madonna, Elvis Costello, Billy Preston, Eddy Grant, Grandmaster Flash, Iggy Pop and Eartha Kitt. Hedley also worked on cruise ships, including the QE2, backing such stars as Kris Kristofferson, Neil Sedaka, Petula Clark, and Anthony Newley.

John played with Sting again at the Baltic Arts Centre in May 2006, at a get-together with old band mates to celebrate Sting's award of an honorary doctorate of music. More recently he worked with Roger Daltrey, Ruby Turner and Jimmy Nail for the Teenage Cancer Trust benefit concert in 2008 and with Mark Knopfler for the Sunday for Sammy concert at Newcastle City Hall in 2010.