Personal Information
Born November 18, 1950, in Deepcut, near London, England; married wife Jolie c. 1984; children: Natalie. Worked variously as tomato picker, laboratory assistant, and gas station attendant, 1968-1975; teamed with band The Rumour; signed with Mercury Records, 1975; released debut LP, Howlin Wind, 1976; signed with Arista Records, 1978; launched solo career, 1980; signed with Elektra, 1984; Atlantic, 1986; RCA, 1987; and Capitol, 1991.
Addresses
Record company-- Capitol Records, 1750 North Vine St., Hollywood, CA 90028; 810 Seventh Ave., New York, NY 10019.
British rocker Graham Parker teamed up with a feisty bar band called The Rumour in the mid-1970s, joining an intense, immediate "pub rock" movement that blossomed into the punk rebellion. Parker recorded several albums with The Rumour, gaining considerable critical attention, then broke with the band and made solo records and toured through the next decade and into the 1990s. Though he has never achieved large-scale pop success, Parker has proved that persistence goes a long way; as many critics have remarked, he has managed to chart his maturity while remaining a vital pop artist--no mean feat.
Parker's music grew from an amalgam of diverse influences: soul, reggae, the rootsy early records of fellow Brits the Rolling Stones, and the folk-rock poetry of Bob Dylan and Van Morrison, among others. Yet, as Musician' s Geoffrey Himes wrote after noting some of the singer's forebears, "Parker doesn't so much sound like anybody as he sounds like everybody. All his influences are subordinated to the emotional directness of his songs. Thus they sound totally original and quite new. For all his traditionalism, he is often considered the founding father of England's new wave." Tom Lanham of CD Review described the young Parker's musical emergence: "With his backup band, The Rumour, this frail, diminutive guy with the big, brash barracuda of a voice combined mod Phil Spector-ish pop chops with the urban footstomp vernacular of classic American soul and the lyrical viewpoint of a poor but streetwise white kid whose garage could no longer hold him."
Parker was born to a working-class family in Deepcut, some 30 miles outside London, in 1950. By age 17 he had encountered both the exhilaration of soul and reggae and the torpor and inequality of working life; both would fuel his songwriting's unique mixture of rage and hope. He worked in a laboratory breeding animals for scientific research, he told Musician' s Himes, and although he had aspirations in the field of zoology, he knew his lack of higher education precluded any movement in this field. "All I was going to do was look after these animals that were going to be killed and vivisected by someone else. So that's quite a mindblower when you realize that: they ain't gonna let you. The only way I could be educated was by going out into the world and finding out what made it tick and educating myself. So that's what I did." During this period, Parker also became a self-described "mod," adoring "soul music and bluebeat and ska, though it was underground. It just struck a chord in me." He would describe the self-possessed rapture of this "underground" scene in the song "Soultime" on his 1989 album Human Soul: "We didn't change the world, it didn't need changin'/ We were the in crowd, yeah/ And that was that."
Parker took up the guitar, began writing songs, and formed a couple of short-lived groups with names like the Black Rockers and the Deep Cut Three. He made little headway in the music world, though, and was forced to take a series of menial jobs, culminating in an inglorious stint as a gas station attendant. But in the mid-1970s a demo tape of his songs impressed a fairly well-connected studio owner named Dave Robinson, and soon Robinson hooked the young Parker up with a new group called The Rumour. The band was comprised of musicians from such well-regarded rock outfits as Brinsley Schwartz, Ducks Deluxe, and Bontemps Roulez. It seemed a perfect match: Parker's take-no-prisoners vocals and The Rumour's driving guitar-rock. In his essay on the British "New Wave" in the Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock & Roll, Ken Tucker called the interaction between the singer and his band "inspired," asserting that "they lead him away from bluesy dolor and onto a pounding rock style where his beseeching vocals and hard-boiled imagery glint with both amusement and ominousness."
The group landed a deal with Mercury Records and released their debut LP, Howlin' Wind, in 1976. Produced by the inimitable Nick Lowe, it included the song "Don't Ask Me Questions," in which Parker engages in a shouting match with God. Rolling Stone labeled the song a "masterpiece." Parker and The Rumour followed up immediately with Heat Treatment. Like its predecessor, Heat Treatment made a huge impression on critics, despite poor sales. The song "Pourin' It All Out" was characterized by Musician' s Roy Trakin as "Parker at his peak, with pure energy fueling emotional catharsis." Village Voice contributor Kit Rachlis ventured, "Parker sees rock and roll as a way out--out of being a gas station attendant, for one thing--and rock tradition as a way of establishing order in a culture that's lost much of its meaning. By placing so much emphasis on traditional rock values, Parker avoids both the pessimism of punk and the passivity of pop." And, in 1979, august rock critic and author Greil Marcus declared in Rolling Stone, "Graham Parker's first two albums remain among the very finest of the decade.
