Bob Stanley (born Robert Andrew Shukman; 25 December 1964) is a British musician, journalist, author, and film producer. He is a member of the
indie pop
Indie pop (also typeset as indie-pop or indiepop) is a music genre and subculture that combines guitar pop with DIY ethic in opposition to the style and tone of mainstream pop music. It originated from British post-punk in the late 1970s and sub ...
group
Saint Etienne and has had a parallel career as a
music journalist
Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on w ...
, writing for ''
NME
''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...
'', ''
Melody Maker
''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. It was founded in 1926, largely as a magazine for dance band musicians, by Leicester-born ...
'', ''
Mojo
Mojo may refer to:
* Mojo (African-American culture), a magical charm bag used in voodoo
Arts, entertainment and media Film and television
* MOJO HD, an American television network
* ''Mojo'' (play), by Jez Butterworth, made into a 1997 film
* ' ...
'', ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' and ''
The Times
''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...
'', as well as writing three books on music and football. He also has a career as a DJ and as a producer of
record label
A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produ ...
s, and has collaborated on a series of films about London. His second publication, ''Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!: The Story of Modern Pop'', was published by
Faber & Faber
Faber and Faber Limited, usually abbreviated to Faber, is an independent publishing house in London. Published authors and poets include T. S. Eliot (an early Faber editor and director), W. H. Auden, Margaret Storey, William Golding, Samuel B ...
in 2013. His third publication ''Let's Do It: The Birth of Pop Music: A History'' was published by Pegasus in 2022.
Saint Etienne
Stanley is a member of the group
Saint Etienne for which he co-writes songs and produces. Live on stage, he normally plays keyboards.
Writing
Journalism
Stanley was educated at
Whitgift School
("He who perseveres, conquers")
, established =
, closed =
, type = Independent school
, religious_affiliation = Church of England
, president =
, head_label = Head Master
, head = Christopher Ramsey
, c ...
in
Croydon
Croydon is a large town in south London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a local government district of Greater London. It is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater London, with an extensi ...
,
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
. After leaving school, Stanley worked in various record shops. While working at
Virgin Records
Virgin Records is a record label owned by Universal Music Group. It originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman. It grew to be a worldwid ...
in
Peterborough
Peterborough () is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, east of England. It is the largest part of the City of Peterborough unitary authority district (which covers a larger area than Peterborough itself). It was part of Northamptonshire until ...
he met
Andrew Midgley
Andrew is the English form of a given name common in many countries. In the 1990s, it was among the top ten most popular names given to boys in List of countries where English is an official language, English-speaking countries. "Andrew" is freq ...
(with whom he would later create the group
Cola Boy). The two produced a fanzine called ''Pop Avalanche'' in 1986. Stanley also wrote four issues of ''Caff'', a fanzine created with childhood friend
Pete Wiggs
Peter Stewart Wiggs (born 15 May 1966) is an English musician and DJ from Reigate, Surrey.
Saint Etienne
Pete Wiggs is a member of the pop/dance group Saint Etienne (alongside Bob Stanley and Sarah Cracknell) for which he co-writes songs, pro ...
(with whom he would later create Saint Etienne).
In 1987, Stanley sent an issue of ''Caff'' to
James Brown
James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006) was an American singer, dancer, musician, record producer and bandleader. The central progenitor of funk music and a major figure of 20th century music, he is often referred to by the honor ...
, then live reviews editor for ''NME''. This led to Stanley's first commissioned work, a review of a
Johnny Cash
John R. Cash (born J. R. Cash; February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003) was an American country singer-songwriter. Much of Cash's music contained themes of sorrow, moral tribulation, and redemption, especially in the later stages of his ca ...
show in Peterborough. After two years he moved to ''Melody Maker'', where he wrote regularly until Saint Etienne became a full-time occupation in 1991.
Even as Saint Etienne dominated his career, Stanley continued to write occasionally for ''
The Face
The face is a part of the body, the front of the head.
Face may also refer to:
Film
* ''The Magician'' (1958 film) or ''The Face''
* ''The Face'' (1996 film), an American television film
* ''Face'' (1997 film), a British crime drama by Antonia ...
'' and ''Mojo'' in the 1990s. In the 2000s he has returned to journalism, writing about art and architecture as well as music. He contributes regularly to various publications including ''The Times'' and ''The Guardian.''
Books
Stanley wrote two books that document the history of popular music. The 2022 book ''Let's Do It: The Birth of Pop Music: A History'' examines the history of popular music from the start of recorded music until the advent of rock and roll in the early 1950s. The 2013 book ''Yeah Yeah Yeah: The Story of Modern Pop'' examines the history of pop music from the publication of the first British pop chart in 1952 until the advent of
iTunes
iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...
.
In 2007, with
Paul Kelly Stanley edited ''Match Day'', a book of football programme artwork.
