Vaughn Toulouse (born Vaughn Cotillard; 30 July 1959 – 8 August 1991), was a British singer. He was a founding member of Guns for Hire and its successor band Department S. Toulouse was born in St. Helier on the island of

Jersey Jersey ( , ; nrf, Jèrri, label=Jèrriais ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey (french: Bailliage de Jersey, links=no; Jèrriais: ), is an island country and self-governing Crown Dependencies, Crown Dependency near the coast of north-west F ...

and raised in

St Austell St Austell (; kw, Sans Austel) is a town in Cornwall, England, south of Bodmin and west of the border with Devon. St Austell is one of the largest towns in Cornwall; at the 2011 census it had a population of 19,958. History St Austell wa ...

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...

. He attended college in St Austell before dropping out and moving to London in 1979, forming the punk/ska band Guns For Hire, who released the single "I'm Gonna Rough My Girlfriend's Boyfriend Up Tonight" in April 1980, before they morphed into Department S, taking their name from the ATV television spy-fi series of the same name. In December 1980, the band released the single "

Is Vic There? "Is Vic There?" is a song by post-punk band Department S, released by Demon Records on 29 December 1980. It was their first single under the name Department S, after their debut single "I'm Gonna Rough My Girlfriend's Boyfriend Up Tonight" under ...

", which subsequently peaked at No. 22 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

in April 1981. In 1981, he appeared as a guest vocalist with

The Jam The Jam were an English mod revival/ punk rock band formed in 1972 at Sheerwater Secondary School in Woking, Surrey. They released 18 consecutive Top 40 singles in the United Kingdom, from their debut in 1977 to their break-up in December 198 ...

at several venues in the UK for the

Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) is an organisation that advocates unilateral nuclear disarmament by the United Kingdom, international nuclear disarmament and tighter international arms regulation through agreements such as the Nucle ...

. Following the dissolution of Department S in 1982, Toulouse later worked as a DJ under the name Main T, and in 1983, released the single " Fickle Public Speaking" as the Main T Possee. Written and produced by

Paul Weller Paul John Weller (born John William Weller; 25 May 1958) is an English singer-songwriter and musician. Weller achieved fame with the punk rock/ new wave/mod revival band the Jam (1972–1982). He had further success with the blue-eyed soul m ...

, the song made No. 89 on the

. In 1982, he appeared on the cover of The Jam's single "

The Bitterest Pill (I Ever Had to Swallow) "The Bitterest Pill (I Ever Had to Swallow)" is a single that was released by The Jam in September 1982. It reached number 2 in the UK Singles Chart and remained there for two weeks, unable to dislodge "Eye of the Tiger" by Survivor and "Pass t ...

". Toulouse participated in

The Style Council The Style Council were a British musical ensemble, band formed in late 1982 by Paul Weller, the former singer, songwriter and guitarist with the punk rock/New wave music, new wave/mod revival band the Jam, and keyboardist Mick Talbot, previousl ...

miner A miner is a person who extracts ore, coal, chalk, clay, or other minerals from the earth through mining. There are two senses in which the term is used. In its narrowest sense, a miner is someone who works at the rock face; cutting, blasting, ...

s' charity project the Council Collective, appearing on the "Soul Deep" single (1984) and then recorded a solo single, "Cruisin' the Serpentine" (1985).Strong, Martin C. (2003) ''The Great Indie Discography'', Canongate, , p. 299 Toulouse was openly

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...

. He died in 1991 from an

AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual m ...

-related illness, aged 32.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Toulouse, Vaughn 1959 births 1991 deaths Male new wave singers Jersey musicians British male singer-songwriters British punk rock singers British DJs British gay musicians British LGBT singers People from Saint Helier AIDS-related deaths in England 20th-century British male singers 20th-century LGBT people