Mike and the Mechanics biography
Mike & The Mechanics are an English rock/pop supergroup formed in 1985 as a side project of Mike Rutherford, one of the founding members of the band Genesis. The band is known for their hit singles "Silent Running (On Dangerous Ground)", "All I Need Is a Miracle", "Word of Mouth", "Over My Shoulder", and "The Living Years".
The initial line-up for the band was Rutherford on guitar and bass, vocalists Paul Carrack and Paul Young, keyboardist Adrian Lee and drummer Peter Van Hooke. Carrack was generally assigned to ballads and more pop-oriented numbers, while Young sang the band's heavier work. In 1995, Adrian Lee and Peter Van Hooke left the band. In 2000, Paul Young died. Following Young's death Paul Carrack became the band's sole lead vocalist until his departure in 2004. The band remained on hiatus until 2010 when it reformed with two new vocalists Andrew Roachford and Tim Howar.
Biography
1985-86: Mike + The Mechanics
Mike & The Mechanics debuted with a self-titled album in 1985.
Initially, the group's albums were released between Genesis albums. This ended with the temporary disbanding of Genesis in 1998.
Printed on the single "Silent Running" was a notation that it was from the movie On Dangerous Ground. The movie was released in North American cinemas in 1986 as Choke Canyon, and in the UK as On Dangerous Ground. The music video, however, features different actors portraying different characters with at least one different name.
1988-89: Living Years
The song, "The Living Years," (US No.1 single), also featured on the second album of the same name, was written by Rutherford and Scottish singer/writer/composer B. A. Robertson. It centred on the unresolved dissension between Rutherford and his father but also alluded to the death of Robertson's father just 12 weeks before the birth of Robertson's son. The song was sung by Carrack, who had lost his own father when he was only eleven years old. The album also featured the song "Nobody's Perfect," which was sung by Young and which had received considerable airtime as the music to a successful television advertising campaign for Tennent's bitter.
1991-92: Word of Mouth
The group's third album,
Word of Mouth, followed in 1991 with less commercial and critical success, although the lead single, with vocals by Paul Young, reached No.13 in the UK.
1995-96: Beggar on a Beach of Gold
For the fourth album,
Beggar on a Beach of Gold, both the album and first single, "Over My Shoulder," charted well and received critical praise.
1999-2000: M6
The group's fifth studio album was released in 1999 and was the band's second eponymous album,
Mike & The Mechanics. It is generally known as the
M6 album, the "Hits" album being their fifth release. As the band no longer had a distribution deal with an American record label,
M6 was available to the American market as an import only.
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