Paul David Heaton (born 9 May 1962) is an English singer-songwriter. He was the frontman of the Housemartins, who had success with the singles " Happy Hour" and the UK number one "

Caravan of Love "Caravan of Love" is a 1985 R&B hit originally recorded by Isley-Jasper-Isley, the second half of the Isley Brothers' ''3 + 3'' lineup of the 1970s. Original Isley-Jasper-Isley version After breaking away from the family group, the group (not ...

" in 1986 before disbanding in 1988. He then formed The Beautiful South, whose debut single and album were released in 1989 to commercial success. They had a series of hits throughout the 1990s, including the number-one single "

A Little Time "A Little Time" is a song by English pop rock group the Beautiful South, the first single to be released from their second album, '' Choke''. It consists of a duet featuring vocalists Dave Hemingway and Briana Corrigan.What Have We Become? ''What Have We Become?'' is a studio album by the former The Beautiful South collaborators Paul Heaton and Jacqui Abbott, which was released on 19 May 2014 through Virgin EMI Records. It charted at number three in the UK Albums Chart, just beh ...

'', a collaboration with former Beautiful South vocalist Jacqui Abbott. As of 2022, he has recorded four more albums with her: '' Wisdom, Laughter and Lines'' in 2015, '' Crooked Calypso'' in 2017, '' Manchester Calling'' in 2020 and '' N.K-Pop'' in 2022. British newspaper ''

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 ...

'' has described Heaton as "one of our finest songwriters: his music reveals an exuberant ear for melody, his lyrics a keen eye and a brilliant wit".

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Music ...

said: "The warm, mellifluous voice of Paul Heaton often masks the jagged satirical content of his lyrics."

Early life

Paul David Heaton was born in

Bromborough Bromborough is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, in Merseyside, England. Within the boundaries of the historic county of Cheshire, it is situated on the Wirral Peninsula, to the south east of Bebington and to the north of East ...

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county tow ...

(now

Merseyside Merseyside ( ) is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in North West England, with a population of 1.38 million. It encompasses both banks of the Mersey Estuary and comprises five metropolitan boroughs: Knowsley, St Helens, Sefton, Wir ...

) on 9 May 1962 to parents Doris and Horace Heaton. Heaton has two older brothers Mark Heaton and Adrian Heaton. At the age of four his family relocated to

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire ...

. While living in Sheffield, Heaton became interested in football, and while his elder brothers elected to watch

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot ...

, Heaton chose to support

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...

. After moving to Sheffield, Heaton's father took a job in management and Heaton described his childhood as being "fairly middle class, although you wouldn't know it given the schools I went to and the friends I had". After a childhood in Sheffield, Heaton moved to Chipstead,

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant ur ...

during his adolescent years, an early life Heaton described as "bred in Sheffield, fed in Surrey". Whilst in Surrey he, with his brother Adrian, formed their first band "Tools Down" with friends John Box and Stuart Mair. After leaving Surrey, Heaton spent time hitch-hiking around Europe before moving to

Hull Hull may refer to: Structures * Chassis, of an armored fighting vehicle * Fuselage, of an aircraft * Hull (botany), the outer covering of seeds * Hull (watercraft), the body or frame of a ship * Submarine hull Mathematics * Affine hull, in affi ...

in 1983, where he formed the Housemartins. Heaton also lived in

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by popul ...

for a year. Throughout his childhood, Heaton's main interest was

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...

, and he regularly attended

games. Heaton played over 700 competitive games at junior and amateur level, often insisting on driving back from gigs on a Friday or Saturday night to attend his Saturday and Sunday matches.

The Housemartins

Heaton, then billing himself as P.d. Heaton, formed the Housemartins in the early 1980s. This band featured Stan Cullimore on guitar,

Ted Key Ted Key (born Theodore Keyser; August 25, 1912 – May 3, 2008)
'' Hugh Whitaker on drums. Shortly afterwards Key left the band and was replaced with

Norman Cook Norman Quentin Cook (born Quentin Leo Cook, 31 July 1963), also known by his stage name Fatboy Slim, is an English musician, DJ, and record producer who helped to popularise the big beat genre in the 1990s. In the 1980s, Cook was the bassist ...

