Biography

Stuart John Wolstenholme was born in Chadderton, Oldham on April 15th, 1947, and went to school at North Chadderton Secondary Modern. His first instrument was a tenor banjo, which he took up at the age of twelve, and he also played tenor horn for the Delph band. He met John at Oldham School Of Art and Woolly played tambourine and sang in The Sorcerers, then The Keepers, where Woolly played whatever instrument was required, such as harmonica and twelve-string guitar. Later he taught himself keyboards, first the Mellotron and then adapting to organ, piano and synthesisers. His musical influences range from Love and Vanilla Fudge through Mahler to UK. Woolly was a founder member of Barclay James Harvest in 1967, and remained with the band until 1979, when he became frustrated and unhappy at the direction their music was taking. He recorded a solo album, Maestoso, in 1980, and toured as support to Judie Tzuke and Saga, as well as writing film and TV music. A projected second album was shelved and Woolly lost interest in the music business and went into farming, originally in Lancashire and then in South Wales. Woolly came out of retirement in 1998 and collaborated with John on the album Nexus - Barclay James Harvest Through The Eyes Of John Lees and the live set, Revival, before releasing a long overdue follow up to Maestoso, entitled One Drop In A Dry World, in May 2004, and returning to live work in the UK with the Maestoso band. A live CD, Fiddling Meanly, was rapidly followed by a new studio album, Grim, and a new collaboration with the renamed John Lees' Barclay James Harvest. In 2006 Woolly not only toured with John Lees' Barclay James Harvest, but also found time to record another new studio album with Maestoso, Caterwauling, released on 19th November, 2007. Woolly performed with JLBJH at numerous concerts in 2009, and the activity continued into 2010 with a summer festival appearance in Portugal at the Douro Rock and Blues Festival. It would prove to be Woolly's final live appearance. A recurrence of a severe depressive condition meant that he was unable to participate in a series of concerts with John Lees' Barclay James Harvest in November and December, and tragically he was found dead at his home on 13th December, 2010.
- IMDb mini biography by: Keith and Monika Domone - IBJHFC