SUGGS (SINGER)

'Graham McPherson' (born on January 13, 1961 in Hastings), better known as 'Suggs', is an English singer, actor, radio DJ, and TV personality — most famous as the frontman of the band Madness.

Contents

Music

Musical Collaborations

2007 Releases

Acting

Radio

Television

Personal life

Solo Discography

Albums

Singles

References

External links

Music

Main articles: Madness (band)

Suggs is best known as the vocalist of the popular 2 Tone ska/pop band, Madness.As a songwriter, he has been influenced by Ian Dury and Ray Davies. After Madness disbanded in 1986, he formed the band The Madness, releasing a self-titled album in 1988 reaching no. 66 in both the UK and US charts.
As a solo artist he released two albums ''The Lone Ranger'' and ''The Three Pyramids Club''. His most successful song was a cover of the Simon and Garfunkel song "Cecilia" which was produced by Sly and Robbie and went to no. 4 in UK charts, selling over 500,000 copies. He also had a top-ten hit with his cover of the Beatles "I'm Only Sleeping", reaching no. 7 in the UK charts. Other single releases from his first album include "Camden Town" and "No More Alcohol". From his second album he released the single "I Am" which featured on the film soundtrack for ''The Avengers''.

Musical Collaborations

Suggs worked with Morrissey and sang backing vocals on the track "Picadilly Palare" in 1990. He managed the 1990s band The Farm, as well as producing most of their first album ''Spartacus'' which reached #1 in the UK charts and spawned the international hit "All Together Now."
Suggs is a supporter of Chelsea F.C., and in 1997 he recorded a song called "Blue Day" with Chelsea players. It was the official song of the team for the FA Cup, which Chelsea eventually won. The song reached #22 in the UK charts.
He has collaborated with Jools Holland twice on his ''Small World Big Band and Friends'' albums — first in 2001 with the song "Oranges and Lemons Again," and again on 2003's "Jack O the Green". He also performed with Holland and his Rhythm and Blues Orchestra in 2003 for a television special where he performed the songs "Madness", and "Enjoy Yourself" with veteran ska singer Prince Buster, who is one of Madness' great influences.
In July 2005, shortly after the terrorist attacks in London, Suggs and Chas Smash performed the Bob Marley song "So Much Trouble in the World" with Billy Bragg at a concert in London's Brockwell Park in aid of the victims. Both Suggs and Smash appeared in the video for the Bob Marley song "One Love".
Also in 2005, Suggs collaborated with electronic group Audio Bullys on the track "This Road" from their Top 40 album ''Generation''. In 2006, Suggs performed the Madness classic "My Girl" with The Ordinary Boys at the Brixton Academy — which was released as a B-side on their UK #6 hit single "Nine2five".

2007 Releases

Suggs- The Platinum Collection was released on July 30th 2007 on Warner records featuring a selection of his best tracks from his two solo albums also with 'Blue Day' and a remixed version of 'Cecilia'.

Acting

Suggs has acted in films such as ''The Tall Guy'' (1989) and ''Don't Go Breaking My Heart'' (1998). He starred in the Channel 4 drama ''The Final Frame'' (1990), in which he played a pop star named ''East''. He also played a pop star (called Jason Woods) in the 1990 ''Press Gang'' episode "Friends Like These". He played the part of Joe's dad in the stage musical ''Our House'', featuring the songs of Madness, for a limited period in London's West End in 2003. Suggs is set to star in the forthcoming romantic drama The Edge of Love starring Keira Knightley and Sienna Miller, playing the part of Al Bowlly. The film is due for release in 2008.