. The Housemartins released a number of singles and two studio albums, ''

London 0 Hull 4 ''London 0 Hull 4'' is the debut album by The Housemartins, released in June 1986. It contains the singles " Flag Day" (#124 UK), "Sheep" (#54 UK), " Happy Hour" (#3 UK) and " Think for a Minute" (#18 UK). The title refers to the band's home ci ...

'' and ''

The People Who Grinned Themselves to Death ''The People Who Grinned Themselves to Death'' is the second and final studio album by The Housemartins. It was released in 1987, and produced three singles - " Five Get Over Excited" (#11 UK), " Me and the Farmer" (#15) and " Build" (#15 UK). Th ...

''. Their most popular hit was an

a cappella ''A cappella'' (, also , ; ) music is a performance by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. The term ''a cappella'' was originally intended to differentiate between Ren ...

cover version of "

" (originally by Isley-Jasper-Isley), which reached number 1 on 16 December 1986, their only number 1 hit in the UK. For the second album Hugh Whitaker was replaced with Dave Hemingway on drums. Shortly afterwards the Housemartins split up. The Housemartins' lyrics were a mixture of

Marxist Marxism is a left-wing to far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand class relations and social conflict and a dialecti ...

politics and Christianity (the inner sleeve of ''London 0 Hull 4'' contained the mantra "Take Jesus – Take Marx – Take Hope").

The Beautiful South

Paul Heaton centre stage Beautiful South concert

In 1988, Heaton formed the Beautiful South. The initial lineup consisted of Heaton, Dave Rotheray on lead guitar, former Housemartins roadie Sean Welch on bass, David Stead on drums and Housemartins former drummer Dave Hemingway, now in the role of joint lead singer and frontman. The writing partnership of Heaton and Rotheray proved very successful. The Beautiful South released two top ten singles, "Song for Whoever" and "You Keep It All In"; the latter featured Irish singer Briana Corrigan on vocals. In 1989, the band released an album, '' Welcome to the Beautiful South''. The band's biggest success to date is the single "A Little Time", released in 1990; it reached number 1 on the UK chart. The band went on to release eight more albums, including two (1996's '' Blue Is the Colour'' and 1998's ''

Quench In materials science, quenching is the rapid cooling of a workpiece in water, oil, polymer, air, or other fluids to obtain certain material properties. A type of heat treating, quenching prevents undesired low-temperature processes, such as p ...

'') that reached the number 1 on 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 ...

, as well as releasing the best-of compilation '' Carry on up the Charts'', which also reached number 1 and achieved platinum status, before the band split up. After a band meeting on 30 January 2007, they decided to split. They released a statement on 31 January, in which their reasons for splitting were "musical similarities". On an interview with

BBC Breakfast ''BBC Breakfast'' is the BBC television breakfast news programme. Produced by BBC News, the programme is broadcast on BBC One and the BBC News channel. The simulcast is presented live, originally from the BBC Television Centre, London before ...

in July 2008, Heaton clarified this by saying that the Beautiful South had made similar-sounding albums for the past ten years.

Solo albums

In 2001, Heaton released a solo album using the persona of Biscuit Boy (a.k.a. Crackerman). This double name, including the parenthetical a.k.a., was the official project name on all early releases. The solo album, called '' Fat Chance'', was not a commercial success, peaking at number 95 for one week on the UK albums chart. Also, " Mitch", the lone single credited to Biscuit Boy (a.k.a. Crackerman), reached only number 75 in the UK Singles Chart. In an attempt to relaunch the album,

Mercury Records Mercury Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group. It had significant success as an independent operation in the 1940s and 1950s. Smash Records and Fontana Records were sub labels of Mercury. In the United States, it ...

