Jackie McKeown (born John McKeown; 17 February 1971) is the Scottish former lead singer and guitarist for the Glasgow indie rock band

The Yummy Fur : ''See also Yummy Fur (comic) by Chester Brown..'' The Yummy Fur were a Scottish indie rock band from Glasgow, formed in 1992, and disbanded 1999. The band consisted of lead singer and guitarist John McKeown and a regularly changing line-up ...

who plays in

1990s File:1990s decade montage.png, From top left, clockwise: The Hubble Space Telescope orbits the Earth after it was launched in 1990; American F-16s and F-15s fly over burning oil fields in Operation Desert Storm, also known as the 1991 Gulf War ...

Early life

Born in

Bellshill Bellshill (pronounced "Bells hill") is a town in North Lanarkshire in Scotland, southeast of Glasgow city centre and west of Edinburgh. Other nearby localities are Motherwell to the south, Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, Hamilton to the south ...

, Scotland, McKeown grew up in Blantyre near Glasgow. His early teenage years were coloured by obsessions with David Bowie and European art cinema. At the age of 16 he began playing guitar and writing songs, forming his first bands, Glass Candle and Subliminal Girls, after leaving school in 1988.

Career

The Yummy Fur

Just prior to moving to Glasgow in 1992, he formed

with Jamie McMorrow. He also performed in Cotton Gum and played guitar in LungLeg (his sister Jane's band) for a UK tour. In the late 90s he often played lead guitar for

Comet Gain Comet Gain are a British indie pop band, formed by singer-songwriter and guitarist David Christian (aka David Feck/Charlie Damage) in 1992, with musical influences including post-punk and northern soul. Pitchfork called them "one of the most un ...

and performs on their album

Tigertown Pictures ''Tigertown Pictures'' is an album by British indie pop band Comet Gain. It followed a change of record label to Kill Rock Stars and introduced a new band line-up, with the exception of frontman/songwriter David Christian. Critical reception ''C ...

(1999). After The Yummy Fur decided to split in December 1999, McKeown turned thirty, got married and attended university for the first time, studying film theory. Having become tired of playing guitar, he formed a short-lived electronic pop band called The Girls with former Yummy Fur member and current Franz Ferdinand frontman Alex Kapranos which performed live only once (in Glasgow).

The Mars Hotel

In 2001 Mckeown began collaborating with The Yummy Fur's Paul Thomson, making absurdist electronic pop under the name 10,000 Volt Ghost. With the addition of Jenni McKenzie, this outfit became The Mars Hotel (Thomson soon leaving to form Pro Forma then Franz Ferdinand with fellow ex-Yummy Fur member Alex Kapranos) The Mars Hotel performed its last show on New Year's Eve 2004.

1990s

McKeown began writing and recording songs with Michael McGaughrin. This became

with the addition of former Yummy Fur bassist Jamie McMorrow. It was at this time that the nickname 'Jackie' was given to him via his bandmates. After a handful of gigs, 1990s were signed to the label

Rough Trade Records Rough Trade Records is an independent record label based in London, England. It was formed in 1976 by Geoff Travis who had opened a record store off Ladbroke Grove. Having successfully promoted and sold records by punk rock and early post-pun ...

and released the albums '' Cookies'' (2007) and '' Kicks'' (2009). 1990s performed extensively throughout Europe, America, Canada, Australia, Japan and Brazil. Over the winter of 2010/2011, they recorded a third album but, since parting ways with RoughTrade, it remains unreleased.

Trans

It was announced on 21 August 2013 that McKeown will collaborate with guitarist Bernard Butler under the name of Trans. The band made their live debut at the 2013 Liverpool Psychedelic Festival. The band released two EPs.

Personal life

McKeown resides in Glasgow's West End.

References

External links

The Yummy Fur Official Site
{{DEFAULTSORT:McKeown, Jackie 20th-century Scottish male singers Scottish rock guitarists Scottish male guitarists Living people 1971 births 21st-century Scottish male singers 21st-century British guitarists The Yummy Fur members People from Blantyre, South Lanarkshire