Biography
Murray Head, the actor and singer most closely tied to the 1984 hit “One Night in Bangkok,” entered the world on March 5, 1946, in London. His performing life started at age twelve through parts in several radio plays. Songwriting began the next year, and he cut his first singles as a teenager under the guidance of producer Norrie Paramor.
The year 1966 brought his screen debut in The Family Way, a film that also contained his third single, “Some Day Soon,” produced by Tim Rice. Momentum still failed to build, however, and he lost his recording contract, passing several years selling insurance until Tim Rice and composer Andrew Lloyd Webber asked him to portray Judas on the soundtrack of their musical Jesus Christ Superstar; at the same time he appeared in the film Sunday Bloody Sunday.
Those two successes drew him into broader view, and in 1972 he released his first solo album, Nigel Lived. Three years later he returned with Say It Ain’t So, which produced the lasting cult single “Say It Ain’t So, Joe.” Aside from a leading role in the 1977 picture Madame Claude, he remained largely out of sight for the balance of the decade, reappearing in 1980 with Between Us. The following year yielded two further albums, Voices and How Many Ways.
In 1984 he was chosen to star in the musical Chess; his performance of “One Night in Bangkok” from the soundtrack became a major pop single on both sides of the Atlantic, though his later recordings reached little beyond his established listeners.
The year 1966 brought his screen debut in The Family Way, a film that also contained his third single, “Some Day Soon,” produced by Tim Rice. Momentum still failed to build, however, and he lost his recording contract, passing several years selling insurance until Tim Rice and composer Andrew Lloyd Webber asked him to portray Judas on the soundtrack of their musical Jesus Christ Superstar; at the same time he appeared in the film Sunday Bloody Sunday.
Those two successes drew him into broader view, and in 1972 he released his first solo album, Nigel Lived. Three years later he returned with Say It Ain’t So, which produced the lasting cult single “Say It Ain’t So, Joe.” Aside from a leading role in the 1977 picture Madame Claude, he remained largely out of sight for the balance of the decade, reappearing in 1980 with Between Us. The following year yielded two further albums, Voices and How Many Ways.
In 1984 he was chosen to star in the musical Chess; his performance of “One Night in Bangkok” from the soundtrack became a major pop single on both sides of the Atlantic, though his later recordings reached little beyond his established listeners.
Singles
