Jake Thackray

Born in Leeds in 1938, Jake Thackray is one of the UK’s greatest and most original singer-songwriters, a master storyteller whose songs are full of humour, irreverence, poetry and humanity. He influenced The Beatles (‘Happiness is a Warm Gun’ was written in homage), Arctic Monkeys and Julian Cope, and is admired by Morrissey, Jarvis Cocker, Thea Gilmore and Neil Hannon. Thackray’s musical inspiration came from three years spent living in France, where he fell in love with the chansons of his musical hero and role model, Georges Brassens. A remarkable self-taught guitarist, during the mid-sixties he wrote songs prolifically to amuse himself, his friends and his pupils while teaching in Leeds. By 1966, he was spotted by a BBC producer and appearing on radio and TV in the north of England. In 1967, he got a recording contract with EMI producer Norman Newell, and by 1968 he was on national TV. Countless appearances on TV and radio made him famous, but despising celebrity and distrusting show business, he withdrew from the spotlight. He died in Monmouth, penniless, on Christmas Eve, 2002. Between 1967 and 1981, Thackray released four studio albums, two live albums and four singles. Since his death further releases have followed, many produced by The Jake Thackray Project (www.jakethackray.com). The latest is ‘The Lost Archives 1966-1996’. Paul Thompson, co-author of Beware of the Bull – The Enigmatic Genius of Jake Thackray