Stanley was the winner of the 2017 Eccles
British Library
The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the British ...
Writers in Residence Award,
which supports his research for ''Too Darn Hot'' using the Library's American collections.
Film
While recording the album ''
Finisterre'' in 2002, Stanley, Pete Wiggs and frequent collaborator
Paul Kelly made a film to accompany the record, also titled ''Finisterre'', which was described by ''
The Observer
''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the w ...
'' as a "cinematic hymn to London". It premiered at the
Institute of Contemporary Arts
The Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) is an artistic and cultural centre on The Mall in London, just off Trafalgar Square. Located within Nash House, part of Carlton House Terrace, near the Duke of York Steps and Admiralty Arch, the ICA c ...
in London and was screened around the world by
one dot zero.
In 2005, Saint Etienne and Kelly were invited by the
Barbican Centre
The Barbican Centre is a performing arts centre in the Barbican Estate of the City of London and the largest of its kind in Europe. The centre hosts classical and contemporary music concerts, theatre performances, film screenings and art exhi ...
to create a film and music event, for which they made ''
What Have You Done Today Mervyn Day
''What Have You Done Today Mervyn Day?'' is a fan club only release by Saint Etienne featuring 18 original and unreleased pieces of music that featured in their film of the same name about the redevelopment of the Lower Lea Valley
The Lower ...
'', a drama-documentary set in the
Lower Lea Valley
The Lower Lea Valley is the southern end of the Lea Valley which surrounds the River Lea. It is part of the Thames Gateway redevelopment area and was the location of the 2012 Summer Olympics.
A 2005 documentary ''What Have You Done Today, Mer ...
, the site for the
2012 Olympic Games. In 2007, their third London film, ''
This Is Tomorrow'', a history of the
Southbank Centre
Southbank Centre is a complex of artistic venues in London, England, on the South Bank of the River Thames (between Hungerford Bridge and Waterloo Bridge).
It comprises three main performance venues (the Royal Festival Hall including the Nat ...
, premiered with a live performance, including a 60-piece orchestra, at the
Royal Festival Hall
The Royal Festival Hall is a 2,700-seat concert, dance and talks venue within Southbank Centre in London. It is situated on the South Bank of the River Thames, not far from Hungerford Bridge, in the London Borough of Lambeth. It is a Grade I l ...
.
Kelly and Saint Etienne collaborated again on ''How We Used to Live'' (2014), which has been described as "a cherishable, woozy-hazy trawl of London from postwar days to yuppiedom".
Stanley has curated several film seasons for arts institutions including the Barbican, including Gonna Make You A Star (a series of pop documentaries) and Britain Learns to Rock (early British Rock'n'Roll movies).
In 2016, he was commissioned by
14-18 Now as creative producer on a project to explore the impact of the First World War on the north-east of England. The resulting film and music commission, Asunder, featuring a film directed by artist-filmmaker Esther Johnson, co-produced and scripted by Stanley, and a soundtrack by
Field Music
Field Music are an English rock band from Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, England, that formed in 2004. The band's core consists of brothers David Brewis and Peter Brewis. Andrew Moore was the original keyboard player. Their line-up has at times fe ...
and Warm Digits, premiered at the Sunderland Empire in July 2016 and later toured to the Barbican in London.
In 2017, as part of Hull 2017:
UK City of Culture
UK City of Culture is a designation given to a city (or a local area from 2025) in the United Kingdom for a period of one calendar year, during which the successful bidder hosts cultural festivities through culture-led regeneration for the ye ...
's Mind on the Run season exploring the influence and legacy of jazz composer
Basil Kirchin, Stanley co-directed a short film, ''Abstractions of Holderness'', filmed in the isolated area of the east coast of England where Kirchin settled in the 1970s.
Pete Wiggs
Peter Stewart Wiggs (born 15 May 1966) is an English musician and DJ from Reigate, Surrey.
Saint Etienne
Pete Wiggs is a member of the pop/dance group Saint Etienne (alongside Bob Stanley and Sarah Cracknell) for which he co-writes songs, pro ...
composed the soundtrack, which was performed at the Mind on the Run concert by the BBC Concert Orchestra and various musicians who had collaborated with Kirchin in the past.
Record labels
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Stanley briefly ran a
record label
A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produ ...
called
Caff Records
Caff Records was a short lived British independent record label run by Bob Stanley of the band Saint Etienne. The label grew out of a fanzine Stanley put out with fellow band member Pete Wiggs, with the label going by the name Caff, Caff Record ...
, which released 17 7" singles, all limited to 500 copies, including early
singles
Singles are people not in a committed relationship.
