Марк "Бу" Хьюердин: Ағылшын әнші-әндер авторының өмірі мен шығармашылығы

English singer songwriter

Mark "Boo" Hewerdine (born 14 February 1961) grew up in North London, before moving to Cambridge while still a child, and as a teenager formed the short lived band Placebo Thing with a friend. He worked in the warehouse of Andy's Records in Bury St Edmunds, where he was exposed to a wide range of music. He joined The Great Divide in 1983, and the band were signed to Cambridge independent label Wimp Records by local entrepreneur David Gowar, and recorded and released their debut single "Who Broke the Love Bank" in 1982. They were heard by Mike Scott of The Waterboys, who recommended them to Ensign Records, who bought out their contract with Wimp, and they subsequently cut three commercially unsuccessful singles on Ensign. They released an album of songs in 1986 through the independent Norwich label Backs Records called Walking The Ghost Back Home. A new album, the Steve Earle produced Eureka followed, The album was released in 1989 to critical acclaim. The two went on to tour together in 1996. The band split again in December 1994 and a new album remained unreleased (the title was used for a later compilation), although songs from the album were re recorded by Hewerdine on his John Wood produced 1996 album Baptist Hospital, which featured contributions from Eddi Reader and Richard Thompson. Thanksgiving followed in 1999, which featured a guest appearance from Martha Wainwright and was described by Allmusic writer Rick Anderson as "sometimes very pretty in a Beatlesque way and sometimes moving", and Anon in 2002. In 2001 Hewerdine was invited to act as 'songwriter in residence' at the Performing Rights Society's The Song's the Thing concert series in London, also performing at one of the concerts. Harmonograph was released on MVine/Red Grape Records in February 2006, a collection of his songs originally recorded by other artists such as Eddi Reader and Hepburn, recorded by Hewerdine for the first time, with accompaniment from another former member of The Bible, Neill MacColl. The Toy Box nos. 1 and 2 EPs were released in 2008. God Bless The Pretty Things, was released in 2009. Recorded in Glasgow, with a band including John McCusker, Alan Kelly, Ewen Vernal, and Heidi Talbot, the album was described by the BBC as "timeless songs for all seasons" and "an album of unusual class and sensitivity". In 2010 he appeared with Chris Difford and Justin Currie on BBC Four programme Songwriters' Circle.

Hewerdine first performed with Cambridge based American guitarist Brooks Williams in 2010 after adding him to the bill of his annual Christmas show in his home town of Ely at the last minute when guests Chris Difford and Barry McGuigan were unable to attend due to weather conditions. In 2011, Hewerdine teamed up with Williams to form the band State of the Union. Their plan was to record an album using vintage microphones and equipment live at Kyoti Studio with Mark Freegard Glasgow studio in just five days, although they completed the album in only a day and a half. They followed the album with the EP Rent, the title track of which (a cover version of the Pet Shop Boys' song) was performed on The Andrew Marr Show in December 2012. State of the Union played their first gig at the 2011 Ely Folk Festival, and played at the Celtic Connections festival in January 2012. The album was released in April 2012 on Reveal Records and was followed by a tour.

Hewerdine was invited by Nick Hornby to write music for the soundtrack of the 1997 film adaptation of his book Fever Pitch. With Neill MacColl he also wrote music for the soundtrack of Shane Meadows' Twenty Four Seven and David Evans' television film Our Boy, both also from 1997. He also had a track included in the soundtrack of Christine Lahti's My First Mister (2001), and in 2003 his "Different God" was used in the film Intermission. Hewerdine's song "Bell, Book and Candle" (from Thanksgiving) has been used in several television dramas, including an award winning death scene in Emmerdale.

Hewerdine collaborated over several years with Eddi Reader, as producer, songwriter and guitarist in her band. His song "Patience of Angels", originally written for The Bible, was recorded by Reader for her self titled 1994 album, which featured several Hewerdine compositions, and was a top 40 hit in the UK Singles Chart when released as a single. Hewerdine also co produced Eddi Reader's 1999 album Angels & Electricity and her 2003 album Sings the Songs of Robert Burns. His other production work includes albums with The Corrs, Heidi Talbot, and Laurie Freelove. He co wrote and produced Chris Difford's 2008 album The Last Temptation of Chris. He has also written songs recorded by K. d. Lang ("Last Cigarette"),

"Patience of Angels" brought a nomination for the Ivor Novello Award for Hewerdine in 1995. In a 2009 review of his album God Bless the Pretty Things, the BBC described Hewerdine as "one of Britain's most consistently accomplished songwriters". Nick Coleman of The Independent on Sunday described Hewerdine as "one of the best songwriters we have". The Birmingham Evening Mail described him as "one of the country's finest lyricists".