Paul Heaton understands why fans want to hear the old hits
PAUL Heaton is poet and curmudgeon in one fascinating package. With his bands The Housemartins and the Beautiful South he invented a new kind of chart music, more or less. Here were pop hits written by a man who loathed the idea of pop stardom.
“After the Beautiful South I released three solo albums but couldn’t get my voice on radio,” says Heaton, reflecting on his new project with that group’s sometime vocalist Jacqui Abbott. “As soon as we released the first single with Jacqui we were back on radio. She has a very radio-friendly voice and perhaps I haven’t. I was told the reason that my solo records weren’t being played was me really.”
