Mike Harding

Born in Lancashire, England, during 1944, Mike Harding lost his father—a Royal Air Force bomber crew member—mere weeks before his own arrival, an occurrence later commemorated in the uncommonly serious piece “Bomber’s Moon.” Once grown, he sampled assorted occupations before completing an education degree while earning money through appearances at folk clubs. He also performed with several Manchester-area groups, although his only releases from the 1960s were two folk numbers issued on the Topic label.

During performances his comic sensibility gradually surfaced; he first inserted jokes into the gaps between songs and later developed a full narrative style as his timing improved. While preserving his folk roots, he shaped a plainspoken Mancunian persona that combined expansive humor, deft anecdotes rooted in personal experience, and boisterously comic songs.

A Lancashire Lad, his first album, appeared in 1972; Mrs ’Ardin’s Kid followed in 1974. The 1975 single “The Rochdale Cowboy” lifted him to wider notice and placed him on touring routes comparable to those traveled by Billy Connolly. Audiences responded warmly to his hearty character and genial demeanor, as well as to material that offered a reassuring alternative amid increasingly provocative trends—occasionally suggestive, yet always presented with a wink rather than genuine provocation.

One Man Show arrived in 1976, furnishing listeners with a vivid record of a typical Harding concert, notable in part for the frequent moments when laughter overtakes the performer. Old Four-Eyes Is Back sustained the momentum in 1977 (a title once considered by Elton John for one of his own projects until Frank Sinatra’s lawyers intervened; Harding evidently drew less legal attention), while Captain Paralytic and the Brown Ale Cowboys, released in 1978, is widely viewed as the artistic peak of that phase. Christmas 1914 (1977) and Bombers’ Moon (1984) revealed a more somber side, as did Plutonium Alley in 1986, after which Harding returned to comedy laced with satire.

Fresh studio output ended in 1994, although later material has occasionally been reissued. He has since built an extensive parallel career as a playwright and novelist and is further recognized for nonfiction on subjects ranging from the Green Man’s appearances in Mediaeval stonework to other topics. As of 2001 he has presented a weekly BBC radio program devoted to folk music and continues to perform live whenever possible.