Graham Gouldman
Encyclopedia
Graham Keith Gouldman is an English songwriter and musician who is a long-time member of British band 10cc
.
, Salford
, England. He played in a number of Manchester bands from 1963, including The High Spots, The Crevattes, The Planets and The Whirlwinds, which became a house band at his local Jewish Lads' Brigade. The Whirlwinds – comprising Gouldman (vocals, guitar), Bernard Basso (bass), Stephen Jacobson (guitar, bongos), Malcolm Wagner, Maurice Spering and Phil Cohen – secured a recording contract with HMV
, releasing a recording of the Buddy Holly
song "Look At Me", backed with "Baby Not Like You", written by Lol Creme
, in June 1964.
In late 1964 Gouldman dissolved The Whirlwinds and in February 1965 formed The Mockingbirds with Jacobson and Basso and a former member of fellow Manchester band The Sabres, Kevin Godley
(drums). The Mockingbirds signed with the Columbia
label, which rejected Gouldman’s first offering as a single – "For Your Love
" (later a major hit for The Yardbirds
) – and issued two singles, "That’s How (It’s Gonna Stay)" (February 1965, also issued in the US on ABC Paramount) and "I Can Feel We're Parting" (May 1965). The band switched to the Immediate
label for "You Stole My Love" (October 1965) and Decca
for "One By One" (July 1966) and "How to Find a Lover" (October 1966)
The band also began a regular warm-up spot for BBC TV
’s Top of the Pops
, transmitted from Manchester. He recalled: "There was one strange moment when The Yardbirds appeared on the show doing 'For Your Love', which was a song that I'd written. Everyone clamoured around them – and there I was just part of an anonymous group. I felt strange that night, hearing them play my song."
In 1966–67 Gouldman recorded singles with two other bands, High Society and The Manchester Mob, both of which featured singer Peter Cowap. In March 1968 he stepped in as a temporary replacement for bassist Bob Lang in The Mindbenders
, writing two of the band’s final singles, "Schoolgirl" and "Uncle Joe, the Ice Cream Man". The band dissolved eight months later. Gouldman said his time with the band was depressing: "They were sliding down, they were pretty well finished by the time I joined them."
From 1965, while working by day in a men's outfitters shop and playing by night with his semi-professional band, he wrote a string of million-selling hit songs: as well as "For Your Love
" he penned "Heart Full of Soul
" and "Evil Hearted You
" for The Yardbirds, "Bus Stop
" and "Look Through Any Window
" for The Hollies
, "No Milk Today
" and "Listen People" for Herman's Hermits
, "Pamela, Pamela" for Wayne Fontana
, "Behind the Door" for The St. Louis Union and Cher
, "Tallyman" for Jeff Beck
and "Going Home", which was a 1967 Australian hit for Normie Rowe
.
He wrote briefly for publishing house Robbins Music and producer Mickie Most
in 1967, and then shifted base to the Kennedy Street Enterprises show business management offices in Manchester. He remained there for four years, recalling: "It was like an office. I used to go in there every morning at 10 o'clock and stay there, working on my songs, until I finished every evening at six o'clock. It was self-discipline and I need that."
A year later he released three singles as a solo artist before recording his debut solo album, The Graham Gouldman Thing
.
producers Jerry Kasenetz
and Jeff Katz
of Super K Productions
, who invited him to New York to write formula bubblegum songs. In what he later called a "creative lowpoint", Gouldman accepted. He recalled: "They wanted me to write and produce for them, so I figured, why not? Nothing else was happening for me at the time. All told I worked for them for three or four periods over the course of a year, just writing and recording, and had no time for anything else. I was totally involved in the whole Kasenetz-Katz thing while I was with them."
He said he was left exhausted and depressed by his dealings with Kasenetz and Katz. "In the mornings I would go into the office and start writing and after I had finished one song in a day, which was very high output for me, they'd come up to me and say: 'Give us another song!' And I'd say 'OK' – because I'm like that. They'd keep up the pressure so that I kept on writing. I was there in their offices working like that for six or eight weeks and when I flew home to Manchester I went straight round to see my doctor. I was feeling sick and could not eat. The doctor told me: 'You are totally over-worked.' I don't think I've ever felt so depressed as I did when I came back from New York.
Gouldman said he was "grasping, sort of prostituting myself" in accepting the Kasenetz-Katz deal, which came with a cash advance. "That was a time when I had lost a little bit of confidence in my writing. I hadn't had any hits for some time. I felt awful. I just didn't seem to be keeping up with what other people were doing. It was very depressing."
One of his first tasks for Super K was writing and singing lead vocals on "Sausalito (Is the Place to Go)", which was released in July 1969 under the name of The Ohio Express
.
