SSB - Sloane Square Band story by Tom Bartlett - Sydney Australia
This story begins in 1970, in the district of Orange in Provence, when Claude SEGALIN picked up his guitar, his brother Roger sat at the drums and their bassist friend Bruno MAGNET joined them to play their interpretations of The Rolling Stones and other of their favourite bands. Two years later, the city of Orange rocked again as
Claude, guitarist, singer and composer, formed the band SLOANE with Jean Paul MIGLIARA on keyboards, Bruno MAGNET on bass, Philippe ATLANI on percussion, Roger SEGALIN on drums and Dominique DARFIN on lead guitar. Their style, inspired by bands like Pink Floyd, Genesis and rockers The Who soon evolved from Pop Rock to progressive rock (Prog Rock). By 1974, Claude had composed a rock opera titled GUELF and the band kept its Orange connection as Bruno MAGNET was replaced by Philippe SAUTOT on bass and subsequently by Gérald BATAILLE. SLOANE played a number of concerts across France in various venues and at open-air “pop” festivals. The players had become semi-professional, but the group disbanded in 1978 when Claude left for military service. The band members lost contact with each other for over 40 years ...
Fast forward to May 2016, when Claude travelled to California with his wife, who was then recovering from cancer. Thanks to Facebook, he reconnected with his former bassist Philippe SAUTOT in Santa Barbara, where Philippe had been living for 4 decades. Philippe, it turned out, was also a cancer survivor...
The next month, Philippe SAUTOT went back to France for a holiday and all of his former fellow musicians came together, after time and distance had separated them so effectively. Only Dominique DARFIN, Sloane’s talented lead guitarist, was missing, having himself died of cancer a few years earlier. During this memorable meeting, they decided to re-form SLOANE for a unique celebration; a concert was organized in memory of their absent friend Dominique, with proceeds to go to "The League against Cancer", France’s national charity institution. Claude, in collaboration with his pianist friend Jean Paul MIGLIARA, worked on new compositions for almost a year to prepare for this poignant event. During this time, Claude felt that SLOANE needed more depth in its musical approach, so he enlisted professional musicians and backing singers to join the band. These included Eric LEBAILLY on drums (ex -Bertignac), Philippe LETORT on lead guitar (previously with Mama Bea), and Coralie RAMS on backing vocals.. In June 2017, SLOANE performed together at Saint-Remy de Provence and, despite every intention to make this a one-off concert, there was such a sense of emotion and elation in the music that Claude decided that the band could not stop there. A second concert on behalf of the League Against Cancer was organized by their former manager Richard NICOLET and a third followed in May 2018 at Les Taillades in the Luberon with equal success. Soon after, the name of the band changed from SLOANE to SSB – SLOANE SQUARE BAND- and new professionnal musicians joined the band. Sound engineer Fabien GIORDANI completed the team soon after. At the end of 2021, a second album was created in September 2021, titled "GUELF" after Sloane’s rock opera from the 70s. New album release "THOUGHTS" on June 21st featuring Guy PRATT (who plays for Pink Floyd as bassist since 1986, Bryan Ferry, Madonna, Michael Jackson etc...) In 2025, Bob Saliba ( vocals) and Philippe Kalfon (guitar) both joined the band. A new album "Studio Live Session" will be available October 8th 2025 (Digipack 10 tracks) ! The band remains true to its original intent and uses Prog Rock as its weapon in the fight against cancer.
30% of sales from “GUELF” will go to the Ligue Contre le Cancer section Vaucluse and a portion of all concert proceeds will always be dedicated to this worthy cause. SSB Line-up 2025:
- Claude SEGALIN, guitar
- Philippe KALFON, lead guitar
- Anthony VALENZUELA, drums
- Alix GUGLIELMI, bass and vocals
- Jules D'ANGELI, keyboards
- Bob SALIBA, lead singer
- Leina VINX, flute and back vocals
- Mallorie ARRUE, back vocals
- Espérance MALBOS, back vocals
15/06/2026
