Ian Hunter

Ian Hunter carved out a reputation during the early 1970s as one of hard rock’s most original songwriters, whose sharp-edged material with Mott the Hoople helped lay groundwork for punk; he has sustained that trajectory ever since as a solo performer who continues issuing records deep into his eighties. The opening stretch of the decade found him laboring inside Mott until the group secured a glam reinvention aided by David Bowie on the 1972 album All the Young Dudes, after which Hunter remained for another two years and collected hit singles such as “All the Way from Memphis” and “Roll Away the Stone.” He then launched a solo path that preserved Mott’s punchy, incisive rock & roll while charting a distinctly personal course. American rock radio granted him modest traction, particularly once he adopted a modest new-wave inflection at the start of the 1980s, yet several of his signature compositions surfaced only later: the 1975 U.K. hit “Once Bitten, Twice Shy” became a major American success through Great White’s 1989 version, and “Cleveland Rocks” served as the theme for the sitcom The Drew Carey Show beginning in 1995. Such later windfalls did not markedly enlarge his market position; instead he maintained a steady pace of writing, recording, and touring into the 2010s, issuing Defiance in 2023 only months before turning 84—an achievement of endurance by itself.

Born in Oswestry, Shropshire, Hunter grew up across multiple English cities because his father’s work for the British Intelligence agency MI5 required frequent relocations. The family eventually resettled in Shrewsbury, where the teenage Hunter joined the band Silence in the early 1960s; that group released an album that passed unnoticed. In the ensuing years he performed with several local outfits and held assorted jobs.

Hunter began playing bass with Freddie “Fingers” Lee in 1968, and the pair worked clubs in Germany. He soon became Mott the Hoople’s vocalist and, over the next six years, also handled piano and guitar while emerging as the band’s principal songwriter within a few albums. Although their releases rarely sold in large numbers, Mott the Hoople ranked among England’s most popular live acts. David Bowie produced their breakthrough 1972 album All the Young Dudes, which placed the group in the British Top Ten and the American Top 40; for the following two years they enjoyed a steady run of hits on both sides of the Atlantic.

Late in 1973 the lineup began to fracture when founding guitarist Mick Ralphs departed. Hunter continued through one further album before exiting Mott the Hoople at the close of 1974, accompanied by recent arrival Mick Ronson, the guitarist formerly with David Bowie. In June 1974 Hunter published the memoir Diary of a Rock Star chronicling his time leading the band.

He relocated to New York and, together with Ronson, prepared his first solo record. Issued in 1975, Ian Hunter yielded the Top 20 U.K. single “Once Bitten, Twice Shy.” After the album appeared, the two musicians toured; once the dates concluded they went separate ways, although they would collaborate again in the 1980s. Hunter’s second solo effort, All-American Alien Boy, was cut with an assortment of celebrated and session players that included members of Queen. Released in summer 1976, the album failed commercially. Overnight Angels followed in 1977 and edged Hunter toward more direct rock & roll; dissatisfied with the finished product, he chose not to issue it in the United States.

After adopting the more mainstream stance of Overnight Angels, Hunter engaged with England’s rising punk scene by producing Generation X’s 1979 album Beyond the Valley of the Dolls. For his own next record he rejoined Mick Ronson, who produced and arranged the 1979 release You’re Never Alone with a Schizophrenic; the album succeeded, especially in America where it reached number 35. Hunter and Ronson mounted another tour that yielded the 1980 double live set Ian Hunter Live/Welcome to the Club. In 1981 he issued Short Back N’ Sides, produced by the Clash’s Mick Jones.

Two years afterward All of the Good Ones Are Taken appeared. Thereafter Hunter withdrew for six years, occasionally contributing tracks to film soundtracks. He resumed recording in 1989 with YUI Orta, again alongside Ronson. During the 1990s he kept a low profile, surfacing only on Ronson’s posthumous 1994 album Heaven and Hull and at 1994 tribute concerts for Ronson and a 1992 tribute for Freddie Mercury. He returned to the studio with Artful Dodger, issued in Britain and Europe in spring 1997. Following the Columbia/Legacy anthology Once Bitten Twice Shy that compiled numerous solo tracks in 2000, considerable notice greeted the strong 2001 album Rant. In 2002 Hunter gave a pair of semi-acoustic performances in Oslo, Norway, later documented on CD and video as Strings Attached; the project included fresh material such as “Twisted Steel,” prompted by the events of September 11, 2001.

Shrunken Heads, an entirely new collection, surfaced on Yep Roc in 2007 and was followed in 2009 by Man Overboard on New West Records. That same year Hunter unexpectedly rejoined Mott the Hoople for year-end concerts whose well-received shows were captured on Live at HMV Hammersmith Apollo 2009. After a quiet interval he reemerged in fall 2012 with When I’m President, another widely praised rock & roll set. Live in the UK 2010, drawn from the Man Overboard tour, arrived in 2014, and Fingers Crossed appeared in 2016.

Hunter again teamed with guitarist Ariel Bender and keyboardist Morgan Fisher for several European Mott the Hoople dates in 2018; the tour proved successful enough that U.S. shows were scheduled for 2019, yet those dates were canceled at the last minute owing to Hunter’s tinnitus. He resumed solo activity in 2023 with Defiance, Part 1, an album featuring appearances by Ringo Starr and Johnny Depp. A year later he delivered Defiance, Pt. 2: Fiction, which included guest contributions from Jeff Beck, Benmont Tench, and Taylor Hawkins.