Background
His father was a musician and instrument maker and encouraged his progress.
His father was a musician and instrument maker and encouraged his progress.
His most successful hit was Kiss Me, Honey Honey, Kiss Me which reached number 3 in 1959 in the charts sung by Shirley Bassey. Timothy started playing the flute aged 8 years. While working as a tailor he taught himself double bass and saxophone.
Timothy arrived in London from Trinidad in 1948. Timothy accompanied the calypso artist Lord Kitchener and was bandleader Cab Kaye's featured saxophone soloist. He was also greatly involved in the emerging bebop scene in London.
Here he met the famous American jazz patron and Rothschild heiress, Baroness Pannonica de Koenigswarter, when sharing a bill with pianist Teddy Wilson. When she opened the refurbished Studio 51, London's leading modern jazz venue, he became resident bandleader - Al Timothy and his All-Stars. Timothy also appeared on British television’s ground-breaking teen music programme, Oh Boy! (TV series).
His connection with De Koenigswarter brought him to New York in 1956, where she opened doors to the saxophonist, and introduced him to pianist Thelonious Monk, Sonny Rollins and Ernie Henry
On return to England he continued to work as a band leader/saxophonist and songwriter, successes included Football Football and Thats What Love Does For You recorded by Edmundo Ros & David Essex. Al Timothy died in 2000 following complications of a stroke in 1999.