In December 1969 Gouldman convinced Kasenetz and Katz that the series of throwaway two-minute songs he was writing could all be performed and produced by him and three friends, Godley, Creme and former Mindbender Eric Stewart
, at a fraction of the price of hiring outside session musicians. He proposed the quartet work at Strawberry Studios
, a Stockport
(Cheshire), recording studio in which he and Stewart were financial partners. Kasenetz and Katz booked the studio for three months.
Kevin Godley later recalled:
When the three-months production deal with Kasenetz-Katz ended, Gouldman returned to New York to work as a staff songwriter for Super K Productions while the remaining three continued to dabble in the studio. (Despite their claim that this working relationship wasn't satisfying, it's very clear that this period helped the four of them with their songwriting and in-studio productions skills.)
In late 1970 Gouldman returned to the UK to join Stewart, Godley and Creme – who had in the interim scored an international hit single with "Neanderthal Man" under the name of Hotlegs
– on an abbreviated British tour supporting The Moody Blues
.
, Wayne Fontana, Herman's Hermits
and Neil Sedaka
, as well as recording quite a number of one-off singles on many different labels (RCA, Pye, etc.) using many different performer names (Festival, Tristar Airbus, The New Wave Band, Grumble, etc.). In July 1972 they were signed by entrepreneur, producer and recording artist Jonathan King
and given the name 10cc
.
Over the course of the next 23 years, 10cc scored three UK No.1 singles and five Top 10 albums, with Gouldman co-writing some of their biggest hits, including "The Wall Street Shuffle" (1974), "I'm Not in Love
" (1975), "I’m Mandy, Fly Me" and "Art For Art’s Sake" (1976), "The Things We Do For Love" (1977) and "Dreadlock Holiday
" (1978).
When Godley and Creme
departed in 1976 to explore new musical territories, Gouldman remained with Stewart, continuing the band essentially as a two-piece, although with regular collaborators including Rick Fenn
, Paul Burgess and Stuart Tosh
. 1980's Look Hear?
album marked the end of the band’s run of chart success and 1983’s Windows in the Jungle
became the last 10cc album for almost a decade.
In 1979 Gouldman scored a minor hit with his single "Sunburn", written for the Farrah Fawcett
/Charles Grodin
film of the same name
. Two years later he produced the Pleasant Dreams
album for the Ramones
– a record dismissed by the band’s guitarist, Johnny Ramone
, as "too slick".
For more information, see the main entry at 10cc
, with whom he had co-written material in 1981, to form Wax
. They produced four albums. Gold explained how the partnership began:
During this period, Morrissey
recorded Gouldman's "East West", originally a hit for Herman's Hermits
. The song featured as a bonus track on the 12" and CD single for "Ouija Board, Ouija Board
".
sessions.
The final album featured a song, "Ready to Go Home", written by Gouldman in memory of his father, poet and playwright Hyme Gouldman, who had died in 1991. That song was later covered by Morten Harket
(singer of the Norwegian popgroup A-ha
) on his 1995 debut album "Wild Seed".
In an interview with the Jewish Telegraph
Gouldman spoke of his father’s influence on his life and career:
During the late 1990s Graham wrote with a few different writers including Paul Carrack
on his minor 1997 hit "The Way I'm Feeling Tonight" and Kirsty MacColl
on her final album, Tropical Brainstorm
, in 2000.
Gouldman included a new version of "Ready to Go Home" on his 2000 solo album, And Another Thing.... On the liner notes of his solo album, he noted: "It reflects my feelings at the time. I suppose I was trying to put a positive slant on his passing, remembering all the things we had done together and his artistic legacy to me. The last verse of the song best reflects my feelings on this. This song has been recorded by many artists and remains one of my favourites. Very emotional."
. After the release of his solo album he got the lads back together to celebrate 30 years of 10cc in 2002, billed as "Graham Gouldman celebrates 30 years of 10cc".
In January 2004, he reconvened with Kevin Godley to write more songs. Godley explained:
In Gouldman’s words:
In July 2006, Godley and Gouldman's website offered four downloadable tracks, "The Same Road", "Johnny Hurts", "Beautifulloser.com" and "Hooligan Crane". The songs are the initial "offering" of a group of songs they have been working on over the past two years. During this period Gouldman wrote the main riff in the McFly song "I've Got You".
Gouldman and Friends toured the UK in 2009, simply billed as "10cc". In August 2010, 10cc featuring Graham Gouldman headlined the Sunday bill at the Rhythm Festival
.
10cc
10cc are an English art rock band who achieved their greatest commercial success in the 1970s. The band initially consisted of four musicians -- Graham Gouldman, Eric Stewart, Kevin Godley, and Lol Creme -- who had written and recorded together for some three years, before assuming the "10cc" name...
