I recall seeing a 'Ben' in Dinedorelle's spreadsheet. Does he resemble this photo?
His fullname is Benjamin Welch and he was a friend of Liam O'Kane on FB. Btw, Liam's really open with his FB as he has many Libera fans who are his friends.
I found a class photo of Simon Lewis back when he was 6 years old studying in a primary school located in London very near to Norbury. I have no idea if it is the correct Simon Lewis, but if the boys in the photo match anyone from the music videos of that era, then we have names for these boys!
The boy in the second from top row on the extreme right looks vaguely like one of the boys in Dinedorelle's spreadsheet.
I can't remember why I named this boy Ben (which is irritating), but it would have been 4 years ago at least when I first started the search. I looked back on the original spreadsheet and his name was with those two images. I wouldnt take that info as 100% accurate though, until I find why I named him.
I looked on his profile and there are too many unknowns even to pin down his age. He looks perhaps late teenager, but he may be older. It's posted in 2017, and others photos that same year show him looking quite a lot older, so we dont know when the shot was taken.
His 'natural' hairstyle is different to that of the 'Ben' of 1992-4 - he has a another 'cowlick' which he has in all his older photos. Younger Ben has a flat fringe with no sight of a cowlick.
I agree the nose is similar, the dates are good, he's a sound engineer and he's on Liam's FB (although probably so are 500 other musical people!).
I personally say it's not a good match, but others may disagree.
###
I too had seen that school photo of Simon Lewis, and picked out Simon pretty quickly. Other photos on his FB profile I think confirm it's his page.
Although his friends aren't available, if you look at the Music he likes, 'BEN SEE' appears, which I believe is linked to Ben Crawley isn't it? Please correct me if I'm wrong.
The only other boy that might be someone (in my opinion) is the boy arrowed in the picture above. I think that might be Matthew Winter aged 6??
They are the same age, but who knows if they went to the same primary school?
Dinedorelle wrote: ↑<span title="Sat Mar 07, 2020 6:31 pm">4 years ago</span>
I too had seen that school photo of Simon Lewis, and picked out Simon pretty quickly. Other photos on his FB profile I think confirm it's his page.
Although his friends aren't available, if you look at the Music he likes, 'BEN SEE' appears, which I believe is linked to Ben Crawley isn't it? Please correct me if I'm wrong.
To confirm it is Simon Lewis and compare the photo's on his FB profile that you found with other photo's or video's, maybe you can take a look at this youtube page (it's confirmed that it is the Simon Lewis of Libera) https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiZVWs ... nNgBp162hA
I don't know others opinions but didn't we got to far by now?
By posting pictures of the older choirboys how they look now and look them up on the net etc.
I posted a link of a youtube page, I didn't think of it when posted.
I know it has been discussed before here on the forum and we been asked by the adminisrators and moderators as well by Libera themselves not to look for them or post their links here.
On the other hand, some boys are responsing back, which is nice and they did made their own choice to make a
youtube / facdebook page or whatever but we must respect their privacy.
I know the main reason was to discover who was who in their younger days but I don't want us to be in trouble.
I don't want to come across as a nag, but we shouldn't get in trouble either
Liberation wrote: ↑<span title="Sun Mar 08, 2020 11:10 pm">4 years ago</span>
I don't know others opinions but didn't we got to far by now?
By posting pictures of the older choirboys how they look now and look them up on the net etc.
I posted a link of a youtube page, I didn't think of it when posted.
I know it has been discussed before here on the forum and we been asked by the adminisrators and moderators as well by Libera themselves not to look for them or post their links here.
On the other hand, some boys are responsing back, which is nice and they did made their own choice to make a
youtube / facdebook page or whatever but we must respect their privacy.
I know the main reason was to discover who was who in their younger days but I don't want us to be in trouble.
I don't want to come across as a nag, but we shouldn't get in trouble either
Why are you panicking? No one’s getting in trouble here! This post has become a healthy discussion that has unearthed a multitude of new facts, as well as rectifying discrepancies that have been in this domain for the last 15-20 years. All that benefits enormously those who are interested, doesn’t it?
All YT links are in the public domain and freely available to view by anyone should the owner permit it. Why would any Moderator here object if you copy a link?
The privacy issue surely is with the present touring group of which this post isn’t in the slightest bit interested. The members we’re concentrating on are fully grown men: many with families now, and they can tell us to shove off if they want to. I’m not aware of anyone recently asking an old member something untoward that would be construed as inappropriate. If some are kind enough to help, then where’s the harm in that? They weren’t small fry either were they? Ben Crawley and Oliver Putland. They will have weighed up what they wanted to divulge, and did so accordingly.
