Name	Jeff Nuttall
Birth name	Jeffrey Addison Nuttall
Birth date	July 08, 1933
Birth place	Clitheroe, Lancashire
Death date	January 04, 2004
Death place	Abergavenny, Monmouthshire, Wales
Occupation	PoetPublisherActorPainterSculptorJazz trumpeterAnarchist sympathiserSocial commentator

Jeff Nuttall (July 8, 1933 – January 4, 2004) was an English poet, publisher, actor, painter, sculptor, jazz trumpeter, anarchist sympathiser and social commentator who was a key part of the British 1960s counter-culture. He was the brother of literary critic A.D. Nuttall.

Life and work

Jeff Nuttall was born in Clitheroe, Lancashire, and grew up in Herefordshire. He studied painting in the years after the Second World War and began publishing poetry in the early 1960s. Together with Bob Cobbing, he founded the influential Writers Forum Press and writers workshop. He also associated with many of the American beat generation writers, especially William Burroughs.

In 1966 he was one of the founders of the People Show, an early and long-lasting performance art group and was involved in the founding of the UK underground newspaper International Times.

In 1967 two of his illustrations appeared in counter-culture tabloid newspaper The Last Times (Volume 1, number 1, Fall 1967) published by Charles Plymell.

His 1968 book Bomb Culture was one of the key texts of the countercultural revolution of the time, a work which drew the links between the emergence of alternatives to mainstream societal norms and the threatening backdrop of potential nuclear cataclysm. Nuttall was one of the pioneers of the happening in Britain.

Nuttall served as Chairman of the National Poetry Society from 1975 to 1976, a period when the Society briefly served as a home for the British Poetry Revival. He was poetry critic for a number of national newspapers and was the Poetry Society nominee for Poet Laureate but was overlooked in favour of Ted Hughes.

Nuttall worked as an art teacher. As an actor he appeared in over 40 feature films and television programmes. His Selected Poems was published by Salt Publishing in 2003.

Works

Poems (1963) with Keith Musgrove

The Limbless Virtuoso (1963) with Keith Musgrove

The Change (1963) with Allen Ginsberg

Poems I Want to Forget (1965)

Come Back Sweet Prince: A Novelette (1966)

Pieces of Poetry (1966)

The Case of Isabel and the Bleeding Foetus (1967)

Songs Sacred and Secular (1967)

Bomb Culture (1968) cultural criticism

Penguin Modern Poets 12 (1968) with Alan Jackson and William Wantling

Journals (1968)

Love Poems (1969)

Mr. Watkins Got Drunk and Had to Be Carried Home: A Cut-up Piece (1969)

Pig (1969)

Jeff Nuttall: Poems 1962–1969 (1970)

Oscar Christ and the Immaculate Conception (1970)

The Foxes' Lair (1972)

Fatty Feedemall's Secret Self: A Dream (1975)

The Anatomy of My Father's Corpse (1975)

Man Not Man (1975)

The House Party (1975)

Snipe's Spinster (1975) novel

Objects (1976)

Common Factors, Vulgar Factions (1977) with Rodick Carmichael

King Twist : a Portrait of Frank Randle (1978) biography of music hall comedian

The Gold Hole (1978)

What Happened to Jackson (1978)

Grape Notes, Apple Music (1979)

Performance Art (1979/80) memoirs and scripts, two volumes

5X5 (1981) with Glen Baxter, Ian Breakwell, Ivor Cutler and Anthony Earnshaw (edited by Asa Benveniste)

Muscle (1982)

Visual Alchemy (1987) with Bohuslav Barlow

The Bald Soprano. A Portrait of Lol Coxhill (1989)

Art and the Degradation of Awareness (1999)

Selected Poems (2003)

References

External links

Obituary in The Guardian

Biography and a poem

Selected Poems listing

People Show

The Life and Works of Jeff Nuttall

John May interviews Nuttall at the Chelsea Arts Club, 1985

Category:1933 births Category:2004 deaths Category:Beat Generation writers Category:British Poetry Revival Category:Conceptual artists Category:English anarchists Category:English poets Category:People from Clitheroe Category:Academics of Leeds Metropolitan University

Thomas Albert Nuttall (January 1889 – October 1963) was an English footballer. His regular position was as a forward. He was born in Bolton. He played for Heywood United, Everton, and Manchester United.

External links

MUFCInfo.com profile

Category:1889 births Category:1963 deaths Category:English footballers Category:Everton F.C. players Category:Manchester United F.C. players

Name	Pierce Brosnan
Caption	Brosnan at Cannes, 2002
Birth name	Pierce Brendan Brosnan
Birth date	May 16, 1953
Birth place	Drogheda, County Louth, Ireland
Family home	Navan, County Meath, Ireland
Occupation	Actor, producer, environmentalist
Website	http://www.piercebrosnan.com/
Spouse	Cassandra Harris (1980–1991), deceasedKeely Shaye Smith (2001–present)
Years active	1977–present

Pierce Brendan Brosnan, OBE (born 16 May 1953) is an Irish actor, film producer and environmentalist who holds Irish and American citizenship. After leaving school at 16, Brosnan began training in commercial illustration, but trained at the Drama Centre in London for three years. Following a stage acting career he rose to popularity in the television series Remington Steele (1982–87).

