Pete Wylie Totally Explained

Everything about Pete Wylie totally explained

Pete Wylie (born 22 March 1958, Liverpool) is a British singer/songwriter and guitarist, best known as the leader of the band variously known as Wah!, Wah! Heat, Shambeko! Say Wah!, JF Wah!, The Mighty Wah! and Wah! the Mongrel. He is credited with coining the term "rockism".
   Active from 1979, they garnered critical acclaim for the singles "Better Scream" and "Seven Minutes to Midnight" (both as Wah! Heat), the latter being single of the week in the NME, Sounds and Melody Maker, and the album Nah = Poo! - The Art of Bluff (as Wah!). Their biggest hit single was "The Story of the Blues", which was released in late 1982, and ultimately reached Number 3 in the UK Singles Chart.
   A follow-up single, "Hope (I Wish You'd Believe me)" was released in 1983 but by now Wylie had incurred the wrath of his record label by releasing an "official bootleg" of new and old songs entitled "The Maverick Years 1980-81" on his own label. The record appeared as a white label with a blank outer cover and a sheet attached with sleevenotes by music journalist Adam Sweeting. Wah! were subsequently dropped by WEA. In 1984 The Mighty Wah! had a Top 20 hit with the song "Come Back". (as with "The Story of the Blues," the song was chosen by the late BBC Radio 1 Radio DJ John Peel, as his 'single of the year'). The accompanying album, A Word to the Wise Guy, was critically acclaimed but sold poorly and the band were again dropped by their label, this time Beggar's Banquet.
   By 1986, having ditched his backing ensemble, Pete Wylie had a solo hit with "Sinful!", which peaked at number 13 in the UK, ostensibly produced by Ian Ritchie, but with major input from Zeus B. Held. "Sinful!" became the title track of his 1987 solo album, which included the enigmatically titled "FourElevenFortyFour".
   In 1990 a single called “Imperfect List” was released under the name of “Big Hard Excellent Fish”. The spoken-word track is a list of 64 least favourite people and things read by Josie Jones. The list was written by Wylie and the track was recorded by Robin Guthrie of the Cocteau Twins, although Wylie isn't credited on the record. The list ranges from 'Adolf Hitler' to 'lost keys'. In 2004 “Imperfect List” was used by Morrissey at shows prior to his appearance on stage. The track appears on Morrissey’s video of live performance “Who put the M in Manchester?”.
   Also in 1990, The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu released a limited edition (either 500 or 350 copies) white label version of It's Grim Up North featuring Wylie on vocals. This version was a club-only release. Another version was released in Oct 1991 with Bill Drummond on vocals, making the charts.
   Creative cracks had begun to appear by 1991, when the collaboration with The Farm on "Sinful! (Scary Jiggin' With Dr Love)" did little for either of the rival camps.
   Previous to the various incarnations of Wah!, Wylie formed the band The Crucial Three with Ian McCulloch and Julian Cope who also went on to fame with Echo and the Bunnymen and The Teardrop Explodes respectively.
   On 11 November 1991, Wylie suffered a near fatal fall when a railing gave way in Upper Parliament Street, Liverpool. He fractured both his spine and his sternum. A long period of rehabilitation ensued.
   At some point, Wylie began to write songs again and eventually sent demos to David Balfe, ex of The Teardrop Explodes, founder of Food Records and by that time General Manager and Head of A&R of the Sony's Columbia label. Legend has it that Balfe was so impressed he immediately gave Wylie £750,000 to record the songs which Wylie duly did (in London and Memphis), delivering Songs of Strength and Heartbreak to a delighted Balfe in 1998. Despite the album being finished up to the point where artwork was finalised and discs even sent out for review, Sony didn't release it.
   In the mean time, Wylie was in artistic limbo. Sony owned the rights to the music he'd recorded as Songs of Strength and Heartbreak and he found himself unable to acquire the master tapes and without a recording contract. Eventually, however, he was given the master tapes and Castle records released the album, but without much commercial success.
   Wylie's "Heart As Big As Liverpool" (1998) is popular within the city and especially with Liverpool Football Club supporters. It is used in the official Hillsborough tribute video, on a 2001 CD of Merseyside artists (compiled in collaboration with Liverpool Football Club)"Mersey Boys and Liverpool Girls" and features on Songs of Strength & Heartbreak, a 2000 album credited to The Mighty Wah! The song is also regularly played at Liverpool Football Club's home ground, Anfield - a source of great pride to Wylie, a Liverpool fan.
   The year 2000 also heralded a compilation album entitled The Handy Wah! Whole.
   Wylie then joined Dead Men Walking, featuring Mike Peters of The Alarm, Kirk Brandon of Spear of Destiny and Glen Matlock of the Sex Pistols. They toured extensively, performing old songs as well as new, including Wylie's "Your Mother Must Be Very Proud."
   Following an invitation from Alejandro Escovedo, Wylie performed at the 2006 South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas.
   Wylie's latest project is a twin album release with the working titles Pete Sounds and SLiME, both puns on mid-60s Beach Boys projects. Although he's sold demos of some of the new songs at gigs in 2004, he remains without a recording contract.
   In 2007 he announced a series of gigs at the Zanzibar club, Seel Street, Liverpool. The gigs took place on the last Saturday of each month and featured guest musicians such as Ian Prowse, Ian McNabb and Brian Nash playing Wylie songs as well as many covers of classic songs by other artists.
   In January 2008 Wylie performed at the opening ceremony of Liverpool's European City of Culture tenure.
   Over the last couple of years Wylie has written the soundtracks for two films; Alex Cox's I'm A Juvenile Delinquent - Jail Me! (made by Hurricane Films for the BBC's Learning Zone) and Under the Mud (also produced by Hurricane Films).

Discography

Albums

Nah = Poo - The Art of Bluff, 1981
The Maverick Years 1980-81, 1982
A Word to the Wise Guy, 1984
Sinful!, 1986
Infamy! or How I Didn't Get Where I Am Today, 1991
Songs of Strength and Hearbreak, 2000

Singles

Year	Title	Chart positions				Album
Year	Title	US Hot 100	US Modern Rock	US Mainstream Rock	UK	Album
1979	"Better Scream / Joe"	-	-	-	-	-
1980	"Seven Minutes to Midnight....to be continued / Don't Step on the Cracks"	-	-	-	-	-
1981	"Forget the Down / Checkmate Syndrome"	-	-	-	-	-
1981	"Somesay / Forget the Down (this time)"	-	-	-	-	-
1982	"Remember / A Crack is a Crack"	-	-	-	-	-
1982	"The Story of the Blues (part 1) / The Story of the Blues (part 2)"	-	-	-	-	Appears on CD reissue of A Word to the Wise Guy
1983	"Hope (I Wish You'd Believe Me) / Sleep (A Lullaby for Josie)"	-	-	-	-	A-side appears on CD reissue of A Word to the Wise Guy
1984	"Come Back (The Story of the Reds) / The Devil in Miss Jones"	-	-	-	-	Appears on CD reissue of A Word to the Wise Guy
1984	"Weekends (How Come We Always End Up Here?) - The Recut	! / Shambeko"	-	-	-	-	Appears on CD reissue of A Word to the Wise Guy
1986	"Sinful! / I Want the Moon, Mother"	-	-	-	-	Sinful!
1986	"Diamond Girl / Spare a Thought"	-	-	-	-	-
1987	"If I Love You / Never Fall For a Whore"	-	-	-	-	-
1987	"FourElevenFortyFour / The Marksmen"	-	-	-	-	Sinful!

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