Mike Scott (Scottish musician)
Mike Scott | |
---|---|
Years active | 1978–present |
Labels | Chrysalis |
Michael Scott (born 14 December 1958) is a Scottish singer, songwriter, and musician. He is the founding member,
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]
Early life and education
Scott was born and raised in Edinburgh, the son of Allan and Anne Scott. His father left the family when Mike was ten years old, but the two were reunited in 2007.[4] Scott's mother was an English teacher, exposing him to the greats of English literature from a young age.
Scott was interested in music from an early age. At age 12, after the family had moved to Ayr, he began a serious interest in learning guitar.[5] Scott remembers that, "from the minute [he] bought" Last Night in Soho by Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich in 1968 "knew [he] had to be in music", and mentions listening to Hank Williams as a "life-changing" experience.[6] The next year, Scott was playing in school bands and formed the band Karma, named after the tenet in Hinduism, with a friend named John Caldwell. Karma's sound was inspired by David Bowie, The Beatles and Bob Dylan.[5]
In 1977 Scott entered the
Scott became interested in the
Pre-Waterboys musical career
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
In 1980 through 1982 Scott, amongst other projects, worked occasionally with Sudden. Another Pretty Face continued to release music and recorded a
The Waterboys
The Waterboys' membership has changed a great deal throughout the group's existence.
Solo albums
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,
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.
Discography
Solo
Albums
- Bring 'Em All In (1995)
- Lion of Love (fan club only release.)
- Sunflowers (fan club only release.)
- Still Burning (1997)
- The Whole of the Moon: The Music of Mike Scott and the Waterboys (1998) (best-of collection)
Singles
- "Bring 'Em All In" (1995)
- "Building the City of Light" (1995)
- "Love Anyway" (1997)
- "Rare, Precious and Gone" (1998)
Other contributions
- 107.1 KGSR Radio Austin - Broadcasts Vol.10 (2002) - "Bring 'Em All In"
Another Pretty Face
Albums
- I'm Sorry That I Beat You, I'm Sorry That I Screamed, But for a Moment There I Really Lost Control (1981) (cassette)
Singles
- "All the Boys Love Carrie" b/w "That's Not Enough" (1979) (7"; the first run of 1,000 copies with green printing, the second run of 5,000 copies with red printing)
- "Whatever Happened to the West?" b/w "Goodbye 1970s" (1980) (7")
- "Heaven Gets Closer Everyday" b/w "Only Heroes Live Forever" (1980) (7")
- "Soul to Soul" (1981) b/w "A Woman's Place" and "God on the Screen" (7")
DNV
- "Death in Venice" b/w "Mafia" and the intro to "Goodbye 1970s" (1979) (7")
Funhouse
- "Out of Control" (1981) b/w "This Could Be Hell" (12"; rarer 7")
The Waterboys
Personal life
Scott's first wife was Irene Keogh.[13] He was married to his second wife Janet for 17 years.[13]
He was in a relationship with singer-actress Camille O'Sullivan,[14][15][16] with whom he has a daughter born in 2013.[17][18][19]
In October 2016, Scott married Japanese artist Megumi Igarashi, who calls herself Rokudenashiko. Their son was born on 2 February 2017.[20] As of 2020, Scott resides in Dublin.[21][22][23]
References
- ^ Curtis, Richard (6 September 2011). "Why Mike Scott is Richard Curtis's idol". The Guardian. Retrieved 22 November 2014.
- ^ Scott, Mike. "The day I downloaded myself". The Guardian. 23 March 2007.
- ^ "How Great Is Scott?". Irish Independent. 3 June 2012. Retrieved 21 February 2014.
- ^ "Irish Publisher Over The Moon About Mike Scott's Memoir". Independent.ie. 15 January 2011. Retrieved 15 January 2011.
- ^ a b c d Peter Anderson. "Mike Scott/Waterboys biography". Record Collector magazine. Archived from the original on 3 May 2005. Retrieved 22 October 2005.
- ^ Gerry Galipault. "Mike Scott is The Waterboys and The Waterboys Are Mike Scott". Pause and Play. Archived from the original on 19 March 2006. Retrieved 22 October 2005.
- ^ "The "Big Music" of the Waterboys: Song, Revelry, and Celebration". Archived from the original on 24 October 2005. Retrieved 22 October 2005.
- ^ Nikki Sudden. "A Few Mike Scott stories". Excerpts from Nikki Sudden's Autobiography. Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 23 October 2005.
- ^ a b "A Rock in the Weary Land: Allmusic review". Retrieved 22 October 2005.
- ^ Scott, Mike (2006) "Fisherman's Blues, Roots and the Celtic Soul Archived 2 April 2013 at the Wayback Machine" [CD liner notes] London: EMI
- ^ "Archive 1986-90". Mikescottwaterboys.com. Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 28 October 2005.
- ^ "Archive 1986-90". Mikescottwaterboys.com. Archived from the original on 11 April 2008. Retrieved 29 October 2005.
- ^ a b "Magic Mike... the Waterboys' Mike Scott". independent. Retrieved 24 January 2023.
- ^ "Camile O'Sullivan". The Guardian. 6 September 2008. Retrieved 28 February 2014.
- ^ "The Waterboy's Girl Is Over The Moon". The Irish Times. 9 June 2012. Archived from the original on 11 June 2014. Retrieved 21 February 2014.
- ^ "Bard Work Pays Off For Camille". Irish Echo. 23 January 2013. Archived from the original on 28 October 2014. Retrieved 3 March 2014.
- ^ "Ladies on their marker at Bobbi Brown launch". Irish Independent. 9 March 2014. Retrieved 1 March 2016.
- ^ "Blue-sky thinking". Sunday Times. 25 January 2015. Archived from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 1 March 2016.
- ^ "The Waterboys, Wilbur Theatre, Boston". Glide Magazine. 26 September 2013. Retrieved 21 February 2014.
- ^ "On February 2, 2017, I Had a Healthy Baby Boy". Rokudenashiko (official website, in Japanese). 8 February 2017. Archived from the original on 25 May 2017. Retrieved 26 June 2017.
- ^ [1] [dead link]
- ^ "Magic Mike". Irish Independent. 26 October 2015. Retrieved 1 March 2016.
- ^ "All Rock 'n' Roll at Heart". Irish Independent. 22 December 2013. Retrieved 3 March 2014.