After Remington Steele, Brosnan took the lead in many films such as Dante's Peak and The Thomas Crown Affair. In 1995, he became the fifth actor to portray secret agent James Bond in the official film series, starring in four films between 1995 and 2002. He also provided his voice and likeness to Bond in the 2004 video game . Since playing Bond, he has starred in such successes as The Matador (nominated for a Golden Globe, 2005), Mamma Mia! (National Movie Award, 2008), and The Ghost Writer (2010).

In 1996, along with Beau St. Clair, Brosnan formed Irish DreamTime, a Los Angeles-based production company. In later years, he has become known for his charitable work and environmental activism.

He was married to Australian actress Cassandra Harris from 1980 until her death in 1991. He married American journalist and author Keely Shaye Smith in 2001, becoming an American citizen in 2004.

Early life

Brosnan was born at Saint Mary's Hospital in Drogheda, County Louth, and was their only child. He lived in Navan, County Meath for 12 years and considers it as his hometown. Brosnan's mother moved to London to work as a nurse after his father abandoned the family. According to Brosnan, }}

Brosnan was largely brought up by his grandparents, Philip and Kathleen Smith, from a young age. After their death, he lived with an aunt and then an uncle, but was subsequently sent to live with a woman named Eileen. family and educated in a local school run by the Christian Brothers while serving as an altar boy. Brosnan quickly embraced his mother's new husband as a father figure. Later moving back to London, Brosnan was educated at Elliott School, a state secondary modern school in Putney, west London. Brosnan has spoken about the transition from Ireland to England and his education in London; "When you go to a very large city, a metropolis like London, as an Irish boy of 10, life suddenly moves pretty fast. From a little school of, say, seven classrooms in Ireland, to this very large comprehensive school, with over 2,000 children. And you're Irish. And they make you feel it; the British have a wonderful way of doing that, and I had a certain deep sense of being an outsider."

After leaving school at 16, he decided to be a painter and began training in commercial illustration at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design. At the Oval House in 1969, he came to a workshop to rehearse. A fire eater was teaching women how to put the flames across the chest while topless, and he decided to join in and learned how to fire-eat. A circus agent saw him busking and hired him for three years. Brosnan has described the feeling of becoming an actor and the impact it had on his life: "When I found acting, or when acting found me, it was a liberation. It was a stepping stone into another life, away from a life that I had, and acting was something I was good at, something which was appreciated. That was a great satisfaction in my life." He was widely commended for his commitment to Rugby League, and is a fully qualified rugby league referee. He cites his best moment refereeing as a match between Bath and Harlequins under 11's. His performance caused a stir in London and Brosnan still has the telegram sent by Williams, stating only "Thank God for you, my dear boy". In 1977 he was picked by Franco Zeffirelli to appear in the play Filumena by Eduardo De Filippo opposite Joan Plowright and Frank Finlay.

He continued his career making brief appearances in films such as The Long Good Friday (1980) and The Mirror Crack'd (1980), as well as early television performances in The Professionals, Murphy's Stroke, and Play for Today. He became a television star in the United States with his leading role in the popular miniseries Manions of America. He followed this with his 1982 Masterpiece Theatre documentary that chronicled the life of Lady Nancy Astor, the first woman to sit in British Parliament. His portrayal of Robert Gould Shaw II garnered him a 1985 Golden Globe Award nomination for .

In 1982, Brosnan moved to Southern California and rose to popularity in the United States playing the title role in the NBC romantic detective series Remington Steele. After Remington Steele ended in 1987, Brosnan went on to appear in several films, including The Fourth Protocol (1987), a Cold War thriller in which he starred alongside Michael Caine, The Deceivers and James Clavell's Noble House both in (1988), and The Lawnmower Man (1992). In 1992, he shot a pilot for NBC called Running Wilde, playing a reporter for Auto World magazine. Jennifer Love Hewitt played his daughter. The pilot never aired, however. In 1993 he played a supporting role in the comedy film Mrs Doubtfire. He also appeared in several television films, including Death Train (1993) and Night Watch (1995), a spy thriller set in Hong Kong.

James Bond (1995–2004)

in Tomorrow Never Dies.]] Brosnan first met James Bond films producer Albert R. Broccoli on the sets of For Your Eyes Only because his first wife, Cassandra Harris, was in the film. Broccoli said, "if he can act… he's my guy" to inherit the role of Bond from Roger Moore.

In 1986, Timothy Dalton was approached for the Bond role; his involvement with the 1986 film adaptation of Brenda Starr kept Dalton from being able to accept it. A number of actors were then screen-tested for the role — notably Sam Neill — but were ultimately passed over by Broccoli. Remington Steele was about to end, so Brosnan was offered the role, but the publicity revived Remington Steele and Brosnan had to decline the role, owing to his contract. and put the series on a hiatus, which lasted six years. On 7 June 1994, Brosnan was announced as the fifth actor to play Bond. the fourth highest worldwide gross of any film in 1995, making it the most successful Bond film since Moonraker, taking inflation into account. It holds an 80% Rotten tomato rating, while Metacritic, holds it at 65%. In the Chicago Sun-Times, Roger Ebert gave the film 3 stars out of 4, and said Brosnan's Bond was "somehow more sensitive, more vulnerable, more psychologically complete" than the previous ones, also commenting on Bond's "loss of innocence" since previous films. James Berardinelli described Brosnan as "a decided improvement over his immediate predecessor" with a "flair for wit to go along with his natural charm", but added that "fully one-quarter of Goldeneye is momentum-killing padding."

