Music

He was born in 1956 in Luton, northwest London. The interpreter of “Come Back And Stay” celebrates his 69th birthday today.

The soft-spoken singer has always had a particular interest in languorous melodies. Before embarking on a solo career and transforming himself into an idol for young girls in bloom, he formed Sad Café (a rock band that was a little slow on the uptake), Streetband (a little more original with their hit “Toast”) and, above all, The Q-Tips, a band that prefigured the English blue-eyed soul wave, appreciated for their incendiary stage performances and their crazy brass quartet. The Blues Brothers are never far away, and “S.Y.S.L.J.F.M. (The Letter Song)” is still going strong over four decades later.

After two albums and only limited commercial success, Paul Young took to the road in 1982. A year later, he got his personal career off to a flying start with the album “No Parlez”, which remains undeniably his best. Within a few months, it reached number one in the UK, of course, but also in Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, Belgium and Sweden. Alternating between improbable covers like Joy Division's “Love Will Tear Us Apart” and more predictable ones like Come Back And Stay (by American Jack Lee) and Love Of The Common People (exhumed from John Hurley's repertoire in the 70's), he earned himself a reputation as a performer who turns everything he sings into gold!

In a way, with a technically less impressive vocal range, Paul Young follows Joe Cocker's footsteps for a generation of teenage girls who know nothing about one of Woodstock's legends. Two major differences, however. Paul Young's musical architecture is based on Pino Palladino's rumbling bass lines (and up-to-the-minute keyboards) rather than on electric guitars. And above all, it unleashes hysteria in a generation of young girls. I remember attending an anthology concert at London's Hammersmith Odeon in November 1983, during which little pink rabbits and other cute teddy bears were thrown at him with messages of love. What happened to all those cuddly toys?

Of course, it's hard to stay in the limelight indefinitely. On the album The Secret Of Association (1985), it's once again the covers that stand out, with Everytime You Go Away (Hall & Oates) or "I'm Gonna Tear Your Playhouse Down" (Ann Peebles). Throughout his career, which now boasts a dozen studio albums as well as live performances, and despite recurring vocal weaknesses in recent years, Paul Young has always taken pleasure in drawing on the repertoire of his contemporaries, appropriating their songs in often unexpected ways: These include Marvin Gaye (“Wherever I Lay My Hat”), Zucchero (with whom he sang “Senza una donna” in 1991), Al Green, Ryan Adams, The Temptations, Sam Cooke, Booker T & The MG's, Dusty Springfield, Jimmy Ruffin and, more surprisingly, Thin Lizzy (“The Boys Are Back In Town”), David Bowie (“Starman”) and even Mort Schuman (“Save The Last Dance For Me” originally performed by The Drifters).

My personal favorite remains his rendition of “Don't Dream It's Over” by New Zealand band Crowded House and, for its kitschy feel, his cover of “I'm Your Puppet” on Elton John's 1993 album “Duets”.

In 2025, Paul Young will celebrate the 40th anniversary of his second album, “The Secret Of Association”, as well as his participation in Live Aid at London's Wembley Stadium in July 1985.

(MH with AK - Photo: © Etienne Tordoir)
Photo: Paul Young at Hammersmith Odeon, London (England), November 1983