Susie Maycock lead vocals

Susie's performance career started at an early age, taking to the stage at the tender age of three, and it's been difficult to get her off it since! With a passion for all things musical she has an eclectic taste that ranges from Musical Theatre to Blues and Soul. After gaining a degree in Musical Theatre she became resident vocalist for companies such as Thompson Holidays, P&O Cruises and Seabourn.

Singing has taken her all around the world with performances in Macau, Hong Kong, Ibiza and Greece as well as theatres throughout the UK, but 2016 brought her back to the UK to live in Southampton and to join the ranks of Rufus Stone.

"With such a long history as a band and a huge following, singing with Rufus is an exciting opportunity that I'm looking forward to getting stuck into!"

Solly Read bass / vocals

I started getting a little bit musical by learning the violin at junior school, but spent more time trying to play it like a guitar. I got my first real six string...(sorry bit of Bryan Adams coming out there).

My gran bought me my first ever guitar when I was about 10 from a fruit and veg shop that used to sell all kinds of odd things. The first song I learnt was "Lettuce Be" the old Beatles classic, strangely on the Apple record label. I think I have said this before but most kids used their tennis rackets to pretend to play guitar but I just played my guitar and it sounded like a racket.

I played guitar at school a little bit and electric lead in a school production with my "Woolworths Audition Special" and 6 watt amp. I got into my first band aged 16 as so called lead guitarist. I got a bit bored as there was rhythm guitar and piano and I felt a bit of a waste of space. One day a friend loaned me a bass he had made at school and it felt much more in the groove...I think I was a bit of a frustrated drummer.

So bass it became and I then started getting into jam sessions and playing with other people. This carried on for a while until I was asked to play with Terry Dene, an old rock 'n' roll star who was making a comeback. This lasted about a week but the drummer was Henry Wright who I had seen around with the Bob Pearce Blues Band. We got on well and he told me he had always wanted to put a soul band together since moving down from Glasgow. I got a few musicians together and eventually Rufus Stone was born. We had a bit of trouble finding a keyboard player but there was a young lad called Ray Drury, you may remember him; he played Mowgli in the Jungle Book!

Anyway lots of things happened, some great gigs, met some big names, a few changes but the band is still going strong.

A few facts: I have been known to partake in the odd pint or three of cider, or a glass of red, not to mention a dry cracker here and there with a crumb of cheese. I remember a rather embarrassing moment when we went on stage in the dark behind a screen at the Top Rank in Southampton. There were different levels and scaffolding around each board except that my board was missing. I fell about four feet into a hole, with a guitar around my neck and a pint over my head. Then the screen came up, letting the audience see the band having a good laugh and me soaked and with blood running down my leg (I've still got the scar!).

The most exciting request for me has to be a recent stand in gig where we were asked to play 'Baa, Baa, Black Sheep'. Not sure who it was for, just a little chap who lived down the lane I think, anyway we did it!

Gear wise, I have a Musicman Stingray and Trace Elliot head with an old Fender Bassman cab with two 15 inch wolf in sheep's clothing speakers. Still messing around with other amps; an Ampeg rig that I keep knob twiddling to try and get right, a couple of combo amps, and my 5 string Musicman that I can't be bothered to re-work stuff on. My old friendly Fender Precision hides in the cupboard but I'm too sentimental to sell it. That's about it!

Aidy Gill drums

Around the time Rufus Stone was being formed, at the tender age of 9, I was having my first few frustrating attempts at playing the drums in my home town in Yorkshire. Five years later, I formed my first band, playing blues and early rock covers. We managed a total of three gigs but it was at that point I knew playing the drums was what I wanted to do.

I joined original Hull band Lithium Joe at the age of 17 and played with them for 8 years. In that time we toured the UK and Ireland and appeared on a number of radio shows (including with the great John Peel on Radio 1). The band were also chosen to appear on a compilation album with a bunch of artists associated with Hull including, 'The Beautiful South', 'Everything But The Girl' and 'Fine Young Cannibals'.

Since relocating to Southampton in 2001, I have played with a mixture of original and cover bands playing rock, soul, funk, blues and jazz. I have also been involved in tribute bands to the Foo Fighters, Queens of the Stone Age, James Taylor and Carole King. More recently, the bulk of my live work has been playing weddings and functions with Jaxstax. My biggest gig so far, which I will probably never quite match, was in 2012 when I was fortunate enough to play in the London Olympics Opening Ceremony along with 999 other drummers - that was a truly unforgettable experience!

In addition to playing live, I decided that being a complete drumming fanatic, the most productive use of my time was to teach others to play the drums. I started teaching in 2004 and I gain an enormous amount of satisfaction from it. More about that here: www.drumaid.co.uk

In terms of musical taste, I grew up on a diet of Rock 'n' Roll, Motown and Soul. Later, my own tastes lead me to Rock, Reggae, Blues, Funk, and Jazz. I also love the music of Brazil, Cuba and West Africa (I think it must be the abundance of percussion instruments!). The common thing about these styles is that they makes you want to move, whether tapping your feet or busting some shapes on the dance floor. And this is why playing with Rufus Stone is so much fun - I get to provide the beats to which everyone else dances!

Keith Loader guitar / vocals

I guess I was a late starter as I picked up my first guitar at the age of 15, it being a Christmas present from my parents. It took a couple of weeks to realise that it needed tuning each time it was played as my dad said they'd already done that in the shop (Becketts, in Gibbs Road - shows how long ago it was!). No internet in those days so I learnt by trial and error and from books, which I recall were next to useless. I can remember a mate of mine showing me how to play 'House of the Rising Sun' and from that moment I was hooked.

