Jack Lukeman (born Seán Loughman 11 February 1973), usually simply known as Jack L, is an Irish songwriter, musician, record producer, vocal artist and broadcaster.

History

A native of

Athy Athy ( ; ) is a market town at the meeting of the River Barrow and the Grand Canal in south-west County Kildare, Ireland, 72 kilometres southwest of Dublin. A population of 9,677 (as of the 2016 census) makes it the sixth largest town in Ki ...

Co. Kildare Ireland, Jack Lukeman attended a youth club in Athy known as Aontas Ogra at the age of 12 years old, where he was involved in artistic ventures as well as playing music there. He left school at 15. After spending a short period in the family business he began playing music full-time at 18 cutting his teeth on the Bohemian busking scene around Europe in the early 90s. Playing across Holland, Belgium and Germany sometimes playing with art rock band Serious Women with David Constantine and

Martin Clancy Martin Clancy is an Irish musician and songwriter behind several bands including The Witness Protection Programme. In the early 1980s Clancy formed Irish band In Tua Nua alongside Leslie Dowdall, Jack Dublin, Vinny Kilduff, Ivan O'Shea, Paul Byrn ...

whom he has continued to collaborate with over the years. His first vocal performance can be heard on Serious Women's album 38SCR, called after the art-house in which they all lived and where the album was made. Lukeman first came to prominence in the summer of 1995 when he and The Black Romantics took up a residency at The Da Club (Dublin Arts Club) in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...

selling out night after night. The band's set included interpretations of the famous Belgian bard

Jacques Brel Jacques Romain Georges Brel (, ; 8 April 1929 – 9 October 1978) was a Belgian singer and actor who composed and performed literate, thoughtful, and theatrical songs that generated a large, devoted following—initially in Belgium and France, l ...

along with several of Jack's own compositions. The band recorded the album ''Wax'' in 1995 before splitting in 1997. Lukeman established himself as a solo artist and songwriter with his memorable live shows and his breakthrough 1999 Multi-Platinum selling album ''Metropolis Blue'', gaining record deals and touring extensively in the US and Europe becoming a regular fixture on U.S college radio with the singles ''Rooftop Lullabye'', ''Georgie Boy'' and ''Ode to Ed Wood'' John Walshe of ''

Hot Press ''Hot Press'' is a fortnightly music and politics magazine based in Dublin, Ireland, founded in June 1977. The magazine has been edited since its inception by Niall Stokes. History ''Hot Press'' was founded in June 1977 by Niall Stokes, who co ...

'' magazine states "Lukeman's voice is powerful and fluid. His range too is impressive, from the deep baritone resonance of 'When The Moon Is High' to the aching falsetto of the magnificent 'Rooftop Lullaby' ... this is a timeless collection of fine songs, beautifully delivered, from an artist as unique as Ireland has ever produced". He released three singles from this album: ''Georgie Boy'', ''Ode to Ed Wood'' and ''Rooftop Lullaby''. ''Metropolis Blue'' was followed up with 2001's critically lauded and groundbreaking album ''Universe''. The album was recorded in L.A, Jamaica and Dublin with Multi-Grammy record producer Greg Wells of

Adele Adele Laurie Blue Adkins (, ; born 5 May 1988), professionally known by the mononym Adele, is an English singer and songwriter. After graduating in arts from the BRIT School in 2006, Adele signed a reco ...

and

OneRepublic OneRepublic is an American pop rock band formed in Colorado Springs, Colorado, in 2002. It consists of lead vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Ryan Tedder, lead guitarist and violist Zach Filkins, rhythm guitarist Drew Brown, bassist and cel ...

fame producing the single ''So Far Gone''. It becoming one of the biggest radio hits of the year with the album also producing the singles ''Don't Fall in Love'' and ''Little Man''. The album was supported in 2002 with a run of special theatre shows with theatre director Raymond Keane from Barabus. It was called ''The Little Universe'' and combined black box and light theatre with music and earned five star reviews in

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide ...