.
Early life and 1960s pop career: 1946–1968
Gouldman was born in BroughtonBroughton, Greater Manchester
Broughton is an inner city area of Salford, in Greater Manchester, England. It lies on the east bank of the River Irwell and A56 road, in the northeastern part of the City of Salford, north-northwest of Manchester city centre and south of Prestwich. Broughton consists of Broughton Park, Higher...
, Salford
City of Salford
The City of Salford is a city and metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It is named after its largest settlement, Salford, but covers a far larger area which includes the towns of Eccles, Swinton-Pendlebury, Walkden and Irlam which apart from Irlam each have a population of over...
, England. He played in a number of Manchester bands from 1963, including The High Spots, The Crevattes, The Planets and The Whirlwinds, which became a house band at his local Jewish Lads' Brigade. The Whirlwinds – comprising Gouldman (vocals, guitar), Bernard Basso (bass), Stephen Jacobson (guitar, bongos), Malcolm Wagner, Maurice Spering and Phil Cohen – secured a recording contract with HMV
HMV
His Master's Voice is a trademark in the music business, and for many years was the name of a large record label. The name was coined in 1899 as the title of a painting of the dog Nipper listening to a wind-up gramophone...
, releasing a recording of the Buddy Holly
Buddy Holly
Charles Hardin Holley , known professionally as Buddy Holly, was an American singer-songwriter and a pioneer of rock and roll...
song "Look At Me", backed with "Baby Not Like You", written by Lol Creme
Lol Crème
Lol Creme is an English musician and music video director, best known for his work in 10cc. He sings, plays guitar and keyboards.-Biography:...
, in June 1964.
In late 1964 Gouldman dissolved The Whirlwinds and in February 1965 formed The Mockingbirds with Jacobson and Basso and a former member of fellow Manchester band The Sabres, Kevin Godley
Kevin Godley
Kevin Godley is a British musician and music video director.He was born in a family of Jewish descent, and went to North Cestrian Grammar School in Altrincham....
(drums). The Mockingbirds signed with the Columbia
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
label, which rejected Gouldman’s first offering as a single – "For Your Love
For Your Love
-Album reissues:The Yardbirds' 2001 compilation album Ultimate! contains eight of the eleven tracks from the original album. For Your Love has been reissued by several record labels, including JVC, Castle, and Repertoire...
" (later a major hit for The Yardbirds
The Yardbirds
- Current :* Chris Dreja - rhythm guitar, backing vocals * Jim McCarty - drums, backing vocals * Ben King - lead guitar * David Smale - bass, backing vocals...
) – and issued two singles, "That’s How (It’s Gonna Stay)" (February 1965, also issued in the US on ABC Paramount) and "I Can Feel We're Parting" (May 1965). The band switched to the Immediate
Immediate Records
Immediate Records was a British record label, started in 1965 by The Rolling Stones' manager Andrew Loog Oldham and Tony Calder and concentrating on the London-based blues and R&B scene.-History:...
label for "You Stole My Love" (October 1965) and Decca
Decca Records
Decca Records began as a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934; however, owing to World War II, the link with the British company was broken for several decades....
for "One By One" (July 1966) and "How to Find a Lover" (October 1966)
The band also began a regular warm-up spot for BBC TV
BBC Television
BBC Television is a service of the British Broadcasting Corporation. The corporation, which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a Royal Charter since 1927, has produced television programmes from its own studios since 1932, although the start of its regular service of television...
’s Top of the Pops
Top of the Pops
Top of the Pops, also known as TOTP, is a British music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly from 1 January 1964 to 30 July 2006. After 25 December 2006 it became a radio program, now hosted by Tony Blackburn...
, transmitted from Manchester. He recalled: "There was one strange moment when The Yardbirds appeared on the show doing 'For Your Love', which was a song that I'd written. Everyone clamoured around them – and there I was just part of an anonymous group. I felt strange that night, hearing them play my song."
In 1966–67 Gouldman recorded singles with two other bands, High Society and The Manchester Mob, both of which featured singer Peter Cowap. In March 1968 he stepped in as a temporary replacement for bassist Bob Lang in The Mindbenders
The Mindbenders
The Mindbenders was a 1960s beat group from Manchester, England. They were part of the mid 1960s British Invasion with their chart-toppers "Game of Love" and "A Groovy Kind of Love"....
, writing two of the band’s final singles, "Schoolgirl" and "Uncle Joe, the Ice Cream Man". The band dissolved eight months later. Gouldman said his time with the band was depressing: "They were sliding down, they were pretty well finished by the time I joined them."
