Mick Quinn (born 17 December 1969) is an English musician and singer-songwriter. He is best known as founding member of English rock band

Supergrass Supergrass are an English rock band formed in 1993 in Oxford. For the majority of the band's tenure, the line-up consisted of brothers Gaz (lead vocals, guitar) and Rob Coombes (keyboards), Mick Quinn (bass, backing vocals) and Danny Goffey ( ...

. He is a permanent member of fellow Oxford band

Swervedriver Swervedriver are an English alternative rock band formed in Oxford in 1989 around core members Adam Franklin and Jimmy Hartridge. Between 1989 and 1998, the band released four studio albums and numerous EPs and singles despite a considerable f ...

Career

1984–1993

Mick Quinn started playing bass at the age of 14. A year later moving to guitar. He played with The Asylum in 1986, a band featuring Kid Wig, guitarist with the Beat Seeking Missiles, in and around

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

including the Port Meadow Festival. In the late 1980s he became interested in record production, renting and borrowing equipment to experiment with at home. He also travelled to Spain and France to play with local musicians before returning to England in 1992.

1993–2010: Supergrass

Quinn formed

with

Gaz Coombes Gaz Coombes (born 8 March 1976) is an English musician and singer-songwriter. He is best known as the lead vocalist and guitarist of the English alternative rock band Supergrass. He first entered the music scene aged 14 as the lead singer of the ...

and

Danny Goffey Daniel Robert Goffey (born 7 February 1974) is an English musician and singer-songwriter. He is best known as the drummer and backing vocalist for Supergrass. He briefly toured with Babyshambles in 2010, following their drummer's departure. C ...

in February 1993. In 1995 the band released ''

I Should Coco ''I Should Coco'' is the debut studio album by English alternative rock band Supergrass, released on 15 May 1995 by Parlophone. The title of the album is Rhyming slang, cockney rhyming slang for "I should think so". Supergrass were formed in 1 ...

'' selling over a million copies worldwide. Singles, ''

Caught by the Fuzz "Caught by the Fuzz" is the debut single of Britpop band Supergrass. Background Supergrass had released "Caught by the Fuzz" and "Mansize Rooster" as singles on Backbeat Records, which sold out quickly and gained the interest of record produc ...

'' and ''

Alright Alright, All Right or Allwright may refer to: Music Albums * ''Alright!'' (album), a 2007 album by Bogdan Raczynski * ''Alright'', a 2011 album by Jerry Williams * ''All Right'', a 1982 album by Himiko Kikuchi Songs * "Alright" (Cast song) * ...

'' confirmed the band's popularity and they went on to release five further albums, four reaching the top ten in the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts C ...

. Children of the Monkey Basket, a website created by Quinn under the name Big Arm Technology was awarded best 'Rock Website' at the UK Online Music Awards in both 2000 and 2002. Other nominations in the category were Coldplay, Idlewild, Radiohead and U2. In 2008 the band parted ways with

Parlophone Parlophone Records Limited (also known as Parlophone Records and Parlophone) is a German–British record label founded in Germany in 1896 by the Carl Lindström Company as Parlophon. The British branch of the label was founded on 8 August 192 ...

records, recently acquired by

Guy Hands Guy Hands (born 27 August 1959) is an English financier and investor. He is most notable as the founder and chairman of Terra Firma Capital Partners, one of the largest private equity firms in Europe. Hands also served as chairman of the UK musi ...

of Terra Firma, and released single '' Rebel in You'' on Supergrass Records, overseen by Quinn. Following the difficulties of recording ''

Release the Drones Supergrass are an English rock band formed in 1993 in Oxford. For the majority of the band's tenure, the line-up consisted of brothers Gaz (lead vocals, guitar) and Rob Coombes (keyboards), Mick Quinn (bass, backing vocals) and Danny Goffey ...

'', the band announced in April 2010 that they were to split.

2010–2014: DB Band

In May 2010, Quinn formed the DB Band with former

Shake Appeal Shake Appeal is an English rock group from Oxford, England, existing between 1984 and 1989. The last line-up of the band evolved into Swervedriver. Origins The band took their name from a Stooges song off the album '' Raw Power''. Their primar ...

bass player Paul Wilson. Described as heavier and hairier than the 'Grass, they released two EP's, ''Stranger in the Alps'' in 2011 and ''Loosen Up,'' in 2013. Quinn was also a founding member of garage band The Beat Seeking Missiles with former members of The Wig Outs and

Thee Headcoats Thee Headcoats was a band formed in Chatham, Kent, England in 1989, that was well known for its garage rock sound, explicitly sticking to this style on almost all of their albums. The band's signature sound as well as their prolific writing has ...

. Signed to Dirty Water Records, the band released their single, "Break My Fall" / "Dr. Strangelove" in October 2011.

2015–Present: Swervedriver

During the release of ''

I Wasn't Born to Lose You ''I Wasn't Born to Lose You'' is the fifth studio album by British alternative rock band Swervedriver. It was released on 3 March 2015 through the Cobraside record label. It is the band's first album in 17 years, since 1998's '' 99th Dream''. Th ...

'' in 2015, Quinn was tour stand-in for Oxford band and childhood friends

. He became a full member of the band during the recording of its follow up, ''

Future Ruins ''Future Ruins'' is the sixth studio album by English alternative rock band Swervedriver. It was released on 25 January 2019 through Dangerbird Records Dangerbird Records is an independent record label in Los Angeles, California. The label is h ...

'' in 2017.

Personal life

Quinn's father is the Australian lipid

biochemist Biochemists are scientists who are trained in biochemistry. They study chemical processes and chemical transformations in living organisms. Biochemists study DNA, proteins and Cell (biology), cell parts. The word "biochemist" is a portmanteau of ...

Professor Peter Quinn, who is currently based at

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public research university located in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of King George IV and the Duke of Wellington. In 1836, King's ...

. Though born in

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

, Quinn spent his very early childhood living in America before relocating to Oxford, England in the 1970s. On 21 August 2007, Quinn was hospitalized in

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Par ...

, France for an operation to repair two broken

vertebra The spinal column, a defining synapomorphy shared by nearly all vertebrates,Hagfish are believed to have secondarily lost their spinal column is a moderately flexible series of vertebrae (singular vertebra), each constituting a characteristic ...

e and a smashed

Calcaneus In humans and many other primates, the calcaneus (; from the Latin ''calcaneus'' or ''calcaneum'', meaning heel) or heel bone is a bone of the tarsus of the foot which constitutes the heel. In some other animals, it is the point of the hock. S ...

, sustained after falling out of a first floor window of a rented villa he was staying in with his family. He subsequently made a full recovery, returning to perform with the

Diamond Hoo Ha Men The Hotrats (originally the Diamond Hoo Ha Men) were a cover band formed by Gaz Coombes and Danny Goffey as a side-project from their main band Supergrass. The band were named after Frank Zappa's album '' Hot Rats''. The duo recorded a set o ...

in January 2008. Quinn lives in

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primarily ...

with his wife and children.