As a relative newcomer here I do find one thing very irritating though. All these enormous holes in Angel Voices/St Philips’ Choir’s history and no one has any answers?? Just dead ends.
If I wanted to find out the history of say a county cricket team during the 80’s and 90’s, there would be someone who would give that information gladly (and would probably be delighted that someone was even interested!) Yet where are these people in the Libera circles? If they’re not prepared to help then why shouldn’t a few of us press forward to try and discover the facts for ourselves?
Dinedorelle wrote: ↑<span title="Mon Mar 09, 2020 2:16 am">4 years ago</span>
Liberation wrote: ↑<span title="Sun Mar 08, 2020 11:10 pm">4 years ago</span>
I don't know others opinions but didn't we got to far by now?
By posting pictures of the older choirboys how they look now and look them up on the net etc.
I posted a link of a youtube page, I didn't think of it when posted.
I know it has been discussed before here on the forum and we been asked by the adminisrators and moderators as well by Libera themselves not to look for them or post their links here.
On the other hand, some boys are responsing back, which is nice and they did made their own choice to make a
youtube / facdebook page or whatever but we must respect their privacy.
I know the main reason was to discover who was who in their younger days but I don't want us to be in trouble.
I don't want to come across as a nag, but we shouldn't get in trouble either
Why are you panicking? No one’s getting in trouble here! This post has become a healthy discussion that has unearthed a multitude of new facts, as well as rectifying discrepancies that have been in this domain for the last 15-20 years. All that benefits enormously those who are interested, doesn’t it?
All YT links are in the public domain and freely available to view by anyone should the owner permit it. Why would any Moderator here object if you copy a link?
The privacy issue surely is with the present touring group of which this post isn’t in the slightest bit interested. The members we’re concentrating on are fully grown men: many with families now, and they can tell us to shove off if they want to. I’m not aware of anyone recently asking an old member something untoward that would be construed as inappropriate. If some are kind enough to help, then where’s the harm in that? They weren’t small fry either were they? Ben Crawley and Oliver Putland. They will have weighed up what they wanted to divulge, and did so accordingly.
As a relative newcomer here I do find one thing very irritating though. All these enormous holes in Angel Voices/St Philips’ Choir’s history and no one has any answers?? Just dead ends.
If I wanted to find out the history of say a county cricket team during the 80’s and 90’s, there would be someone who would give that information gladly (and would probably be delighted that someone was even interested!) Yet where are these people in the Libera circles? If they’re not prepared to help then why shouldn’t a few of us press forward to try and discover the facts for ourselves?
I'm not panicking, just asking others opinions and you gave yours, thanks.
My reason was that it was discussed before and also was about past members. But like I said, some past members are having their own facebook page or whatever so it's ok to use info from there and some are even answering so there's no harm. Don't get me wrong, it was just a question.
But about the holes in the libera history, I think I gave a lot info already and be glad to help with more (no, I do not no everything) but being a fan for more than 25 years and having lots of pictures and all their video's etc. etc. I try to help werever I can.
Hope you are all keeping sane during this hellish lockdown period?
I'm in France, and we've already had 4 weeks confinement, and Macron has just added another 3, so things may be getting back to normal around 11th May.
Obviously too much time at hand sent me searching through some old YouTube videos and their comments, and I've managed to find another name for one of the boys you'll all recognise that appears in very many of the Libera videos around 2000, but his name was unknown until now.
This is him :
His name is JOE SPEARS
His proud mum left a comment on one of the videos he appears in (around a year ago), stating that he was in Libera for 8 years!
Here's a bit more of one of her replies:
"My family were thrilled when Joe told us that he had auditioned and been accepted as we all love music very much. The choir took up a great deal of time: rehearsals every Monday and Friday evenings, two sessions on Sundays and also weddings and filming on occasions, too. My son recently discovered that Liam had a son and named him Joe "
On my spreadsheet he only appears for 3 years, 1997-1999, so the next challenge is to find out what years he was actually active.
Stay safe everyone.
Dinedorelle wrote: ↑<span title="Thu Apr 16, 2020 10:25 pm">4 years ago</span>
This is him :
His name is JOE SPEARS
His proud mum left a comment on one of the videos he appears in (around a year ago), stating that he was in Libera for 8 years!
