Deacon Blue

Deacon Blue
Origin	Glasgow, Scotland
Genres	Pop Rock Blues Alternative rock
Years active	1985–1994 1999–present
Labels	Columbia Records Sony Music Entertainment Chrysalis Records
Associated acts	McIntoshRoss
Website	www.deaconblue.com
Members
Ricky Ross James Prime Lorraine McIntosh Dougie Vipond
Past members
Graeme Kelling Ewen Vernal

Deacon Blue are a Scottish pop band formed in Glasgow during 1985. Their name was taken from the title of the Steely Dan song "Deacon Blues".^[1] The band consists of vocalist Ricky Ross and Lorraine McIntosh, keyboard player James Prime and drummer Dougie Vipond.

The band released their debut album, Raintown on May 1, 1987 in the United Kingdom, it was released in the United States in February 1988. The album, widely praised as Deacon Blue's finest work, has the overtones of a concept album relating to the struggles of getting by in life in the inner city of urban life - the city being unmistakably Glasgow, referenced by the roots of the band and by the famous images on the cover of the album, the view of a rainy day over Glasgow's West End (with the Finnieston Crane featuring prominently) and, on the rear, a long-exposure capture of the Kingston Bridge blasting through the city centre at night.

Their second studio album, When The World Knows Your Name (1989) topped the UK Album Charts for two weeks,^[2][3] and included "Real Gone Kid" which became their first UK top ten single.^[2][4]

Deacon Blue released their fourth album , Whatever You Say, Say Nothing in 1993. Following Vipond's decision to quit the group in favour of a career in television, they split up in 1994. Five years later, the band held a reunion gig , and this led on to a new album, Walking Back Home, with the band now working on a part-time basis. The band released another album, Homesick, in 2001. Though Graeme Kelling died from pancreatic cancer in 2004, the band has continued in his absence and 2006 saw Deacon Blue returning to the studio to record three new tracks for a Singles album - including the track "Bigger than Dynamite". Deacon Blue are confirmed to be recording new material for a 2011 or 2012 release.^[5]

Career

1985 - 1987: Formation

Formed in 1985 following Ricky Ross's move from Dundee to Glasgow, Deacon Blue were one of the top-selling UK bands of the late 1980s and early 1990s. Along with Ross, the group consisted of Lorraine McIntosh, James Prime, Dougie Vipond, Ewen 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 vocalist Lorraine McIntosh in the later years of the band's career.

In 1986, the band contributed a track ("Take the Saints Away") to a compilation cassette entitled Honey at the Core, featuring then up-and-coming Glasgow bands, including Wet Wet Wet and Hue and Cry.

1987 - 1989: Raintown and success

The band's debut album, Raintown, produced by Jon Kelly was released in 1987. It spawned the singles "Dignity", "Chocolate Girl" and "Loaded". The city that the album's title refers to is Glasgow and the cover art of the album is a photograph (by the Scottish-Italian photographer Oscar Marzaroli) of the River Clyde's docks taken from Kelvingrove Park. It proved a commercial success and has to date sold around a million copies, peaking in the UK album chart at 14 and remaining in the charts for a year and a half.

On 27 February 2006, Raintown was reissued as part of Columbia's Legacy Edition series. The reissue was expanded to 2 CDs. The first CD featured the original 11 track album. The second CD featured alternate cuts of all 11 album tracks, as well as the two original CD bonus tracks "Riches" and "Kings of the Western World". The new edition did not include the varied bonus cuts (remixes and b-sides) that were found on the singles from the album.

1989 - 1991: When The World Knows Your Name and continued popularity

The second album, 1989's When the World Knows Your Name, was the band's most commercially successful, reaching No. 1 in the UK album charts and generating five UK top 30 hits, including "Real Gone Kid", "Wages Day", and "Fergus Sings the Blues" (all five singles from the album were top 10 hits in Ireland). However, music critics^[who?] began to criticise the band for pursuing commercial success over artistic integrity, citing the earlier achievements with Raintown.^{[citation needed]}

Ticket sales for shows in Glasgow's SECC in both May and December 1989 broke the world record at the time for the fastest sell-out.^{[citation needed]} The following year saw the band play in front of an estimated 250,000 fans at the free concert on Glasgow Green "The Big Day", which was held to celebrate Glasgow being named that year's European City of Culture. The band also played Glastonbury and the Roskilde festivals that summer, as well as released Ooh Las Vegas, a double album of B-sides, extra tracks, film tracks, and sessions which reached No. 3 in the UK album charts.

