Biography
By 1966 Graham Gouldman already ranked among Britain’s most accomplished songwriters, yet he stepped forward as a solo artist only after the Whirlwinds and the Mockingbirds both disbanded without success.
Material he had written found its way to the Yardbirds, the Hollies, Herman’s Hermits, Wayne Fontana, Jeff Beck, Cher, the Shindigs, the Shadows, and P.J. Proby. Turning briefly to production, he oversaw a single for Little Frankie; such was the regard for his demos that the Downliners Sect simply issued his original recording of “The Cost of Living” rather than cut their own version.
Gouldman’s first solo single, “Stop or I’ll Be Gone,” appeared in February 1966. Around the same time he began working with Manchester vocalist Friday Browne, who would appear on several later Gouldman projects and whose own single “Ask Any Woman” he produced. In November 1966 Browne joined Gouldman, ex-Country Gentleman Peter Cowap, Phil Dermys, Clem Cattini, and future Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones in the makeshift ensemble the High Society, whose lone release “People Passing By” has since slipped into obscurity.
That same lineup regrouped as the Manchester Mob and cut “Bony Maroni at the Hop” in March 1967. Shortly afterward Gouldman, Jones, engineer Eddie Kramer, and Peter Noone began shaping the tracks that became Gouldman’s debut album, The Graham Gouldman Thing. Composed largely of his own renditions of songs previously supplied to other artists, the LP—issued solely in the United States—was preceded by the single “No Milk Today,” already a British hit for Herman’s Hermits. The release failed to chart, as did the follow-up British 45 “Upstairs Downstairs.” By the time the album reached shops, Gouldman had shelved his solo ambitions to cut the Mindbenders’ final single “Uncle Joe the Ice Cream Man” and to tour with the group. When the Mindbenders dissolved, Gouldman and guitarist Eric Stewart promptly began constructing Strawberry Studios in Stockport.
Further afield, Gouldman issued an instrumental reading of Noel Harrison’s “The Windmills of Your Mind” under the name the Graham Gouldman Orchestra and delivered a striking psychedelic single as Garden Odyssey. He also placed material with the short-lived Marmalade label, including “The Late Mr. Late,” which appeared on a label sampler alongside his reunion with former Mockingbirds drummer Kevin Godley on “To Fly Away.” Godley’s own Frabjoy & the Runcible Spoon project was likewise signed to Marmalade.
The label folded in early 1969, prompting Gouldman to move to New York as a staff songwriter for the Kasenatz/Katz organization. Many of his new compositions were tracked at Strawberry, where Godley and Lol Crème contributed the Crazy Elephant hit “There Ain’t No Umbopo.” Gouldman himself supplied Ohio Express with “Sausalito” and “Tampa Florida,” wrote Freddie and the Dreamers’ French success “Susan’s Tuba,” and composed “When He Comes” for Fighter Squadron.
Strawberry Studios remained busy over the next two years, hosting albums by Ramases and Neil Sedaka, singles by comedian John Paul Joans, various English football clubs and comedy acts, and the surprise hit “Neanderthal Man” by the studio collective Hotlegs. Gouldman released only one additional solo single in this period, “Growing Older,” produced with Eric Woolfson, later of the Alan Parsons Project.
For the following seven years 10cc absorbed most of Gouldman’s energies. He resumed solo activity in 1979 while Eric Stewart recuperated from a car accident, scoring his first solo hit with “Sunburn,” the theme from the Farrah Fawcett film, which reached number 45 in Britain. The next year he composed the soundtrack Animalympics for an animated sports feature, produced the Ramones’ album Pleasant Dreams, and, after 10cc’s initial split in 1982, formed the duo Wax with Andrew Gold.
Further 10cc reunions occurred in the early 1990s. Gouldman also began a songwriting partnership with Kirsty MacColl that ended with her death in 2000. That same year he issued his second solo album, And Another Thing, which mixed fresh material with revisited songs including “You Stole My Love,” “Heartful of Soul,” and 10cc’s “Ready to Go Home.”
