Jimme O'Neill is a Scottish singer and guitarist who has been the lead singer of Scottish rock band

The Silencers ''The Silencers'' is the title of a 1962 spy novel by Donald Hamilton, the fourth in a series of books featuring assassin Matt Helm. Plot summary When a female agent in Mexico is killed before Helm can complete his mission to extract her, he f ...

since 1984. Having started his musical career with Cha Burns in Fingerprintz in the

new wave music New wave is a loosely defined music genre that encompasses pop-oriented styles from the late 1970s and the 1980s. It was originally used as a catch-all for the various styles of music that emerged after punk rock, including punk itself. La ...

scene, they joined Martin Hanlin and Joseph Donnelly in the 1980s to create the band The Silencers.

Career

Born in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

, Scotland with Irish roots, his first group, named Fingerprintz, recorded three albums from 1977 to 1981. A skilled composer, he has also written songs for artists such as

Lene Lovich Lene Lovich (; born Lili-Marlene Premilovich; March 30, 1949) is an English-American singer, songwriter and musician. She first gained attention in 1979 with the release of her hit single "Lucky Number", which peaked at number 3 on the UK Single ...

Paul Young Paul Antony Young (born 17 January 1956) is an English musician, singer and songwriter. Formerly the frontman of the short-lived bands Kat Kool & the Kool Cats, Streetband and Q-Tips, he became a teen idol with his solo success in the 1980s. ...

Rachel Sweet Rachel Sweet (born July 28, 1962)
accessed May 2, 2014. is an American singer, television writer and actres ...

and

Manfred Mann Manfred Mann were an English rock band, formed in London and active between 1962 and 1969. The group were named after their keyboardist Manfred Mann, who later led the successful 1970s group Manfred Mann's Earth Band. The band had two differen ...

. Alongside

(the rock band he is the lead singer of), O'Neill released a solo album in 2008, entitled ''Real''. He also sings in French. In 2010, he formed a new group: The Honkytonk Hicks. A self-produced album was released in April 2011. In 2015 he joined the collective

The Celtic Social Club The Celtic Social Club is a musical band formed in 2013 and led by Manu Masko. The band is formed by a group of Bretons and Scots musicians, members of The Silencers, Red Cardell and Ronan Le Bars Group with guests related to the world Celt ...

where he became the guitarist and lead singer alongside members of

Red Cardell Red Cardell is a Breton rock band that mixes Breton music with rock, folk, blues, world music and chanson réaliste. The group was formed in 1992 by Jean-Pierre Riou (vocals, guitars), Jean-Michel Moal (accordion) and Ian Proërer (drums). Wit ...

and Ronan Le Bars Group and guests as

Winston McAnuff Winston McAnuff, also known under the stage name Electric Dread (born 1957) is a Jamaican singer and composer of reggae and dub music. Life and career McAnuff was born in Manchester Parish, JamaicaCampbell-Livingston, Cecelia (2013)A New Day fo ...

and

Roy Harter Roy Harter (born March 6, 1973) is a New York Emmy award-winning, composer, sound designer and audio mixer, best known for his work in television and film. He is also a multi-instrumentalist for various performing and recording artists. Harter i ...

Personal life

He is also a painter and, being a multi-linguist, has lived in

Rennes Rennes (; br, Roazhon ; Gallo: ''Resnn''; ) is a city in the east of Brittany in northwestern France at the confluence of the Ille and the Vilaine. Rennes is the prefecture of the region of Brittany, as well as the Ille-et-Vilaine department ...

for some time.

References

21st-century Scottish male singers Musicians from Glasgow Scottish rock singers Scottish pop singers Scottish expatriates in France Living people Year of birth missing (living people) The Silencers (band) members 20th-century Scottish male singers {{UK-singer-stub