In 1996, Brosnan formed a film production company entitled "Irish DreamTime" along with producing partner and long time friend Beau St. Clair.

Brosnan returned in 1997's Tomorrow Never Dies and 1999's The World Is Not Enough, which were also successful. In 2002, Brosnan appeared for his fourth time as Bond in Die Another Day, receiving mixed reviews but was a success at the box office. Brosnan himself subsequently criticised many aspects of his fourth Bond movie. During the promotion, he mentioned that he would like to continue his role as James Bond: "I'd like to do another, sure. Connery did six. Six would be a number, then never come back." Brosnan asked EON Productions when accepting the role, to be allowed to work on other projects between Bond films. The request was granted, and for every Bond film, Brosnan appeared in at least two other mainstream films, including several he produced, Throughout 2004, it was rumoured that negotiations had broken down between Brosnan and the producers to make way for a new and younger actor. This was denied by MGM and EON Productions. In July 2004, Brosnan announced that he was quitting the role, stating "Bond is another lifetime, behind me". In October 2004, Brosnan said he considered himself dismissed from the role. Although Brosnan had been rumoured frequently as still in the running to play 007, he had denied it several times, and in February 2005 he posted on his website that he was finished with the role. Daniel Craig took over the role on 14 October 2005. In an interview with The Globe and Mail, Brosnan was asked what he thought of Daniel Craig as the new James Bond. He replied, "I'm looking forward to it like we're all looking forward to it. Daniel Craig is a great actor and he's going to do a fantastic job". He reaffirmed this support in an interview to the International Herald Tribune, stating that "[Craig's] on his way to becoming a memorable Bond."

During his tenure on the James Bond films, Brosnan also took part in James Bond video games. In 2002, Brosnan's likeness was used as the face of Bond in the James Bond video game (voiced by Maxwell Caulfield). In 2004, Brosnan starred in the Bond game , contracting for his likeness to be used as well as doing the voice-work for the character. He also starred along with Jamie Lee Curtis and Geoffrey Rush in The Tailor of Panama in 2001, and lent his voice to The Simpsons episode "Treehouse of Horror XII", as a machine with Pierce Brosnan's voice.

Post-James Bond (2004–present)

Since 2004, Brosnan has talked of backing a film about Caitlin Macnamara, wife of poet Dylan Thomas, the title role to be played by Miranda Richardson. Brosnan's first post-Bond role was that of Daniel Rafferty in 2004's Laws of Attraction. Garreth Murphy, of entertainment.ie, described Brosnan's performance as "surprisingly effective, gently riffing off his James Bond persona and supplementing it with a raffish energy". In the same year, Brosnan starred in After the Sunset alongside Salma Hayek and Woody Harrelson. The film elicited generally negative reviews and a 17% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Brosnan's next film was 2005's The Matador. He starred as Julian Noble, a jaded, neurotic assassin who meets a travelling salesman (Greg Kinnear) in a Mexican bar. The film garnered generally positive reviews. Roger Ebert for the Chicago Sun-Times called Brosnan's performance the best of his career. Brosnan was nominated for a Golden Globe award for Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy but lost to Joaquin Phoenix for Walk the Line. In December 2005, Brosnan was reported to be starring in The November Man, an adaptation of Bill Granger's novel, There Are No Spies, but the project was cancelled in 2007.

In 2007, Brosnan appeared in the film Seraphim Falls alongside fellow Irishman Liam Neeson. The film was released for limited screenings on 26 January 2007 to average reviews. Kevin Crust of the Los Angeles Times noted that Brosnan and Neeson made "fine adversaries;" Michael Rechtshaffen of The Hollywood Reporter thought that they were "hard-pressed to inject some much-needed vitality into their sparse lines." During the same year, Brosnan spoke of making a western with fellow Irishmen Gabriel Byrne and Colm Meaney and making an adaptation of the 1990 novel The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle. It was suggested that Brosnan would play the ship's captain, Jaggery, joining Saoirse Ronan and Morgan Freeman. In that same year Brosnan starred as Tom Ryan in Butterfly on a Wheel.

In 2008, Brosnan joined Meryl Streep in the film adaption of the ABBA musical Mamma Mia!. He played Sam Carmichael, one of three men rumoured to be the father of lead Amanda Seyfried, while Streep played her mother. Judy Craymer, producer to the film, said "Pierce brings a certain smooch factor, and we think he'll have great chemistry with Meryl in a romantic comedy." Brosnan's preparation in singing for the role included walking up and down the coast and singing karaoke to his own voice for about six weeks, followed by rehearsals in New York in which he noted he "sounded dreadful." Brosnan's singing in the film was generally disparaged by critics, with his singing compared in separate reviews to the sound of a water buffalo, a donkey, and a wounded racoon. In September 2008, Brosnan provided the narration for Thomas the Tank Engine in Thomas and Friends and The Great Discovery.

In 2009, Brosnan starred in The Big Biazarro, (alternative title The Ace), an adaptation of the Leonard Wise novel, directed by Vondie Curtis-Hall. Brosnan portrayed a card player who mentors a headstrong protégé. Also In 2009, Brosnan finished the well-received The Ghost Writer, playing a disgraced British Prime Minister, directed and produced by Roman Polanski. The film won a Silver Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival. He starred as Charles Hawkins in the film Remember Me and as Chiron in , both released in 2010.

