Paul Caplin
Paul Caplin (born 31 December 1954, London) trained as a mathematician at Imperial College, London and Cambridge University. He began his musical career in New Romantic rock group Animal Magnet, which released a synthpop track called Welcome to the Monkey House in 1981 and were the support act on Duran Duran's first national tour.[1]
Caplin left Animal Magnet to become the "secret mastermind"[2] behind the 1980s avant-garde new-wave pop project Haysi Fantayzee, the other members being Jeremy Healy and Caplin's then girlfriend, Kate Garner. Their music combined reggae, country and electro with political and sociological lyrics couched as nursery rhymes.
Haysi Fantayzee combined their extreme clothes sense — described as combining white Rasta, tribal chieftain and Dickensian styles[3] — with a quirky musical sound comparable to other new wave musical pop acts of the era, such as Bow Wow Wow, Adam and the Ants and Bananarama.[4]
The group disbanded after releasing three hit singles, and an album that went gold.[5]
Caplin then launched his own record label, The Love Organization. This had a success with Marilyn, a cross-dressing singer and friend of Boy George who cashed in on the mid-1980s vogue for androgynous pop stars. Caplin managed Marilyn and co-wrote his early songs.[6]
Caplin quit the music industry in 1985. He has since been involved both in technology and film production, and in 1994 produced Pavarotti in Confidence with Peter Ustinov for the BBC.
He currently runs Caplin Systems, a software company that builds single-dealer platforms to make it possible for banks to trade via the Internet.
In 2001 he received an Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award.
[edit] References
- ^ "Soul boy makes the money market sing", Tanya Reed, Imperial College Reporter, 23 October 2002
- ^ Comedy Central
- ^ "Ad Lib", Peter Holt, Evening Standard, 16 June 1983
- ^ "Fantayzia", Adrian Thrills, NME, 10 July 1982
- ^ Cherry Pop Records website
- ^ Marilyn