From 1965, while working by day in a men's outfitters shop and playing by night with his semi-professional band, he wrote a string of million-selling hit songs: as well as "For Your Love
For Your Love
-Album reissues:The Yardbirds' 2001 compilation album Ultimate! contains eight of the eleven tracks from the original album. For Your Love has been reissued by several record labels, including JVC, Castle, and Repertoire...
" he penned "Heart Full of Soul
Heart Full of Soul
"Heart Full of Soul" is a 1965 single by the English rock band The Yardbirds. It was written by Graham Gouldman, who later had a lengthy career as a member of 10cc. It charted in the United States at number nine and at number two in the United Kingdom. The song makes an early use of the fuzz box by...
" and "Evil Hearted You
Evil Hearted You
"Evil Hearted You" is a 1965 single by the British Invasion band The Yardbirds. It charted at #3 in the UK. The single was not released in the USA, but was featured on the compilation albums Having a Rave Up and Shapes of Things....
" for The Yardbirds, "Bus Stop
Bus Stop (song)
"Bus Stop" is the title of a song recorded and released as a 7-inch 45 rpm vinyl single by the British pop band The Hollies. It became a hit in 1966, reaching #5 in the UK Singles Chart...
" and "Look Through Any Window
Look Through Any Window
"Look Through Any Window" is a song by British Beat group the Hollies. It was the first American Top-40 hit for them, peaking at #32 in January 1966. It reached #4 in their homeland...
" for The Hollies
The Hollies
The Hollies are an English pop and rock group, formed in Manchester in the early 1960s, though most of the band members are from throughout East Lancashire. Known for their distinctive vocal harmony style, they became one of the leading British groups of the 1960s and 1970s...
, "No Milk Today
No Milk Today
"No Milk Today" is a song that was written by Graham Gouldman and originally recorded by British pop band Herman's Hermits. It was first released as a single by the Mancunian group in the UK in October 1966 and, with the B-side "My Reservation's Been Confirmed", enjoyed chart success, peaking at #7...
" and "Listen People" for Herman's Hermits
Herman's Hermits
Herman's Hermits are an English beat band, formed in Manchester in 1963 as Herman & The Hermits. The group's record producer, Mickie Most , emphasized a simple, non-threatening, clean-cut image, although the band originally played R&B numbers...
, "Pamela, Pamela" for Wayne Fontana
Wayne Fontana
Wayne Fontana is an English pop singer. In 1962, he formed his backing group, the Mindbenders and got a recording contract.-Biography:...
, "Behind the Door" for The St. Louis Union and Cher
Cher
Cher is an American recording artist, television personality, actress, director, record producer and philanthropist. Referred to as the Goddess of Pop, she has won an Academy Award, a Grammy Award, an Emmy Award, three Golden Globes and a Cannes Film Festival Award among others for her work in...
, "Tallyman" for Jeff Beck
Jeff Beck
Geoffrey Arnold "Jeff" Beck is an English rock guitarist. He is one of three noted guitarists to have played with The Yardbirds...
and "Going Home", which was a 1967 Australian hit for Normie Rowe
Normie Rowe
Norman John "Normie" Rowe AM was a major male solo performer of Australian pop music in the 1960s. Known for his bright and edgy tenor voice and dynamic stage presence, many of Rowe's most successful recordings were produced by Pat Aulton, house producer for the Sunshine Records, Spin Records and...
.
He wrote briefly for publishing house Robbins Music and producer Mickie Most
Mickie Most
Mickie Most was an English record producer, with a string of hit singles with acts such as The Animals, Arrows, Herman's Hermits, Donovan, Suzi Quatro and the Jeff Beck Group often issued on his own RAK Records label....
in 1967, and then shifted base to the Kennedy Street Enterprises show business management offices in Manchester. He remained there for four years, recalling: "It was like an office. I used to go in there every morning at 10 o'clock and stay there, working on my songs, until I finished every evening at six o'clock. It was self-discipline and I need that."
A year later he released three singles as a solo artist before recording his debut solo album, The Graham Gouldman Thing
The Graham Gouldman Thing
The Graham Gouldman Thing was the debut album by singer and songwriter Graham Gouldman. Gouldman had already written hit singles for Herman's Hermits , the Yardbirds , the Hollies and Wayne Fontana and on this album Gouldman delivered his own versions of some of those songs as...
.
