Paul Melvyn Carrack (born 22 April 1951) is an English musician who has recorded as both a solo artist and as a member of several popular bands. The BBC dubbed Carrack "The Man with the Golden Voice", while Record Collector remarked: "If vocal talent equalled financial success, Paul Carrack would be a bigger name than legends such as Phil Collins or Elton John."

Carrack rose to prominence in the mid-1970s as the frontman and principal songwriter of rock band Ace, and gained further recognition for his work as a solo artist and for his tenures as a member of Squeeze and Roger Waters' backing band, the Bleeding Heart Band, intermittently handling lead vocals on Squeeze and Waters recordings. From the mid-1980s to the late 1990s, he enjoyed considerable success as the co-lead vocalist (with Sad Café's Paul Young) and a songwriter for Mike + The Mechanics; following Young's death in 2000, Carrack served as the band's sole lead vocalist until his departure in 2004.

Carrack sang some of his affiliated bands' best-known hits, including Ace's "How Long" (1975); Squeeze's "Tempted" (1981); and Mike + The Mechanics' "Silent Running (On Dangerous Ground)" (1985), "The Living Years" (1988) and "Over My Shoulder" (1995). He also performed lead vocals on tracks from the Roger Waters albums Radio K.A.O.S. (1987) and The Wall – Live in Berlin (1990). He has released nineteen solo albums and achieved a major hit of his own with "Don't Shed a Tear" (1988). Carrack's songs have been recorded by artists such as Linda Ronstadt, Eagles, Diana Ross, Tom Jones, Michael McDonald and Jools Holland, and he has served as a session or touring musician for Roxy Music, Elton John, Eric Clapton, Ringo Starr, B. B. King, the Pretenders, the Smiths and Madness.

Career

1970s: Warm Dust, Ace and Roxy Music

Warm Dust

Carrack's recording career began with the jazz-rock band Warm Dust, which released three studio albums of original material between 1970 and 1972. Carrack served as the band's keyboardist and occasionally played other instruments. The band's lead vocalist was Les Walker. In addition to Carrack and Walker, the line up also included David Pepper, Alan Solomon, Terry Comer, and John Surguy. The original line-up was made up of Les Dransfield Walker on lead-vocals, harp, guitar, Carrack on organ, piano, guitar, Dave Pepper on drums and Terry Corner on bass, guitar and recorder. While playing the Top Ten club in Hamburg, they met up with John Surgey who played tenor sax and Alan Solomon who played baritone sax who subsequently joined the band.

They played at venues in Germany and their appearances in the UK were considered rare. It was on the continent that they fared better. They even appeared to have upstaged Fleetwood Mac at a concert. Three of their performances were recorded for Beat Club. They were " Indian Rope Man", "Worm Dance Part 1" and "Worm Dance Part 2".

Ace

After Warm Dust broke up, Carrack and Warm Dust bassist Terry "Tex" Comer helped found the pub rock band Ace. The same year, Mike + The Mechanics scored yet another top 20 hit, "Over My Shoulder". It not only featured Carrack on lead vocals, but was the first Mechanics hit to be co-written by him.

In 1996, Carrack resumed his solo career with the studio album Blue Views. He also recorded a song called "Déjà Vu" on Steve Hackett's album Genesis Revisited. This song was co-written by ex-Genesis members Hackett and Peter Gabriel.

2000–present

Carrack maintains an active solo career, as well as his career as a session musician and songwriter, touring solo in 2002, mostly opening for bands such as Supertramp. He also served as the sole lead vocalist for Mike + The Mechanics following the death of Paul Young in 2000. In 2003 Carrack toured with Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band performing his hit songs including "How Long?", "Tempted" and "The Living Years". In 2004, Carrack left the Mechanics following the release of Rewired, their only studio album with Carrack as sole lead vocalist. After a lull in Carrack's career, in 2007 the Eagles covered Carrack's "I Don't Want to Hear Anymore" on their long-awaited reunion album Long Road Out of Eden. The album went to number one in the US, UK, Australia, New Zealand and several other countries.