Unfortunately, Parker's luck with his record company was inversely proportional to his success with critics. He and The Rumour had completed a third album, Stick to Me, with producer Mutt Lange, but a flaw in the master tapes forced them to re-record the entire LP with Nick Lowe. The rushed recording process yielded a somewhat inferior product, and reviewers were less enthusiastic about the 1977 release than they had been about Parker's initial work. An industry-insiders-only EP called The Pink Parker didn't help matters. By this time the singer's long-simmering impatience with Mercury's seeming inability to promote his work had reached a boiling point. In 1978 he and The Rumour released a double-live album, The Parkerilla, to get out of their contract. Critics complained about the sound quality and felt somewhat betrayed by Parker: They had crowned him the Next Big Thing, and he hadn't come through. Marcus dismissed The Parkerilla as "a waste of time."
Parker unleashed his fury at Mercury by recording a single called "Mercury Poisoning." In it the singer hissed, "I'm the best-kept secret in the West." His new label, Arista--undoubtedly with no small amount of glee--released the song in 1978. Parker then proceeded to record what many consider his most enduring album with The Rumour, 1979's Squeezing Out Sparks. Producer Jack Nitzsche persuaded the band to play more economically, thus emphasizing the guitar-driven intensity of Parker's compositions. The album includes "Discovering Japan," a kaleidoscopic, bittersweet love song full of cinematic images, the edgy, political rock-reggae tune "Protection," and the ballad "You Can't Be Too Strong." The latter tells the story of an abortion from a number of viewpoints, eschewing easy answers. (For years Parker found himself dodging questions about whether the song is "pro-choice" or "pro-life.") Jon Pareles, writing in the Village Voice, proclaimed Squeezing Out Sparks "Parker's toughest, most decisive album." Indeed, the Voice dubbed the LP the year's best.
Parker's 1980 release, The Up Escalator, featured more tough rockers--including "Endless Night," which boasts backing vocals by Parker fan and rock superstar Bruce Springsteen--but a somewhat tamer sound. "The LP has an odd slapdash feel," Rolling Stone noted, blaming producer Jimmy Iovine. Parker explained in a 1992 Capitol Records publicity release that "the producer spent most of the time in the lounge shouting things into the telephone like "get me the coast ... any coast!" Escalator marked the end of Parker's collaboration with The Rumour. The band had already cut a few albums without him, and he felt that he would be better off on his own; "We just get up each other's noses," Parker explained jovially in a Musician interview.
Parker's first album as a solo artist was 1982's Another Grey Area, produced by Jack Douglas. Remarked Pareles of the outing, this time in Rolling Stone, "[Parker] clearly feels at home." 1983 saw the release of The Real Macaw, for which David Kershenbaum had been enlisted for production chores. Rolling Stone admired the "propulsive, brilliantly sung LP," detecting "some of the British singer's best work since Squeezing Out Sparks." Still, Parker could not score a hit. Frustrated, he again changed labels, landing at Elektra. With a band called The Shot that included Rumour guitarist Brinsley Schwartz and keyboardist George Small, he recorded the album Steady Nerves. Released in 1985, the disc garnered strong reviews--Musician dubbed it "a brawny, satisfyingly diverse collection that puts the singer back on an even keel"--and featured "(Wake Up) Next to You," the closest Parker had come to a hit single. But the label's promotional expenses--including nearly $100,000 for a video--were excessively lavish and when the single received only modest rotation, Parker ended up in debt. He broke with Elektra and signed with Atlantic Records.
In the three years that passed before his next LP, Parker married his longtime sweetheart, whom he'd serenaded in The Up Escalator' s "Jolie Jolie." The two had a baby daughter, Natalie, prompting some critics to worry that domestic life would blunt the edge of Parker's music. The first indication that these fears were unfounded came when Parker ditched Atlantic before even producing an album; he managed to get a small advance from RCA and recorded a spare, intimate work with Schwartz and the rhythm section with whom he'd recently toured.
This time out Parker produced himself, telling Musician, "My idea was to make the record sound more like my demos." A meager recording budget of $60,000 helped him obtain the desired sound, which achieved fruition on 1988's The Mona Lisa's Sister. Anthony De Curtis of Rolling Stone declared it Parker's "most compelling record in nearly a decade." The album includes the bitter "Success," a worried parent's lament called "The Girl Isn't Ready," the feminist anthem "Get Started, Start a Fire," and a worthy remake of the Sam Cooke classic "Cupid." Parker's 1989 Live! Alone in America, documenting his solo tour, however, left critics cold; Human Soul, released the same year, got better reviews but didn't sell. A hallucinatory "Surreal Medley" on side two, modeled on the experimental second half of the Beatles' LP Abbey Road, did nothing to enhance the record's commercial appeal.