Personal life

Brosnan met Australian actress Cassandra Harris through David Harris, one of Richard Harris' nephews, in 1977, shortly after he left drama school.

Financially, Brosnan was concerned about earning enough money to get by at this time, and supplemented their income by working in West End productions, and a television film about Irish horse racing. Brosnan struggled to cope with her cancer and death: "When your partner gets cancer, then life changes. Your timetable and reference for your normal routines and the way you view life, all this changes. Because you're dealing with death. You're dealing with the possibility of death and dying. And it was that way through the chemotherapy, through the first-look operation, the second look, the third look, the fourth look, the fifth look. Cassie was very positive about life. I mean, she had the most amazing energy and outlook on life. It was and is a terrible loss, and I see it reflected, from time to time, in my children." They have two sons together, Dylan Thomas Brosnan (birth 13 January 1997) and Paris Beckett Brosnan (birth 27 February 2001). As an Irish citizen, he is ineligible to receive the full OBE honour, which is awarded only to a citizen of the Commonwealth realms. In 2002, Brosnan was also awarded an Honorary degree from the Dublin Institute of Technology and, one year later, the University College Cork.

On 23 September 2004, Brosnan became a citizen of the United States, but has retained his Irish citizenship. Brosnan said that "my Irishness is in everything I do. It's the spirit of who I am, as a man, an actor, a father. It's where I come from."

Environmental and charitable work

in September 2005.]] Pierce Brosnan has been an Ambassador for UNICEF Ireland since 2001 and recorded a special announcement to mark the launch of UNICEF's "Unite for Children, Unite against AIDS" Campaign with Liam Neeson. Brosnan supported John Kerry in the 2004 Presidential election and is a vocal supporter of same-sex marriage.

Brosnan first became aware of nuclear disarmament at the age of nine when worldwide condemnation of the 1962 U.S. nuclear tests in Nevada headlined international news. From 1997 to 2000, Brosnan and wife Smith worked with the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) to stop a proposed salt factory from being built at Laguna San Ignacio. In May 2007, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed the facility. Brosnan is also listed as a member of the Sea Shepherd's Board of Advisors. Brosnan was named 'Best-dressed Environmentalist' by the Sustainable Style Foundation in 2004.

Brosnan also raises money for charitable causes through sales of his paintings. He trained early on as an artist, but later shifted to theatre; during his first wife's terminal illness, he withdrew from acting to be with her and took up painting again for therapeutic reasons, producing colourful landscapes and family portraits. He has continued painting since then, using spare time on set and at home. Profits from sales of giclée prints of his works are given to a trust to benefit "environmental, children's and women's health charities."

In May 2007, Brosnan and Smith donated $100,000 to help replace a playground on the Hawaiian island of Kauai, where they own a home. On 7 July 2007, Brosnan presented a film at Live Earth in London. He also recorded a television advertisement for the cause. Brosnan lives with his family in Glasgow, Scotland.

Filmography

{| class="wikitable sortable" ! Year !! Title !! Role ! class="unsortable" | Notes |- | 1979 || Murphy's Stroke || Edward O'Grady || Television film |- | 1980 || The Long Good Friday || 1st Irishman || |- | 1980 || The Mirror Crack'd || Actor playing "Jamie" || Uncredited role |- | 1981 || Manions of America || Rory O'Manion || Television miniseries |- | 1986 || Nomads || Jean Charles Pommier || |- | 1987 || Taffin || Mark Taffin || |- | 1987 || The Fourth Protocol || Valeri Petrofsky/James Edward Ross || |- | 1988 || The Deceivers || William Savage || |- | 1988 || Noble House || Ian Dunross || Television miniseries |- | 1989 || Around the World in 80 Days || Phileas Fogg || Television miniseries |- | 1989 || The Heist || Neil Skinner || Television film |- | 1990 || Mister Johnson || Harry Rudbeck || |- | 1991 || Murder 101 || Charles Lattimore || Television film |- | 1991 || Victim of Love || Paul Tomlinson || Television film |- | 1992 || The Lawnmower Man || Dr. Lawrence Angelo || |- | 1992 || Live Wire || Danny O'Neill || |- | 1993 || Mrs. Doubtfire || Stuart Dunmeyer || |- | 1993 || Death Train || Michael "Mike" Graham || Television film |- | 1993 || Entangled || Garavan || |- | 1993 || The Broken Chain || Sir William Johnson || Television film |- | 1994 || Love Affair || Ken Allen || |- | 1994 || Don't Talk to Strangers || Douglas Patrick Brody || Television film |- | 1995 || Night Watch || Michael 'Mike' Graham || Television film |- | 1995 || GoldenEye || James Bond || Nominated — Saturn Award for Best Actor |- | 1996 || Mars Attacks! || Professor Donald Kessler || |- | 1996 || The Mirror Has Two Faces || Alex || |- | 1997 || Robinson Crusoe || Robinson Crusoe || |- | 1997 || Tomorrow Never Dies || James Bond || Saturn Award for Best ActorNominated — European Film Award for Outstanding European Achievement in World Cinema |- | 1997 || Dante's Peak || Harry Dalton || |- | 1998 || Quest for Camelot || King Arthur || |- | 1998 || The Nephew || Joe Brady || also producer |- | 1999 || Grey Owl || Archibald "Grey Owl" Belaney || |- | 1999 || The World Is Not Enough || James Bond || Empire Award for Best Actor |- | 1999 || The Match || John MacGhee || also producer |- | 1999 || The Thomas Crown Affair || Thomas Crown || also producer |- | 2001 || The Tailor of Panama || Andrew Osnard || |- | 2002 || Die Another Day || James Bond || Nominated — Saturn Award for Best Actor |- | 2002 || Evelyn || Desmond Doyle || also producer |- | 2004 || After the Sunset || Max Burdett || |- | 2004 || Laws of Attraction || Daniel Rafferty || also executive producer |- | 2005 || || James Bond || Video game |- | 2005 || The Matador || Julian Noble || Nominated — Saturn Award for Best ActorNominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or ComedyNominated — Irish Film & Television Award for Best Actor in a Lead Role - FilmNominated — St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor |- | 2006 || Seraphim Falls || Gideon || |- | 2007 || Butterfly on a Wheel || Tom Ryan || also producer |- | 2007 || Married Life || Richard Langley || |- | 2008 || Mamma Mia! || Sam Carmichael || Razzie Award for Worst Supporting ActorNominated — National Movie Award for Best Performance - Male |- | 2008 || Thomas and Friends: The Great Discovery || Narrator || Guest role |- | 2009 || The Greatest || Allen Brewer || |- | 2010 || The Ghost Writer || Adam Lang || Nominated — London Film Critics Circle Award for British Supporting Actor of the YearNominated — Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture |- | 2010 || || Chiron || |- | 2010 || Remember Me || Charles Hawkins || |- | 2010 || Oceans || Narrator || English-language narrator |}

