Paul Cunniffe

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Paul Cunniffe
Paul Cunniffe.
Background information
Origin	Tuam, Republic of Ireland / London, United Kingdom
Genre(s)	Rock Folk
Years active	1979 to 2001

Paul Cunniffe (23 June 1961 – 11 August 2001) was an Irish singer-songwriter from Tuam, Co. Galway. He fronted the 1980s punk band Blaze X. Paul was born in Cambridge, England, and then lived in Ellesmere Port, but moved back to his family's hometown of Tuam in Ireland at the age of 14. In the Christian Brothers School in Tuam he formed Blaze X with friends Paul Ralph, Davy Carton and Ja Keating.

After Blaze X split, he moved to London. He began to write songs on his own, and play on the Irish pub scene around the capital. He won the London Pub Entertainer of the Year award in 1996

He wrote the first version of the Saw Doctors number 1 single, "I Useta Lover". He also wrote the track "Funny World" which is covered by the Saw Doctors on their album The Cure.^[1]

Paul died, following an accident, in Whitechapel, East London on August 11, 2001. Following his death, an album of his songs entitled Excuse My Accent was released to critical acclaim. Many songs on this album evoke a sadness which seems to be in Paul's life. In the documentary, Man of Music, Heart of Gold, Kenny Ralph describes him as having frailty in life, similar to the life of Nick Drake. Others, such as Sunshine, suggest otherwise; Sunshine, lights up a cloudy day, moonlight helps me to find my way. You can't beat the feeling, when you've made it on your own. Dreams is considered the song which most aptly displays Paul's fine talent for words and the English language. There were only 500 copies of this album pressed and it desperately needs to be re-issued immediately. There is a catalogue of unreleased songs never heard by the public which need to be released in the future. Paul left behind his partner Jo and three children, Paula, Shane and Mollie Rae.

A no-budget documentary about his music entitled Man of Music, Heart Of Gold was shown to a packed audience in his hometown of Tuam on August 19, 2007. The film had its Galway premiere on 6 December 2007 in Monroe's Tavern.^[2]