Hot Thumbs O’Riley (Jim Pembroke)
by Ronald P. Kane

Hot Thumbs O’Riley was, in fact, Jim Pembroke of the Finnish group Wigwam. Pembroke is an Englishman, but has resided in Finland since the late 60s. Hot Thumbs O’Riley was Pembroke’s first solo album, and also his only solo album released outside of Scandanavia, thanks to Charisma. However, when it was time for Wigwam to make the jump down to England, they landed on Virgin Records, to whom they gave many fine LPs.

Since ’81, he has made several appearances as a member of Pedro’s Heavy Gentlemen (‘Pedro’ was a keyboard player for Wigwam at one time). I understand that lately Mr. Pembroke has been fronting a revived Wigwam! You may have heard of some of Pembroke’s bandmates, namely Pekka Pohjola and Jukka Tolonen.