re-issued ''Fat Chance'' in 2002. The album featured new artwork, and was now credited to Paul Heaton. However, this record charted even lower in the album chart, hitting number 168. "The Perfect Couple", a single pulled from this re-release also did poorly, peaking at number 102 in the UK. Heaton subsequently rejoined the Beautiful South from 2002 to 2007. With the 2007 dissolution of the Beautiful South, Heaton formed a new band, The Sound of Paul Heaton. Heaton's second solo album, '' The Cross-Eyed Rambler'', was released on 7 July 2008, preceded by the single "Mermaids and Slaves" on 30 June, and he toured in support of it throughout July. The album charted at number 43. Heaton released his third solo album, '' Acid Country'', in September 2010.

''The 8th''

In 2011, the

Manchester International Festival The Manchester International Festival is a biennial international arts festival, with a specific focus on original new work, held in the English city of Manchester and run by Factory International. The festival is a biennial event, first tak ...

endorsed the writing by Heaton of an anthology of songs based on the

7 deadly sins The seven deadly sins, also known as the capital vices or cardinal sins, is a grouping and classification of vices within Christian teachings. Although they are not directly mentioned in the Bible, there are parallels with the seven things ...

, to be called ''The 8th''. The song was broken down into a section for each sin, which was to be performed by a different artist. The singers for the original piece were: Wayne Gidden, Aaron Wright,

King Creosote Kenny Anderson (born January 1967), known primarily by his stage name King Creosote, is an independent singer-songwriter from Fife, Scotland. To date, Anderson has released over forty albums, with his latest full length, '' Astronaut Meets Appl ...

, Simon Aldred,

Cherry Ghost Cherry Ghost were an English music group which began in 2006, first as an alias for singer-songwriter Simon Aldred as a solo artist, before morphing into a full band. Their debut album, '' Thirst for Romance'', was released in July 2007 and ent ...

, Jacqui Abbott, Yvonne Shelton and Mike Greaves. The individual sections were incorporated with a narration written by Che Walker and performed by Reg E. Cathey. ''The 8th'' debuted in July 2011 at the Festival Pavilion Theatre in Manchester's Albert Square. Six further performances took place in the summer of 2012. Along with the live shows in July 2012, a recording of ''The 8th'' was released on a CD/DVD format, including tracks by Simon Aldred of

, Aaron Wright, Mike Greaves, Yvonne Shelton, Jacqui Abbott and Heaton himself. Warrington England June 2017

Paul Heaton and Jacqui Abbott

Heaton reunited with former Beautiful South vocalist Jacqui Abbott in 2013 to record new material. ''

What Have We Become? ''What Have We Become?'' is a studio album by the former The Beautiful South collaborators Paul Heaton and Jacqui Abbott, which was released on 19 May 2014 through Virgin EMI Records. It charted at number three in the UK Albums Chart, just beh ...

'' was released on 19 May 2014. The album reached number 3 in the UK Albums Chart. The album contained 12 new songs (the deluxe version an additional four new songs). The majority of the songs were written by Heaton and his current songwriting partner Jonny Lexus, with "D.I.Y", "When it Was Ours" and "You're Gonna Miss Me" written by Heaton only. On working with Abbott again, Heaton said: "Working with Jacqui again was like going into your garage and discovering a beautiful, covered up Rolls-Royce that hadn't been started in years. Jacqui is one of the best singers I've worked with and is also part of my past. It was only a matter of time before I asked her." On Sunday 29 June 2014 they appeared live on

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream a ...

Glastonbury Festival Glastonbury Festival (formally Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts and known colloquially as Glasto) is a five-day festival of contemporary performing arts that takes place in Pilton, Somerset, England. In addition to contemp ...

performing acoustic versions of second single "Moulding of a Fool" and a cover version of Kenny Rogers & Dolly Parton's " Islands in the Stream". During the summer of 2014 Paul and Jacqui performed at a series of festivals across the UK and Ireland including

Latitude Festival The Latitude Festival is an annual music festival that takes place in Henham Park, near Southwold, Suffolk, England. It was first held in July 2006 and has been held every year since, apart from 2020, when it was cancelled due to the COVID-1 ...

