Malcolm Mooney

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Malcolm Mooney is an African-American singer, poet, and artist, probably best known as the original vocalist for German krautrock band Can.

1 Biography
2 Discography
3 Trivia
4 Notes

[edit] Biography

Mooney began singing in high school, and was a member of an a capella vocal group known as the Six Fifths^[1]. He gained some fame as a sculptor in New York, then moved to Germany where he became a friend of Irmin Schmidt and Holger Czukay prior to the formation of Can (band)^[1], and decided to take up the vocal spot with them, also coming up with the name "The Can" for the group who had previously been known as "Inner Space", and which was later shortened to "Can".

An album of material was recorded, initially entitled Prepared To Meet Thy Pnoom, although no record company was willing to release it^[2]. Can made a second attempt at recording an album, which became their debut Monster Movie. It was successful in the German underground scene of the time, and combined the band's Velvet Underground-influenced rock with Mooney's mixture of paranoid ramblings and James Brown-style vocal funk. Prepared To Meet Thy Pnoom was released in 1981 as compilation album Delay 1968, and various other tracks that Mooney recorded with the band during this period appear on Soundtracks, and compilation Unlimited Edition.

Mooney left Can in 1970 on the advice of his psychiatrist, and returned to the United States^[1] ^[3] as it was believed that this would be beneficial for his mental health.

He rejoined Can in 1986 to record a one-off reunion album, Rite Time. He also has released one album with the band Tenth Planet, on which a new version of the song "Father Cannot Yell" from Monster Movie appears^[1]. Mooney now focuses on his visual art^[4].

[edit] Discography

Malcolm Mooney appears on the following original albums:

With Can:

Monster Movie (1969)
Soundtracks (1970)
Unlimited Edition compilation, includes all the tracks on earlier Limited Edition (1976)
Delay 1968 compilation (1981)
Rite Time (1989)