Martyn Jacques (born 22 May 1959) is a British musician, singer and songwriter, mostly known as the founder and front man of cult British trio

The Tiger Lillies The Tiger Lillies are a cult British musical trio formed in 1989 by singer-songwriter Martyn Jacques. Described as the forefathers of Brechtian Punk Cabaret, the Tiger Lillies are well known for their unique sound and style which merges "the ...

Life and career

Martyn Jacques grew up in

Slough Slough () is a town and unparished area in the unitary authority of the same name in Berkshire, England, bordering west London. It lies in the Thames Valley, west of central London and north-east of Reading, at the intersection of the M4 ...

. His song on the 1996

release "The Brothel to The Cemetery" concerns his childhood memories, echoing

John Betjeman Sir John Betjeman (; 28 August 190619 May 1984) was an English poet, writer, and broadcaster. He was Poet Laureate from 1972 until his death. He was a founding member of The Victorian Society and a passionate defender of Victorian architecture, ...

's 1937

poem Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings in ...

. As a child, he had piano lessons from

Florence De Jong Florence De Jong (née Baga) (1894 – 1990) was an English theatre and cinema organist. De Jong was born in Holborn, London, and learned piano at school. She had three sisters, all professional musicians, as was their father. The youngest si ...

. In his early 20s he dropped out of Lampeter's Theology and Philosophy course and headed to London where he initially lived in a squat in Finsbury Park and then in a flat in Soho's Rupert Street where he got a pretty good taste of the lowlife which became his main source of inspiration. He spent his whole 20s training as a musician and singer and developing his characteristic

falsetto ''Falsetto'' (, ; Italian diminutive of , "false") is the vocal register occupying the frequency range just above the modal voice register and overlapping with it by approximately one octave. It is produced by the vibration of the ligamentous ed ...

voice,"The Tiger Lillies set to test limits at Royce Hall on Halloween"
By Emily Baraff, ''

The Daily Bruin The ''Daily Bruin'' is the student newspaper at the University of California, Los Angeles. It began publishing in 1919, the year UCLA was founded. The ''Daily Bruin'' distributes about 6,000 copies across campus each school day. It also publi ...

'', Oct. 30, 2009. Retrieved Jan 20, 2010. which has led to him being known as the infamous Criminal Castrat

a description first coined by

Ken Campbell Kenneth Victor Campbell (10 December 1941 – 31 August 2008) was an English actor, writer and director known for his work in experimental theatre. He has been called "a one-man dynamo of British theatre". Campbell achieved notoriety in the 1 ...

. In his Tiger Lillies appearances, Jacques commonly sings about "sexual perversions, seedy underbellies, the gruesome, macabre and visceral". Jacques has been described as enjoying when audience members walk out of his shows, noting "It's always funny when people are offended by what I do ... after all, I'm just an entertainer." Jacques' songs range from hilarious, dark, up-beat music, even darker, strange and mysterious songs and some cover versions, such as "

My Funny Valentine "My Funny Valentine" is a show tune from the 1937 Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart coming of age musical ''Babes in Arms'' in which it was introduced by teenaged star Mitzi Green. The song became a popular jazz standard, appearing on over 130 ...

" and " Send in the Clowns". He is the musical director of the junk opera ''Shockheaded Peter''.

Discography

* Various Artists - ''Дед Мороз Против Анти Деда Мороза Bad Taste Новый Год'' (2002) "Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year" * The Real Tuesday Weld - ''I, Lucifer'' (2004) "Someday" * The Real Tuesday Weld - ''Les Aperitifs Et Les Digestifs'' (2004) "Someday" * Various Artists - ''Blood, Muscle & Air: The Intimate Voice'' (2008) "The Pedophile in the Park" * The Real Tuesday Weld - ''Seasons Dreamings'' (2010) "A Song for December" * Têtes Raides – ''L'An Demain'' (2011) "Marteau-Piqueur", "So Free" * Various Artists - ''Opera North - The Lullaby Project'' (2013) "Rock-a-Bye Baby" * The Real Tuesday Weld & Friends - ''In Memorium'' (2014) "Someday" * Opera Chaotique – ''Bukowski: Poems of a Dirty Old Man'' (2015) "As Hank Said II", "The Genius Of The Crowd"

References

''The Independent On Sunday'' (14 May 2006), "The Tiger Lillies: Funny. Peculiar."

Life and career

Discography

References

External links

Further reading