Radio

Suggs was a principal and original DJ on the BBC radio station ''BBC 6 Music'' when it launched in March 2002.^[1] He also worked with Bob Monkhouse on the BBC Radio 4 musical sitcom ''I think I've got a Problem'', which also starred comedian Phil Cornwell.
He became a DJ on Virgin Radio with the show ''Virgin Party Classics'', and was nominated for a Sony Award in 2005. In 2006, Virgin launched the ''Party Classics'' radio channel, available via digital television. The channel was hosted by Suggs, but was short-lived, being pulled just four months after it launched. He regularly features on Virgin Radio competitions where listeners can win the chance to meet him and have a drink with him. 2007 sees him presenting a new show on the station five days a week entitled ''Afternoon Tea with Suggs''.
Whilst presenting his radio show, he constantly includes his producer, Mark, in the show. It lasts 2 hours every weekday between 2-4pm.

Television

Suggs appeared with Madness in an episode of The Young Ones titled Boring. Madness performed 'House of Fun' and when asked by Rick "Do any of you know Summer Holiday by Cliff Richard?" Suggs replies "You hum it, I'll smash your face in".
Suggs has hosted a celebrity karaoke game show on the UK TV channel Five called ''Night Fever'', which was one of the channel's highest rated programmes. He was a team captain in the BBC music trivia game show ''A Question of Pop'', hosted by Jamie Theakston, opposite Noddy Holder. Suggs is a frequent guest on BBC2 show ''Never Mind The Buzzcocks''.
He has hosted a series of hour-long programmes called ''Salvage Squad'', in which a group of engineers restored rare old machinery. Some of the items restored included a steamroller, a ploughing engine called "Margaret", a Blackpool "Coronation" tram, a Scammell Mechanical Horse, a Revopak dustcart, various boats, World War II tanks, early C20 motor launches, railway locomotives and vintage cars.
In 2005 he filmed a series called ''Disappearing London'' for ITV in the London area, in which he investigates architectural and other curiosities that are vanishing. The series won 3 Royal Television Society awards with Suggs collecting a gong in the 'Presenter of the Year' category. A second series was filmed in 2006 for transmission in early 2007. In 2005 he filmed a similar one-off programme for the BBC entitled ''A Picture Of London by Suggs'', which featured the newly penned song "Cracks In the Pavement". Suggs has twice been a guest presenter on the BBC's long-running chart show Top Of The Pops; once in 1995 and another time in 2005.
As of October 2006, Suggs was the main presenter of the BBC London series ''Inside Out'', a weekly programme for Londoners looking at surprising stories in the capital. He was part of Declan Donnelly's Boy Band on ''Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway'' in October 2006, and performed "It Only Takes a Minute" by Take That.

Personal life

Suggs is married to singer Bette Bright, who was the vocalist of the 1970s British band Deaf School. He has two daughters, named Scarlet and Viva. He lives in North London with his family. Suggs is a patron of the charity Children In Need, and has frequently appeared on the annual television fundraiser; performing various Madness tracks with other celebrities. Suggs is a member of the Useless Information Society (founded 1995) a society of journalists, writers and entertainers which focuses around useless esoteric information and has released books such as the Book of Useless Information. Other members include Keith Waterhouse, Richard Littlejohn, Noel Botham, Ken Stott and Brian Hitchen.

Solo Discography

:''For Suggs' albums and singles with Madness, The Madness and The Fink Brothers see Madness discography.''

Albums

★ ''The Lone Ranger'' UK #14 (Oct 1995)

★ ''The Three Pyramids Club'' UK #82 (Aug 1998)

Singles

★ "I'm Only Sleeping"/"Off On Holiday" UK #7 (Aug 1995)

★ "Camden Town" UK #14 (Oct 1995)

★ "The Tune" UK #33 (Dec 1995)

★ "Cecilia" UK #4 (Apr 1996)

★ "No More Alcohol" UK #24 (Sep 1996)

★ "Blue Day" UK #22 (May 1997)

★ "I Am" UK #38 (Sep 1998)

References

1. Suggs page at BBC 6 Music in 2002

External links

★ Madness official website

★ Suggs 2007 Interview at ilikemusic.com

★ The Madness Information Service Online

★ VirginRadio.co.uk - ''Suggs' Party Classics''

★ Suggs' profile at VirginRadio.co.uk

★ Salvage Squad

★ The nutty forum