. 2003 saw Lukeman play a 14-week residency of shows in Spirit in Dublin producing the DVD ''Chez Jack L''. 2005 saw the release of studio album written and produced by Lukeman, ''Broken Songs'', which gave birth to the warmly received radio hit single ''Open Your Borders'', ''You Can't Get Bitter'', ''Chocolate Eyes'' and ''Authentic Fake''. Lukeman followed up the success of ''Broken Songs'' in 2006 with a live DVD ''MOMENTO'' performing to a packed Olympia Theatre crowd. In 2008, Lukeman released ''Burn On'', an album of

Randy Newman Randall Stuart Newman (born November 28, 1943) is an American singer-songwriter, arranger, composer, and pianist known for his Southern-accented singing style, early Americana-influenced songs (often with mordant or satirical lyrics), and vari ...

classics receiving a seal of approval by Newman himself, which boasted a performance with the

Brooklyn Philharmonic Orchestra There have been several organisations referred to as the Brooklyn Philharmonic. The most recent one was the now-defunct Brooklyn Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, an American orchestra based in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, in existence fr ...

in NYC's South Street Seaport. In 2010 Jack Lukeman broke new ground by collaborating with best selling writer Anna McPartlin on her new book ''So What if I'm Broken'', in which each chapter was inspired by and named after one of Lukeman's songs. The narrative consisted of the relationship between Jack L fans. Lukeman was awarded the Edinburgh Spotlight Best Music Award at the World biggest and oldest festival, the

Edinburgh Fringe Festival The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as The Fringe, Edinburgh Fringe, or Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest arts and media festival, which in 2019 spanned 25 days and featured more than 59,600 performances of 3,841 dif ...

2010 for his show "A Month of Mondays". In May 2011 Lukeman joined forces with fellow Irish singer Julie Feeney to present a series of radio shows on

Lyric FM Lyric may refer to: * Lyrics, the words, often in verse form, which are sung, usually to a melody, and constitute the semantic content of a song * Lyric poetry is a form of poetry that expresses a subjective, personal point of view * Lyric, from t ...

called "High Fidelity" tracing the history of recorded song from Edison to the IPOD. In 2013 Lukeman Released the ''Great Wall of China'' EP, a song cycle and travelogue with songs such as ''The Ghosts of Malta'' and ''Nick Drake''. Kicking off The Great Wall of China Tour saw him support

Jools Holland Julian Miles Holland, (born 24 January 1958) is an English pianist, bandleader, singer, composer and television presenter. He was an original member of the band Squeeze and has worked with many artists including Jayne County, Sting, Eric ...

's UK tour. In 2016 Lukeman performed at RTÉ's Centenary Concert to mark the 100 year anniversary of

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

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. During his musical career Lukeman has worked with Golden Globe nominated composer Brian Byrne, the

Nelson Riddle Nelson Smock Riddle Jr. (June 1, 1921 – October 6, 1985) was an American arranger, composer, bandleader and orchestrator whose career stretched from the late 1940s to the mid-1980s. He worked with many world-famous vocalists at Capitol Reco ...

Orchestra, the

Brooklyn Philharmonic There have been several organisations referred to as the Brooklyn Philharmonic. The most recent one was the now-defunct Brooklyn Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, an American orchestra based in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, in existence fr ...

and producers Greg Wells, Craig Armstrong and

. Lukeman has also performed over the years supporting or alongside U2,

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and

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, and

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, and has appeared at venues such as

Olympia Paris The Olympia (; commonly known as L'Olympia or in the English-speaking world as Olympia Hall) is a concert venue in the 9th arrondissement of Paris, France, located at 28 Boulevard des Capucines, equally distancing Madeleine church and Opéra G ...

Royal Albert Hall The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London. One of the UK's most treasured and distinctive buildings, it is held in trust for the nation and managed by a registered charity which receives no govern ...

in London, and The Lincoln Center in NYC.

Discography

Albums

*''Wax'' (1995, with The Black Romantics) *''Acoustico'' (1997, limited release) *''Metropolis Blue'' (1999) *''Universe'' (2001) *''Songs from the Little Universe Show'' (2002) *''The Amsterdam Album'' (2005) *''Broken Songs'' (2006) *''Burn On'' (2008) *''The Story So Far – The Essential Collection'' (2009) *''The 27 Club'' (2012) *''The Great Wall of China'' EP (2013) *''Northern Lights – Songs for the Winter Solstice'' (2014) *''The King of Soho'' (2016) *''Magic Days'' (2017) *''Streamed: Best of the Lockdown Sessions Vol. 1'' (2020) *''Echo On'' (2022) – No. 22 Ireland

History

Discography

Albums

References

External links