Kevin Godley | |
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.jpg) Godley performing live with10cc in 1976 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Kevin Michael Godley |
| Born | (1945-10-07)7 October 1945 (age 79) Prestwich, Lancashire, England[1] |
| Genres | |
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| Instruments |
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| Years active | 1962–present |
| Formerly of |
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| Website | kevin-godley |
Kevin Michael Godley (born 7 October 1945) is an Englishsinger-songwriter, drummer andmusic video director. He was a singer and drummer of theart rock band10cc and later was part of collaboration duoGodley & Creme withLol Creme.
Kevin Michael Godley was born on 7 October 1945 inPrestwich, Lancashire, England, to aJewish family, and went toNorth Cestrian Grammar School inAltrincham.[3]
While attending art college inManchester Godley met future creative partnerLol Creme. Godley and Creme joined theR&B combothe Sabres.[4] Godley and Creme, like Graham Gouldman, grew up in Jewish households, although Godley downplayed the influence of Judaism on his life and work in later years. "I don’t think of myself as Jewish. I think of myself as Jew-ish. There’s a distinction. It never really occurred to me." In the same interview, he described his religion as "art and music."[5]
They became involved in a number of bands such asthe Mockingbirds,Hotlegs and later10cc. As part of the bands Godley was a songwriter, lead vocalist, played drums, percussion and keyboards. Godley and Creme recorded four studio albums with 10cc.[6] In 1977, early in the recording of the band's fifth studio albumDeceptive Bends, unimpressed with the songs by bandmatesEric Stewart andGraham Gouldman and eager to work on other projects outside of the band, Godley and Creme left.[7]
In 1977, they released their first album project –Consequences – a concept album demonstration piece for the "Gizmo" a device that enabled an electric guitar to mimic orchestral instruments the pair had begun developing early on in the 10cc years.Consequences is a story about meek Walter Stapleton divorcing his French playgirl wife, with English comedian and satiristPeter Cook voicing the parts of two solicitors, the irascible Pepperman and the alcoholic Haig, and Haig's downstairs resident and reclusive musician Mr Blint, who constantly interrupts them and confuses the proceedings, and singer Sarah Vaughan. The album was released as a three-LP box set.
Consequences attained a niche following and had one single released from it, "Five O'clock in the Morning". However, despite the creativity, innovation and imagination involved, it was a commercial flop.
Both Godley and Creme briefly 'reunited' with their former 10cc bandmates Stewart and Gouldman on the band's tenth studio album...Meanwhile (1992). Following...Meanwhile, Godley and Creme went their separate ways again, having experienced difficulties together as early as 1988.[8]
In 2025, Godley reunited withGraham Gouldman for a special performance as 10cc for an edition ofBBC Radio 2's Piano Room with theBBC Concert Orchestra conducted byAnne Dudley. Three songs were performed includingI'm Not In Love, new composition I Don't Want To Go To Heaven and a cover version ofAll I Have To Do Is Dream.[9]
Godley later again reunited with Gouldman to form the band GG/06. Together they recorded a self-titledextended play (EP), which was made available for free via their website.[10] Since then Godley has several times joined Gouldman's iteration of 10cc in concert, and was featured on the live and video albumClever Clogs (2008).[11]
More recently, Godley moved into developing a music platform for theiPad, one that combines audio and video to create a global recording studio inthe cloud called "WholeWorldBand".[12] The company was nominated for theSXSW Music Accelerator Award in 2013, and was one of eight finalists selected from a pool of over 500.[13]
In 2017, Godley publicly invited musicians to send him music to work on his debut solo studio album, titledMuscle Memory with the idea being that he would take the rough ideas and turn them into a finished song.[14] The album was originally supposed to be released in 2018 through campaign on pledgemusic.com, but due to its closure the release was postponed. In 2021, Kevin Godley's albumMuscle Memory was completed and released by The state51 Conspiracy after the project stalled as aPledgeMusic campaign.[15]
In 2018, Godley was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Arts byStaffordshire University.[16] In 2021, Godley joined "Group of Humans",[17] a globally distributed community of creative leaders and change architects, as Creative Director.[18] He currently lives and works inWicklow, Ireland with his wife Sue,[19] and hopes to direct a film based onOrson Welles' time in Ireland.[20]
Studio albums
As featured artist | With GG/06
10cc |