Singles may also refer to:
Film and television
* ''Singles'' (miniseries), a 1984 Australian television series
* ''Singles'' (1992 film), written and directed by Cameron Crowe
* ''Singles'' ...
by the
Manic Street Preachers
Manic Street Preachers, also known simply as the Manics, are a Welsh Rock music, rock band formed in Blackwood, Caerphilly, Blackwood in 1986. The band consists of cousins James Dean Bradfield (lead vocals, lead guitar) and Sean Moore (musician ...
and
Pulp
Pulp may refer to:
* Pulp (fruit), the inner flesh of fruit
Engineering
* Dissolving pulp, highly purified cellulose used in fibre and film manufacture
* Pulp (paper), the fibrous material used to make paper
* Molded pulp, a packaging material
...
. Between 1992 and 1994, Stanley and Saint Etienne bandmate
Pete Wiggs
Peter Stewart Wiggs (born 15 May 1966) is an English musician and DJ from Reigate, Surrey.
Saint Etienne
Pete Wiggs is a member of the pop/dance group Saint Etienne (alongside Bob Stanley and Sarah Cracknell) for which he co-writes songs, pro ...
ran the indie label
Icerink Records; the most notable act to emerge from this endeavour was the girl-group
Shampoo
Shampoo () is a hair care product, typically in the form of a viscous liquid, that is used for cleaning hair. Less commonly, shampoo is available in solid bar format. Shampoo is used by applying it to wet hair, massaging the product into the ...
. In 1996, Stanley ran EMIDisc, again alongside
Wiggs, backed by EMI Director of A&R
Tris Penna. The label was to be an EMI sub-label devoted to new talent. The label was short-lived, releasing albums by
Kenickie
Kenickie were an English four-piece pop punk band from Sunderland. The band was formed in 1994 and consisted of lead vocalist, guitarist and lyricist Lauren Laverne (b. Lauren Gofton), drummer Johnny X (real name Pete Gofton, Lauren's brother) ...
and
Denim
Denim is a sturdy cotton warp-faced textile in which the weft passes under two or more warp threads. This twill weaving produces a diagonal ribbing that distinguishes it from cotton duck. While a denim predecessor known as dungaree has been pr ...
. Stanley and Wiggs also previously ran a CD imprint called Eclipse through
Universal
Universal is the adjective for universe.
Universal may also refer to:
Companies
* NBCUniversal, a media and entertainment company
** Universal Animation Studios, an American Animation studio, and a subsidiary of NBCUniversal
** Universal TV, a ...
. Stanley started his own imprint, Croydon Municipal, via
Cherry Red in 2012, specialising in music from the mid-twentieth century.
Record collecting
Stanley is known for his large collection of vinyl records. When Saint Etienne are between projects, he DJs, playing generally 1960s and 1970s pop music and soul. With Wiggs, he ran a club called Don't Laugh in the mid-1990s in
Maida Vale
Maida Vale ( ) is an affluent residential district consisting of the northern part of Paddington in West London, west of St John's Wood and south of Kilburn. It is also the name of its main road, on the continuous Edgware Road. Maida Vale is p ...
. Cherrybomb, a
girl group
A girl group is a music act featuring several female singers who generally harmonize together. The term "girl group" is also used in a narrower sense in the United States to denote the wave of American female pop music singing groups, many of who ...
night in
Bloomsbury
Bloomsbury is a district in the West End of London. It is considered a fashionable residential area, and is the location of numerous cultural, intellectual, and educational institutions.
Bloomsbury is home of the British Museum, the largest mus ...
, ran from 2006–2009.
He regularly works as a consultant for reissue record labels, notably
Ace Records. ''English Weather,'' which he compiled with bandmate Pete Wiggs, was named ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
''s Album of the Week in January 2017.
He has written liner notes for many reissues, including
box set
A box set or (its original name) boxed set is a set of items (for example, a compilation of books, musical recordings, films or television programs) traditionally packaged in a box and offered for sale as a single unit.
Music
Artists and bands ...
s by
Joe Meek
Robert George "Joe" Meek (5 April 1929 – 3 February 1967) was an English record producer, sound engineer and songwriter who pioneered space age and experimental pop music. He also assisted in the development of recording practices like over ...
,
Sandie Shaw Sandie may refer to:
__NOTOC__ People
* Sandie Clair (born 1988), French professional racing cyclist
* Sandie Fitzgibbon, Irish former camogie player
* Sandie Jones (1950/1951–2019), Irish singer
* Sandie Lindsay, 1st Baron Lindsay of Birker (1879 ...
and
The Searchers
''The Searchers'' is a 1956 American Technicolor VistaVision epic Western film directed by John Ford and written by Frank S. Nugent, based on the 1954 novel by Alan Le May. It is set during the Texas-Native American wars, and stars John Wa ...
.
Personal life
Stanley lives with his girlfriend and their son, dividing his time between London and West Yorkshire.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stanley, Bob
1964 births
Living people
People from Croydon
Alternative dance musicians
Club DJs
English DJs
English keyboardists
English record producers
English songwriters
Remixers
Melody Maker writers
The Guardian journalists
The Times people
People educated at Whitgift School