Graham Gouldman
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Graham Gouldman |
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| Graham Gouldman | ||
|---|---|---|
 Graham
Gouldman, as shown on the cover of his 2002 album
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| Background information | ||
| Born | ||
| Origin | ||
| Years active | 1963—present | |
| Associated acts |
10cc |
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| Website | gg06.co.uk | |
Graham Keith Gouldman (born on
Contents
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Gouldman played in a number of Manchester bands from 1963,
including The High Spots, The Crevattes, The Planets and Whirlwind,
which became a house band at his local
In late 1964 Gouldman dissolved Whirlwind and in February 1965
formed The Mockingbirds with Jacobsen and Basso and a former member of
fellow Manchester band The Sabres, Kevin
Godley (drums). The Mockingbirds signed with the
The band also began a regular warm-up spot for
In 1966-67 Gouldman recorded singles with two other bands, High Society and The Manchester Mob, both of which featured singer Peter Cowap.
From 1965 Gouldman wrote a string of million-selling hit
songs: as well as "For Your Love" he penned "
He signed as a songwriter for the Robbins Music company in
1967 and a year later released three singles as a solo artist before
recording his debut solo album,
Gouldman’s reputation as a hit songwriter attracted the
attention of
In what he later called a "creative lowpoint",
Gouldman accepted. One of his first tasks for Super K was writing and
singing lead vocals on "Sausalito (Is the Place to Go)", which was
released in July 1969 under the name of
In December 1969 Gouldman convinced Kasenetz and Katz that the
series of throwaway two-minute songs he was writing could all be
performed and produced by him and three friends, Godley, Creme and
former Mindbender Eric Stewart, at a fraction
of the price of hiring outside session musicians. He proposed the
quartet work at
Kevin Godley later recalled:
| “ | We did a lot of tracks in a very short time – it was really like a machine. Twenty tracks in about two weeks – a lot of crap really – really shit. We used to do the voices, everything – it saved 'em money. We even did the female backing vocals. | ” |
When the three-months production deal with Kasenetz-Katz ended, Gouldman returned to New York to work as a staff songwriter for Super K Productions while the remaining three continued to dabble in the studio.
In late 1970 Gouldman returned to the UK to join Stewart, Godley and Creme – who had in the interim scored an international hit single with "Neanderthal Man" under the name of Hotlegs – on an abbreviated British tour supporting The Moody Blues.
The four musicians continued work at Strawberry Studios,
producing and backing artists including Cowap, Dave Berry, Wayne
Fontana, Herman's Hermits and
Over the course of the next 23 years, 10cc scored three UK
No.1 singles and five Top 10 albums, with Gouldman co-writing some of
their biggest hits, including "The Wall Street Shuffle" (1974), "
When Godley and Creme departed
in 1976 to explore new musical territories, Gouldman remained with
Stewart, continuing the band essentially as a two-piece, although with
regular collaborators including Rick Fenn, Paul
Burgess and Stuart Tosh. 1980's
In 1979 Gouldman scored a minor hit with his single "Sunburn",
written for the
For more information, see the main entry at 10cc
From 1984 to 1990 Gouldman teamed with American singer
| “ | I
was called by the (then) Head of A&R at Warner Brothers I said it would be an honour if the band said OK. I spoke to Graham and Eric by phone and soon I was in the UK, co-writing and co-producing three tracks for the album, which was a blast to do and turned out very well. During the course of my three-week stay, Eric, Graham and I fell in love, as it were, and soon they asked me to join the band, which was an extremely exciting offer. For various reasons, which now seem dumb to me, and after great consideration, I demurred in favour of pursuing my own career and returned to America. But before long Graham and I were talking again, and he asked if I wanted to return to England to write and just kind of hang for a few weeks. I went and ended up staying for seven months. Eric had decided to take some time off from 10cc and Graham, ever happy to be working, hunkered down with me writing and recording in his home studio in Cheshire. Soon we realised that what we were doing was basically writing and recording a home made band album. |
” |
During this period, Morrissey recorded Gouldman's
"East West", originally a hit for Herman's
Hermits. The song featured as a bonus track on the 12" and CD
single for "
After a 12-year break Gouldman and Stewart resurrected 10cc
for 1992’s
The final album featured a song, "Ready to Go Home", written
by Gouldman in memory of his father, poet and playwright Hyme Gouldman,
who had died in 1991. That song was later covered by
In an interview
with
| “ | I'm always happy to talk about my father. He was the biggest influence on me. I always used to phone him during my 10cc days for help. Kevin called him "Hyme the Rhyme". He loved words. He always taught me to be original. He had high standards. He was a genius. What he did for a living was incidental, it was the writing that he lived for. And some of that has rubbed off on me. | ” |
Gouldman included a new version of the song on his 2000 solo
album,
Gouldman began touring as "10cc featuring Graham Gouldman and Friends", with his band comprising Rick Fenn, Paul Burgess, Mike Stevens and Mick Wilson.
In January 2004, he reconvened with Kevin Godley to write more songs. Godley explained:
| “ | In a nutshell ... unfinished business. In all the years we’ve known each other we’ve only written three pure, Godley-Gouldman songs. That, and a desire to find out if the music muscle still worked with someone I enjoyed and didn’t have to spend weeks getting to know. | ” |
In Gouldman’s words:
| “ | Kevin
and I have always stayed in touch even though we haven’t actually
worked together for many years, so I was delighted when he called to
suggest we write some songs. When I asked "Why?" He said, "No reason
... just to do it and see what happens." A good enough reason for me.
What followed was a series of writing and recording sessions ...
Something like the early days when we wrote and recorded for ourselves
with one ear half cocked for something that broke the mould.
I always figured Mr G had the best voice in the band, ironic then that he never sang lead on a 10cc single … Even I managed that. Now justice has been done. Kevin’s voice and razor sharp lyrics take us to places we haven’t visited before… Always a good place to start.[1] |
” |
In July 2006, Godley and Gouldman's website offered four downloadable tracks, "The Same Road", "Johnny Hurts", "Beautifulloser.com" and "Hooligan Crane". The songs are the initial "offering" of a group of songs they have been working on over the past two years.
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