Writer for hire: 1969–1972
Gouldman’s reputation as a hit songwriter attracted the attention of bubblegum popBubblegum pop
Bubblegum pop is a genre of pop music with an upbeat sound contrived and marketed to appeal to pre-teens and teenagers, produced in an assembly-line process, driven by producers, often using unknown singers.Bubblegum's classic period ran from 1967 to 1972...
producers Jerry Kasenetz
Jerry Kasenetz
Jerry Kasenetz is an American bubblegum pop producer who worked with Jeff Katz, the two working together as the Super K production company, to manufacture and produce bands like The Music Explosion, 1910 Fruitgum Company, Crazy Elephant, and The Ohio Express....
and Jeff Katz
Jeff Katz
Jeffrey Katz is an American music producer, one of the first exponents of bubblegum pop.-Music career:He is one half of a hitmaking duo with Jerry Kasenetz, the two working together as the Super K production company...
of Super K Productions
Super K Productions
Super K Productions was a 1960s American recording production company under Buddah Records, headed by producers Jerry Kasenetz and Jeffrey Katz, whose groups specialized in bubblegum pop. Their biggest successes were The Ohio Express, The 1910 Fruitgum Company, Crazy Elephant and The Music Explosion...
, who invited him to New York to write formula bubblegum songs. In what he later called a "creative lowpoint", Gouldman accepted. He recalled: "They wanted me to write and produce for them, so I figured, why not? Nothing else was happening for me at the time. All told I worked for them for three or four periods over the course of a year, just writing and recording, and had no time for anything else. I was totally involved in the whole Kasenetz-Katz thing while I was with them."
He said he was left exhausted and depressed by his dealings with Kasenetz and Katz. "In the mornings I would go into the office and start writing and after I had finished one song in a day, which was very high output for me, they'd come up to me and say: 'Give us another song!' And I'd say 'OK' – because I'm like that. They'd keep up the pressure so that I kept on writing. I was there in their offices working like that for six or eight weeks and when I flew home to Manchester I went straight round to see my doctor. I was feeling sick and could not eat. The doctor told me: 'You are totally over-worked.' I don't think I've ever felt so depressed as I did when I came back from New York.
Gouldman said he was "grasping, sort of prostituting myself" in accepting the Kasenetz-Katz deal, which came with a cash advance. "That was a time when I had lost a little bit of confidence in my writing. I hadn't had any hits for some time. I felt awful. I just didn't seem to be keeping up with what other people were doing. It was very depressing."
One of his first tasks for Super K was writing and singing lead vocals on "Sausalito (Is the Place to Go)", which was released in July 1969 under the name of The Ohio Express
The Ohio Express
Ohio Express was a musical recording unit, mainly active from 1967 through 1970, and occasionally since that time.Though marketed as a band, it would be more accurate to say that the name "Ohio Express" served as a brand name used by Jerry Kasenetz's and Jeffrey Katz's Super K Productions to...
.
In December 1969 Gouldman convinced Kasenetz and Katz that the series of throwaway two-minute songs he was writing could all be performed and produced by him and three friends, Godley, Creme and former Mindbender Eric Stewart
Eric Stewart
Eric Stewart is an English musician, songwriter and record producer most known for his tenure with The Mindbenders in the 1960s, and 10cc from 1972 to 1995....
, at a fraction of the price of hiring outside session musicians. He proposed the quartet work at Strawberry Studios
Strawberry Studios
-Formation:The facility was originally called Inner City Studios and located above a music store in the town centre. In early 1968 it was bought by Peter Tattersall, a former road manager for Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas. Tattersall invited Eric Stewart – then lead guitarist and singer of...
, a Stockport
Stockport
Stockport is a town in Greater Manchester, England. It lies on elevated ground southeast of Manchester city centre, at the point where the rivers Goyt and Tame join and create the River Mersey. Stockport is the largest settlement in the metropolitan borough of the same name...
(Cheshire), recording studio in which he and Stewart were financial partners. Kasenetz and Katz booked the studio for three months.
Kevin Godley later recalled:
When the three-months production deal with Kasenetz-Katz ended, Gouldman returned to New York to work as a staff songwriter for Super K Productions while the remaining three continued to dabble in the studio. (Despite their claim that this working relationship wasn't satisfying, it's very clear that this period helped the four of them with their songwriting and in-studio productions skills.)
In late 1970 Gouldman returned to the UK to join Stewart, Godley and Creme – who had in the interim scored an international hit single with "Neanderthal Man" under the name of Hotlegs
Hotlegs
Hotlegs was a short-lived English band best known for its hit single "Neanderthal Man" in 1970. The band consisted of Eric Stewart, Kevin Godley, Lol Creme and – briefly – Graham Gouldman...
– on an abbreviated British tour supporting The Moody Blues
The Moody Blues
The Moody Blues are an English rock band. Among their innovations was a fusion with classical music, most notably in their 1967 album Days of Future Passed....
.
10cc: 1972–1983
The four musicians continued work at Strawberry Studios, producing and backing artists including Cowap, Dave BerryDave Berry (musician)
Not to be confused with English 1960s singer Mike Berry.Dave Berry is a British pop singer and former teen idol of the 1960s...
