Martin Sommers (aka Freddie/Fredie Satsuma) was a legend amongst Sheffield bands. His love of “proper” rock music (he named one of his daughters after a Kiss track).  Perhaps most of all, he had a passion for life, which fueled an irreverent and enthusiastic sense of humour. I had the good fortune to play with Sats in a few bands and after he died, I wanted to put together a collection of his best work. 

I had access to a number of demos that he had recorded and towards the end of his time, he came round to my home studio and we laid down some backing tracks for songs he was writing. Sadly, his health was rapidly declining and he was all too conscious that his singing was far from his best, but we did what we could. I then contacted a number of musicians that had played with Sats and encouraged them to contribute. Some did, but many at health issues or haven’t picked up their instrument in a long time and declined. Years have passed since I started this project and I realised if I didn’t finish it soon it might never happen. The project has the full support of his widow Sarah and daughters Beth and Jodie. My deepest thanks to all who helped.

So, here it is warts and all – I did what I could to remaster all cassette based recordings, but ultimately they are what they are – memories of Sats in his element, playing the Rock God as he did so well. With his loss to cancer, we thought it best to allow you to download the tracks for free and ask you to make a small contribution to St Luke’s Hospice.