I moved on to classical guitar lessons, which I loved, and then spent a couple of years studying rag-time guitar. I then discovered the electric guitar: Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Wishbone Ash, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, The Doobie Brothers, Steely Dan, Thin Lizzy, Free.....why am I in a soul band?

I joined a number of bands in the Southampton area eventually culminating in a 10 year stint with Winchester based 'Ambush'. When our bass player decided he wanted a break I thought it would be a good idea to recruit Solly as a replacement; I guess he was more persuasive than me as I joined Rufus Stone in early 1997!

Mike Spradbery keyboards

I quit piano at age 11 after taking my Grade 1 exam, but within a couple of years was hooked on experimenting with eighties synths and playing 12-bar blues riffs with my brother. As a teenager, I was more likely to be listening to tapes of Billy Joel, Glen Miller, Bill Evans, John Lee Hooker or Bob Marley than any of the popular bands that my friends were into. But music had taken its hold and by age 17 I was regularly playing an unusual mix of jazz, blues, big band and gospel piano and trumpet in pubs, clubs and churches around my home town of Norwich.

In the decades that followed, I continued to play keyboards as my main instrument and had opportunities to play with artists such as Kenny Baker, Roy Castle, and Johnny Dankworth, in venues including The Royal Albert Hall, Royal Festival Hall, The Savoy and Lambeth Palace, for audiences including members of the Royal Family! More recently, having lived in Southampton and played in various bands for 20 years, the pieces fell into place for me to join Rufus Stone - the brass section really make the band and mean I don't have to play fake keyboard brass all night - winner!

And finally, best not get me started on the topic of vintage keyboards - I've currently got a couple of Fender Rhodes pianos mid-restoration and get far too excited about them. Current gigging keyboard: Nord Stage. I also play a bit of bass and some drums when I get the opportunity.

Mark Wilkinson saxophones / vocals

I guess you could say I come from a fairly musically orientated family; my late father won a grandmother clock by singing Nat King Cole songs in a competition and my eldest sister is an opera singer.

My first public performance was singing a Christmas carol at St Mark's Infant School concert, from there to Ludlow Junior (played recorder) and then plunged into Woolston Comprehensive, which is really where my musical career started. Thanks to a great music teacher (Pete Cool) I ended up learning the bassoon and eventually found myself performing with the Southampton City Youth Orchestra and singing in the choir.

At Sixth Form College the bassoon fell by the wayside as I had the chance to play sax in a youth club band called "Sumovus". It was there that I forged a close friendship with the late, great Bob Pettitt. It's thanks to him that I have a feel for rock'n'roll, R&B, soul and funk licks; until then nobody had shown me how to play a sax.

My musical apprenticeship was served in the social clubs and pubs of the south coast playing in "Ebony" and 1978/9 found me in Germany, Switzerland, Holland, Denmark & Norway with "Pancho". A spell with "The Chris Shakespeare Band" came next, closely followed by "Gripp, The Band" (with Dave Mitchell, Spike, Dave Good, the sadly departed Rick & Burnsey etc.) and then "Tramp", with whom I still play a few gigs to this day.

I joined "Rufus Stone" after Henry Wright saw me at The London Arms playing with a scratch band called "Matt Vinyl & The Undercoats".

Instruments/equipment that I now use: (RIP my trusty old Yamaha YTS61 tenor!) Yamaha YAS61 alto, Dukoff D8 clear acrylic mouthpiece, 3.5 Rico Plasticover reed Bauhaus Walstein M2 tenor, Lawton 7 star BBB metal mouthpiece, 3.5 Rico Plasticover reed B & H Lafleur baritone (Low A), Berg Larsen metal mouthpiece, 3.5 Rico Plasticover reed AKG bell clip-mike with either AKG (UHF) or Nady (VHF) wireless outfit.

Dave Desmond trombone

Dave was born in Bitterne Park, Southampton into a musical family where you weren't asked if you wanted to play an instrument, just told to pick one. He first picked up the trombone aged 10 and went on to pass all the grades at school and play in local Southampton City brass bands/orchestras/wind bands. He then joined Her Majesty's Coldstream Guards Band as part of the Regular Army. This took him to London and the chance to mix with the musical community of the Capital and play at all the major state and ceremonial events that go with the itinerary of such a long-serving army band (the Band has been in existence for over 200 years and is the Army's oldest attested military band).

To be a part of the Capital and Nation's tapestry was an amazing experience, one which lasted nearly 24 years, playing at such events and places as the Royal Albert Hall, Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle (playing a solo to the Queen and Prince Phillip in an intimate concert in 2009), opening the LIVE8 Concert in Hyde Park in 2005 to his own fanfare composition "Fanfare for Hope", many international tours including USA, Japan, Canada and more, Trooping of the Colour, State Opening of Parliament, Garden Parties, FA Cup Finals, rugby internationals, the Edinburgh Military Tattoo, the Golden Jubilee Concert with Robbie Williams in 2012. Additionally Dave played with the Band on their No. 1 selling classical album "Heroes" and "Pride of the Nation" and was also lead trombone in the Army Big Band.

Privately, Dave has mixed with many great musicians including Brian May, Kathryn Jenkins, Billy Cobham, Dave Gregory, Martha High and has played in and recorded with top UK 'old school' soul/funk band "Speedometer" at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club and The Jazz Cafe (Camden Town) and has played and arranged for many other horn sections/brass groups in studio and live work. Dave is also a member and arranger of the brass ensemble for award winning prog-rock band "Big Big Train", and is a member of the Steely Dan tribute band "Steely Scam".

Dave has played in local bands "Big Red", funk/soul band "JaxStax", Charley MaCaulay (horn section arranger) and Jump 'n' Jive band "King Pie".