Biography
Liverpool native Ian McCulloch, recognized for his prominent vocal delivery and signature hairstyle as the lead singer of Echo & the Bunnymen, first collaborated with Pete Wylie and Julian Cope in the Crucial Three. That project endured barely a month before dissolving, after which Wylie moved through several groups before launching Wah! while Cope established the Teardrop Explodes. In 1978 McCulloch teamed with Will Sergeant to form Echo & the Bunnymen, a Liverpool outfit that would rank among England’s most commercially potent and influential pop acts across the entire 1980s. He departed the group in late 1988 to launch a solo career. His atmospheric 1989 release Candleland matched the caliber of his former band’s strongest material and reached the U.K. Top 20. The 1992 follow-up Mysterio proved less compelling and registered lower chart positions. Throughout the late 1980s and early 1990s McCulloch withdrew from public view, remaining in his Liverpool residence to help raise his two daughters after a frenetic touring schedule and the loss of his father prompted the retreat. Around 1994 he renewed his partnership with Sergeant; performing as Electrafixion, the pair recruited a rhythm section and issued 1995’s Burned, which earned modest airplay on American alternative stations. Former Echo bassist Les Pattinson rejoined, prompting the three musicians to resume activity under the Echo & the Bunnymen name. The resulting albums—1997’s Evergreen, 1999’s What Are You Going to Do with Your Life, and 2001’s Flowers—earned favorable reviews without equaling the heights of the group’s earlier work. Also in 2001 McCulloch toured with the Bunnymen while signing a solo contract with the U.K. indie Jeepster; Rhino simultaneously released the four-CD anthology Crystal Days. Nearly eleven years after his previous solo outing, he returned with Slideling in spring 2003 on the American label spinART, enlisting Coldplay’s Chris Martin and Jonny Buckland plus actor John Simm among the guests. In 2013 McCulloch issued the fan-supported studio set Pro Patria Mori alongside the live recording Live at Liverpool Anglican Cathedral, both later packaged together as Holy Ghosts.
Albums
