THE RISE OF MERLIN SWANN

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LESLEY BULLEN (MERLIN SWANN)

Lesley first began singing publicly at the age of 12, influenced by the folk and country scene, influenced by global artists such as John Denver, Fleetwood Mac and Karen Carpenter but also by more local Northern Folk bands, such as the Oldham Tinkers, The Spinners and Fivepenny Piece. 

At the age of 14 she entered the Northern Club Scene as a solo artist, singing a variety of musical genres including Country and Folk. She soon became in constant demand on the club circuit and her success resulted in the release of her most requested songs. 
In 1997 when changing direction, she was introduced to Davy Riley and during that time Country Music became a major influence. Out of the partnership a number of original songs were produced, with Lesley taking lead vocals.

Around 2001 Lesley also established the Country Band ‘Bulleon’ a play on her surname, again writing and performing original material resulting in recording some original tunes in Nashville which was critically acclaimed in the US and UK. The band played at venues across the UK and performed their original material in theatres across the North West. 

Over the last 20 years Lesley, a multi instrumentalist, has continued to record original songs and plays, Guitar, Keyboard, Violin, Bass, Cajon,  Tin Whistle and on occasion the Kazoo!!, ensuring songs always contain a variety of beautiful sounds.
Throughout the years Lesley and Davy have stayed in touch and in 2024 they decided to dust off the back catalogue and …….. Over to you Davy to finish off the story

DAVY RILEY (MERLIN SWANN)

Davy from Denton Manchester in the UK was also influenced by the great songs of John Denver and took up writing songs in the late seventies, early eighties. It wasn’t until Davy’s wife persuaded him to take his songs to the next level things started to happen. The early nineties brought numerous publishing contracts and then in 1992 Davy’s song Silver Moon was taken up by US country artist Bobby G Rice.

Davy then went on to work with a number of independent Country Record companies both in the UK and in the US. He was nominated for the King Eagle Independent Country Music Award in Nashville in 2000 with the song “Makin’ Love All Night”, the same year he won the International Songwriters Association Award for best Lyric with “We’re The Song”. He also received a song writing award of Excellence in 1999 and in 2000 was given professional  membership of the ISA.

In 1997 Davy met Lesley, they became great friends and went on to produce and record numerous songs over a three year period until the end of the century. One of those songs, Needle In The Haystack On The Hill being nominated for The Song of Peace Award in Ireland has become a great anthem for peace throughout the world.

In 2001 while writing for the US Music Company Austin Sharp two of Davy’s songs Daddy’s Girl and We’re On Shaky Ground were released on teen Country sensation Erica Brooke’s EP Jealous which went to number 1 on the independent country charts in Europe.

Unfortunately Davy stopped writing in 2002 after a serious accident and all the songs were locked away. Twenty years later the catalogue of over 100 songs has been dusted off after
Davy and Lesley decided, in 2024, to go back in the studio and re-record the songs and look at writing new material. Hopefully a new audience on music platforms like spotify and youtube will take pleasure in the music of Merlin Swann just as they did all those years ago.

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