Colin Newman

Colin Newman (born 16 September 1954) is an English musician, record producer and record label owner. He is best known as the primary vocalist and songwriter for the post-punk band Wire.

Biography

Colin Newman was born in Salisbury, Wiltshire and moved to London when he was 21 after finishing art school. In 1976 Newman formed the band Wire which he served as main songwriter, singer and guitarist. At start the band was considered a part of London's Punk rock scene but later reached critical acclaim for their massive influence on Post-punk, New wave and Alternative rock. When the band temporarily split in 1980, Newman pursued a solo career. His first solo album, A-Z, was released in 1980 on the Beggar's Banquet record label. The album veered from extremely skewed pop to more mainstream numbers, such as "Order for Order", which was compared by some to Gary Numan. A track from the demos for this LP (but not included on the original vinyl release), "Not Me", was covered by This Mortal Coil on their It'll End in Tears LP; This Mortal Coil then covered the A-Z track "Alone" on their second album Filigree & Shadow. Newman's second LP, the entirely instrumental Provisionally Entitled The Singing Fish, in which all the tracks were titled for numbered fish, was released on the 4AD Records label in 1981. A third LP, Not To, which along with original compositions reworked a number of tracks originally written for Wire, was released in 1982 on 4AD.