| Paul Heaton |
| Background information |
| Birth name |
Paul David Heaton |
| Born |
May 9, 1962 (1962-05-09) (age 45)
 Birkenhead,
England |
| Genre(s) |
Indie Pop, Pop, Alternative
rock |
| Occupation(s) |
Vocalist, Songwriter |
| Instrument(s) |
Vocals, Harmonica, Guitar |
| Years active |
1982 - Present |
| Label(s) |
Go! Discs, Universal,
Ark
21, Mercury, Sony BMG |
Associated
acts |
The
Housemartins, The Beautiful South, Biscuit Boy |
| Website |
http://www.paulheaton.com |
Paul David Heaton (born May 9, 1962) is an English singer-songwriter.
He was a member of The Beautiful South,
who disbanded in 2007, and a member of The
Housemartins, who disbanded in 1988.
|
Contents
- 1 Early
years
- 2 Early
music career
- 3 The
Housemartins
- 4 The
Beautiful South
- 5 Biscuit
Boy
- 6 Politics
- 7 The
Future
- 8 References
|
Early years
Heaton was born in Birkenhead, England, the
third son of Horace Heaton and Doris James Heaton. His father was a
football player and came quite close to having a professional career
with Liverpool, Everton and Tranmere Rovers. Paul was brought up in Sheffield
(he attended King Edward VII
School and remains a supporter of Sheffield
United),
and was very athletic as a boy, excelling particularly in cross
country. When he was 14 years old, the Heaton family moved to Surrey,
where Paul became known as a class eccentric; he was soon expelled from
his school for numerous incidents of bad behaviour. Due to his lack of O-Levels, his
mother insisted he follow his brother, Adrian, into college, where he
met several students who played in their own bands.
Early music career
Paul's first musical experience was in a band called Tools
Down alongside brother Adrian and friend John Box. They only made one
recording, "All I Want", although they gained experience from playing
in pubs. At Reigate College, Paul decided he was
going to be in a band, though his poor behaviour continued, as he set
off bangers and robbed the college safe. However, it was at Reigate
that Paul met Quentin Cook, singer of A Disque Attack.
Cook and Heaton formed a band with John Laurenson and Chris Lang,
called The Stomping Pond Frogs, who busked on weekends. Heaton
described the Pond Frogs' music as "Cabaret."
After leaving college, Paul worked as a ledger clerk for 3 years before
moving to Norway with his girlfriend.
The Housemartins
-
Paul Heaton formed The Housemartins in the
early 1980s. It featured Stan Cullimore on guitar, Ted Key on bass and
Hugh
Whitaker on drums.
Shortly afterwards Ted left the band and was replaced with Quentin
Cook, now known to all as Norman Cook (later Fatboy
Slim). The Housemartins released a number of singles and two
studio albums, London 0 Hull 4 and The
People Who Grinned Themselves to Death. Their most famous hit was an a capella
version of the Isley Brothers' "Caravan
of Love", which was a [[Christmas number Two] in the UK. For the second
album Hugh Whitaker was replaced with Dave
Hemingway on drums. Shortly afterwards the Housemartins split
up.
The Beautiful South
-
In 1988, Paul Heaton formed The Beautiful South
from the ashes of The Housemartins. It had Dave
Rotheray on lead guitar, former Housemartins roadie Sean
Welch on bass, David Stead on drums and probably most
surprisingly, Housemartins former drummer Dave
Hemingway, now in the role of lead singer and frontman. The
Beautiful South released two top ten singles, "Song for Whoever" and
"You Keep It All In"; the latter featured Irish singer Briana
Corrigan on vocals. In 1989, the band released an album, Welcome to the
Beautiful South. The band's biggest success to
date is the release of the single "A Little Time" in 1991; it reached
number 1 on the charts. The band went on to release eight more albums,
including two (1996's Blue Is the Colour and 1998's Quench)
that reached the #1 spot on the UK album charts, as well as releasing
the best-of compilation Carry on Up the Charts,
which also reached #1 and achieved platinum status before splitting up
in January 2007.
On the ITV documentary music series Faith
& Music screened 29th October 2006, Paul talks openly and
honestly about his atheism and his battle with alcoholism.
After a band meeting on the 30th January 2007, they decided to
split. They released a statement on 31st January, in which their
reasons for splitting were "musical similarities". "The band would like
to thank everyone for their 19 wonderful years in music," the statement
also said.
Biscuit Boy
In 2001, Heaton released an album with his side project
Biscuit Boy (a.k.a Crackerman). However the album, called Fat
Chance, was not a success, with a single, "Mitch", reaching only Number
74 in the UK Singles Chart. Due to this
failure, the album was re-issued by Mercury
Records under Heaton's own name. This record charted even lower in the
charts.
Politics
Heaton is well known for being a socialist
and this is best shown through his lyrics over the years, also during
his time with the Beautiful South all money was split equally between
all members of the band making them one of the few co-operative bands
ever, he is also a strong advocate of abdicating the British monarchy.
Some of his lyrics also look at the injustice of world leaders sending
ordinary people into combat and not getting their own hands dirty (From Under The Covers
and Poppy).
These are all common themes in his more political songs, but as well as
this his songs have covered a range of topics from Feminism (Mini
Correct), Global Warming (Man's World), Globalisation (Big
Coin) and the Euro
(The
Root of All Evil).
Some examples of his socialist lyrics include;
“Too many Florence Nightingales, not enough Robin Hoods” – Flag
Day (1986)
“From the front page news to the interviews, its sink the reds
and left the blues, they pretend they’re differing points of view, but
its only different shades of blue” – Freedom
(1986)
“Whisky for the Greek and the Turk, Gin for the Arab and the
Jew, A double arsenic for Mister Le Pen, Cause it's him who soils
Europe and not you.” – Hidden Jukebox (1994)
"For year after year we’ve stomached these views, starvation
can’t compete with Royalties cruise." Man's
World (2001)
Examples of anti-royalist lyrics;
“It’s a waste of time if you know what they mean, Try shaking
a box in front of the queen, Cause her purse is fat and bursting at the
seams, It’s a waste of time if you know what they mean.” - Flag
Day (1986)
“So to a world without hunger, where royalty face death. (I
think the answer's yes, I think the answer's yes)” - I
Think The Answer's Yes (1990)
"Royalty's balloon coming down is a memorable shriek" - Who's
Gonna Tell? (2000)
The Future
On his regular DJ slot with Manchester radio station ALL FM Heaton has said he is looking at his
options.
Heaton is the father of two daughters. He has never married.
References
