Graham Keith Gouldman (born on 10 May, 1946, in
Broughton, Salford, Lancashire, England) is an English
songwriter and musician who was a long-time member of
British band 10cc.
Career
1960s pop career: 1963-1968
Gouldman 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 Jacobsen (guitar, bongos), Malcom Wagner,
Maurice Spering and Phil Cohen – secured a recording contract with HMV, releasing a cover 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 Jacobsen 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 inferior tracks, "That’s How (It’s Gonna Stay)" (February 1965) 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)[1]
The band also began a regular warm-up spot for BBC TV’s Top of the Pops, transmitted from Manchester.[2]
In 1966-67 Gouldman recorded singles with two other bands, High Society and The Manchester Mob, both of which featured singer
Peter Cowap.[3] In 1968, he
joined The Mindbenders.
From 1965 Gouldman 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 signed as a songwriter for the Robbins Music company in 1967 and a year later released three singles as a solo artist
before recording his debut solo album, The Graham Gouldman Thing. In
March 1968 Gouldman stepped in as a temporary replacement for bassist Bob Lang in The
Mindbenders, writing the band’s final single, "Uncle Joe, the Ice Cream Man". The Mindbenders dissolved in November
1968.
Writer for hire: 1969-1972
Gouldman’s reputation as a hit songwriter attracted the attention of bubblegum pop
producers Jerry Kasenetz and Jeff Katz of Super K Productions, who invited him to New York to write formula bubblegum songs.
"Sausalito" single cover, 1969
In what he later called a "creative lowpoint",[4]
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." [5]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:[6]
| “ |
We did a lot of tracks in a very short time – it was really like a machine. Twenty
tracks in about two weeks – a lot of crap really – really shit. We used to do the voices, everything – it saved 'em money. We
even did the female backing vocals. |
” |
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.
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.
10cc: 1972-1983
10cc: From left, Graham Gouldman, Kevin Godley, Eric Stewart, Lol Creme.
The four musicians continued work at Strawberry Studios, producing and backing artists including Cowap, Dave Berry, Wayne Fontana, Herman's Hermits and
Neil Sedaka. In July 1972 they were signed by entrepreneur, producer and recording artist
Jonathan King and bestowed with 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).
"Sunburn" single cover, 1979
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 more than 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".[7]
For more information, see the main entry at 10cc
Wax tracks: 1984-1990
From 1984 to 1990 Gouldman teamed with American singer Andrew Gold, with whom he had
co-written material in 1981, to form Wax. They produced four albums. Gold explained how
the partnership began:[8]
| “ |
I was called by the (then) Head of A&R at Warner Brothers Lenny Waronker, who I had known for years. He asked if I was a fan of 10cc, and I told him that indeed I
was, very much. He said the band had a new album they were releasing called Ten Out Of
10, and he was of the opinion that, although the album was very strong, it might benefit the US audience to have a few
additional cuts tailored more for the American ear. As he knew I was an Anglophile, we might hit it off well.
I said it would be an honour if the band said OK. I spoke to Graham and Eric by phone and soon I was in the UK, co-writing and
co-producing three tracks for the album, which was a blast to do and turned out very well. During the course of my three-week
stay, Eric, Graham and I fell in love, as it were, and soon they asked me to join the band, which was an extremely exciting
offer. For various reasons, which now seem dumb to me, and after great consideration, I demurred in favour of pursuing my own
career and returned to America.
But before long Graham and I were talking again, and he asked if I wanted to return to England to write and just kind of hang
for a few weeks. I went and ended up staying for seven months. Eric had decided to take some time off from 10cc and Graham, ever
happy to be working, hunkered down with me writing and recording in his home studio in Cheshire. Soon we realised that what we
were doing was basically writing and recording a home made band album.
|
” |
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".
10cc again: 1992-1995
After a 12-year break Gouldman and Stewart resurrected 10cc for 1992’s ...Meanwhile album, which 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".
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[9] with Mike Cohen (journalist) of the Jewish Telegraph
Gouldman spoke of his father’s influence on his life and career:
| “ |
I'm always happy to talk about my father. He was the biggest influence on me. I always
used to phone him during my 10cc days for help. Kevin called him "Hyme the Rhyme". He loved words. He always taught me to be
original. He had high standards. He was a genius. What he did for a living was incidental, it was the writing that he lived for.
And some of that has rubbed off on me. |
” |
Gouldman included a new version of the song 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."
Graham Gouldman and Friends: 2004-2007
Graham Gouldman and Friends. Left to right, Paul Burgess, Mick Wilson, Mike Stevens, Rick Fenn, Graham Gouldman.
Gouldman began touring as "10cc featuring Graham Gouldman and Friends", with his band comprising Rick Fenn, Paul Burgess, Mike
Stevens and Mick Wilson.
In January 2004, he reconvened with Kevin Godley to write more songs. Godley explained:
| “ |
In a nutshell ... unfinished business. In all the years we’ve known each other we’ve
only written three pure, Godley-Gouldman songs. That, and a desire to find out if the music muscle still worked with someone I
enjoyed and didn’t have to spend weeks getting to know. |
” |
In Gouldman’s words:
| “ |
Kevin and I have always stayed in touch even though we haven’t actually worked
together for many years, so I was delighted when he called to suggest we write some songs. When I asked "Why?" He said, "No
reason ... just to do it and see what happens." A good enough reason for me. What followed was a series of writing and recording
sessions ... Something like the early days when we wrote and recorded for ourselves with one ear half cocked for something that
broke the mould.
I always figured Mr G had the best voice in the band, ironic then that he never sang lead on a 10cc single … Even I managed
that. Now justice has been done. Kevin’s voice and razor sharp lyrics take us to places we haven’t visited before… Always a good
place to start.[1]
|
” |
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.
Discography
Albums
Singles
- "Sunburn" (1979) UK #52 Australia #26 - theme music to film Sunburn
References
- ^ Mockingbirds and Whirlwinds discography.
- ^ "Q Rock Stars Encyclopedia" by Dafydd Rees and Luke Crampton, Dorling
Kindersley, 1999
- ^ 10cc family tree at Minestrone fan website
- ^ Gouldman biography at Godley-Gouldman website
- ^ Liner notes for Strawberry Bubblegum CD written by David Wells, June 2003
- ^ "Zigzag" magazine, January 1975
- ^ Pleasant Dreams
- ^ Liner notes on Wax's "ComonKnowledge.com" album
- ^ Undated interview, "Jewish Telegraph"
External links
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