Biography
The British soft rock band Sad Café maintained a modestly prosperous recording run that stretched from the middle of the 1970s into the opening years of the 1980s. Frontman Paul Young—not the artist who later scored the 1980s chart-topper “Every Time You Go Away”—began performing in the mid-1960s as leader of the short-lived Manchester combo the Toggery Five, whose lineup included guitarist Mick Abrahams and drummer Clive Bunker, both of whom subsequently joined prog rockers Jethro Tull. By the early 1970s Young was leading another group, Gyro; in 1976 he exited that ensemble and brought Gyro guitarist Ian Wilson along with him. Young promptly assembled Sad Café by recruiting several musicians from the Manchester act Mandalaband—Ashley Mumford on guitar, Vic Emerson on keyboards, John Stimpson on bass, and Tony Creswell on drums—who had already issued an obscure self-titled album in 1975. Although the fledgling Sad Café secured a contract with Chrysalis, the label ultimately declined to release an album the band completed in 1976. After moving to RCA, several tracks from that shelved project appeared on the 1977 debut Fanx Ta-Ra, which was succeeded by Hungry Eyes later the same year, Misplaced Ideals in 1978, and Facades in 1979—the last of these yielding the group’s biggest success, the U.K. Top Five single “Every Day Hurts.” Around the same period Mandalaband briefly reunited for the album The Eye of Wendor, to which Young contributed vocals.
Unable to replicate the earlier single’s impact, Sad Café disbanded in 1981 following the release of two further modestly received efforts: a self-titled studio album in 1980 and the live set Live and Olé in 1981. Young subsequently became one of the lead vocalists—sharing duties with Paul Carrack—for Mike + the Mechanics, the side project launched by Genesis guitarist Mike Rutherford, whose self-titled debut album scored a major hit in 1985. In the late 1980s Young and Ian Wilson revived the Sad Café name for the 1986 album The Politics of Existence, which featured guest appearances by both Rutherford and Carrack. Thereafter Young alternated between Sad Café, which issued Whatever It Takes in 1994, and continued work with Mike + the Mechanics on The Living Years (1988), Word of Mouth (1991), Beggar on a Beach of Gold (1995), and the 1999 self-titled release. In 1993 he participated in a benefit concert for a British hospital that united members of Mike + the Mechanics with Pink Floyd personnel David Gilmour (guitar, vocals), Rick Wright (keyboards, vocals), Nick Mason (drums), Tim Renwick (guitar, vocals), Mike Rutherford (bass, vocals), and Gary Wallis (drums). On July 15, 2000, Young died in Cheshire, England, at age 53, closing the door on any further Sad Café activity. Keyboardist Vic Emerson passed away from pancreatic cancer on October 13, 2018.
Unable to replicate the earlier single’s impact, Sad Café disbanded in 1981 following the release of two further modestly received efforts: a self-titled studio album in 1980 and the live set Live and Olé in 1981. Young subsequently became one of the lead vocalists—sharing duties with Paul Carrack—for Mike + the Mechanics, the side project launched by Genesis guitarist Mike Rutherford, whose self-titled debut album scored a major hit in 1985. In the late 1980s Young and Ian Wilson revived the Sad Café name for the 1986 album The Politics of Existence, which featured guest appearances by both Rutherford and Carrack. Thereafter Young alternated between Sad Café, which issued Whatever It Takes in 1994, and continued work with Mike + the Mechanics on The Living Years (1988), Word of Mouth (1991), Beggar on a Beach of Gold (1995), and the 1999 self-titled release. In 1993 he participated in a benefit concert for a British hospital that united members of Mike + the Mechanics with Pink Floyd personnel David Gilmour (guitar, vocals), Rick Wright (keyboards, vocals), Nick Mason (drums), Tim Renwick (guitar, vocals), Mike Rutherford (bass, vocals), and Gary Wallis (drums). On July 15, 2000, Young died in Cheshire, England, at age 53, closing the door on any further Sad Café activity. Keyboardist Vic Emerson passed away from pancreatic cancer on October 13, 2018.