Gideon Marc Conn (born 15 January 1980) is an English singer-songwriter from Manchester. He tours extensively around the UK, having played at many UK festivals including Glastonbury Festival. Also an accomplished painter, drawer and sculptor, Conn sells his artwork and accepts commissions through his website.

Early life

Conn began writing and playing music at the age of 15 when his friend taught him a handful of guitar chords; he began adding vocals to these chords and thus began his interest in composition. While completing his art degree in Manchester, he was known to play the piano in the main gallery of the university, as well as using the whole building as a studio for his sculptures. He graduated in 2003 and continues to paint, draw and sculpt alongside his pursuit of music. He has had many exhibitions in both Manchester and in London. Having worked as a

labourer A laborer (or labourer) is a person who works in manual labor types in the construction industry workforce. Laborers are in a working class of wage-earners in which their only possession of significant material value is their labor. Industries e ...

for a year following his attending of university he decided to pursue a career as an artist and musician.

Music career

Conn's songwriting combines

fingerpicking Fingerstyle guitar is the technique of playing the guitar or bass guitar by plucking the strings directly with the fingertips, fingernails, or picks attached to fingers, as opposed to flatpicking (plucking individual notes with a single plectr ...

acoustic playing with jazz-inspired chord progressions and hip-hop rhythms. His vocal delivery encompasses singing, rapping and

scatting In vocal jazz, scat singing is vocal improvisation with wordless vocables, nonsense syllables or without words at all. In scat singing, the singer improvises melodies and rhythms using the voice as an instrument rather than a speaking medium. ...

. His music varies between a synth-laden modern sound and a more lo-fi production. He takes inspiration from a wide range of influences, primarily in soul and jazz music, and has expressed admiration for artists such as Stevie Wonder,

Badly Drawn Boy Damon Michael Gough (born 2 October 1969), known by the stage name Badly Drawn Boy, is an English indie singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. Gough chose his stage name from a character in the show ''Sam and his Magic Ball'', which he saw ...

, OutKast,

Nat King Cole Nathaniel Adams Coles (March 17, 1919 – February 15, 1965), known professionally as Nat King Cole, was an American singer, jazz pianist, and actor. Cole's music career began after he dropped out of school at the age of 15, and continued f ...

and

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. In the early stages of his music career, Conn self-released albums, EPs and singles; this included his ''Connpilation'' series. His first official single "I Want You Around" came out on Mannequin Republic on 10" vinyl. His first album was ''New Bop Sounds'' in March 2010. He then recorded the football-themed single "Get Your Hopes Up (Win, Win, Win)" with

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, which was released just ahead of the 2010 World Cup, on 31 May 2010. The second album ''Take It All'' was released in 2012, with a video for its lead single "Fall Under Tokyo" being filmed in Tokyo. It featured the Manchester-based soul singer Josephine on the track "Colours". November 2013 saw the release of ''Highlights and Perceptions'' on 12-inch vinyl and digital download. The album is essentially two EPs; side A (Highlights) being made up of Donna Maciocia material, while side B (Perceptions) comprises five tracks from Conn. The cover art was designed by both artists. Conn released his third album ''Hip Hop Original'' on 27 November 2015. Two singles were released from this album; "I Just Don't Know You Very Well" on 9 October 2015 and "Crystallised" on 13 May 2016. Conn's fourth album, ''Being Gideon'', was released on 24 October 2019. This had been preceded by the single "It's Your Turn" on 23 August 2019. Conn has been played on XFM Radio and on

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, and was the subject of a documentary called ''Hitting Home: Good Luck Gideon'', which was broadcast on Channel M. He was included on the 'A-Z Bestival' Compilation as the letter 'G'. With

Scroobius Pip David Peter Meads (born 3 August 1981), known professionally and personally as Scroobius Pip (Dave), is an English actor and podcaster as well as a former spoken word poet and hip hop recording artist from Stanford-le-Hope, Essex. He first ga ...

and

Ed Sheeran Edward Christopher Sheeran (; born 17 February 1991) is an English singer-songwriter. Born in Halifax, West Yorkshire and raised in Framlingham, Suffolk, he began writing songs around the age of eleven. In early 2011, Sheeran independently r ...

as self-professed fans, he supported popular American singer-songwriter

Jason Mraz Jason Thomas Mraz (; born June 23, 1977) is an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. He rose to prominence with the release of his debut studio album, ''Waiting for My Rocket to Come'' (2002), which spawned the single " The Remedy (I Won't ...

on his 2008 UK tour.

Discography

*"I Want You Around" (Single, 2008) *"Londonderry" (Single, 2009) *''New Bop Sounds'' (Album, 2010) *''Take It All'' (Album, 2012) *''Highlights & Perceptions'' (Split album with Donna Maciocia, 2013) *"Black Hole Sun" (

Soundgarden Soundgarden was an American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1984 by singer and drummer Chris Cornell, lead guitarist Kim Thayil (both of whom are the only members to appear in every incarnation of the band), and bassist Hiro Yamamo ...

cover) (Digital Download, 2015) *"I Just Don’t Know You Very Well" (Single, 2015) *"Deception" (

Blackalicious Blackalicious was an American hip-hop duo from Sacramento, California, made up of rapper Gift of Gab and DJ/producer Chief Xcel. They are noted for Gift of Gab's often tongue-twisting, multisyllabic, complex rhymes and Chief Xcel's soulful pr ...

cover) (Digital Download, 2015) *''Hip Hop Original'' (Album, 2015) *"Crystallised" (Single, 2016) *"I Wish I Was A Volkswagon Beetle" (Digital Download, 2017) *"It's Your Turn" (Single, 2019) *''Being Gideon'' (Album, 2019)

References

External links

Official website

Gideon Conn YouTube channel

Gideon Conn merchandise and music store

Gideon Conn SoundCloud page

Gideon Conn BandCamp page and music store

BandCamp page for Gideon Conn's project with Donna Maciocia
{{DEFAULTSORT:Conn, Gideon 1980 births Living people English male singer-songwriters English singer-songwriters Musicians from Manchester 21st-century English singers 21st-century British male singers