Here's a bit more of one of her replies:
"My family were thrilled when Joe told us that he had auditioned and been accepted as we all love music very much. The choir took up a great deal of time: rehearsals every Monday and Friday evenings, two sessions on Sundays and also weddings and filming on occasions, too. My son recently discovered that Liam had a son and named him Joe "
Ooh cool! Great work! Which video did she leave a comment on? Is it publicly available on YouTube?
Dinedorelle wrote: ↑<span title="Thu Apr 16, 2020 10:25 pm">4 years ago</span>
This is him :
His name is JOE SPEARS
His proud mum left a comment on one of the videos he appears in (around a year ago), stating that he was in Libera for 8 years!
Here's a bit more of one of her replies:
"My family were thrilled when Joe told us that he had auditioned and been accepted as we all love music very much. The choir took up a great deal of time: rehearsals every Monday and Friday evenings, two sessions on Sundays and also weddings and filming on occasions, too. My son recently discovered that Liam had a son and named him Joe "
Ooh cool! Great work! Which video did she leave a comment on? Is it publicly available on YouTube?
Yes it's available bamboo. It's the 1999 version of Sanctus by LiberaUSA.
Her name is Sharon Spears and she gives a timecode in her reply that points him out.
If you click on replies (to her reply) you'll see what I saw.
She seems to enjoy reminiscing judging by the open comments, so she's an ideal candidate for extra information.
If she ferried Joe around for 8 years, she'll have no doubt met other boys from the group at that time, and hopefully recall some of their names.
I'm contacting her to see whether she'll help in recognising some faces.
Dinedorelle wrote: ↑<span title="Thu Apr 16, 2020 10:25 pm">4 years ago</span>
His name is JOE SPEARS
On my spreadsheet he only appears for 3 years, 1997-1999, so the next challenge is to find out what years he was actually active.
Stay safe everyone.
In this 1995 video at 1:57, there's a boy behind one of the Baron brothers that looks vaguely similar to Joe Spears?
In this 2000 video at 1:03, there's a boy on extreme right front row who looks vaguely similar to Joe Spears?
In the 2001 video at 2:24, the boy in the middle looks like Joe Spears?
Correct me if I'm wrong! I'm not really good at faces :/
Dinedorelle wrote: ↑<span title="Thu Apr 16, 2020 10:25 pm">4 years ago</span>
His name is JOE SPEARS
On my spreadsheet he only appears for 3 years, 1997-1999, so the next challenge is to find out what years he was actually active.
Stay safe everyone.
In this 1995 video at 1:57, there's a boy behind one of the Baron brothers that looks vaguely similar to Joe Spears?
In this 2000 video at 1:03, there's a boy on extreme right front row who looks vaguely similar to Joe Spears?
In the 2001 video at 2:24, the boy in the middle looks like Joe Spears?
Correct me if I'm wrong! I'm not really good at faces :/
It's quite an interesting conundrum this one.
I think that we have to believe Joe's mother Sharon, and the information she's given. You'd have to be pretty nuts to have made all that up and she is actually an imposter! Of course she may have remarried since she had Joe, then taken the second husband's surname? In which case he isn't Spears, but something else.
She says he was in Libera/Angel Voices for 8 years (which is one of the longest choir careers of any of the 200 odd boys I have on the spreadsheet).
I'm wondering why some of those boys who sung for many years are unknown to us? There's not a jot written in history about some of them.
Here's what we have so far for Joe Spears. Below is a small snapshot of the complete Timeline:
The 3 confirmed years for him are 1997, 1998 and 1999 so far, and you can see his photos (taken from certain videos) above.
The 2001 video you mentioned above I think is actually not 2001 but 1999. Thanks to Libera Passion for the broadcast date, as it's caused me untold problems by the author dating it to 2001!
As Libera transformed into the 2000's, their faces became much more well-known, and I can't see one video where Joe appears after 1999. He may of course have joined the back row by then and they sometimes weren't seen in videos.
So, logically he should be appearing in videos from maybe 1992/3 onwards, which set me searching through the other faces in previous videos that I hadn't been able to tie in to the Timeline.
There's a boy in the 'I Have a Dream' video which I tentatively placed in his 1995 position (as you'll see from the question mark above his image above). This is him:
Time to get some more opinions from you all on some of the other 'stray' boys before 1997 that look like him.
Thanks for your help bamboo.
Timeline Google link is here
Last edited by Dinedorelle on Mon Apr 27, 2020 7:41 pm, edited 1 time in total.
sent me searching through some old YouTube videos and their comments, and I've managed to find another name for one of the boys you'll all recognise that appears in very many of the Libera videos around 2000, but his name was unknown until now.
"
This boy was actually among the ones I sent to Ben C for identification.
