Captain Sensible

Captain Sensible (born Raymond Burns, 24 April 1954) is a singer, songwriter, guitarist (and sometimes bassist) who grew up in Croydon, England, and co-founded the punk rock band The Damned in 1976. After leaving the band, he reinvented himself as an alternative pop singer with a rebellious, self-conscious image. His signature headwear is a red beret.

Early life

He was born Raymond Ian Burns in Balham, London. Before joining The Damned, he was in a covers band called Oasis.

The Damned

Originally a member of the Johnny Moped band, Sensible joined The Damned in 1976 on the suggestion of his work colleague Rat Scabies, the band's drummer, filling a number of positions during his tenure (including bassist, lead guitarist and keyboardist), and eventually becoming the band's

Solo career

Sensible had a UK number one hit in 1982 with a cover of "Happy Talk", the Rodgers and Hammerstein song from South Pacific, featuring backing by the Dolly Mixture; this was later sampled for rap artist Dizzee Rascal's 2004 song "Dream". Other songs which became hits in the UK and various European countries were Rap parody "Wot?" (sampled in 2000 by Brazilian rapper "Gabriel o Pensador" in the song "2345meia78"), the anti-Christmas "One Christmas Catalogue" and anti-Falklands War "Glad It's All Over". After quitting A&M Records he continued recording for various independent labels, including Deltic Records and Humbug Records. He has also toured with his solo band Punk Floyd.

His recording of "The Snooker Song" from Mike Batt's musical The Hunting Of The Snark was used as the theme music for the BBC gameshow Big Break, and he also wrote and performed a song called "Brain's Theme" for the movie Skinned Deep in 2004.

Captain Sensible is also a member of Dead Men Walking, a supergroup featuring Mike Peters (The Alarm), Kirk Brandon (Spear of Destiny) Slim Jim Phantom (Stray Cats) and (The Dr Spacetoad Experience).

Politics

In September 2006, he formed a new British political party known as the Blah! Party

. "Politics is dead," he said in a statement. "The British public aren't voting because the parties are totally ignoring their opinions. At the moment, the only real method of mass protest against this is by not voting, which is why voting figures continue to fall.

"But we believe that voting is an important part of the democratic process, and we want the Blah! Party to be the party of protest; a channel through which the people of the U.K. can vent their dissatisfaction at nonsensical everyday things, and protest against the government and the current crop of political parties."

The party entered into a sponsorship deal with Seabrook Crisps in September 2006.
He was previously a member of the Green Party.

Solo albums

Women and Captains First (1982)
The Power of Love (1983)
Revolution Now (1989)
The Universe of Geoffrey Brown (1993)
Live at the Milky Way (1994)
Meathead (1995)
Mad Cows and Englishmen (1996)

Signed Music Artists