Paul George Speare (born 10 December 1955) is an English freelance saxophonist and flute player, formerly a member of

Dexys Midnight Runners Dexys Midnight Runners (currently officially Dexys, their former nickname, styled without an apostrophe) are an English pop rock band from Birmingham, with soul influences, who achieved major commercial success in the early to mid-1980s. They a ...

and

The TKO Horns The TKO Horns were a horn section formed in 1982 when Big Jim Paterson (trombone), Paul Speare (tenor saxophone) and Brian Maurice (alto saxophone) left Dexys Midnight Runners. After a brief spell touring with Paul Young's Q Tips they began perfor ...

. He was born to Reginald and Julia Speare in

Romford Romford is a large town in east London and the administrative centre of the London Borough of Havering. It is located northeast of Charing Cross and is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan. Historically, Romford ...

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

. He attended Dagenham County High School where he began playing drums, piano and viola when he was 15 years of age. At 16 he took up the flute, and tenor saxophone soon followed. He went on to study flute at the London College of Music and played saxophone in various pop and jazz bands during this time. Later, he moved to Birmingham and became heavily involved in the Midlands music scene for many years as a session musician, band leader and music producer. Speare has played in many bands over the years, and from 1981-1982 was a full-time member of

. He later formed a horn section called The TKO Horns, along with Jim Paterson and Brian Maurice from Dexys. Another former Dexys saxophone player Geoff Blythe soon replaced Brian and Dave Plews was added on trumpet. The TKOs featured prominently on

Elvis Costello Declan Patrick MacManus Order of the British Empire, OBE (born 25 August 1954), known professionally as Elvis Costello, is an English singer-songwriter and record producer. He has won multiple awards in his career, including a Grammy Award in ...

's 1983 album '' Punch The Clock''. It was during a recording session for Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook's album, ''

Difford & Tilbrook Difford & Tilbrook are the songwriting team of Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook, known for their work as the principal writers for the new wave rock band Squeeze. In addition to playing guitar for the band, they are responsible for the group's ...

'', that he was unexpectedly asked by producer

Tony Visconti Anthony Edward Visconti (born April 24, 1944) is an American record producer, musician and singer. Since the late 1960s, he has worked with an array of performers. His first hit single was T. Rex's " Ride a White Swan" in 1970, the first of man ...

to add a baritone saxophone part to "Actions Speak Faster". From that moment he discovered his love of the instrument and has specialised in it since. Speare later featured on the single "Nelson Mandela" by

the Special AKA The Specials, also known as The Special AKA, are an English 2 tone and ska revival band formed in 1977 in Coventry. After some early changes, the first stable lineup of the group consisted of Terry Hall and Neville Staple on vocals, Lynva ...

. From the early 1990s, Speare was a music and media lecturer in a number of further education colleges until 2005. Since then he has worked as a freelance arranger, session musician and producer. He played baritone sax/flute on the tracks "More" and "Old Father Tyme" for the

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 ...

album " On Sunset" (2020). He featured on the Stone Foundation albums "Street Rituals" (2017) produced by Paul Weller, "Everybody, Anyone" (2018) and "Is Love Enough" (2020), on which he played baritone/tenor sax and flute. He also featured on their live album/DVD ''Live Rituals'' (2017), recorded at the Islington Assembly Rooms, with Paul Weller as special guest.

Dexys

In 1981, Speare joined

. He featured on the singles "Plan B", "Show Me", "Liars A to E", "Celtic Soul Brothers" and their worldwide hit "

Come On Eileen "Come On Eileen" is a song by the English group Dexys Midnight Runners (credited to Dexys Midnight Runners and the Emerald Express), released in the United Kingdom in June 1982 as a single from their second studio album '' Too-Rye-Ay''. It reach ...

". He also featured on their album '' Too-Rye-Ay''.

References

1955 births Living people British male saxophonists Dexys Midnight Runners members English rock saxophonists People from Romford 21st-century British male musicians 21st-century saxophonists {{England-musician-stub