References

External links

Category:Alumni of the Drama Centre London Category:Alumni of the Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design Category:American environmentalists Category:American film actors Category:American television actors Category:Anti-nuclear weapons activists Category:Irish environmentalists Category:Irish expatriates in the United Kingdom Category:Irish film actors Category:Irish immigrants to the United States Category:Irish television actors Category:Naturalized citizens of the United States Category:Officers of the Order of the British Empire Category:People associated with University College Cork Category:People from County Meath Category:People from East Lothian Category:People from Putney Category:People from Southern California Category:People from Wimbledon Category:1953 births Category:Living people

Name	Marc Almond
Landscape	yes
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Peter Mark Sinclair Almond
Born	July 09, 1957Southport, (then Lancashire,now Merseyside), England
Instrument	Vocals
Genre	Rock, cabaret, pop, art pop
Occupation	Musician, singer-songwriter
Years active	1978–present
Label	Some Bizzare, Virgin, Sire, Echo, Blue Star, Sanctuary, Vertigo
Associated acts	Soft Cell, Marc and the Mambas, Flesh Volcano, The Immaculate Consumptive, Marc Almond and the Willing Sinners, Jools Holland, Sex Gang Children, Current 93
Url	http://www.marcalmond.co.uk/

Marc Almond (born Peter Mark Sinclair Almond on 9 July 1957) is an English singer-songwriter and musician, who originally found fame as half of the seminal synthpop/New Wave duo Soft Cell. Including his time with Soft Cell, he has sold over 30 million records worldwide.

Childhood and early life

Almond was born on 9 July 1957 in the coastal town of Southport (which was at that time part of Lancashire, but is now part of Merseyside) in the North West of England. He is the son of Sandra Mary Almond née Dieson and Peter John Sinclair Almond, Second Lieutenant in the King's Liverpool Regiment. He was brought up at his grandparents' house in Birkdale with his younger sister Julia, and as a child suffered from bronchitis and asthma. When he was four, they left their grandparent's house and moved to Starbeck on the edge of Harrogate, North Yorkshire. Two years later they returned to Southport, and then moved to Horsforth (near Leeds).

At age 11 he attended Airborough Grammar School outside Leeds. By this time his father had become an alcoholic, and Almond found solace in music, listening to British radio pioneer John Peel. The first album he purchased was the soundtrack of the stage musical Hair and the first single "Green Manalishi" by Fleetwood Mac. He loved all kinds of music and was at first a fan of rock, blues and progressive music. He liked Free and Jethro Tull and the first band he ever saw live was Van der Graaf Generator. He has always remained a fan of Van der Graaf Generator's singer Peter Hammill. He later became a great fan of Marc Bolan and David Bowie and got a part time job as a stable boy to fund his musical tastes.

After his parents divorce in 1972 he moved with his mother back to his home town of Southport. After leaving school a year late due to educational problems, he got various jobs to support himself at art college: at Southport Theatre as a stage hand, on Southport's Pleasureland fairground, at a boutique called 'His and Hers', and at Bevans Fruit drink factory. It was at this time, aged 17, that he became the singer (because he 'looked the part' and because of his musical knowledge) in a local band firstly called Andromeda and later Hot n' Nasty. The band played covers of Free, The Doors, The Beatles and Bowie amongst other chart songs of the day, and gigged locally.

He gained two O-Levels in Art and English and was accepted onto a General Art and Design course at Southport College, specialising in Performance Art. He had a major nervous breakdown and suicide attempt, and was sectioned at Ormskirk Hospital for a short time.

