DEACON BLUE (New Wave, Pop-Rock)

Origin: Glasgow, Scotland
Genre(s): New Wave, Pop-Rock, Blues, Alternative rock
Years active: 1985–present

Website: www.deaconblue.com

Members:
Ricky Ross
James Prime
Lorraine McIntosh
Dougie Vipond

Former members:
Graeme Kelling
Ewen Vernal

Deacon Blue are one of Scotland's most popular pop bands. Formed in 1985, this predominantly Glaswegian act were one of the top-selling UK bands of the late 1980s/early 1990s. The group's members were Ricky Ross, Lorraine McIntosh, James Prime, Dougie Vipond, Ewan Vernal and Graeme Kelling.


Ross, a former school teacher originally from Dundee, was the group's frontman, penning the vast majority of Deacon Blue's songs. He married female vocalist Lorraine McIntosh in the later years of the band's career.

The band's first album, Raintown, produced by Jon Kelly and released in 1987, is regarded by many as the band's finest effort, spawning the singles "Dignity", "Chocolate Girl" and "Loaded". Many consider Raintown to be a concept album, since nearly all the songs contribute to the overall theme of being stuck in a dead-end life in a deprived city longing for something better. The city that the album's title refers to is Glasgow, and the memorable cover art of the album is a shot of the River Clyde's docks taken on a miserable day from Kelvingrove Park.

The second album, 1988's When The World Knows Your Name, was the band's most commercially successful, with the mega-selling singles "Real Gone Kid", "Wages Day" and "Fergus Sings The Blues". However, music critics began deriding the band at this stage for pursuing commercial success over artistic quality, citing the earlier achievements of Raintown.

Jon Kelly returned to the producer's chair in 1991 for Fellow Hoodlums, and the album was met with more critical success, but by now the group's honeymoon period was over and their success started to wane (the album only peaked at No.2 in the UK album charts). This album was followed up with 1993's Whatever You Say, Say Nothing , a much more experimental album in the vein of U2's Achtung Baby, which garnered critical praise, but was something of a commercial failure.

The band embarked on another sold out UK tour in 1994, but not before recording new material for the greatest hits compilation "Our Town". This saw the band return to No. 1 in the UK album charts and was one of the year's top sellers, while "I Was Right & You Were Wrong" and "Dignity" saw the band reenter the Top 20 singles chart.

With Vipond's decision to quit the group in favour for a career in television, Deacon Blue split up in 1994. Ricky Ross had a short-lived solo career in the mid-'90s. The band made an unexpected reunion gig in 1999, and this led on to a new album in 2000, Walking Back Home, with the band now working on a part-time basis. Though Graeme Kelling died from cancer in 2004, the band has vowed to continue in his absence.

Ross later resurrected his solo career. Epic released his second solo album "What You Are" in 1996. He then released "New Recording" on his own label in 1997. After landing a new publishing deal with Warner Chappell UK he also found a new label Papillion through whom Deacon Blue's "Homesick" album was released in 2001. This was followed by Ricky's solo effort "This Is The Life" in 2002. He then released "Pale Rider" in 2005 through P3 Music. As part of his publishing deal with Warner Chappell he also began co-writing with other artists. He currently spends more time on this than on his solo career or Deacon Blue projects. To date he has written for and with James Blunt, Ronan Keating, K.T. Tunstall, David Sneddon, Cathy Burton, Gareth Gates, Emma Bunton and several others.

The year 2006 saw Deacon Blue returning to the studio to record three new tracks for a Singles album - including the track "Bigger than Dynamite".

The band performed at Manchester United's Old Trafford stadium, as the pre-match entertainment for the Rugby League Super League Grand Final on the 14 October, and continued on to a full UK tour in November. They were also due to open Stirling's New Year party, but this was cancelled at the last minute due to extreme weather.



Discography:

1987 Raintown UK#14
1988 Riches (Compilation) UK#14
1989 When the World Knows Your Name UK#1
1990 Ooh Las Vegas (Compilation) UK#3
1991 Fellow Hoodlums UK#2
1993 Whatever You Say, Say Nothing UK#4
1994 Our Town - The Greatest Hits (Compilation) UK#1
1997 Riches & More (Compilation)
1999 Walking Back Home (Studio/Compilation) UK#39
2001 Homesick UK#59
2001 The Very Best of Deacon Blue (Compilation)
2006 Singles (Compilation)