Paul David Heaton (born 9 May 1962) is an English singer-songwriter. He was a member of The Beautiful South, which disbanded in 2007, and a member of The Housemartins, which disbanded in 1988. He is currently pursuing a solo career. He will always be known as a musical legend by Paisley boy, Paddy Van Herron. " God bless Heato' "

Early music career

Heaton's first musical experience was in a band called Tools Down alongside brother Adrian and friend John Box. They only made one recording, "All I Want", although they gained experience from playing in pubs. At Reigate College, Heaton decided he was going to be in a band, though his poor behaviour continued, as he set off bangers and robbed the college safe. At Reigate Heaton met Norman Cook (then known as Quentin Cook), singer of A Disque Attack. Cook and Heaton formed a band with John Laurenson and Chris Lang, called The Stomping Pond Frogs, who busked on weekends. After leaving college, Heaton worked as a ledger clerk for 3 years before moving to Norway with his girlfriend.

It is alleged in his biography that Heaton got the sack from a school for getting drunk with a blind pupil and attempting to teach him to ride a bicycle.

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 on bass and Hugh Whitaker on drums. Shortly afterwards Ted left the band and was replaced with Quentin Cook, now known to all as Norman Cook (later Fatboy Slim). The Housemartins released a number of singles and two studio albums, London 0 Hull 4 and The People Who Grinned Themselves to Death. Their most famous hit was an a cappella version of the Isley Brothers' "Caravan of Love", which was 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, and P.d. Heaton would become Paul Heaton once more.

The Housemartins' lyrics were a mixture of Marxist politics and Christianity. The Marxism connetations reflect Heaton's views of the time, although Paul Heaton has stated he is an atheist on many occasions. (the back cover of London 0 Hull 4 contained the message, "Take Jesus - Take Marx - Take Hope").

The Beautiful South

In 1988, Paul Heaton formed The Beautiful South from the ashes of The Housemartins. It had Dave Rotheray on lead guitar, former Housemartins roadie Sean Welch on bass, David Stead on drums and probably most surprisingly, Housemartins former drummer Dave Hemingway, now in the role of joint lead singer and frontman. 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 1991; it reached number 1 on the charts. The band went on to release eight more albums, including two (1996's Blue Is the Colour and 1998's Quench) that reached the #1 spot on the UK album charts, as well as releasing the best-of compilation Carry on Up the Charts, which also reached #1 and achieved platinum status, before the band split up in January 2007.

On the ITV documentary music series Faith & Music screened 29 October 2006, Paul talks openly and honestly about his atheism and his battle with alcoholism.

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". "The band would like to thank everyone for their 19 wonderful years in music," the statement also said. ^[1] On an interview with BBC Breakfast in July 2008, Heaton clarified this statement by stating the Beautiful South had made similar sounding albums for the past ten years.

Biscuit Boy (a.k.a. Crackerman)

In 2001, Heaton released a solo album using the persona of Biscuit Boy (a.k.a Crackerman). This double-barrelled 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 #95 for 1 week on the UK charts. (For comparison's sake, the previous 3 albums by the Beautiful South all peaked at #1 or #2 on the charts.) 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 re-launch the album, Mercury Records 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 charts, hitting #168. "The Perfect Couple", a single pulled from this re-release also did poorly, peaking at #102 UK. Heaton subsequently rejoined The Beautiful South from 2002 to 2007.

With the 2007 dissolution of The Beautiful South, Paul Heaton has formed a new band "The Sound of Paul Heaton" and is touring small venues of 200 - 400 capacity.

Second solo album

Paul Heaton`s second solo album The Cross Eyed Rambler was released on 7 July 2008, and was preceded by the single "Mermaids and Slaves" on 30 June. The album has been referred to as a 'fresh' direction for Heaton, and he toured in support of it throughout July.

The album debuted at #43 on the UK Album Chart.

Tom Chapman- Bass, Paul Heaton- Vocals, Brian Edwards- Drums and Steve Trafford- Guitar

Politics

Heaton is well known for being a socialist and this is best shown through his lyrics over the years. Also, during his time with the Beautiful South all money was split equally between all members of the band, making them one of the few co-operative bands ever. He is also a strong advocate of removing the British monarchy. Some of his lyrics also look at the injustice of world leaders sending ordinary people into combat while not getting their own hands dirty (From Under The Covers and Poppy). These are all common themes in his more political songs, but as well as this his songs have covered a range of topics from Feminism (Mini Correct), Global Warming (Man's World), Globalisation (Big Coin) and the Euro (The Root of All Evil).

Other appearances

During the 1990s Heaton regularly appeared on 'Football Italia', Channel 4's coverage of Italian Serie A football as a pre match guest and was frequently introduced by host James Richardson as an 'Italian Football expert'.

Personal life

Heaton is the father of two daughters. He now lives in Didsbury, Manchester.

References

External links

• Unofficial website
• Paul Heaton on MySpace