AMANDA VINCENT

Amanda Vincent was born in 1958) in Perth, Western Australia. She attended Methodist Ladies' College, in the Perth suburb of Claremont. In the early 1970s, at the age of 14, she started playing music professionally. Between 1974 and 1976, she was the piano and accordion player, and a backing vocalist, in a jug band, Duck Soup. In an interview with Afropop Worldwide published in 2016, she said that Duck Soup had been a Chicago blues band in Perth.

In 1980 Vincent and another Perth musician, Bernie Lynch, formed a band. They named it Living Single. Vincent was to be the keyboardist; Lynch would be the songwriter and guitarist and would also perform vocals. The two musicians advertised for other band members. They recruited Crispin Akerman as a second guitarist, Don Meharry as bass player and Guy Slingerland to play drums. The following year, Lynch's then girlfriend, Grace Knight, became the lead vocalist, John Bennetts replaced Slingerland as drummer, and the band's name was changed to Eurogliders. Vincent later described Eurogliders to Afropop Worldwide as "my own band".

In 1984, Eurogliders released an Australian top ten album, 'This Island', which spawned their #2 hit single, "Heaven (Must Be There)". "Heaven" also peaked at #21 on the United States Billboard Mainstream Rock charts and appeared on the Hot 100. Another Australian top ten album, 'Absolutely', followed in 1985, which provided two further local top ten singles, "We Will Together" and "Can't Wait to See You".

In early 1987 Vincent, Bennetts and Francois all left the band. At the time, Lynch and Knight claimed, and it was reported in the media, that the departures had been voluntary. However, in an interview published in Countdown Memories in 2011, Knight said that, "I do know…. Bernie wasn't happy with how it was going and thought he could do a better job with a different three." When asked by the interviewer whether she thought Vincent was a good keyboardist, Knight replied, "I don’t doubt that for a second."

Even while still a member of Eurogliders, Vincent began working with other musicians, and particularly with solo artists. Her first such collaboration was with Tim Finn: she played synthesizer on his 1983 debut solo album, 'Escapade'. That album peaked at #1 in New Zealand and at #8 in Australia. Subsequently, Vincent played keyboards on QED's 'Animal Magic' (1984), Renée Geyer's 'Sing to Me' (1985) and Mondo Rock's self-titled album (1986). She also toured Australia and New Zealand with Tim Finn in 1986.

Shortly after leaving Eurogliders in 1987 Vincent relocated to the UK. Her first gig there was with the Thompson Twins, with whom she toured the UK, Ireland, the US and Canada that year. After only a few weeks in the UK, she also made a record with Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood. Then, she was recruited by Boy George, for whom she worked for about five years, playing keyboards and writing songs. Between 1987 and 1993, she toured the UK, Europe and Australia with Boy George; her recordings with him include his second and third studio albums 'Tense Nervous Headache' (1988) and 'Boyfriend' (1989), as well as 'High Hat' (1989), a compilation of tracks from those two albums.

Vincent also continued working with antipodean musicians. She played keyboards, and co-wrote one of the songs, on the soundtrack album 'Les Patterson Saves the World' (1987), and composed music for several television shows. She also played keyboards and organ on 'Body and Soul' (1987), the debut solo studio album by Jenny Morris (ex-lead singer of QED), and worked on its follow-up, 'Shiver' (1989). In 1990, she toured the UK, Europe and Australia with Morris, supporting Prince. Further touring followed, with Gang of Four in the UK, USA and Canada in 1991, with Billy Bragg in Australia, New Zealand and Japan in 1992, with Black in the UK and Turkey in 1993, and with Yazz in the UK in 1994. Vincent also played keyboards on Billy Bragg's album 'Don't Try This at Home' (1991).

In 1995 (now known as Amanda Villepastour) she made her first trip to Africa. Her intended destination had been Nigeria, but due to the execution of Ken Saro-Wiwa, she was diverted to Ghana. Under the inspiration of that trip, and a chance encounter soon afterwards with Robert Farris Thompson's book Face of the Gods (1993), she decided to study ethnomusicology at a postgraduate level. She began by enrolling for a Certificate in Music Teaching to Adults from Goldsmiths, University of London, which she completed in 1997. The following year, she obtained a master's degree in music in ethnomusicology from SOAS, University of London. In 2006, she was awarded a PhD in ethnomusicology, also from SOAS. Meanwhile, between 2001 and 2008 she was Course Director of Certificate in Music Teaching to Adults at Goldsmiths.

After completing her PhD and spending a short time as a Research Fellow at SOAS, Villepastour relocated to the USA. There, she worked as an Ethnomusicology Instructor and as Director of Afro-Caribbean Ensemble at Bowling Green State University, Ohio, in 2007–2008, and as a Research Fellow at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC in 2008.

Villepastour was then recruited as founding Curator for Africa and Latin America at the Musical Instrument Museum (MIM), in Phoenix, Arizona. When the museum officially opened in April 2010, the Phoenix New Times reported that Villepastour and the museum's other four main curators had gone into the field to acquire instruments for the museum's collection. While visiting Africa on field trips, Villepastour had endured hardships including twice losing luggage at an airport and embarking on a 350-mile road trip in a four-wheel-drive vehicle that would not shift into fifth gear. But some of the instruments collected for display in the Africa and the Middle East galleries had never previously been seen publicly. According to Villepastour: "Africa is not all about drums. The continent has every instrument imaginable, and many African cultures don't drum. For example, South Africa has only three indigenous drumming cultures. "You drive for 30 minutes in Africa and it's a totally different world. It's not like driving from Phoenix to Tempe. The clothes, houses, instruments, and the people in Africa are all different." Soon after the museum's opening Villepastour returned to the UK, and took up a position as a lecturer/researcher at the School of Music, Cardiff University. As of 2022, she was a Reader at that School.

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