But Parker impressed critics again with 1991's Struck by Lightning. Reflecting on domestic life in songs like "Children and Dogs" and "The Kid With the Butterfly Net," Parker addressed adulthood in hitherto unimaginable pop forms. Most telling, perhaps, was the song "Brand New Book," in which the singer reveals "The words came out/ Not twist and shout/ 'Cause that's not what a grown man writes about." The record launched "the long-delayed second act in Parker's public life," said Musician' s Bill Flanagan. "It is, unexpectedly, his best album since Squeezing Out Sparks. "
Still, in yet another round of label roulette, RCA dropped Parker not long after the album's release. Undaunted, he signed with Capitol Records and in 1992 released the stripped-down Burning Questions, playing the lead guitar parts himself. The album features a mix of angry rock tunes like "Here It Comes Again" and "Short Memories" and tender ballads, exemplified by the lovely "Long Stem Rose." Once again the singer collected glowing reviews like so many trophies--Musician' s one criticism being "[the album] needs the change of pace a few throwaway tunes would provide"--but found himself unwanted by all-powerful MTV, which more or less told Capitol not to bother sending a Parker video along for consideration. The songwriter told the Detroit Free Press he considered the cable channel's absolute judgment of commercial appeal "a kind of musical fascism." His aside in the song "Love Is a Burning Question" perhaps best summed up the situation: "I've seen the future of rock, and it sucks."
Perseverance in the face of such obstacles has been a hallmark of Parker's remarkable career. He has moved from label to label, seeing virtually no large-scale success, but has nonetheless retained his singular vision. Fans were dismayed when Capitol, too--after a massive reorganization that saw the slashing of its artist roster--decided to part ways with Parker. The more stalwart among them, however, seemed confident that this latest setback would not derail their man for long.
Selected Discography
Howlin' Wind (includes "Don't Ask Me Questions"), Mercury, 1976. Heat Treatment (includes "Pourin' It All Out"), Mercury, 1976. The Pink Parker, Mercury, 1977 Stick to Me, Mercury, 1977. The Parkerilla, Mercury, 1978. "Mercury Poisoning," Arista, 1978. Squeezing Out Sparks (includes "Discovering Japan," "Protection," and "You Can't Be Too Strong"), Arista, 1979. The Up Escalator (includes "Endless Night" and "Jolie, Jolie"), Arista, 1980. Another Grey Area, Arista, 1982. The Real Macaw, Arista, 1983. Steady Nerves (includes "[Wake Up] Next to You"), Elektra, 1985. The Mona Lisa's Sister (includes "Success," "The Girl Isn't Ready," "Get Started, Start a Fire," and "Cupid"), RCA, 1988. Live! Alone in America, RCA, 1989. Human Soul (includes "Surreal Medley"), RCA, 1989. Struck by Lightning (includes "Children and Dogs," "The Kid With the Butterfly Net," and "Brand New Book"), RCA, 1991. Burning Questions (includes "Here It Comes Again," "Short Memories," "Long Stem Rose," and "Love Is a Burning Question"), Capitol, 1992. Best of Graham Parker: 1988-1991, RCA, 1992.
Sources
Books The Rolling Stone Illustrated Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll, edited by Jim Miller, Random House/Rolling Stone Press, 1980. Stambler, Irwin, The Encyclopedia of Pop, Rock and Soul, St. Martin's, 1989. Periodicals CD Review, September 1992. Detroit Free Press, October 9, 1992. Entertainment Weekly, August 14, 1992. Musician, July/August 1979; June 1982; October 1983; May 1985; July 1985; July 1988; May 1989; December 1989; August 1990; March 1991; September 1992; December 1992. People, September 21, 1992. Rolling Stone, June 15, 1978; May 17, 1979; July 24, 1980; April 1, 1982; September 15, 1983; June 6, 1985; August 27, 1987; May 19, 1988; June 30, 1988; March 23, 1989; July 13, 1989; February 8, 1990; March 7, 1991; September 17, 1992. Village Voice, October 31, 1977; April 2, 1979; May 17, 1982; May 28, 1985; June 14, 1988; December 5, 1989.
Sources
Additional information for this profile was obtained from Capitol Records publicity materials, 1992.
~~ Simon Glickman