London, UK (March 2, 2020)—Funktion-One co-founder John Newsham has officially announced his retirement from working at the live sound loudspeaker brand.
Newsham kicked off his pro audio career with the Steve Hillage Band in 1976, and met Tony Andrews—who he would later co-found both Funktion-One and Turbosound with—in Los Angeles while touring with Hillage in 1977. As the story goes, they were introduced by Hillage while at the Sunset Marquis in Hollywood. Newsham and Andrews met up again once they’d both returned to the UK and the two co-founded Turbosound in 1978, focusing on loudspeaker systems could handle audio for music festivals, including then-nascent Glastonbury. Over the next 14 years, they were responsible for several generations of loudspeaker designs, including the TMS-3, Flashlight and Floodlight systems.
Funktion-One Vero Makes Glastonbury Debut
In 1992, the pair moved on to co-found Funktion-One. Roughly eight years of R&D ensued before Funktion-One debuted its first major project—designing and installing the sound system used for the Millennium Dome’s Central Show—and the release of its Resolution Series. Since then, the company’s major product introductions have included Dance Stack (2002), Evolution Series (2015) and its large-format touring sound system, Vero (2016).
Throughout Newsham’s lengthy career in pro audio manufacturing, he never left live sound mixing behind; indeed, he was EDM legends Underworld’s FOH engineer for more than two decades.
In his retirement, Newsham reports he will be embarking on a motorcycle tour of the Himalayas later this year. Having more free time will also give him more time to, well, work, as he will bring his career full circle, taking on FOH engineering duties at Steve Hillage once again for Glastonbury 2020. Adding to the meta aspects of that show, Hillage will perform via Funktion-One Vero system at The Glade. Newsham will return to the road in the fall, touring with Hillage
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