He applied to Leeds Polytechnic where he was interviewed by Jeff Nuttall, also a performance artist, who accepted him on the strength of his performing skills. During his time at the Art College he did a series of performance theatre pieces: Zazou, Glamour in Squalor, Twilights and Lowlifes, as well as Andy Warhol inspired mini movies. The Yorkshire Evening Post called one of his performances "depressingly nihilistic" of which Almond was delighted. Almond became immersed in the Leeds Punk scene after seeing the Sex Pistols on the Anarchy Tour and followed bands like Siouxsie and the Banshees. He left Art College with a 2/1 honours degree. His diploma show was judged by writer and artist Molly Parkin. Almond later went to stay with her at Mick Jagger and Marianne Faithful's old house in London's Cheyne Walk and Molly introduced him to a London Art crowd. Almond later credited Molly Parkin with discovering him.

Almond got jobs to finance his time at college: at Leeds Playhouse as a barman, and at The Warehouse Nightclub, first as coatcheck and then as D.J. (when he and fellow student Kris Neate started a successful night there, playing early electronic dance sounds and post-punk, attracting a large flamboyant crowd from the North of England). He later started a more experimental night called the Curfew Club and later another successful night at Leeds Phonographique in the Merrion Center. At this time he began to make journeys to London and got small part-time jobs in London's Soho including a clip joint. He used experiences as inspirations for his performances and early songs.

It was whilst at Leeds Polytechnic that Almond met David Ball a fellow student, and they formed Soft Cell in 1979.

Early musical influences

As a child, Almond listened to his parent's record collection, which included his mother's "Let's Dance" by Chris Montez and "The Twist" by Chubby Checker, also his father's collection of jazz including Dave Brubeck and Eartha Kitt. As an adolescent, Almond listened to Radio Caroline and Radio Luxembourg. He listened at first to Progressive, Blues and Rock Music, Free, Jethro Tull, Van der Graaf Generator, The Who, and The Doors, and bought the first ever issue of Sounds because it contained a free poster of Jimmy Page. He belonged to the school record club, listening to all the new Rock albums of the day bought in by the pupils. It was a musical education. He became a great fan of Marc Bolan after hearing him on the John Peel Show, buying the T.Rex single "Ride a White Swan", from then on he 'followed everything Marc Bolan did', and it was his obsession with Bolan that prompted Almond to adopt the 'Marc' spelling. He was also a great fan of David Bowie, Roxy Music, Alice Cooper, Iggy Pop, Nico, the New York Dolls, Jobriath and Brian Eno. He went to concerts by Lou Reed, Captain Beefheart, and Cockney Rebel in Liverpool, but the highlight was when he climbed over the barriers at the front of a David Bowie concert, reached out and was touched by the man himself. He discovered the songs of Jacques Brel through David Bowie as well as Alex Harvey, Scott Walker and Dusty Springfield. Brel became a major influence. After singing Brel's songs from early in his career, Brel's estate cited him as the best living interpreter of Brel's songs. Love of Brel led to a love of all French Chanson.

Career

1980s

Almond initially shot to fame in the early 1980s as one half of the synth duo Soft Cell, whose combination of urban drama and peep show sleaze set to an electronic beat gave them hits such as "Tainted Love" (UK #1), "Bedsitter" (UK #4), "Say Hello, Wave Goodbye" (UK #3), "Torch" (UK #2), "What!" (UK #3), "Soul Inside" (UK #16), and the club hit "Memorabilia". Soft Cell's first release was an independent record (funded by David Ball's mother) entitled "Mutant Moments" via Red Rhino Records in 1980. It came to the attention of music entrepreneur Stevo Pearce (usually known as simply 'Stevo'), who at the time was compiling a 'futurist' chart for the music paper Sounds which featured young, upcoming and experimental bands of the new wave of electronic sound. He signed the duo to his Some Bizarre label and they enjoyed a string of nine Top 40 hit singles and four Top 20 albums in the UK between 1981-84. They recorded three albums in New York with producer Mike Thorne: Non Stop Erotic Cabaret, Non Stop Ecstatic Dancing and The Art of Falling Apart. Soft Cell disbanded in 1984 just before the release of their fourth album, This Last Night In Sodom, though the duo reunited in 2001. "Tainted Love", a cover of a Gloria Jones Northern Soul classic, was in the Guinness Book of Records for a while as the record that spent the longest time in the Billboard Top 100 chart in the U.S.A.

Whilst in Soft Cell, Almond simultaneously worked on the side project Marc and the Mambas. This ensemble released two albums (Untitled and the double Torment and Toreros) within a 12 month period (1982–83), marking a departure from Almond's work within Soft Cell. Also around this time, Almond had a second nervous breakdown and declared his intention to retire from the recording industry, though this never occurred.

Almond's first solo album was Vermin in Ermine, released in 1984. It featured musicians from the Mambas outfit, Annie Hogan, Martin McCarrick and Billy McGee. This ensemble, known as The Willing Sinners, worked alongside Almond for the subsequent albums Stories Of Johnny (1985) and Mother Fist and her Five Daughters (1987). Some Bizzare also released Almond's two mini albums, A Woman's Story and Violent Silence in 1986. McCarrick left The Willing Sinners in 1987 to join Siouxsie and the Banshees, from which point Hogan and McGee became known as La Magia. Almond released the album The Stars We Are in 1988. This Some Bizzare album featured Almond's version of "Something's Gotten Hold Of My Heart", which was later re-recorded as a duet with the song's original singer Gene Pitney and released as a single. The track reached number 1 in the UK . It was also number one in Germany and was a major hit in countries around the world. The album itself would become his biggest selling solo album in the U.S.A, with his biggest-selling solo single "Tears Run Rings".

