Graham Parker

Graham Parker biography

For the English sportsman, see Grahame Parker.

Graham Parker (born 15 November 1950, London, England) is a British rock singer and songwriter, who is best known as the lead singer of the popular British band Graham Parker & the Rumour.

Biography

Early career (1960s-1976)

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Parker sang in small-time English bands such as the Black Rockers and Deep Cut Three while working in dead-end jobs like a glove factory and a petrol station. In 1975, he recorded a few demo tracks in London with Dave Robinson, who would shortly found Stiff Records and who connected Parker with his first backing band of note, The Rumour. Parker had one track, "Back to Schooldays", released on the compilation album, A Bunch of Stiff Records for Stiff Records.

In the summer of 1975, Parker joined forces with ex-members of three British pub-rock bands to form Graham Parker and the Rumour. The new group consisted of Parker (lead vocals, guitar) with Brinsley Schwarz (lead guitar) and Bob Andrews (keyboards) (both ex Brinsley Schwarz), Martin Belmont (rhythm guitar, ex Ducks Deluxe) and Andrew Bodnar (bass) and Steve Goulding (drums). They began in the British pub rock scene, often augmented at times by a four-man horn section known as The Rumour Horns: John "Irish" Earle (saxophone), Chris Gower (trombone), Dick Hanson (trumpet), and Ray Beavis (saxophone).

The band's first album, Howlin' Wind, was released to acclaim in April 1976 and was rapidly followed by the stylistically similar Heat Treatment. A mixture of rock, ballads, and reggae-influenced numbers, these albums reflected Parker's early influences (Motown, The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Van Morrison) and contained the songs which formed the core of Parker's live shows - "White Honey", "Soul Shoes", "Lady Doctor", "Fool's Gold", and his early signature tune "Don't Ask Me Questions", which hit the Top 40 in the UK.

Parker and the Rumour built a reputation as incendiary live performers: the promotional album Live at Marble Arch was recorded at this time and shows off their raw onstage style. Like the pub rock scene he was loosely tied to, the singer's class-conscious lyrics and passionate vocals signalled a renewal of rock music as punk rock began to flower in Britain.

In terms of establishing a recording career in early 1976, Parker preceded two other new wave English singer-songwriters to whom he is often compared: Elvis Costello and Joe Jackson. (Costello's first single was released in 1977, and Jackson's first solo single was issued in late 1978).

New direction (1977)

Critical acclaim for the first two albums was generally not matched with LP sales. Graham Parker and the Rumour appeared on BBC television's Top of the Pops in 1977, performing their version of The Trammps' "Hold Back the Night" from The Pink Parker EP, a Top 30 UK hit in March 1977.

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