, Wayne Fontana, Herman's Hermits
Herman's Hermits
Herman's Hermits are an English beat band, formed in Manchester in 1963 as Herman & The Hermits. The group's record producer, Mickie Most , emphasized a simple, non-threatening, clean-cut image, although the band originally played R&B numbers...
and Neil Sedaka
Neil Sedaka
Neil Sedaka is an American pop/rock singer, pianist, and composer. His career has spanned nearly 55 years, during which time he has sold millions of records as an artist and has written or co-written over 500 songs for himself and other artists, collaborating mostly with lyricists Howard...
, as well as recording quite a number of one-off singles on many different labels (RCA, Pye, etc.) using many different performer names (Festival, Tristar Airbus, The New Wave Band, Grumble, etc.). In July 1972 they were signed by entrepreneur, producer and recording artist Jonathan King
Jonathan King
Jonathan King is an English singer, songwriter, impresario and record producer. He is also the author of three novels, Bible Two and The Booker Prize Winner , and Beware the Monkey Man , and an autobiography, 65 My Life So Far .King first came to prominence as an...
and given the name 10cc
10cc
10cc are an English art rock band who achieved their greatest commercial success in the 1970s. The band initially consisted of four musicians -- Graham Gouldman, Eric Stewart, Kevin Godley, and Lol Creme -- who had written and recorded together for some three years, before assuming the "10cc" name...
.
Over the course of the next 23 years, 10cc scored three UK No.1 singles and five Top 10 albums, with Gouldman co-writing some of their biggest hits, including "The Wall Street Shuffle" (1974), "I'm Not in Love
I'm Not in Love
"I'm Not in Love" is a song written by Eric Stewart and Graham Gouldman of the English group 10cc, from the album The Original Soundtrack. The lyric reveals a narrator in denial about the title's ostensible theme.-The 10cc version:...
" (1975), "I’m Mandy, Fly Me" and "Art For Art’s Sake" (1976), "The Things We Do For Love" (1977) and "Dreadlock Holiday
Dreadlock Holiday
-In popular culture:* The song is featured on the first episode, "Killeroo", of the first series of the British cult comedy The Mighty Boosh. Bob Fossil, head of the Zooniverse, dances to the first verse of the song while a confused Howard Moon looks on, before switching it off and explaining "And...
" (1978).
When Godley and Creme
Godley & Creme
Godley & Creme were an English pop music duo composed of Kevin Godley and Lol Creme. The pair began releasing albums as a duo after splitting from the pop band 10cc. In 1979 they directed their first music video for their own single "An Englishman in New York"...
departed in 1976 to explore new musical territories, Gouldman remained with Stewart, continuing the band essentially as a two-piece, although with regular collaborators including Rick Fenn
Rick Fenn
Richard 'Rick' Fenn is an English rock guitarist. He is best known for being a member of the band 10cc since 1976. He has also collaborated with Mike Oldfield, Rick Wakeman, Hollies singer Peter Howarth and Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason....
, Paul Burgess and Stuart Tosh
Stuart Tosh
Stuart MacIntosh is a drummer, songwriter and vocalist.Also known as Stuart Tosh, MacIntosh recorded and toured with a succession of well-known and respected bands during the 1970s and 1980s, including Pilot, The Alan Parsons Project, 10cc and Camel. Stuart now lives in the Bridge of Don area of...
. 1980's Look Hear?
Look Hear?
Look Hear? is the seventh studio album by 10cc, released in 1980. It reached No.35 in the UK and No.180 in the United States. The album, recorded at the band's Strawberry Studios South in Dorking, Surrey, was the first by 10cc since its 1976 split to include songs written by neither Graham Gouldman...
album marked the end of the band’s run of chart success and 1983’s Windows in the Jungle
Windows in the Jungle
Windows in the Jungle is the ninth studio album by British pop band 10cc. It was released in October 1983 and was the last album by the band for nine years....
became the last 10cc album for almost a decade.
In 1979 Gouldman scored a minor hit with his single "Sunburn", written for the Farrah Fawcett
Farrah Fawcett
Farrah Fawcett was an American actress and artist. A multiple Golden Globe and Emmy Award nominee, Fawcett rose to international fame when she first appeared as private investigator Jill Munroe in the first season of the television series Charlie's Angels, in 1976...
/Charles Grodin
Charles Grodin
Charles Grodin is an American actor, comedian, author and former cable talk show host. Grodin began his acting career in the 1960s appearing in TV serials including The Virginian. He had a small part as an obstetrician in Roman Polanski's Rosemary's Baby in 1968...
film of the same name
Sunburn (film)
Sunburn is a 1979 British-American detective-comedy film directed by Richard C. Sarafian and starring Farrah Fawcett, Charles Grodin and Art Carney...