Later in 1989, Some Bizzare Records released Jacques, an album of Jacques Brel songs. He also recorded in Paris an album of French Chanson and poetry called Absynth.

1990s

Almond's first release in the 1990s was the album Enchanted, which spawned the Top 30 hit "A Lover Spurned". A further single from the album, "Waifs and Strays", was remixed by Dave Ball who was now in the electronic dance band The Grid.

In 1991, Soft Cell returned to the charts with a new remix of "Say Hello Wave Goodbye" followed by a re-release of "Tainted Love" (with a new video). The singles were issued to promote a new Soft Cell/Marc Almond compilation album, Memorabilia - The Singles , which collected some of the biggest hits from Almond's career throughout the previous ten years. The album reached the UK Top 10.

Later that year, Almond released a new solo album, Tenement Symphony. Produced partly by Trevor Horn, the album yielded three Top 40 hits including renditions of the Jacques Brel classic "Jacky" (which made the UK Top 20), and "The Days of Pearly Spencer" which returned Almond to the UK Top 5 in 1992. Later that year, Almond played a lavish one-off show at the Royal Albert Hall in London, which featured an orchestra and dancing troupe as he performed material from his entire career. The show was executively produced by Stevo Warner recorded and released as the CD and video 12 Years of Tears.

Almond's next major studio album was Fantastic Star, released in 1996 on the Some Bizarre label and distributed by Mercury Records. The album was recorded in New York with Mike Thorne, and was originally due to be distributed through Warner, but as recording neared completion, long-time manager Stevo took Almond (and some other Some Bizarre acts) across to Mercury Records instead. Fantastic Star was finally released after a long hiatus and much reworking. It contained the hit single "Adored and Explored". This album was Almond's last to be released on the Some Bizzare label. During the original recordings for Warner, Almond was encouraged by Stevo to enter rehab to battle a long-term addiction to benzodiazapine prescription drugs, amongst others. As a result of this period in rehab (which was paid for by Warner), after a short while (after the release of Fantastic Star), Almond decided to terminate his contract with Stevo.

In 1999, Almond signed to Echo records and launched his own label, Blue Star. He released a new studio album Open All Night, which featured collaborations with Siouxsie Sioux and Kelli Dayton, formerly of The Sneaker Pimps, but again changed labels mid-album (to European label Tres Bis V111) when Echo took on a new head of A and R who didn't see eye-to-eye with Almond. Almond released his first biography "Tainted Life", followed later by "In Search of the Pleasure Palace". He had already released some volumes of poetry and lyrics, "The Angel of Death in the Adonis Lounge" and "A Beautiful Twisted Night".

2000s

In 2001, Almond reunited with Dave Ball and played several live shows as Soft Cell. He also released another solo album, Stranger Things recorded in Iceland with Icelandic producer Johann Johannson. He was asked to guest with German band Rosenstolz on their album Kassengift and had a German hit with them with a cover of Klaus Nomis' track "Total Eclipse", which reached there number 11. Almond performed "Tantalise Me" from Stranger Things at the London Fashion show by designer Roland Mouret.

In 2002, Soft Cell released their first new album in 18 years, Cruelty Without Beauty and had a top 40 hit with a cover of the Frankie Valli's song "The Night". Following this, Almond also took up DJ-ing (something he originally had done before Soft Cell had taken off) and recorded with dance artists such as Ferry Corsten.

Whilst living in Moscow in 2003, Almond recorded a project of Russian folk music. Produced by Andrey Samsonov, Heart On Snow featured collaborations with some of Russia's biggest music stars, Lyudmila Zykina and Alla Bayanova, Boris Grebenshchikov and Ilya Lagutenko as well as a the Russian Naval Choir and the famous Rossiya Folk Orchestra. The album included famous Russian songs such as "The Storks" and "So Long The Path". "Tenderness" was an outtake, but later released as a download single through Almond's official website.

In 2004 Almond performed at London's Almeida Theatre in a two week residency he called "Sin Songs Torch and Romance". This was recorded and released for DVD. He also performed at Radio City Music Hall with The Pussycat Dolls on a special version of "Tainted Love" at Fashion Rocks.

On 17 October 2004, Almond was badly injured in a motorbike accident in London, in which he was a pillion passenger. Although the initial prognosis was considered poor, he was discharged from Royal London Hospital on 6 November 2004 and was said to be making a "remarkable" recovery. Two months later he was giving press and TV interviews saying he could not wait to get back on stage. His recovery was, however, to take longer than he thought, involving several operations and counselling for post traumatic stress disorder after serious head injuries.

In 2005, as Almond continued his recovery, he did various DJ gigs all over Europe, and guested at the Meltdown Festival in London in June 2005, hosted by Patti Smith. Almond contributed two songs to this night of Brecht music, "Bilbao Song" and "What Keeps a Man Alive". In October, November and December 2005, Almond went on tour with Jools Holland and his Rhythm & Blues Orchestra, singing two songs during the shows, "Say Hello Wave Goodbye" and "Tainted Love", which had new orchestral arrangements done by Holland. Also in 2005, he contributed a track to the Serge Gainsbourg tribute album Monsieur Gainsbourg Revisited.

2006 saw Almond concentrate on recording, making few public appearances, though he did headline the Manchester Gay Pride Festival in August of that year. Almond also appears on the 2006 album Black Ships Ate the Sky by experimental band Current 93.

