Paul Gorman
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Paul Gorman is a writer born in 1959 in north west London. Among his siblings is Michael Gorman, president of the American Library Association (ALA) 2005-2006.
Gorman worked on weekly news for a number of trade publications and freelanced for national newspapers before taking up the post of west coast bureau chief for Screen International in 1990.
Based in Los Angeles, he interviewed leading executives, directors, producers and stars, including Jerry Bruckheimer, Don Simpson, Oliver Stone, Nicolas Cage, Sarah Jessica Parker, Billy Crystal, Michelle Pfeiffer, James Caan and Rutger Hauer and worked at Cannes, the Oscars and other international events.
Between 1993 and 1998 Gorman was contributing editor at Music Week, where he came into contact with and reported on leading executives and artists such as Madonna’s manager Freddy de Mann, Creation Records founder Alan McGee and U2 manager Paul McGuinness, as well as artists from David Bowie, Cher, Oasis and Iggy Pop to Elvis Costello, Björk, the Sex Pistols and the Spice Girls (conducting their first ever interview). Pieces he wrote during this period for Music Week as well as for magazines such as Mojo can be found at www.rocksbackpages.com.
In 1994 he was recruited by Anthea Norman-Taylor to the creative think tank she ran with her husband Brian Eno on behalf of the charity War Child, resulting in such events as Little Pieces From Big Stars held at the Whitechapel Gallery, which featured auctioned artwork by musicians such as Paul McCartney, Iggy Pop, David Bowie and Shane MacGowan, in October 1994, and Pagan FunWear, held at the Saatchi Gallery in June 1995 featuring contributions from Lou Reed, David Bowie, Jarvis Cocker, 3D from Massive Attack, Damien Hirst, Stella McCartney and many others.
Between 1994 and 1999 Gorman was also contributing editor at Music Business International, and travelled the world covering developments in the international entertainment business writing on the music businesses in the US, south east Asia, Australia, Scandinavia, Spain, Israel and South Africa, attending and covering such international events as the MTV Awards, the Grammys, the Brits and the VH1 Divas.
In 1999 Gorman made his directorial debut with the Channel 4 documentary Las Vegas Grind and in 2000 signed Mexican artist El Vez to Alan McGee’s Poptones label.
In 2001 he published In Their Own Write: Adventures In The Rock & Pop Press, foreword by Charles Shaar Murray (Sanctuary Publishing), which Tony Parsons described as “the definitive account of the collective madness known as the music press”. This featured, among others, Chris Salewicz, Vivien Goldman, Nick Kent, Nick Logan, Chris Welch, Barney Hoskyns, Jon Savage, Lester Bangs, Jann Wenner,Julie Burchill and Caroline Coon, covering the history and development of such papers as NME, Sounds, Melody Maker, Rolling Stone, Creem, Sniffin Glue, The Face, Q, Mojo and Select.
In 2002 Gorman collaborated with DJ/actor/producer Goldie on the book Nine Lives (Hodder & Stoughton), about which Lynn Barber wrote in The Independent: "Fascinating. Paul Gorman has done a good job in making sense of Goldie's Nine Lives."
In 2003 Gorman was creative consultant on the reformed Dexy's Midnight Runners, which included leader Kevin Rowland re-signing the group to EMI for a greatest hits compilation. Gorman advised on visual and other creative elements on a critically acclaimed series of performances in the UK and also wrote a book about Dexy’s which remains unpublished.
In 2004 Gorman spent time in New York working on the book Straight with Boy George (Century), which was published in March 2005, and, said the Daily Telegraph, "never fails to entertain or provide food for thought”. The paperback version was published March 2007.
October 2005 saw the publication of Blood & Fire: The Story Of UB40's Ali & Robin Campbell with Tim Abbot (Century).
In May 2006, new imprint Adelita published Gorman’s style bible The Look: Adventures In Rock & Pop Fashion with an introduction by Paul Smith and foreword by Malcolm McLaren. “This is the book,” wrote Robert Elms in The Times. The Look includes 300-plus illustrations, 120,000 words and a CD featuring such artists as Elvis Presley, David Bowie and Boy George. Among the contributors were Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin, Ronnie Wood of the Rolling Stones, Ian McLagan of the Small Faces, Boy George, Glen Matlock of the Sex Pistols, Kevin Rowland of Dexy’s and Nancy Sinatra as well as designers such as Malcolm McLaren, Paul Smith, Hedi Slimane of Dior Homme, Lloyd Johnson, Alex Michon and Krystyna Kolowska, Mark Powell, Pam Hogg, Gordon Millings and Betsey Johnson.
The Look has also been accompanied by events under The Look Presents banner including appearances at the Port Eliot LitFest, Borders in Brighton, Bristol and London, the V&A, London College Of Fashion and Central Saint Martins. It was launched in Japan to coincide with the opening of Paul Smith’s flagship store, Space, in Tokyo in April 2006 and has an active forum at myspace.com/rockpopfashion.
Gorman's last book was Cry Salty Tears for Boy George’s mother Dinah O’Dowd - her story of surviving a life of spousal abuse which was published by Arrow Books in January 2007 and entered the Sunday Times Top Tenn selling non-fiction hardbacks list.
Gorman lives in south west London with his dog Rita and is currently working on Bereft: A True Story, as well as television, fashion and music projects.
