One of the most revered voices in music and a figurehead of soulful pop for decades, PAUL CARRACK remains Britain's best blue-eyed soul singer, writer and purveyor of songs that are deep in the DNA of pop history. Dubbed “The Man with the Golden Voice” in a BBC documentary about his phenomenal 50-year career, Paul, whose vocals have graced million-selling songs such as ‘How Long’ by ACE, ‘Tempted’ by Squeeze and the GRAMMY Award nominated ‘Living Years’ by Mike + the Mechanics, is now firmly established as one of the hardest working, independent musicians on the scene. He’s also a hugely popular touring artist, talented multi-instrumentalist and record label owner.
TIMELINE
1974
Paul Carrack is the lead singer of British rock group Ace and composes their classic hit 'How Long' which reaches #3 in the US & Canadian charts, and #20 in the UK Singles Chart.
1978-1980
Paul plays keyboards in the revived line-up of Roxy Music.
1980-1981
Paul is a member of Squeeze singing lead vocals on their 1981 hit 'Tempted'.
1982
Paul's second solo studio album 'Suburban Voodoo' is among Rolling Stone's Top 20 Albums of the Year. The album includes Carrack's first chart hit as a solo artist, 'I Need You', which enters the US top 40.
1985-1986
Mike + the Mechanics 'Silent Running (On Dangerous Ground)' peaks at #6 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
1987
Solo Album 'One Good Reason' includes two of Carrack's highest charting solo hits in the US: 'Don't Shed a Tear', which becomes a Top 10 hit peaking at #9, and the title track which peaks at #28.
1988-1989
Mike + the Mechanics 'The Living Years' tops the US Billboard Hot 100 and reaches #1 in Canada & Australia and #2 in the UK. 'The Living Years' also wins the Ivor Novello Award for Best Song Musically & Lyrically in 1990 and is nominated for four Grammy awards.
1990
Carrack joins Roger Waters for the ground-breaking live stage show of The Wall – Live in Berlin, singing 'Hey You' in front of a crowd of 250,000.
1994-1995
The Eagles record 'Love Will Keep Us Alive', co-written by Paul Carrack, Jim Capaldi & Peter Vale. It wins an ASCAP award for being the most played song in the US in 1995. The song features on the Eagles album 'Hell Freezes Over' - the first to be released after they had reformed following a 14 year long break-up.
The same year, Mike + the Mechanics score yet another top 20 hit with 'Over My Shoulder'. It not only features Carrack on lead vocals, but was the first Mechanics' hit to be co-written by him.
1996
Carrack resumes his solo career with the album 'Blue Views'.
Session Work
Carrack's distinctive voice and keyboard skills have kept him in demand as a session musician on many projects. Some of his credits include:
- Synthesizer, Organ and Piano on Roxy Music's albums 'Manifesto', 'Flesh + Blood', and 'Avalon'.
- Piano on The Pretenders' album 'Learning to Crawl' (1983).
- Keyboards on The Smiths' eponymous debut album, 'The Smiths' (1984).
- Lead vocals on Roger Waters' 'Radio K.A.O.S.' (1987); keyboards and vocals on its subsequent tour.
- Organ on Elton John's 'Made in England' (1995), 'The Big Picture' (1997) and 'Something About the Way You Look Tonight', which was coupled with 'Candle in the Wind' (1997) on a double A-sided single, setting a new record for best-selling single of all time.
- Organ and vocals on B.B. King's 'Deuces Wild' (1997).
- Keyboards on Simply Red's 'Blue' (1998).
- Touring with Ringo Starr's All-Starr Band (2003).
BIOGRAPHY:
Touring since the age of 17, the Sheffield-born Carrack wrote and sang 'How Long', the much-covered 1974 classic from his days with Ace, and was the voice of 'Tempted', from his tenure with Squeeze.
Then came such hits with Mike + the Mechanics as the GRAMMY-nominated 'The Living Years' and 'Over My Shoulder', the latter a co-write with Mike Rutherford. Not to mention that another co-write, ‘Love Will Keep Us Alive’, was covered by the Eagles and won a prestigious ASCAP award for Song of the Year.
Diana Ross, no less, covered Carrack’s co-write with Nick Lowe, ‘Battlefield’, and as an in-demand collaborator, Paul’s decades of distinction include sessions with The Smiths, Elton John, Roxy Music, B.B. King and countless others, culminating in an invitation from Eric Clapton to join his touring band.
Since the turn of the century, Paul has been gaining real, independent momentum since he formed his own Carrack-UK label in 2000 with the landmark ‘Satisfy My Soul’ release. He has quietly built a huge, loyal fan base, the audience that not only devours his albums, but turns out to see his frequent, extensive tours in their thousands. He’s done that the only way he knows: by making high-quality, accessible pop-soul with unmissable hooks and lyrics that say something about all of our lives. His solo catalogue boasts much-loved signature songs such as 'Satisfy My Soul', 'Eyes Of Blue', and 'That's All That Matters To Me'.