Almond signed a three album deal with Sanctuary and released a new album of cover songs, Stardom Road, on 4 June 2007, It features artists such as St Etienne's Sarah Cracknell and Antony from Antony and the Johnsons. The title track was a reworking of the Third World War 1970s track and two of the cover versions included in this new album are Dusty Springfield's "I Close My Eyes and Count to Ten", which was recorded with Sarah Cracknell, and Gene Pitney's "Backstage (I'm Lonely)", as a tribute to the late crooner, featuring a guest appearance by Jools Holland. The album also included one new self-penned song, "Redeem Me (Beauty Will Redeem the World)", his first composition since the near-fatal motorbike accident. The deal came abruptly to an end when Sanctuary went bankrupt and folded in 2008.

Almond made his return to the London stage as a special surprise guest at a concert by Antony and the Johnsons soon after his accident but a three-night run at the historic Wilton's Music Hall in May 2007 were his first full-length UK shows since his accident. He had been warming up with shows in Barcelona, Athens and Moscow. He then recorded a BBC Radio special which was broadcast on BBC Radio 2 on 1 June 2007, and played a mini-tour in June and July, culminating in a 50th birthday concert before 2,000 fans and friends at Shepherd's Bush Empire in London on 9 July.

On 29 July 2007, Almond made his first ever live appearance in his home town of Southport as a guest of Jools Holland's Rhythm and Blues Orchestra, with whom he again performed "Say Hello Wave Goodbye" and "Tainted Love" He awarded The Doors (Ray Manzarek and Robbie Krieger) a Hall of Fame Award on behalf of Mojo Magazine at their 2007 awards.

Almond toured again extensively with Jools Holland in 2008, performing a longer set which included Edith Piaf's Hymn of Love and On My Soul a song written with Jools Holland. He also performed a two week 'Sin Songs Torch and Romance' residency at London's Wilton's Music Hall which was filmed and recorded for a live DVD and album called 'Bluegate Fields-live at Wilton's Music hall'. Almond was later made a Patron of the Music Hall.

In the same year, alongside Current 93 frontman David Tibet and sopranist Ernesto Tomasini, he sings on Digital Angel, the debut album of Greek composer Othon Mataragas. Other performances that year included the Peace One Day concert at the albert Hall where he sang with a Gospel Choir and a performance also at the albert Hall for the Yves St Laurent label at the Fashion Rocks event. He also performed at tributes to Marc Bolan (where he sang Tainted Love for the first and last time with Gloria Jones,) Jacques Brel, Current 93 and Sandy Denny.

2009 saw the release of a new album Orpheus In Exile - Songs of Vadim Kozin, which consisted of covers of the Gypsy Russian Romance singer Vadim Kozin songs, and the start of a UK tour, supported by Baby Dee, beginning with a concert at The Roundhouse on the 1st November.

2010s

In June 2010, Almond released Varieté, his first studio album of self-penned songs in almost a decade. Almond has stated this will possibly be his last fully self-penned album. He also announced a new concert tour in Autumn 2010 to celebrate his 30 years in music. Almond was also awarded a Hero Award by the music magazine Mojo. Antony Hegarty presented the award.

On November 30, 2010, Almond was due to perform at his 30th Anniversary Greatest Hits Tour at the Villa Marina, in Douglas, Isle of Man. However due to severe weather on The Island on 28 November this has now been postponed until December 9.

Collaborations

Almond has had a varied career spanning 30 years. During this time, after a career with Soft Cell and Marc and the Mambas, he has collaborated with a wide range of artists including Antony and The Johnsons, Jools Holland, Siouxsie Sioux, Nick Cave, P.J. Proby, Nico, Kelli Dayton, Neal X (on the albums Fantastic Star and Open All Night), Marie France, Agnes Bernelle, Lydia Lunch, Gene Pitney, Foetus (a.k.a. J. G. Thirlwell), Bronski Beat, Psychic TV, Coil, Sally Timms of the Mekons, King Roc, John Cale, David Johansen of The New York Dolls, German band Rosenstolz and Greek composer Othon Mataragas, plus a selection of famous Russian music stars including Lyudmilla Zykina, Alla Bayanova, Boris Grebenshchikov and Ilya Lagutenko of the band Mumiy Trol.

Autobiography and personal life

In 1999, Almond received accolades for his autobiography, entitled Tainted Life, which told of his early life, creative ventures, his sexuality (Almond is gay), and drug addiction, for which he was hospitalized in 1994. Almond wrote the autobiography without a ghost writer and his publishers subsequently commissioned him to write a travel book, In Search of the Pleasure Palace: Disreputable Travels, whose publication in 2004 was accompanied by a book-signing tour.

Almond currently lives in the south east of London, as well as Moscow and Barcelona. In his autobiography he describes previously living in New York as well as Earl's Court, in a converted church in Fulham and most memorably in Soho's Berwick Street, where he lived in a flat overlooking the Raymond Revuebar.

Discography

References

External links

Official website

Interview with Marc Almond about his car crash and Southport roots

Category:1957 births Category:Sire Records artists Category:Living people Category:Echo Records artists Category:English male singers Category:English pop singers Category:English singer-songwriters Category:LGBT people from England Category:LGBT musicians from the United Kingdom Category:People from Southport Category:Old Georgians (KGV) Category:Alumni of Leeds Metropolitan University Category:Torch singers