Paul Young is one of the most influential pop artists in the UK and a versatile musician whose talent as a singer and songwriter is second to none; in a career that spans four decades, he has been especially acclaimed for the 1980s hits Everytime You Go Away and Love Of The Common People.
He took part in legendary music events such as the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert for AIDS Awareness in 1992 and the Live Aid alongside David Bowie, Dire Straits and Spandau Ballet in 1985; the massive gig raised funds for famine relief in Ethiopia and had famously been the scene of one of the most magnificent performances by Freddie Mercury and Queen of all time.
Paul Young was also featured in Senza una Donna (Without a Woman) by Italian blues-rock star Zucchero in 1987, sort of singing in Italian; the hit topped the European Hot 100 Singles and entered the top 5 charts in 19 countries including the United States but excluding Zucchero’s homeland; Senza una Donna (Without a Woman) reached only number 22 in Italy, but that’s another story – a story shockingly similar to the ones of Andrea Bocelli and Il Volo.
And so, the one and only Paul Young is in today for a quick interview about his stellar career and 1980s nostalgia.
Paul, what achievements are you most proud of?
I think to still be a musician. I mean, every musician likes to think that they could make a career and a living out of being a musician. So, the fact that I’ve been doing it now since I was 20 years old is a great thing.
Which one of your songs are you most attached to?
Mmm, that’s difficult. All have different favourites at different times. If I go on a tour which is all about my first album, I have a lot of fun playing the songs that I haven’t played for nearly 40 years. So my favourite one back then was my first ever single which was called Iron Out The Rough Spots.
What would you be doing today if you weren’t a musician? Did you have a plan B?
No, there wasn’t a plan B. I once heard another musician saying that his best plan was to have no plan B so you’ve got nothing to go back to, and, therefore, you have to succeed. So, the best thing I think is not to have a plan B. I mean, I trained to be a kind of a machinist but I hated the job and I wasn’t going to go back to that.
Are there any memories from your Radio Ga Ga duet with Queen at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert in 1992 you would like to share?
I remember that when we were in rehearsals, the song was very high and all the parts were very high, I think a little bit too high for me. So I asked if we could drop the key of the song at all, but we could only take it down one tiny bit because it would have been very difficult then for Brian May to play the song. So we only took it down one little piece and I remember it made it slightly easier for me, but for Brian, he really had to concentrate to make sure he was playing it in the same key for so long, he really got to concentrate to make sure he didn’t make any mistakes.
Will there ever be another Live Aid?
No, I don’t think so. I think that’s gone, I think the main part of the excitement with that was all about human contact and physically being there at the concert, and this probably won’t happen again. If they do a worldwide concert, it’ll be streamed, and there will not be so much of a sense of occasion, because don’t forget that the biggest thrill ever about Live Aid was if you actually had a ticket and you were there. So okay, people around the world watched it on their TVs, but to be able to say “I was there”, you know, it was such a big thing.
How was it to sing Senza una Donna (Without a Woman) in Italian with Zucchero?
Haha, well, there’s not much Italian in that record, but I did learn some Italian about 30 years ago. So, when I sing the song live, I always do the first verse in English and the second verse in Italian, it’s a lot of fun to do that! Even though I’m singing in English, I’d say “non è così che puoi comprarmi baby” [translates as “there is no way that you can buy me, baby”] ... it’s a little strange, but I want to do it anyway as a homage to Zucchero!
Has the internet changed the way you release music?
Younger artists today don’t necessarily need to release albums anymore; they just release tracks. So we can finish the first three or four songs of a new album, put them up on Spotify and iTunes, then work on the next four and put those up and then, once we are finished, there’ll be a complete album. This is a completely new thing to me but it sounds interesting, an interesting way to get your music out to the fans.