THE OFFICIAL HOMEPAGE OF THE FLYING PICKETS
THE BAND
ANDY LAYCOCK
Singer, actor and musician Andy Laycock was born and grew up in south London. He joined the Pickets in 1999; but he's been singing acappella since 1984, when- having completed a BA(Hons) degree in Performing Arts- he was a founder member (along with Pickets bass singer Chris Brooker) of the acappella group Ad Nauseam, with whom he toured with for several years.
With the Pickets, Andy has performed live worldwide, and extensively on TV and radio; and in addition to his vocals, has contributed his arrangement, production and composition skills to multiple recordings.
Andy has also performed extensively in Britain as an actor in Television and West End theatre, having worked with many leading writers such as Dennis Potter and Tom Stoppard. More recently, Andy's voiceovers have been heard in commercials on radio and TV, and he has performed live with a number of different projects in Germany.
CHRIS BROOKER
Chris Brooker is regarded as one of the best male ‘pop’ bass singers in Europe, having toured with the Flying Pickets for several years as well as appearing on many film soundtracks including; Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Evita, Disney on Ice soundtrack, The Mission soundtrack by Ennio Morricone, Israeli TV and Monserrat Caballe, as well as many other sessions for the BBC, ITV and commercial radio.
Chris is a regular voice on the recordings of Readers Digest worldwide and has also performed at The Classical Brit awards at the Royal Albert Hall in London, at the National Theatre in London, Monte Carlo and in Japan.
“The ultimate human soundmachine Chris Brooker” quote Ko Burger - Balk News NL.
HENRIK WAGER
Henrik was born in Manchester and earned his BA(Hons) degree in music, drama & dance from Birmingham University and Birmingham School of Performing Arts.
In London he worked as session and studio singer for many projects including for Andrew Lloyd Weber, performed in the film Cousin Bette and has sung with artists like José Carreras, Marty Pellow and Lionel Richie.
Henrik joined the Pickets in 1992 performing worldwide live and on television sharing the stage with artists like Manhattan Transfer, Ray Charles and Art Garfunkel, Gary Moore, Joe Zawinul and Maceo Parker.
In Germany he has established himself as a singer and songwriter for the TV total band “The Heavytones” and performed live with Stefan Raab, Max Mutzke, Stefanie Heinzmann and Sasha. He is a founding member and writer of the groundbreaking electro-swing project "Tape Five” with 8 studio albums and worldwide performances.
Henrik also performed many music theatre lead roles including Jesus Christ Superstar, Jekyll in Jekyll and Hyde, Chess, Hair, Evita and The Rocky Horror Show.
MARTIN GEORGE
Martin has a varied career as an actor, singer and musician. He trained as an actor and performed in rock bands from 16 years of age. In his first musical he played 'Joseph' and went on to play other major roles including 'Tommy' in the Who's rock opera, both 'Jesus' and 'Judas' in 'Jesus Christ Superstar' and specialised as Frank 'n Furter in The Rocky Horror Show during the 90's, appearing in 5 different productions in the UK and abroad.
Martin played principle roles in the West End shows 'Les Miserables,' 'Godspell' and 'Return to the Forbidden Planet.' Martin joined 'The Flying Pickets' in 2012.
SIMON JOHN FOSTER
Simon joined the Pickets in January of 2004. He has worked in most areas within the music business with many top artists including Zucchero, Geri Halliwell, Bond and George Michael.
He also played Elwood in the theatre production of "The Blues Brothers" which toured in the UK, Europe and Japan, including four sell out West End runs.
While it's his first venture into true acapella music, Simon is well used to singing close harmony and is very much relishing this new challenge.