Martyn Jacques | |
|---|---|
 Martyn Jacques during a live performance with the Tiger Lillies in Kaserne Basel, Switzerland on 29 December 2007. | |
| Background information | |
| Born | (1959-05-22)22 May 1959 (age 65)[1][2] |
| Occupation(s) | singer, songwriter |
| Instrument(s) | accordion, piano, ukulele |
| Labels | Misery Guts Music |
Martyn Jacques (born 22 May 1959) is a British musician, singer and songwriter, mostly known as the founder and front man of cult British trioThe Tiger Lillies.
Martyn Jacques grew up inSlough. His song"Slough" onYouTube on the 1996The Tiger Lillies release "The Brothel to The Cemetery" concerns his childhood memories, echoingJohn Betjeman's 1937poem.
As a child, he had piano lessons fromFlorence De Jong.[3]
In his early 20s he dropped out of Lampeter's Theology and Philosophy course and headed to London where he initially lived in a squat in Finsbury Park and then in a flat in Soho's Rupert Street where he got a pretty good taste of the lowlife which became his main source of inspiration. He spent his whole 20s training as a musician and singer and developing his characteristicfalsetto voice,[4] which has led to him being known as the infamous Criminal Castrato[1], a description first coined byKen Campbell.
In his Tiger Lillies appearances, Jacques commonly sings about "sexual perversions, seedy underbellies, the gruesome, macabre and visceral".[5] Jacques has been described as enjoying when audience members walk out of his shows, noting "It's always funny when people are offended by what I do ... after all, I'm just an entertainer."[6]
Jacques' songs range from hilarious, dark, up-beat music, even darker, strange and mysterious songs and some cover versions, such as "My Funny Valentine" and "Send in the Clowns". He is the musical director of the junk operaShockheaded Peter.[4]
The Independent On Sunday (14 May 2006), "The Tiger Lillies: Funny. Peculiar."
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