In September 2004, Carrack joined with other notable artists for The Strat Pack concert at Wembley, celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Fender Stratocaster. Carrack delivered vocal performances on "How Long?", Bob Dylan's "All Along the Watchtower", the Beatles' "While My Guitar Gently Weeps", and Genesis's "I Can't Dance".

thumb|Carrack in 2008

In May 2009, Carrack embarked on a tour of Germany, supported by Canadian artist Brendan Croskerry. In 2010, Carrack released the studio album A Different Hat, with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, arranged by David Cullen. Two years later in 2012, Carrack returned with the soul-inspired studio album Good Feeling.

In 2012, Carrack was the subject of an hour-long BBC Four television documentary Paul Carrack: The Man with the Golden Voice.

In February 2013, Carrack participated in Eric Clapton's 50th anniversary tour, celebrating the 50th year that Clapton had been a professional musician. Carrack sang lead vocals on "Tempted", "How Long", and closed the show with "High Time We Went".

He also in 2013, took part in the BBC Four programme Please Please Me: Remaking a Classic to celebrate 50 years since the Beatles debut studio album, where he recorded his own version of "Misery".

In May 2015, Carrack helped Clapton celebrate his 70th birthday with a concert held at Madison Square Garden on 1 and 3 May, along with the other members of Clapton's band. The birthday celebration continued later in May at the Royal Albert Hall in the UK. In 2019, Carrack played Hammond organ and sang on Clapton's Live in Concert 2019 world tour, playing their first-ever concert in Dresden, Germany as part of the Dresden Music Festival.

On 19 February 2021, a new single "You're Not Alone" was released across all digital platforms via Carrack's own independent label Carrack-UK. It was also announced that a new studio album, One on One, would be issued in June 2021. After Carrack contracted shingles in the spring, delaying the album's completion, the release date was pushed back to 17 September.

On the BBC's 2024 Jools' Annual Hootenanny he performed "Over My Shoulder" with Jools Holland and the band.

In July 2025, Carrack released his first country album, titled The Country Side of Paul Carrack Vol. 1.

Session work

Carrack's distinctive voice and keyboard skills have kept him in demand as a session musician on many projects. Some of his credits include:

  • Synthesizer, organ, and piano on Roxy Music's studio albums Manifesto (1979), Flesh + Blood (1980), and Avalon (1982)
  • Piano on the Pretenders studio album Learning to Crawl (1983)
  • Keyboards on the Smiths' eponymous debut studio album, The Smiths (1984)
  • Lead vocals on Roger Waters' Radio K.A.O.S. (1987); keyboards and vocals on its subsequent tour
  • Organ on Elton John's Made in England (1995) and The Big Picture (1997)
  • Organ and vocals on B.B. King's studio album Deuces Wild (1997)
  • Keyboards on Simply Red's studio album Blue (1998)
  • Touring with Ringo Starr's All-Starr Band (2003)

In 1997, Carrack played organ for Elton John on the single "Something About the Way You Look Tonight". It was coupled with "Candle in the Wind 1997" on a double A-sided single, which set a new record for best selling single of all time.

Discography

Studio albums

  • Nightbird (1980)
  • Suburban Voodoo (1982)
  • One Good Reason (1987)
  • Groove Approved (1989)
  • Blue Views (1995)
  • Beautiful World (1997)
  • Satisfy My Soul (2000)
  • Groovin (2001)
  • It Ain't Over (2003)
  • Winter Wonderland <small>(a.k.a. A Soulful Christmas)</small> (2005)
  • Old, New, Borrowed and Blue (2007)
  • I Know That Name (2008)
  • A Different Hat (2010)
  • Good Feeling (2012)
  • Rain or Shine (2013)
  • Soul Shadows (2016)
  • These Days (2018)
  • One on One (2021)
  • Don't Wait too Long (2023)
  • The Country Side of Paul Carrack (2025)

Further reading

  • The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll, Fireside, 2001, p.&nbsp;4.
  • Buckley, Peter. The Rough Guide to Rock, Rough Guides, 2003, p.&nbsp;3.
  • Mann, Brent. 99 Red Balloons...and 100 Other All-Time Great One-Hit Wonders, Citadel Press, 2003, p.&nbsp;120.
  • Huntley, Elliot J. Paul Carrack: A Tribute - I Know That Name, Pickard Communication, 2013.

References

  • Solo singles discography<!--Virus checker registers this as threat--> Paul Carrack, Spin 1ne 2wo, Ace comprehensive discography
  • Paul Carrack biography at World of Genesis
  • A House of Many Rooms – Mike + The Mechanics fansite