A MUSICIAN who’s held on to his dreams through some of the darkest times is celebrating the release of his debut album.

Luke Middleton’s record H20 is a collection of his own original songs, speaking love and gratitude to his wife Jessica, and to the ocean that has brought him inspiration and peace.

Up until the start of last year Luke, who’s 30, was working long hours as a lorry driver. Music had always been a big part of his life, but paying the bills and building a secure home and future for his young family came first.

Then without warning in January 2022 Luke’s world crumbled around him.

“I’d been working as a driver for ten years,” he explains.

“I’m 6 foot 4 and I’d always been relied upon for my physical ability. I’d been renowned as a grafter and so people would come to me for the heavy jobs.

“One night I was coming back from the bathroom and my spine just compressed. I went back to bed and thought I’d be alright in the morning but I woke up in a paralysed state.”

An MRI showed that Luke had slipped three discs but two days later, his left side gave way and he fell. He’d slipped two further discs and had suffered acute damage to the nerves in his spine.

Three weeks later Luke lost his job, and after six MRIs and various tests, he says that specialists are still no closer to finding a real answer to his injuries.

He has been making a gradual recovery but he and Jessica have had to adapt to a new reality.

“I used to surf, climb and kayak. I now can’t walk too far or stand for too long. If we go out for the day or do something like go to the supermarket, I’m in a wheelchair.

“Jessica has 100% been such a huge support. I had an album written before this all happened but I ended up re-writing it. Hopefully it celebrates Jessica as much as I want it to. A lot of the songs are about her, it was a way to express the emotions I don’t always say.”

Luke says that his little girl Esmé-Rose, who was three months old when he got injured, has grown up in his lap and they are really close.

“I can see now that I missed out on so much with Elliott, my son who’s five,” he says.

“Doing such long hours, evenings and weekends, trying to make something of myself and not realising what I was leaving behind.

“The main drive behind the album is for me to try to support my family again, but in a way that won’t hurt me.”

It’s a record where he’s experimented with different styles and includes both acoustic and electric tracks. ‘Getaway’, a song that you can hear on his website, has a Jack Johnson kind of feel, and is about escaping the grind and finding simple pleasures with the people you love. ‘Lose it All’ is about living with autism whilst trying keep up a long-term relationship.

“It’s about losing everything around you that you worked so hard on getting,” he says, “and asking if I have nothing, will you stay by my side?”

The album’s title H20 reflects how important the sea is in Luke’s life – something that began back when he was a young teenager.

“I really struggled with school. I’m dyslexic and can’t read or write very well, and I’m on the autistic spectrum. I got kicked out of secondary before I reached Year 8 and I went to boarding school in Bude.

Wonderful

“The evening routine up there would be surfing a lot of the time and you could stay on at the weekend and surf too.

“So also behind the album is an environmental push really – it’s about how important the water is, and how wonderful it is, and we need to respect it.”

Luke began to do better in the different school but the move cut him off from all the music he’d been part of as a youngster.

“I’d been in the Liskeard Silver Band and Samba Kernow and several youth club bands. There was no music whatsoever in Bude, but my art teacher happened to be a decent guitar and banjo player, and he would quite often give the excuse that music is art and we would jam. My science teacher was a classical guitarist and so we played as well. I knew academically I wouldn’t go to music college. But not being able to read and write very well didn’t stop me, I just adapted. I came out of school with nothing but I had gained so much life experience. At 15 and a half I was straight into a job and 16 I had my first rented property. You can get there.”

Last year, Luke was introduced to Dean Moore and the album was recorded at Dean’s Pipewell Studios in Liskeard.

“We just hit it off from day one,” Luke says.

“He’s given me a lot of opportunities and I am trying to take them all. Dean has produced and mastered the album and is now managing me.”

Through appearing at open mic events around Cornwall over the last few months Luke has secured a few gigs, including Easter Sunday just gone at the Market Inn in St Cleer.

The Menheniot-based singer-songwriter will be playing the opening set at Liskeard’s Relay for Life on Saturday, May 27. Then in the afternoon, the Keltique and Pelynt Male Voice Choirs will be performing the Relay Song that Luke wrote for Cancer Research.

“My uncle’s wife Della Lavers is very involved with Liskeard Relay and I got more involved through the lockdown,” he explained.

“It initially came from me being asked to perform for the virtual Relay, and I offered to write a song. That same Saturday morning it was pretty much written, and it got picked up by the main Cancer Research guys and went global!

“It was an awesome experience and music-wise I haven’t looked back since then.

“We’re planning an event on the Barbican in Plymouth for the album launch and I am then looking to do more gigs and do a tour.”

The best place to get Luke’s album H20 and updates is on his website at www.middletonluke.com and it can also be downloaded from all major streaming sites, as can the Liskeard Relay Song.

Look out for Luke on social media too: YouTube Luke Middleton (@lukemiddleton4538)

Luke Middleton Music on Facebook, and lukemiddletonmusic on Instagram