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Biography
Infobox musical artist|name = Prefab Sprout|image =|caption =|background = group_or_band|origin = County Durham , England |Instruments =|genre = Pop rock , New Wave music|New Wave , Sophisti-pop |years_active = 1978& ndash;present|label = Kitchenware Records|Kitchenware EMI Records|EMI Liberty Epic Records|Epic ( United States|US )|website = The band's official site closed in 2004|current_members = Paddy McAloon Martin McAloon|past_members = Wendy Smith Feona Attwood Neil Conti Michael Salmon Graham Lant Steve Dolder Prefab Sprout are an alternative England|English pop rock musical ensemble|band from Witton Gilbert , County Durham , England who rose to fame during the 1980s. Eight of their album (music)|albums have reached the Top 40 in the UK Albums Chart , and one of their single (music)|singles , " The King of Rock 'n' Roll ", peaked at number seven in the UK Singles Chart . The band formed in 1978 in Newcastle upon Tyne|Newcastle .
Prefab Sprout had minimal record chart|chart success in the United States . Their 1985 album Steve McQueen (album)|Steve McQueen was released in the US with the title Two Wheels Good and peaked at number 180 in the Billboard 200 . Frontman Paddy McAloon has been hailed as one of the greater songwriters of his era.cite web |first= |last= |url=Allmusic|class=artist|id=p5174|pure_url=yes |title=Biography by Stewart Mason |publisher=Allmusic.com |accessdate=4 December 2008
Career
Prefab Sprout debuted in 1982 with their self-released single, "Lions In My Own Garden: Exit Someone" - songwriter Paddy McAloon wanted a song title where the first letters of the words spelled out Limoges , the French city where his former girlfriend was staying at the time. Music journalism|Music journalist Stuart Maconie , described the track as "enigmatic, melancholy, tuneful and therefore perfect for a jobless literature graduate with girlfriend problems".cite book | first= Stuart | last= Maconie | year= 2004 | title= Cider With Roadies | edition= 1st | publisher= Random House | location= London | isbn= 0-091-89115-9 | page= 161 Their debut album, Swoon (Prefab Sprout album)|Swoon , was released on the Kitchenware Records|Kitchenware record label|label in March 1984. The following album, the Thomas Dolby - record producer|produced Steve McQueen (album)|Steve McQueen , (released in America as Two Wheels Good after Steve McQueen|McQueen 's estate expressed their displeasure with the title) was highly praised by critics. Their Protest Songs (album)|Protest Songs album was recorded next, but was not released until 1989. It included the song "Life of Surprises", which later became the title track for their greatest hits compilation album .
Their biggest commercial success in the UK came with the 1988 single " The King of Rock 'N' Roll ", taken from the album From Langley Park to Memphis . It reached #7 in the UK Singles Chart , their only single to reach the Top 10. From Langley Park to Memphis included guest appearances from Stevie Wonder and Pete Townshend .
In 1990, Jordan: The Comeback , again produced by Thomas Dolby , was nominated for a BRIT Awards|BRIT Award . Though the music was more accessible than their earlier material, the lyrics and subject matter remained characteristically oblique and suggestive (McAloon has often cited Stephen Sondheim as an influence).Citation needed|date=November 2009 McAloon has alluded in interviews to several albums-worth of songs that he has written but are unreleased/unrecorded including amongst others, concept album s based on the life of Michael Jackson ( Behind the Veil ), the history of the world ( Earth: The Story So Far ) and ( Zorro the Fox ) about a fictional superhero .Citation needed|date=November 2009 Their greatest hits, A Life of Surprises - The Best of Prefab Sprout , gave them their biggest US hit, "If You Don't Love Me", which spent several weeks in the Top 10 on the Hot Dance Club Play|dance chart . McAloon joked in the album liner notes about the band's lack of concert tour|touring over the past decade.
Prefab Sprout released Andromeda Heights in the UK in 1997 and embarked on a short UK tour in 2000. This tour, and the subsequent album, did not feature Wendy Smith, who by this time had reportedly left the band. A double album anthology , the 38 Carat Collection was released by CBS in 1999 as the group was leaving the record label . Unexpectedly, the group's US label, Epic Records|Epic , belatedly reissued this set as The Collection in early 2001. Smith left the group during this period, after the birth of her first child.
In 2001 the band released The Gunman and Other Stories a concept album themed on the American Old West|American Wild West . The opening track "Cowboy Dreams" was a hit for the British actor -singer Jimmy Nail . Though critically acclaimed, neither enjoyed major commercial success.
