Jane Bom-Bane

Jane Bom-Bane is a British singer, songwriter and poet who accompanies herself on harmonium and guitar. Sometimes she wears mechanical hats which illustrate her songs.

Born Jane Bayley in Leek, Staffordshire, then moving to Coventry, Jane sang in local folk clubs before becoming lead singer with The Swinging Cats, whose single 'Away/Mantovani' was produced by Jerry Dammers and released on his 2 Tone label. The song 'Away' which Bayley co-wrote with John Shipley and Toby Lyons was included on the compilation album 'The 2-Tone Collection-A Checkered Past' on the Chrysalis label. Moving to London in the early 1980s Jane formed and toured with the Round-a-way Wrong Chamber who released a single and video: 'Boy/yoB' (Wrong) - produced by David Cunningham of The Flying Lizards.

In 1994, Jane made her first appearance in the Edinburgh Festival Fringe where she was to perform each year until 2006 when she opened her own café/venue in Kemptown, Brighton.

Throughout the 1990s she was featured on Channel 4 and BBC television and radio, and wrote the music for Steve Hawley’s film The Man from Porlock (harmonium and voice) which previewed at the NFT, where she was later to appear as part of David Thomas' Disastodrome' and Thomas' 'Mirror Man' at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, alongside Linda Thompson and Peter Hammill. A live recording of the show was released on the Cooking Vinyl label: 'Act 1: Jack and the General'. Three albums of Jane Bom-Bane songs were released during this period on the 'Wrong' label (see discography).

The millennium saw collaborations with singer/songwriter Kath Tait, then multi-instrumentalist/composer Nick Pynn. In 2002 she produced a show of palindromic songs and music with him called 'The Year of the Palindrome'. The songs were released on an album called 'Rotator'.

Touring her shows 'Jane Bom-Bane's Greatest Hats' and 'The Hat Lady Sings', 2005, Jane performed at the London Cabaret Convention at the Greenwich Theatre with Kit and the Widow, and received the 'Spirit of the Fringe Award' in Edinburgh for original music. In 2006, she opened Bom-Bane's music café in Brighton, which features a set of mechanical tables which she designed and made with partner Nick Pynn, and in 2007 won a 'Three Weeks' Brighton Festival award for the café. In 2008 she wrote 'Bom-Bane's: The Musical', a site-specific food and song experience, featuring all the café staff. The show is regularly repeated throughout the year. She also performs regularly at the cafe solo, with Nick Pynn or Brighton-based Liverpudlian singer/songwriter Rosi Lalor.

Discography
Bom-Bane's:The Musical (Wrong) 2008

Round-a-way-Wrong Songs (Wrong) 1995 re-issued 2004

Rotator (with Nick Pynn) (Round) 2002

I've Got a Goldfish Bowl on my Head (Wrong) 1998

Underwonderworld (Wrong) 1997

It Makes me Laugh (Wrong) 1996

Round-a-Way Wrong Chamber: Boy/yoB (Wrong) single / video 1984

The Swinging Cats: Away/Mantovani (2Tone) single 1979

The Swinging Cats album track: This are Two-Tone 1980

Guest appearances:

'Mirror Man: Act 1: Jack and the General' David Thomas and the Pale Orchestra Cooking Vinyl

Kath Tait; Vive le Trafic 2001

'Afterplanesman' Nick Pynn 2004

'The Colours of the Night' Nick Pynn 2009