Jake Shillingford was born on 15 May 1966 in Southend-on-Sea, and he formed his first band in 1980, athough he didn't start a career until the late 80's. In the mid-80's, he briefly attended the Southend Art College, after which he held a job at Dingwalls in Camden, working there during the day and running the Panic Station Club at night, often playing with his band, My Life Story. They released the 'Home Sweet Zoo' EP on the Think Tank label in 1986, but after a few years, he grew bored and left for America on a mission to find himself, returning in 1990 convinced that he would remodel 'My Life Story' as a string-laden, orchestral pop band. Over the course of that year, he assembled a new version of the band, re-hiring his old drummer Aaron Cahill as musical arranger, and adding drummer Steave Searley, bassist Jon King, keyboardist Helen Caddick, violinists Alison Gabriel and Ellie Newton, cellist Judith Fleet, Rob Spriggs on viola, and Rachel Simnett, who played various brass instrum...
