Featured Artist: Hugh Laurie

James Hugh Calum Laurie, OBE 

(born 11 June 1959), known as Hugh Laurie

From the age of six, Laurie took piano lessons with a Mrs. Hare. He plays the piano, guitar, drums, harmonica and saxophone. He has displayed his musical talents in episodes of several television series, most notably A Bit of Fry & Laurie, Jeeves and Wooster, House and when he hosted Saturday ight Live in October 2006. He is a vocalist and keyboard player for the Los Angeles charity rock group Band From TV. Additionally, following Meat Loaf's appearance in the House episode “Simple Explanation”, Laurie played piano as a special guest on the song "If I Can't Have You" from Meat Loaf's 2010 album “Hang Cool Teddy Bear”.
On episodes of House he has played several classic rock 'n roll instruments including Gibson Flying V and Les Paul guitars. His character has a Hammond B-3 organ in his home and on one episode performed the introduction to Procol Harum's classic “Whiter Shade Of Pale” Laurie appears as a scientist/doctor in the pop video to accompany Kate Bush's song “Experiment IV. On 1 May 2011, Laurie and a jazz quintet closed the 2011 Cheltenham Jazz Festival to great acclaim.
On 15 May 2011 Laurie was the subject of the ITV series Perspectives, explaining his love for the music of New Orleans and playing music, from his album “Let Them Talk”, at studios and live venues in the city itself. He was the subject of PBS Great Performance Let them Talk, also about New Orleans jazz, first broadcast on 30 September 2011.
“Let Them Talk” The album, which consists of classic blues songs, was released on 9 May 2011. Some of the songs are collaborations with well-known artists such as Tom Jones, Irma Thomas and Dr. John. Laurie plays piano and guitar on the album in addition to providing lead vocals. Kevin Brent plays guitar and Vincent Henry plays saxophones. The album was produced by Joe Henry and features horn arrangements by Allen Toussaint.