Material he had written found its way to the Yardbirds, the Hollies, Herman’s Hermits, Wayne Fontana, Jeff Beck, Cher, the Shindigs, the Shadows, and P.J. Proby. Turning briefly to production, he oversaw a single for Little Frankie; such was the regard for his demos that the Downliners Sect simply issued his original recording of “The Cost of Living” rather than cut their own version.
Gouldman’s first solo single, “Stop or I’ll Be Gone,” appeared in February 1966. Around the same time he began working with Manchester vocalist Friday Browne, who would appear on several later Gouldman projects and whose own single “Ask Any Woman” he produced. In November 1966 Browne joined Gouldman, ex-Country Gentleman Peter Cowap, Phil Dermys, Clem Cattini, and future Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones in the makeshift ensemble the High Society, whose lone release “People Passing By” has since slipped into obscurity.
That same lineup regrouped as the Manchester Mob and cut “Bony Maroni at the Hop” in March 1967. Shortly afterward Gouldman, Jones, engineer Eddie Kramer, and Peter Noone began shaping the tracks that became Gouldman’s debut album, The Graham Gouldman Thing. Composed largely of his own renditions of songs previously supplied to other artists, the LP—issued solely in the United States—was preceded by the single “No Milk Today,” already a British hit for Herman’s Hermits. The release failed to chart, as did the follow-up British 45 “Upstairs Downstairs.” By the time the album reached shops, Gouldman had shelved his solo ambitions to cut the Mindbenders’ final single “Uncle Joe the Ice Cream Man” and to tour with the group. When the Mindbenders dissolved, Gouldman and guitarist Eric Stewart promptly began constructing Strawberry Studios in Stockport.
Further afield, Gouldman issued an instrumental reading of Noel Harrison’s “The Windmills of Your Mind” under the name the Graham Gouldman Orchestra and delivered a striking psychedelic single as Garden Odyssey. He also placed material with the short-lived Marmalade label, including “The Late Mr. Late,” which appeared on a label sampler alongside his reunion with former Mockingbirds drummer Kevin Godley on “To Fly Away.” Godley’s own Frabjoy & the Runcible Spoon project was likewise signed to Marmalade.
The label folded in early 1969, prompting Gouldman to move to New York as a staff songwriter for the Kasenatz/Katz organization. Many of his new compositions were tracked at Strawberry, where Godley and Lol Crème contributed the Crazy Elephant hit “There Ain’t No Umbopo.” Gouldman himself supplied Ohio Express with “Sausalito” and “Tampa Florida,” wrote Freddie and the Dreamers’ French success “Susan’s Tuba,” and composed “When He Comes” for Fighter Squadron.
Strawberry Studios remained busy over the next two years, hosting albums by Ramases and Neil Sedaka, singles by comedian John Paul Joans, various English football clubs and comedy acts, and the surprise hit “Neanderthal Man” by the studio collective Hotlegs. Gouldman released only one additional solo single in this period, “Growing Older,” produced with Eric Woolfson, later of the Alan Parsons Project.
For the following seven years 10cc absorbed most of Gouldman’s energies. He resumed solo activity in 1979 while Eric Stewart recuperated from a car accident, scoring his first solo hit with “Sunburn,” the theme from the Farrah Fawcett film, which reached number 45 in Britain. The next year he composed the soundtrack Animalympics for an animated sports feature, produced the Ramones’ album Pleasant Dreams, and, after 10cc’s initial split in 1982, formed the duo Wax with Andrew Gold.
Further 10cc reunions occurred in the early 1990s. Gouldman also began a songwriting partnership with Kirsty MacColl that ended with her death in 2000. That same year he issued his second solo album, And Another Thing, which mixed fresh material with revisited songs including “You Stole My Love,” “Heartful of Soul,” and 10cc’s “Ready to Go Home.”
Albums
Singles
