Paul Young (singer, born 1947)


Paul Young was a British singer and songwriter. He achieved success in the bands Sad Café and Mike + the Mechanics.

Life and career

Young was born on 17 June 1947 in the Wythenshawe district of Manchester, England.
After joining The Toggery Five and releasing a number of unsuccessful solo singles between 1967 and 1975, Young came to prominence as the frontman of 1970s rock band Sad Café, with whom he achieved multiple UK Top 40 and US Billboard Hot 100 hits.
He formed Sad Café in 1976 and recorded with them until 1989. He enjoyed further chart success sharing lead vocal duties with Paul Carrack in Mike + The Mechanics, the pop-rock band formed in 1985 by Genesis guitarist Mike Rutherford.
During his career, he provided lead vocals on several chart hits, including Sad Café's "Every Day Hurts" and "My Oh My", and Mike + The Mechanics' "All I Need Is a Miracle", "Word of Mouth", "Taken In" and "Nobody's Perfect". He was brought into Mike + the Mechanics on the recommendation of producer/songwriter Christopher Neil and Neil's manager. Young's power and range lent themselves to the band's heavier songs.
Young also sang the theme to the British children's TV series Avenger Penguins.

Vocal style

Young possessed a wide vocal range, often utilising fifth octave head voice notes, and a voice characterised as "rich". His early style has been likened to that of Mick Jagger; in the early 1980s, he began to explore a more "emotive" style.

Death

On 15 July 2000, having no symptoms, Paul Young had a sudden heart attack at around 6.30pm at his home in Hale, Altrincham, and died shortly afterwards at 53 years old. An autopsy revealed "he had died from a heart attack and that it was not the first." His body was cremated a week later on 22 July 2000.
In 2011, a new album, Chronicles, was released, compiled from unfinished material recovered from his home studio, and containing a new single, "Your Shoes", written by Paul Young and Mike Rutherford. A plaque can be found outside his home on Hale Road, Hale, Cheshire.
Paying tribute, Rutherford said of Young, "He had a fantastic voice, one of the best rock voices of his generation ... a complete natural."
Former Marillion vocalist and 1980s chart peer Fish described him as "one of the finest frontmen and singers from the history of the British music scene", who exhibited "immense personality, glowing charisma and outrageous positivism".

Discography

Paul Young
Mike + The Mechanics
Sad Café
Albums
YearAlbumUK Albums ChartUS Albums
1977Fanx Ta Ra
#56
-
1977Hungry Eyes
-
-
1978Misplaced Ideals
#50
-
1978Misplaced Ideals †
-
#94
1979Facades
#8
#146
1980Sad Café
#46
#160
1981Live
#37
-
1981Olé
#72
-
1985Politics of Existing
-
-
1989Whatever it Takes
-
-

† US version of the first two albums
The Young Brothers
Young & Renshaw