Michael Marra's career is very well documented on the net, therefore, I won't indulge too much in repeating info that is already available.So, some lesser known details about Michael go back to when he was school age in the 60s. Coming from a musical family, Michael got hooked on music around the time his old man bought a piano. When Michael was 13, he teamed up with his school band called The Saints, (playing guitar not piano) and used to perform at the Gaumont Saturday Morning Club. Becoming a bit of a rebel at school now, he was eventually booted out of Lawside at the ripe old age of 14 and he never went back! Being too young to start an apprenticeship, he got a job as a message boy with a local printers. After a year running around Dundee, he took a job at Burnett's (bakers) in the Cleppie, then a wee while later got work as a sparky with Kilpatrick in Albert Square. When he reached 17 he decided to move to London and did a few odd jobs around the city, however, in addition, he also started singing occasionally in pubs. Enjoying performing, he next had a go at busking in Holland for a short time before coming back to Dundee where he formed his first proper band, Hens Teeth, featuring his wee brother Chris, and Arlene Gowans. This then lead to, after a couple of tweaks to the line-up, the formation of Skeets Boliver in the early/mid 70's, the band going on to record and tour right up to around 1979. In 1980 he moved back down to London to concentrate on his solo career and he has been doing the biz in a multitude of ways ever since - song writing, solo albums, tours, collaborations, theatre, tv, film and even art.
He still manages to slip the odd Dundee reference into his themes - for example, the Taybridge Bar crops up in one song, and he even recorded one about Dundee United goalie, Hamish McAlpine!
Michael these days has a worldwide fan base and there are many websites that have plenty info about his work. The best place to start would be his own site where you can find lots of music to tune into and catch up with all the latest news. Here is the link - http://www.musical1.com/Michael_Marra/
He also has a "My Space" page, not forgetting the usual Wiki & Youtube kind of sites.
All well worth dipping into.
If Dundee wis Africa and Fife wis Antartica..how clever was that sang..
ReplyDeleteand "Hermless" made the list for Scotland's "alternative" National Anthem. This great song would have weirded-out the oppositon at any football/rugby game when sung by 20,000!
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone remember Peddie Street from the early years.On the album cover the words were changed to Peddie Street.
ReplyDeleteWho else plays on an ironing board the man is a one off and very special .