Paul Carrack

Biography & Overview

Paul Melvyn Carrack (born 22 April 1951) is an English musician who has recorded as both a solo artist and as a member of several popular bands. The BBC dubbed Carrack "The Man with the Golden Voice", while Record Collector remarked: "If vocal talent equalled financial success, Paul Carrack would be a bigger name than legends such as Phil Collins or Elton John." Carrack rose to prominence in the mid-1970s as the frontman and principal songwriter of rock band Ace, and gained further recognition for his work as a solo artist and for his tenures as a member of Squeeze and Roger Waters' backing band, the Bleeding Heart Band, intermittently handling lead vocals on Squeeze and Waters recordings. From the mid-1980s to the late 1990s, he enjoyed considerable success as the co-lead vocalist (with Sad Café's Paul Young) and a songwriter for Mike + The Mechanics; following Young's death in 2000, Carrack served as the band's sole lead vocalist until his departure in 2004. Carrack sang some of his affiliated bands' best-known hits, including Ace's "How Long" (1975); Squeeze's "Tempted" (1981); and Mike + The Mechanics' "Silent Running (On Dangerous Ground)" (1985), "The Living Years" (1988) and "Over My Shoulder" (1995).