Not many bands have been successful in contemporary music for such a long time: The UK Pop-, Jazz- and Funkband Shakatak was founded in 1980 by Jill Saward (lead vocs), Bill Sharpe (keys), Keith Winter (guitar), George Anderson (bass) and Roger Odell (drums). After a number of successful top-twenty singles in the UK, the band went on to score unprecedented international success with the release of “Nightbirds”. The title track has now become a standard in the popular music repertoire. This success was repeated with the top-ten hit “Down on the Street”. Along with their recording career, Shakatak had firmly established themselves as a vibrant live act, combining astute musicianship with a sense of fun. Their performance in Japan’s Budoken Hall won them a Silver Award at the Tokyo International Song Festival. The long run of continuous success was brought to a halt when guitarist Keith Winter became seriously ill and was forced to stop playing. Eventually the band re-organised and the remaining four now augment their shows with Jacqui Hicks or Debby Bracknell and Alan Wormald.