. Two years later he produced the Pleasant Dreams
Pleasant Dreams
Pleasant Dreams is the sixth studio album by the American punk rock band the Ramones. It was released on July 20, 1981 through Sire Records. Pleasant Dreams reached #58 on the US Billboard album charts. It was frowned upon by guitarist Johnny Ramone because to him it sounded "too slick" and is...
album for the Ramones
Ramones
The Ramones were an American rock band that formed in the New York City neighborhood of Forest Hills, Queens, in 1974. They are often cited as the first punk rock group...
– a record dismissed by the band’s guitarist, Johnny Ramone
Johnny Ramone
John William Cummings , better known by his stage name Johnny Ramone, was an American guitarist and songwriter, best known for being the guitarist for the punk rock band the Ramones. He was a founding member of the band, and remained a member throughout the band's entire career...
, as "too slick".
For more information, see the main entry at 10cc
10cc
10cc are an English art rock band who achieved their greatest commercial success in the 1970s. The band initially consisted of four musicians -- Graham Gouldman, Eric Stewart, Kevin Godley, and Lol Creme -- who had written and recorded together for some three years, before assuming the "10cc" name...
Wax tracks: 1984–1990
From 1984 to 1990 Gouldman teamed with American singer Andrew GoldAndrew Gold
Andrew Maurice Gold was an American singer, musician and songwriter. His works include the Top 10 single "Lonely Boy" , as well as the singles "Thank You for Being a Friend" , and "Never Let Her Slip Away" ....
, with whom he had co-written material in 1981, to form Wax
Wax (pop band)
Wax was a 1980s pop rock group consisting of Andrew Gold and 10cc guitarist/bassist Graham Gouldman. In the US, they were listed as Wax UK. The band is best known for the hit singles "Right Between the Eyes" and "Bridge to Your Heart".-History:...
. They produced four albums. Gold explained how the partnership began:
During this period, Morrissey
Morrissey
Steven Patrick Morrissey , known as Morrissey, is an English singer and lyricist. He rose to prominence in the 1980s as the lyricist and vocalist of the alternative rock band The Smiths. The band was highly successful in the United Kingdom but broke up in 1987, and Morrissey began a solo career,...
recorded Gouldman's "East West", originally a hit for Herman's Hermits
Herman's Hermits
Herman's Hermits are an English beat band, formed in Manchester in 1963 as Herman & The Hermits. The group's record producer, Mickie Most , emphasized a simple, non-threatening, clean-cut image, although the band originally played R&B numbers...
. The song featured as a bonus track on the 12" and CD single for "Ouija Board, Ouija Board
Ouija Board, Ouija Board
"Ouija Board, Ouija Board" was a single released by Morrissey in November 1989, catalogue number HMV POP 1622. The single was poorly received by the music press and the public: its highest chart position was No. 18, making it the first Morrissey single not to reach the British top 10. It appeared...
".
10cc again: 1992–1995
After a 9-year break Gouldman and Stewart resurrected 10cc for 1992’s …Meanwhile album, which also featured performances by Godley, Creme and Gold. Three years later came the final album by the band, Mirror Mirror. By then the decades-long partnership between Gouldman and Stewart was apparently over: the pair each wrote and recorded six songs separately, in different countries, playing together on just one song; an acoustic reworking of "I’m Not In Love". Two co-written songs were written during the ...Meanwhile...Meanwhile
...Meanwhile is the 10th studio album by British pop band 10cc. It was recorded at Bearsville Studios in Woodstock, New York, The Hit Factory, New York, River Sound Studios, New York, Bill Schner Studio, Los Angeles and Village Recorders, Los Angeles and released in 1992.The album was the band's...
sessions.
The final album featured a song, "Ready to Go Home", written by Gouldman in memory of his father, poet and playwright Hyme Gouldman, who had died in 1991. That song was later covered by Morten Harket
Morten Harket
Morten Harket is a Norwegian musician, best known as the lead singer of the Norwegian synthpop/rock band A-ha, which released nine studio albums and topped the charts in several countries after their breakthrough hit "Take on Me" in 1985. A-ha disbanded in 2010. Harket has also released four solo...
(singer of the Norwegian popgroup A-ha
A-ha
A-ha were a Norwegian pop band formed in Oslo in 1982. The band was founded by Morten Harket , Magne Furuholmen , and Pål Waaktaar...
) on his 1995 debut album "Wild Seed".
In an interview with the Jewish Telegraph
Jewish Telegraph
The Jewish Telegraph is a British Jewish newspaper. It was founded in December 1950 by Frank and Vivienne Harris, the parents of the current Editor, Paul Harris.-Founding:...
