Paddy McAloon
Paddy McAloon (born Patrick Joseph McAloon, 7 June 1957, Durham[1]) is an English singer-songwriter and member of the band Prefab Sprout. Allmusic describes him as "one of the most underrated lyricists of the '80s".[2]
Contents |
Career [edit]
Prefab Sprout enjoyed considerable success in the 1980s and early 1990s. They peaked commercially with a Top Ten hit single in the UK Singles Chart, with "The King of Rock 'N' Roll".
McAloon has also written songs that have been recorded by Kylie Minogue ("If You Don't Love Me"), Cher ("The Gunman"), Wendy Matthews ("God Watch Over You" and "Ride"), Sondre Lerche ("Nightingales") -the song appeared in "From Langley Park to Memphis" and Lerche sang it with the Faces Down Quartet as a tribute to his beloved Prefab Sprout-, Danny Seward ("Home (Where The Heart Is)"), Momus ("Green Isaac Pt. 2") and various songs for Jimmy Nail as well as his own band. "God Watch Over You" has also been covered by Frances Ruffelle, and "When Love Breaks Down" has been covered by both The Zombies and Lisa Stansfield. In 2008, the various artists covers album Independents' Day 08 included a version of "Bonny" performed by McAloon's labelmates Editors.
In recent years, McAloon was diagnosed with a progressive medical disorder that affects his retina and impairs his vision. He has also been diagnosed with Ménière's disease, an inner ear condition.[3]
McAloon released the spoken word/instrumental album, I Trawl The Megahertz (UK #167), under his own name in 2003, on the EMI subsidiary, Liberty Records label.[4] In 2006 Prefab Sprout's Steve McQueen album was re-mastered (by Thomas Dolby) and then released in 2007 as a two CD package. The second CD was a new acoustic version (recorded in 2006) of most of the original album.
On 7 September 2009, Paddy and Prefab Sprout released their latest album, Let's Change the World with Music. It features the lead single 'Let There Be Music'.
On the 13th February 2011, North East Radio reported that Olivia Newton-John and Curtis Stigers had invited McAloon to join the 'Hetton Thunderer' project.[citation needed] A collaboration between musicians and the Hetton-le-Hole Historical Musical Society to re-invent forgotten musical instruments. Paddy expressed his long term dream of developing a larger version of the 'Lituus' which he believes will be the lowest sounding of all currently used musical instruments.[citation needed]
See also [edit]
References [edit]
External links [edit]
- Paddy McAloon biography at Allmusic website
- Let There Be Music by Sean Curnyn, First Things
- Biography Biography on the fansite Sproutnet
|
||||||||||||||
|
