[2] At the age of 19 he emerged as a musician in the Salisbury-based contemporary quartet Sphere in the late 1970s, gigging only three weeks after picking up the saxophone.

While still with Sphere, Sheppard moved to Paris, working with French bands Lumière and Urban Sax.

[8] The band featured many notable players, including drummer Han Bennick, trumpeter Claude Deppa and trombonist Gary Valente.

This band turned into In Co-Motion, which included keyboardist Steve Lodder and bassist Sylvan Richardson, who released an eponymous album in 1991.

Big Co-Motion recorded a live album at London jazz club Ronnie Scott's, Delivery Suite, which was released by Blue Note in 1994.