Gill Dougherty


Gill Dougherty is a French singer and songwriter, heavily influenced by 70s and 80s rock, who was born April 1961 in :fr:Rock à Toulouse|Toulouse.
At the end of the seventies, punk rock was sweeping through France and he found inspiration with The Jam, The Clash, Sex Pistols, The B-52's, and The Ramones In France, he found his influences in :fr:Bijou |Bijou, :fr:Téléphone |Téléphone and :fr:Starshooter|Starshooter. Later, he has also noted Link Wray and Chris Spedding as great influences.

Biography

At the beginning

In 1979 he formed, on an off-chance, his first band " Lipstick " with Olivier Boumendil on bass and Jean Marc Bibron on drums.
Lipstick got its first hit on a local level with the song "Accident". There some traces of this sound from his early period during which bands like Classe X, Les Fils de Joie and The Lords also appear. Other early songs of Lipstick are "Jenny", "Ballade Pour Une Bourgeoise", "Despy and Joan", and "Je Ne Veux Plus Te Voir".

1980 : Deltour Productions

In 1980, Gill Dougherty formed "Incorruptibles" with two ex-members of The Lords. In March 1981, "Les Incorruptibles" drew critical attention to themselves at a concert in Theatre du Taur with songs like "Les Soleils de La Nuit ", "Bande Dessinée ", "Dr Jackson"... The story of Incorruptibles, with whom he records three albums with Studio Deltour, ends as quickly as it had begun, and, from 1982 on, Gill performs under his own name and records three albums: "Envie de Tuer", "Monsieur Dupond" and "Interdit de Séjour", also under contract with Studio Deltour. At the same time, he appears on stage with Gringos, Evadés d'Alcatraz, Misérables, Classe X, and forms a band with Alain Gerard, previously drummer of Fils de Joie, and Jean Marc Leclerc of Evadé d'Alcatraz on bass.

1984 : Reflexes venture

En 1984, while flipping through a magazine in hospital, following a motorcycle accident, he comes across an article about the famous song "Tu Verras, Tu Verras", by the French band Ablettes, produced by Patrice Fabien for the record label :fr:Réflexes. Patrice, who had been a producer with CBS, expressed an interest in the demo of "Moi Je Doute" from 1981. Gill contacted him and signed with Réflexes for two singles, "Moi Je Doute" and "Fric Frac Noise", also recorded at Studio Deltour. The single rapidly climbed the playlists of the Europe 1, RTL, and France Inter national radio stations. At the time, Gill Dougherty, maintained only tenuous connections with the music business and did not show any will to succeed and lost his chance to produce any follow up to this hit. Nevertheless, he played at the Rose Bonbon with the Bandits, Ich Libido, Follie's, Ricky Amigos, les :fr:Les Désaxés |Les Désaxés, and Drucilla, who were all signed to Réflexes. Their drummer is Jean Luc Guitard, and the bass player is Jean Marc Leclerc. The track is recorded a pre-recorded tape of Eddy Mitchell at the Palais des sports where the applause was preserved. The track was mixed in one night at Studio Caroline with Patrick Giordano, the guitarist from the Bandits, but the live recording was never released. In December 1984, he appears at the "Zeleste de Barcelone" concert and makes the cover of the "Avanguardia".

The end of the 80' : the other ones

In 1985 and 1986, Dougherty had an intensive creative period of writing during which he formed the Vicomtes with Monique Sabatier of the Queen Bees, "Ne Joue Pas" with Caroline, the bass player of the Calamités and worked with many other artists like Marie Alcaraz. He also recorded three new over produced albums at Studio Deltour, "Où Etais Tu", "Mais Ne Reviens Jamais"). He also played with the Beach-Brothers, a "one summer" band, and occasionally sat in with the Strikers and the Shifters.

Bound for Glory ! For hobos, the way is always open

In 1989, he formed the Hobos with Dominique Dussoud on drums, Richard Arriaga on bass, Patrick Mir on guitar, Yann Legoff on sax and Philippe Danecker on harmonica. They recorded thirteen tracks in one day. On 12 April 1990 at the beginning of a tour with early Zebda, they played at the "Printemps de Bourges". There also is a tape of this concert available on the Internet.
The Hobos disbanded in 1991. In 1993, Dougherty appeared briefly with the Freaks with Richard Arriaga on bass and Erick Pero on drums. 10 March 1994 at the Bikini, he met Link Wray who signed a guitar for him, and authorised, despite the protests of his wife, Olive, to record the concert. This video, if it is of good quality, is a rarity.

New horizons

Since the early 1990s, Gill Dougherty has seemingly dropped out of the music business. He is a dedicated sailboat enthusiast and lives in the north of Brittany, in the far west of France. Despite his musical silence, he has never turned his back as a collector of guitars. He is well known with his black Fender Stratocaster, but he has also been noted to play Rickenbaker 330, Flying V, Gibson 345, Gibson SG, Explorer, Telecaster, Gretsch 6120, and Danelectros.

Music

Discography

Gill Dougherty wrote more than 200 songs
Most of Gill Dougherty's songs are original, but sometime, he also played some covers :