1991 - 1993: Fellow Hoodlums and Whatever You Say, Say Nothing

Jon Kelly returned to the producer's chair in 1991 for the album Fellow Hoodlums. The album was met with more critical success^{[citation needed]} and peaked at No. 2 on the UK album charts.

Fellow Hoodlums was followed up by 1993's Whatever You Say, Say Nothing, a much more experimental album. The album garnered critical praise, but was not as commercially successful as the previous two albums, peaking at No. 4 on the UK album charts. Changing from producer Jon Kelly to the team of Steve Osborne and Paul Oakenfold, this album presented a change in musical style for Deacon Blue. While the band's songwriting remained based in rock and blues, many of the tracks moved into alternative rock territory in their presentation.

1994: UK tour and Our Town - The Greatest Hits

The band embarked on another sold out UK tour in 1994, but not before recording new material for their 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 and You Were Wrong" and a re-release of "Dignity" saw the band re-enter the Top 20 singles chart. The album contains the previous singles from the band, minus "Closing Time" and "Hang Your Head". The album also contained three new tracks. "I Was Right and You Were Wrong", the first single from this album, was a pulsating Alternative rock track that continued and expanded the musical direction the band had taken with Whatever You Say, Say Nothing. "Bound to Love" and "Still in the Mood" were pop songs in the tradition of Deacon Blue's earlier albums. The vinyl LP version of the album contained a fourth new track, "Beautiful Stranger". "Dignity" was released, now for the third time, as the second single from the album.

1995 - 1999: Break-up and solo projects

With Vipond's decision to quit the group in favour of a career in television, Deacon Blue split up in 1994. Five years later, the band held a reunion gig in 1999, and this led on to a new album, Walking Back Home, with the band now working on a part-time basis. The Walking Back Home album combines eight songs that were brand new compositions, previously unreleased tracks, or released only with limited availability, with nine previously released Deacon Blue songs. In this sense, it is not purely a studio album nor a typical compilation album. Because, however, Walking Back Home marked the beginning of a new period of reformation and activity for the group, it is a significant album in their catalog. The band released another album, Homesick, in 2001.

Though Graeme Kelling died from pancreatic cancer in 2004, the band has continued in his absence and 2006 saw Deacon Blue returning to the studio to record three new tracks for a Singles album - including the track "Bigger than Dynamite".

2006 - Present: Singles and reunion

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 2006, and continued on to a full UK tour in November. They were also due to open Stirling's New Year party in 2006, but this was cancelled at the last minute due to extreme weather. They did appear at Stirling's Hogmanay in 2008.

Deacon Blue appeared at The Homecoming Live Final Fling Show, at Glasgow's SECC on 28 November 2009, and headlined Glasgow's Hogmanay on 31 December 2009. On Monday, 13 September 2010, the official web site announced that Ross was busy writing brand new Deacon Blue material. The band will perform together as Deacon Blue playing in the Liverpool Echo Arena, on 29 July 2011.

Ross, who had released a solo album before the formation of Deacon Blue, released two solo albums during the time between Deacon Blue's breakup in 1994 and reformation in 1999. Due to Deacon Blue's part time status after reformation, Ross released additional solo albums in 2002 and 2005 and has written for and with other recording artists.

In 2009 Ricky and Lorraine McIntosh recorded an album together under the name 'McIntosh Ross'.

On July 11, 2011, Deacon Blue performed a free concert at the Tall Ships in Greenock, Scotland.

Discography

Main article: Deacon Blue discography

Studio albums

• Raintown (1987)
• When The World Knows Your Name (1989)
• Fellow Hoodlums (1991)
• Whatever You Say, Say Nothing (1993)
• Walking Back Home (1999)
• Homesick (2001)

References

1. ^ Harris, Craig, "Deacon Blue > Biography", Allmusic (Rovi Corporation), http://www.allmusic.com/artist/deacon-blue-p4043/biography, retrieved 13 March 2011 
2. ^ ^{a b} http://www.chartstats.com/artistinfo.php?id=4931
3. ^ http://www.chartstats.com/release.php?release=44735
4. ^ http://www.chartstats.com/release.php?release=15586
5. ^ http://www.rickyross.com/

External links

• Official Deacon Blue / Ricky Ross Site
• Deacon Blue live at Cornbury Music Festival UK July 2006