Before forming the Texas Tornados Pete Stothard established his name on the line and western dance scene as a dance instructor. He is known to many as ‘The Cockney Cowboy’ a nickname that comes from his general manner, outlook on life, and his insistence that life is good and although he now lives in Lincolnshire he was brought up in Brixton in south London.
Pete’s dad loved classical music and his mum loved Country music. His mother took him to local Country clubs and festivals regularly and dancing was a natural step forward for him although he started as a rock and roll dancer. He started teaching line dancing in 1998 working with Linedance UK. He never had any aspirations to be a singer and only started singing by accident. While working as a dj, a friend asked him to do karaoke. He took to it and started doing karaoke discos where people convinced him that he could actually sing. His club name was Texas Tornado taken from the 1994 Tracey Lawrence song of the same name.
He soon realised singing Country music for a living could become a reality and he formed his first band, Texas Tornados in late 2004 with two friends Ian Walton and George Plummer. Ian was a guitarist with no previous band experience but George had previously played with Duggie Dee and the Saddletramps. George taught him how to play rhythm guitar. The line up was Pete Stothard (lead vocals and rhythm guitar), Ian Walton (lead guitar and harmony vocals) and George Plummer (keys and harmony vocals). With Pete’s pedigree as a line dance instructor, it came as no surprise that the Tornados were an instant success building up an enthusiastic following on the club circuit with Lyn Jones of Chelsea Artists finding plenty of club and festival work for the new band.
By 2006 only Pete Stothard remained from the original line up. Ian Walton later joined Calico, Four Card Trick and now works as a soloist. As replacements for Ian and George, Pete first recruited Scott Newstead from Dominic Kirwan’s band on keys and in July 2006 Stig (Rob Tompsett) came in on lead guitar and vocals. Stig’s time with the band was short and he was replaced by Roger McKew on lead guitar and harmony vocals in 2007. Originally a Country guitarist Roger was coaxed into the ‘mainstream’ entertainment world and over the years played with such household names as Joe Brown, Lonnie Donegan and Shakin’ Stevens to name but a few. Joining Texas Tornados brought him back to his roots. In 2009 the trio won a BCMA Band of the Year award.
Scott Newstead left the Texas Tornados at the start of 2010 to rejoin Dominic Kirwan and knowing Scott was about to leave, Stu Payne who was looking for a new band at that time asked Pete if he could fill the vacancy. Pete jumped at the opportunity to take on such an experienced musician.
Stu has a long history on the Country circuit and has been a member of many Country bands joining the Zeta Hansell Band in early 1992. He stayed with the band until September that year but during his short time with them he also did some depping with Sweet Revenge. His dad had noticed they didn’t seem to have a regular player and he talked them into giving Stu a try! Kevin Jupp from City Limits was at the gig and shortly afterwards Stu started depping with them whenever he was available. He joined City Limits full time September 1992 replacing Wayne Golden who joined New Dawn trio for a year before moving to Ireland where he was a member of Ann Breen’s band for 10 years. The line up of City Limits was Kevin Jupp (lead and harmony vocals and rhythm guitar), Colin Jupp (lead and harmony vocals and bass guitar), Stu Payne (lead guitar and keys) and Steve Willis (lead and harmony vocals and drums). Stu stayed with City Limits until June 1995 when he joined Peterborough trio Circuit Judge. Circuit Judge were one of the most popular bands on the Country circuit from the mid-1980s into the 90s. The band was formed in 1984/5 (nobody can remember for certain); The original line up of the double family band was Pat Judge (rhythm guitar and vocals), Bernie Nicholls (lead guitar and vocals), Ellie Nicholls (bass guitar and vocals) and Craig Judge (drums and vocals). Over the years there were several changes to the line up but in 1993 they became a 3-piece comprising Pat Judge (rhythm guitar and vocals) Andy Sankey (lead guitar and vocals) and Craig Judge (drums and vocals).
Stu Payne replaced Andy in June 1995 giving the band a new vigour that had been lacking for several years. He stayed with the band until Pat’s sudden death in July 2002 at which point the band folded. In August 2003 Stu joined Sidewinder, a trio that had been together for a few years. The line up at this time was John ‘Stubby’ Stubbs (rhythm guitar and vocals), Andy Saphir (lead guitar) and Stu Payne (keys and vocals). Andy left c2005/6 and Stu and Stubby carried on as a duo until the end of 2008 when Stubby decided to go solo. Following the demise of Sidewinder, Stu formed a duo called Gemeni with Gemma Fairweather. Between 2006 – 2010 he was also in a theatre show called Hooked On Country Sold On Sixties with Texas Gun and Country Company.
Despite changes to the line up, the Tornados lost none of their appeal and with Stu on board they won BCMA’s People’s Choice Act of the Year in 2015. Roger McKew retired in 2016 and the trio became a duo but remained as popular as ever. In recent years Stu has won two successive CCN awards for Musician Of The Year in 2018, 2019 and is once again nominated 2021. Texas Tornados won CCN Duo Of The Year in 2017 and Entertainer Of The Year in 2018.
Despite Pete’s background as a line dance teacher, the Texas Tornados have a very wide repertoire and are just at home at a listening club as they are at a line dance club. Pete describes himself as an entertainer rather than a singer and he always throws all of his (considerable) energy into making sure the audience goes home completely and utterly ‘entertained’
