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 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 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 Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

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 Greg Wells is a Canadian musician, record producer, songwriter and audio engineer. Wells has songs on over 130 million albums sold. He has worked with John Legend, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Ariana Grande, Jazmine Sullivan, Kid Cudi, Adele, Rufus Wai ...

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and

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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 Raymond Keane, born Raymond Kortz, (1906–1973) was an American actor during the silent film era. He was tall and striking. He was the son of jeweler Harry Kortz. He died in Los Angeles. Selected filmography * '' The Midnight Sun'' (1926) * ' ...

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. 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 ...

. 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

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classics receiving a seal of approval by Newman himself, which boasted a performance with the Brooklyn Philharmonic Orchestra 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 Julie Feeney is a singer-songwriter, composer, actress, and record producer from Galway, Ireland. She produces and orchestrates her own work, composing both instrumental and electronic music, with full orchestrations. She is a three-time nomi ...

to present a series of radio shows on Lyric FM 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'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 ...

's 1916 Rising. During his musical career Lukeman has worked with Golden Globe nominated composer

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, 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 Records ...

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

, Craig Armstrong and Martin Clancy. Lukeman has also performed over the years supporting or alongside U2,

Ronnie Wood Ronald David Wood (born 1 June 1947) is an English rock musician, best known as an official member of the Rolling Stones since 1975, as well as a member of Faces and the Jeff Beck Group. Wood began his career in 1964, playing guitar with a nu ...

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and

Jimmy Page James Patrick Page (born 9 January 1944) is an English musician who achieved international success as the guitarist and founder of the rock band Led Zeppelin. Page is prolific in creating guitar riffs. His style involves various alternative ...

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, Jools Holland, and

Marianne Faithfull Marianne Evelyn Gabriel Faithfull (born 29 December 1946) is an English singer and actress. She achieved popularity in the 1960s with the release of her hit single " As Tears Go By" and became one of the lead female artists during the British I ...

, and has appeared at venues such as Olympia Paris,

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