Jennifer Maidman (formerly Ian Maidman, born 24 January 1958) is a British musician, singer, producer, songwriter, actor and author who has collaborated extensively with many internationally well known groups and artists. Her work appears on hundreds of recordings from 1976 onwards and she has received numerous awards, including a platinum award from the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) for the album 'Hormonally Yours', on which she worked as part of the band Shakespears Sister. She was a core member of the Penguin Cafe Orchestra from 1984 until 2007. She is best known as a bass guitarist but also sings and plays guitar, keyboards, drums, percussion, ukulele, cuatro and Chapman Stick. In June 2016, her website announced that she was working on a solo album in Woodstock, New York featuring amongst others, Jerry Marotta (ex Peter Gabriel), Annie Whitehead, and David Torn. The album, entitled 'Dreamland' was released on 1 August 2017 and features Marotta, Torn and Whitehead, with guest contributions from Paul Brady and Robert Wyatt amongst others. Since 2017, she has also been collaborating frequently with New York-based arts cooperative The Secret City. In 2021, she reunited with Joan Armatrading for a live stream concert at the Asylum Chapel in London. In 2022, the concert was broadcast in the UK by the BBC and released as a double album on CD and streaming services.
Career
Early years
Maidman's first release was L-L-Lazy Days in 1976, as a writer member of the group Red Hot, signed to Phillips/Phonogram, and produced by Mutt Lange. In the late seventies Maidman also trained as a recording engineer, sometimes assisting John Burns at Escape Studios and notably recording and mixing Marc Bolan's 1976 hit single 'I Love to Boogie' at Decibel Studio, a track later featured in the film 'Billy Elliot'.
Recording and production
Maidman's work as a musician, producer or writer, has since featured on hundreds of recordings, working with artists including Joan Armatrading, David Sylvian, The Penguin Cafe Orchestra, Ian Dury, Shakespears Sister, The Proclaimers, Paul Brady, Sam Brown, Gerry Rafferty, Annie Whitehead, Robert Wyatt, Sniff 'n the Tears, Loudon Wainwright, and Murray Head amongst others.
Notable successes include the Shakespears Sister double platinum album Hormonally Yours, (which spawned the single "Stay", number one in several countries and certified gold in the US), The Proclaimers' Letter from America (certified gold), and producing Paul Brady's Back to the Centre (featuring Eric Clapton, and voted best Irish album of the year by the readers of Hot Press) and the follow-up Primitive Dance (featuring Mark Knopfler). She co-wrote, arranged and recorded a number of songs with Boy George and Bobby Z (of Prince and the Revolution), which appeared on the albums Hi Hat and Tense Nervous Headache and went on to work again with Z on the album Gobe by French artist Guesch Patti, on which she arranged and played all instruments. Maidman has also written for Sam Brown, Eurovision entrants Bardo, and Murray Head.
She has written and worked extensively with her partner, the English trombonist Annie Whitehead and produced and played on her albums Naked, Home and The Gathering. She produced two albums by the Irish singer songwriter Paul Brady, Back to the Centre and Primitive Dance (and appears on many others), produced and performed on tracks on Linda McCartney's solo album Wide Prairie, and has also produced Murray Head, Dutch African band Pili Pili, The Kick Horns, Northern Lights, and Lund.
Other notable appearances on record include When in Rome, Union Cafe and Concert Program with Penguin Cafe Orchestra, extensive contributions to Gerry Rafferty's sixth album North and South, Christie Hennessey's platinum selling album This is As Far As I Go, David Sylvian's Gone to Earth, Paul Brady's Full Moon, Oh What a World and Hooba Dooba, Sam Brown's Stop and April Moon albums, and many releases by Murray Head from 1984 until the present. Her distinctive fretless bass playing can be heard on a number of recordings, notably Taking the Veil and Silver Moon by David Sylvian, Heaven and Frustration by Joan Armatrading, The Awakening by Paul Brady, and Peril in Venice by Murray Head. Jennifer contributed guitar and accordion on Robert Wyatt's album Cuckooland, nominated for the 2004 Mercury Music prize.
In 2015 The Vicar Street Sessions Volume One was released, on which Jennifer (on guitar and bass) accompanies Paul Brady, Van Morrison, Mark Knopfler, Bonnie Raitt and Ronan Keating amongst others.