Gouldman spoke of his father’s influence on his life and career:
During the late 1990s Graham wrote with a few different writers including Paul Carrack
Paul Carrack
Paul Carrack is an English singer, songwriter and musician. Carrack has been a member of several bands including Ace, Squeeze, Mike + The Mechanics, and Roxy Music, been a session and touring musician for several others including Nick Lowe, and has enjoyed success as a solo artist as well...
on his minor 1997 hit "The Way I'm Feeling Tonight" and Kirsty MacColl
Kirsty MacColl
Kirsty Anna MacColl was an English singer-songwriter.MacColl scored several pop hits from the early 1980s to the early 1990s...
on her final album, Tropical Brainstorm
Tropical Brainstorm
Tropical Brainstorm is the final album by Kirsty MacColl, released in 2000. It was inspired by her trips to Cuba, and many tracks include Spanish or Portuguese lyrics.The album was released with three extra tracks in the US.-Track listing:...
, in 2000.
Gouldman included a new version of "Ready to Go Home" on his 2000 solo album, And Another Thing.... On the liner notes of his solo album, he noted: "It reflects my feelings at the time. I suppose I was trying to put a positive slant on his passing, remembering all the things we had done together and his artistic legacy to me. The last verse of the song best reflects my feelings on this. This song has been recorded by many artists and remains one of my favourites. Very emotional."
10cc featuring Graham Gouldman and Friends/Godley and Gouldman : 1999–present
Gouldman began touring as "10cc featuring Graham Gouldman and Friends", with his band comprising Rick Fenn, Paul Burgess, Mike Stevens and Mick Wilson. They first performed in 1999, at Birmingham's Ronnie Scott's Jazz ClubRonnie Scott's Jazz Club
Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club is a jazz club which has operated in London since 1959.The club opened on 30 October 1959 in a basement at 39 Gerrard Street in London's Soho district. It was managed by musicians Ronnie Scott and Pete King. In 1965 it moved to a larger venue nearby at 47 Frith Street...
. After the release of his solo album he got the lads back together to celebrate 30 years of 10cc in 2002, billed as "Graham Gouldman celebrates 30 years of 10cc".
In January 2004, he reconvened with Kevin Godley to write more songs. Godley explained:
In Gouldman’s words:
In July 2006, Godley and Gouldman's website offered four downloadable tracks, "The Same Road", "Johnny Hurts", "Beautifulloser.com" and "Hooligan Crane". The songs are the initial "offering" of a group of songs they have been working on over the past two years. During this period Gouldman wrote the main riff in the McFly song "I've Got You".
Gouldman and Friends toured the UK in 2009, simply billed as "10cc". In August 2010, 10cc featuring Graham Gouldman headlined the Sunday bill at the Rhythm Festival
Rhythm Festival
The Rhythm Festival is an outdoor music festival held at The Mansion House, Old Warden Park, Biggleswade, Bedfordshire from 2011. From 2006 until 2010 it was held at Twinwood Arena, near the village of Clapham, Bedfordshire, England.. Rhythm Festival was founded by music promoter Jim Driver...
.
Albums
- The Graham Gouldman ThingThe Graham Gouldman ThingThe Graham Gouldman Thing was the debut album by singer and songwriter Graham Gouldman. Gouldman had already written hit singles for Herman's Hermits , the Yardbirds , the Hollies and Wayne Fontana and on this album Gouldman delivered his own versions of some of those songs as...
(1968) (USA) RCA Victor LPM-3954 (mono), LSP-3954 (stereo) - AnimalympicsAnimalympicsAnimalympics is a 1980 animated film produced by Lisberger Studios and released by Warner Bros.. Originally commissioned by the NBC network as two separate specials, it spoofs the Summer and Winter Olympic Games, and features the voices of Billy Crystal, Gilda Radner, Harry Shearer and Michael...
(1980) (USA) A&M SP-4580 (soundtrack) - And Another Thing... (2000) Dome FLYCD14
Singles
- "Stop Stop Stop (or Honey, I'll Be Gone)" / "Better To Have Loved And Lost" (1966) – UK Decca F-12334; US (no issue)
- "The Impossible Years" / "No Milk Today" (1968) – UK (no issue); US RCA Victor 47-9453
- "Upstairs, Downstairs" / "Chestnut" (1968) – UK RCA 1667; US (no issue)
- "Pamela, Pamela" / "For Your Love" (1968) – UK (no issue); US RCA Victor 47-9584
- "Windmills Of Your Mind" / "Harvey's Tune" (as The Graham Gouldman Orchestra) (1969) – UK Spark SRK-1026; US (no issue)
- "Nowhere To Go" / "Growing Older" (1972) – UK CBS 7729; US (no issue)
- "Sunburn" (1979) UKUK Singles ChartThe UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
#52 Australia #26 – theme music to film Sunburn