After being diagnosed with a medical disorder that seriously impaired his vision, Paddy McAloon released the album I Trawl The Megahertz under his own name in 2003 on the EMI Liberty label. As of 2006, McAloon had suffered another setback: his hearing had deteriorated, reportedly due to Ménière's disease . In early 2007 a remastered Steve McQueen was released in a two- Compact disc|CD package, containing new versions of eight of the songs from the original album, in radically different arrangement s performed by McAloon on acoustic guitar .
Prefab Sprout's first album of new material since 2001, '' Let's Change the World with Music , was released on 7 September 2009. Reviews in the UK press were favourable (e.g. 5/5 in The Times , 4/5 in The Guardian , 4/5 in Record Collector ). The release was also accompanied by a few interviews (e.g. Mojo (magazine)|Mojo ).
Band name
According to the Guinness Book of British Hit Singles & Albums , the band's name was a Mondegreen|mondegreen from the Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazelwood song, " Jackson (song)|Jackson ", misheard by frontman Paddy McAloon. The correct opening lyrics for "Jackson" are " We got married in a fever, hotter than a pepper sprout ", which McAloon misinterpreted as 'hotter than a prefab sprout'. However, Allmusic reckons that the prosaic truth is that "an adolescent McAloon had devised the meaningless name in homage to the longwinded and equally silly band names of his late 1960s / early 1970s youth". But it is equally valid that, because of the proliferation of pre-fabricated houses in the North East (due to World War II - and commonly called Prefabs), the former is true due to word association.
Core members
Paddy McAloon (born Patrick Joseph McAloon, 7 June 1957, Durham cite book
Wendy Smith (born 31 May 1963, Middlesbrough ); vocals / guitars / keyboards
Feona Attwood (born, Chester-le-Street , County Durham); vocals - now Professor Attwood teaching Media and Communication Studies at Sheffield Hallam University. http://feonaattwood.com/2010.html Feona Attwood Website
Martin McAloon (born 4 January 1962, Durham); bass guitar
Neil Conti (born 12 February 1959, Luton ); drums / percussion
Michael Salmon (born Durham); the band's first drummer and co-founder - left January 1983 replaced by Graham Lant. Steve Dolder joined in mid 1983 before Conti joined in late 1984 cite book
| first= Martin C. | last= Strong | year= 2000 | title= The Great Rock Discography | edition= 5th | publisher= Mojo Books | location= Edinburgh | page= 760 | isbn= 1-84195-017-3
Discography
Albums
Year
Album
UK Albums Chart
Billboard 200
Details
1984
Swoon
22
-
-
1985
Steve McQueen
21
180
Released in the US as Two Wheels Good
1988
From Langley Park to Memphis
5
-
-
1989
Protest Songs
18
-
Recorded in 1985
1990
Jordan: The Comeback
7
-
-
1992
The Best Of - A Life Of Surprises
3
-
-
1997
Andromeda Heights
7
-
-
1999
38 Carat Collection
95
-
Last album for Sony/ Columbia
2001
The Gunman and Other Stories
60
-
Only album for EMI-Liberty to date
2003
I Trawl the Megahertz
167
-
Paddy McAloon solo project
2007
Steve McQueen
155
-
Remastered Legacy edition with second acoustic disc recorded by McAloon in 2005
2009
'' Let's Change the World with Music
39
-
-
2011
New Album
-
-
New album of new material has reportedly been delivered to Kitchenware Records and expected for a 2011 release cite web
All chart positions takes from Chart Log UK < http://www.zobbel.de/cluk/CLUK_P.HTM>
Singles
Year
Song
UK Singles Chart cite book
US Billboard Hot 100
Album
1984
"Don't Sing"
62
-
Swoon (Prefab Sprout album)
" When Love Breaks Down "
88
-
Steve McQueen (album)
1985
"Faron Young"
74
-
"Appetite"
92
-
" When Love Breaks Down " (reissue)
25
-
1986
"Johnny Johnny" (called "Goodbye Lucille #1" on the album)
http://www.prefabsprout.net "Sproutnet" - with media and message boards
http://www.browningmcintosh.com/plocktonwest/sprout.html "The longest running Prefab Sprout fansite" - now largely archival and rarely updatedDead link|date=September 2011
http://www.ferhiga.com/prefab/eng.htm "Life of Surprises" in English and Spanish
psUse dmy dates|date=December 2010 Category:English rock music groups Category:British New Wave musical groups Category:Musical groups established in 1978 Category:Sophisti-pop musical groups Category:1978 establishments in England