, V Festival and

Festival N°6 Festival N°6 (Festival Number 6) is an annual art and music festival held in and around Portmeirion, North Wales. The festival presents a wide range of music genres across multiple stages. It is advertised as a family-friendly festival, and as su ...

. On 11 November 2014,

BBC Radio 2 BBC Radio 2 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It is the most popular station in the United Kingdom with over 15 million weekly listeners. Since launching in 1967, the station broadcasts a wide range of content. ...

broadcast a world premiere of "Real Hope", featuring the Grimethorpe Colliery Band, from the deluxe edition of ''What Have We Become?''. Heaton and Abbott's next two albums together, '' Wisdom, Laughter and Lines'' (2015) and '' Crooked Calypso'' (2017), both reached the UK top 10, and their fourth, '' Manchester Calling'' (2020), became their first UK Number 1 album for over twenty years.

''The Last King of Pop''

On 16 November 2018, a career-spanning collection of Heaton's music titled ''The Last King Of Pop'' was released on the Virgin EMI label. It featured 23 of the songs written by Heaton throughout his career in the Housemartins, The Beautiful South, his solo years, and his collaboration with Jacqui Abbott. The track listing included the Housemartins' 1985 debut single "Flag Day", The Beautiful South's "Don't Marry Her", "Rotterdam" and "Perfect 10" through to 2017's Heaton & Abbott single "I Gotta Praise" + a 2018 re-record by Paul and Jacqui of the Beautiful South song "A Little Time", and a brand new song, entitled "7' Singles". The album reached Number 10 in the UK Charts and was certified Gold on 11 January 2019. To coincide with the album release, Heaton and Abbott performed three shows at Sheffield City Hall, Blackpool Empress Ballroom and London's

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 ...

, performing the album in full. Following the success of the shows, it was announced that Heaton and Abbott would perform ''The Last King Of Pop'' at an outdoor headline show at Stockport County's

Edgeley Park Edgeley Park is a football stadium in Edgeley, Stockport, England. Built for rugby league club Stockport RFC in 1891, by 1903, the rugby club was defunct and Stockport County Football Club moved in. Edgeley Park is an all-seater stadium hold ...

on 21 June 2019. All 15,000 tickets sold out and a second night was announced to take place on 20 June 2019.

Richard Hawley Richard Willis Hawley (born 17 January 1967) is an English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer. After his first band Treebound Story (formed while he was still at school) broke up, Hawley found success as a member of Britpop band Longp ...

was announced as special guest at both shows. A television documentary covering Paul Heaton's life and career was broadcast on Wednesday 12 December 2018 on

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...

. The documentary included archived material and interviews with many key figures from throughout Heaton's life.

Personal life

Heaton lives in Manchester with his wife and three children. Heaton has on occasions referred to the Beautiful South as having a heavy drinking culture. Many songs by the Beautiful South, such as "Woman in the Wall", "Liars' Bar", "I May Be Ugly", "The Slide", "Look What I Found in My Beer" and "

Old Red Eyes Is Back "Old Red Eyes Is Back" is a song written by Paul Heaton and Dave Rotheray and performed by the Beautiful South. The song was originally released on the album '' 0898 Beautiful South''. It features as the opening track and was the first single rele ...

", have referred to alcoholism or drink-fuelled violence. In December 2011, Heaton purchased the lease of The Kings Arms public house, Bloom Street in

Salford, Greater Manchester Salford () is a city and the largest settlement in the City of Salford metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. In 2011, Salford had a population of 103,886. It is also the second and only other city in the metropolitan county aft ...

. He sold the pub in December 2015. He is a keen collector and has a diverse range of collections including football memorabilia, crisp packets, beer mats, postcards and comics.

