Our History

Sweet Jayne started as the brainchild of Chuck Van Cleave and Mark Brinkerhoff. Both had played together for sometime with different groups and musicians and were working in an unnamed foursome with a female vocalist when I came on the scene.

I was considering a transfer with my company that was also the employer of Chuck. One night, before I made my decision to accept the transfer, I went by Chucks house when he said his band was going to practice. While I was not able to hear the full band that night, I did meet the current vocalist he was playing with and got to hit the skins a bit in his basement. After accepting the position with my company in our town, I became part of the group. I met and really got along with the bassist, Mark, and we threw down some good grooves together.

We played as a guitar / bass / drums type band with a female vocalist for about a year. We worked up a number of songs in the basement, for fun, but didnt get an opportunity to perform with the exception of one outside casual gig.

Chuck decided to sell his home and move into a house with no basement. We moved our practice location to our place of business for a couple of practices. During that time, we were introduced to Michael who worked at a business nearby. We jammed and had a good time and soon enough, Michael was in the band.

Our vocalist told us she was moving to Texas soon after Michael joined and I thought that it was the end of the line for this group. We tried a different vocalist (male) and another bassist but after a couple of gigs, things just didnt work out. Mark and I were ready to call it quits.

I got a call from Chuck saying he and Michael had found a singer and wanted to give her an audition. I told Chuck that I was not really interested in playing again and really wanted to just spend more time with my family. He implored me to help out for the audition, and asked if I could have Mark come over too. Mark was cool with it, and we had our first taste of Michelle.

The Rest is History.

-John