Mike Scott (Scottish musician)
Michael Scott (born 14 December 1958) is a Scottish singer, songwriter, and musician. He is the founding member, lead singer, guitarist and songwriter of rock band The Waterboys. He has also produced two solo albums, Bring 'Em All In and Still Burning. Scott is a vocalist, guitarist and pianist, and has played a large range of other instruments, including the bouzouki, drums, and Hammond organ on his albums. Scott is also a published writer, having released his autobiography, Adventures of a Waterboy, in 2012.
For the American musician, see Michael Scott (musician). For other people with similar names, see Michael Scott.Having begun a musical career in the 1970s, Scott has been making music professionally since the 1980s[1] and is well known for his radical changes in music genres throughout what he refers to as his "allegedly unorthodox" career.[2] Scott lives in Dublin, Ireland.[3]
Pre-Waterboys musical career[edit]
Scott and a guitarist named Allan McConnell formed a band, The Bootlegs, which gave way to Another Pretty Face in 1978 when Caldwell and two other friends joined. The friends created their own record label, named New Pleasures, "obtained financial backing from the enigmatically named Z"[5] and began releasing Another Pretty Face's singles. The band achieved some success with their first single "All the Boys Love Carrie" / "That's Not Enough" when New Musical Express named it "Single of the Week". The band signed a contract with Virgin Records, was featured on the cover of Sounds magazine, and toured with Stiff Little Fingers. Virgin, after receiving a demo tape from Another Pretty Face, released the band four months after the signing. Nikki Sudden, who had interviewed Another Pretty Face in Edinburgh for ZigZag magazine, asserts that "the APF stuff is still some of Mike Scott’s best work".[8]
In 1980 through 1982 Scott, amongst other projects, worked occasionally with Sudden. Another Pretty Face continued to release music and recorded a Peel Session on 18 February 1981. The band eventually came to the attention of Nigel Grainge, founder of Ensign Records. Grainge signed Another Pretty Face to the label, and the band moved to London, changing its name to Funhouse (taken from the name of The Stooges' album Fun House). Scott had become dissatisfied with the band. He later described Funhouse's sound as "similar to a jumbo jet flying on one engine".[5] Scott began working on solo songs and recordings, a decision that led to the creation of The Waterboys. A December 1981 session at Redshop Studios formed the beginnings of The Waterboys' first album, The Waterboys.
Solo albums[edit]
In addition to the albums he released with The Waterboys, Scott released two solo albums in the 1990s. The first Bring 'Em All In (1995), was recorded at the Findhorn Foundation in north Scotland, with Mike Scott playing all instruments himself. Musician and author Daniel Levitin ends his 2009 book The World in Six Songs with an extended discussion of the song "Bring 'Em All In", calling it "one of the greatest love songs ever written."
For his second solo album, Still Burning (1997), Scott assembled a group of session musicians including Pino Palladino and Jim Keltner. Guesting on the album was former Icicle Works frontman Ian McNabb. Songs from the two albums appeared on 1998's compilation album The Whole of the Moon: The Music of Mike Scott and the Waterboys along with songs from The Waterboys.
Scott's solo albums were positively received by critics but sales were significantly down from Waterboys releases. Following the commercial failure of Still Burning in 1997 Scott was dropped by Chrysalis Records and decided to revive the Waterboys name to achieve wider marketplace exposure, a process described in detail in his autobiography.
Scott created his own record label in 2003, Puck Records, which released The Waterboys' Universal Hall. In 2005, Karma to Burn was released, also by Puck Records, and included tracks from Scott's solo career played by The Waterboys line-up at the time.
After years in the making, Scott produced his show An Appointment with Mr. Yeats, which debuted in Dublin, in Yeats' own Abbey Theatre. In the show, Scott is accompanied by Steve Wickham and other musicians, and the poetry of W. B. Yeats is put to music by Scott. The show ran from 15 to 20 March 2010.