A.M. CRUSADE / ALTA MIRA
Alta Mira - 'Behold on High' in Portuguese
(as proposed originally by Sal's mum)
Alta Mira aka A M Crusade, was formed in the early seventies and performed at various venues like the Hammersmith Palais, the Lyceum, Alexandra Palace, Lords Cricket ground, Queen’s Tennis Club as well as many town halls and civic centres for multi cultural festivals, weddings, dinner dances and other social functions. We covered music for all ages ranging from waltzes, Latin American, pop music, rock n roll, reggae, soca, country, disco, to popular traditional Goan music.
It started as a family band, which at the time included the following members : Jovito Dias on keyboards, Sal D’Mello on drums and vocals, Jeff Dias on bass guitar, Joe DeMello on rhythm guitar, Phil D'Mello on vocals and Ann DeMello on vocals .
The band included Seby Miranda on lead guitar, Tony D’Mello and Cornel D’Costa on tenor and alto saxophones. Wynette Joseph, on alto saxophone , hailed from St. Lucia and entertained our audiences with his unique smooth sound . Mariano Gonsalves on lead guitar and lead vocals guested with the band on several occasions through the years. A superb entertainer, he later formed and fronted his own successful band.
After many wonderful and busy years performing to appreciative crowds, " Alta Mira " took a deserved sabbatical. The band reformed as A M Crusade a few months later with a slightly different lineup. The band members that contributed their talents to making A M Crusade’s vinyl album entitled , “ The Crusade Goes On “ , are as follows :
Jovito Dias.
Jovito Dias was the band leader and musical director. He and Sal D’Mello were the original founder members of " Alta Mira ".
Jovito’s ability to write music enabled the band to use session musicians as and when needed especially for the horn section used at bigger functions.
Sal D'Mello
Played drums , percussion and vocals / backing vocals. He also managed and organised the band .
Joe DeMello.
Played rhythm guitar , drums and percussion.
Sharon Ip.
Sharon , an amazing and versatile singer , hailed from the West Indies. She was able to sing the popular Goan Konkani songs, having been especially trained by Jovito Dias, and our Goan audiences loved her . Being fluent in languages, she also sung in Spanish and French .She was totally dedicated to the band , even making the weekend trips from France where she lived briefly, to sing with the band at the many weekend gigs. She loved performing with the band and loved performing for the Goan functions.
James Colah.
James played the keyboards with A.M. Crusade . He is a prolific player who now owns his own recording studio in Stoke - On -Trent, where he produces music for the Smooth Jazz scene both here and in the USA.
Mike Alvarez.
Mike played the bass guitar. Another very talented musician, who sometimes also played bass on The Moog synthesizer for the disco set of songs.
Steve Fernandes.
Steve played the lead / rhythm guitar and lead and backing vocals. A versatile and wonderful performer.
Stewart Curtis.
Stewart was a very accomplished saxophone /flute player. He tackled any genre of music that Jovito wrote for him and played with the band for many years .
Our thanks goes to our family, friends and audiences who supported us and enjoyed the music through all the years. We loved entertaining you all.
Thank you all.
Salvador D'Mello .