Other appearances

During the 1990s, Heaton regularly appeared on ''Football Italia'',

's coverage of Italian

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Cop ...

football as a pre-match guest and was frequently introduced by host James Richardson as an 'Italian football expert'. Heaton appeared on BBC One talking head programme ''Why We Love the Royle Family'', along with

Noel Gallagher Noel Thomas David Gallagher (born 29 May 1967) is an English singer, songwriter, and musician. He was the chief songwriter, lead guitarist, and co-lead vocalist of the rock band Oasis until their split in 2009. After leaving Oasis, he formed ...

, in his capacity as a fan of the television sitcom '' The Royle Family''. In May 2012, Heaton set off on his 50:50 cycle tour of British and Irish pubs, promoting his latest album, British pubs, and cycling. He covered – for each year of his life.Paul Heaton announces 50th birthday cycle tour
– NME

Discography

The Housemartins

* ''

'' * ''

Now That's What I Call Quite Good ''Now That's What I Call Quite Good'' was the post-breakup greatest hits album from The Housemartins, released in 1988. As well as singles (such as the UK number one "Caravan of Love"), the compilation includes various album tracks, B-sides and r ...

The Beautiful South

* '' Welcome to the Beautiful South'' * '' Choke'' * ''

0898 Beautiful South ''0898 Beautiful South'', also referred to as ''0898'', is the third studio album by English band The Beautiful South. After the success of their previous work over 1989–1991, the band hired prolific record producer Jon Kelly and recorded the ...

'' * ''

Miaow A meow or miaow is a cat vocalization. ''Meows'' may have diverse tones and are sometimes chattered, murmured or whispered. Adult cats rarely meow to each other, so an adult cat meowing to human beings is probably a post-domestication exten ...

'' * '' Blue Is the Colour'' * ''

'' * ''

Painting It Red ''Painting It Red'' is the seventh album by the Beautiful South, released in 2000. A concept album about impending middle age, ''Painting it Red'' is among the band's longest. A two-disc UK bonus version contains 20 tracks. The American release o ...

'' * ''

Gaze In critical theory, sociology, and psychoanalysis, the gaze (French ''le regard''), in the philosophical and figurative sense, is an individual's (or a group's) awareness and perception of other individuals, other groups, or oneself. The concept ...

'' * ''

Golddiggas, Headnodders and Pholk Songs ''Golddiggas, Headnodders and Pholk Songs'' is the ninth and penultimate album by The Beautiful South, released in 2004. It is almost entirely a covers album, with one notable exception. The track " This Old Skin" was originally claimed to h ...

'' * '' Superbi''

Compilations

*'' Carry on up the Charts'' (1994) *'' Carry on up the Charts'' (1994) - 2CD Limited Edition *'' Solid Bronze'' (2001) *''

Gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile ...

'' (2006) *''

Soup Soup is a primarily liquid food, generally served warm or hot (but may be cool or cold), that is made by combining ingredients of meat or vegetables with stock, milk, or water. Hot soups are additionally characterized by boiling soli ...

'' (2007) *''The BBC Sessions'' (2007) - 2-CD Set *''Live at the BBC'' (2011) - 3CD+DVD Set

Paul Heaton (solo artist)

Studio albums

* '' Fat Chance'' (2001) as Biscuit Boy (AKA Crackerman) * '' The Cross Eyed Rambler'' (2008) * '' Acid Country'' (2010) * ''Paul Heaton Presents the 8th'' (2012) * ''

'' (2014) with Jacqui Abbott * '' Wisdom, Laughter and Lines'' (2015) with Jacqui Abbott * '' Crooked Calypso'' (2017) with Jacqui Abbott * '' Manchester Calling'' (2020) with Jacqui Abbott * '' N.K-Pop'' (2022) with Jacqui Abbott

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Heaton, Paul 1962 births Living people English male singers English songwriters English male singer-songwriters English socialists English pop rock singers People from Bromborough The Housemartins members Go! Discs Records artists Mercury Records artists Proper Records artists Deltiologists British male songwriters English republicans