Ian Broudie

Ian Broudie
Background information
Birth name	Ian Zachary Broudie
Also known as	Kingbird
Born	(1958-08-04) 4 August 1958 Liverpool, England
Genres	Alternative rock, new wave, post-punk, Britpop, indie pop, pop rock, folk rock
Occupations	Singer-songwriter, musician, record producer
Instruments	Vocals, guitar, bass, keyboard, drums
Years active	1977–present
Labels	Deltasonic
Associated acts	Big in Japan, Original Mirrors, Bette Bright and the Illuminations, Care, The Lightning Seeds

Ian Zachary Broudie (born 4 August 1958) is an English singer-songwriter, musician and record producer from Liverpool, England. After emerging from the post-punk scene in Liverpool in the late 1970s as a member of Big in Japan, Broudie went on to form Original Mirrors in 1979 and Care in the early 1980s as well as producing albums for artists including Echo & the Bunnymen, The Fall, The Icicle Works and Shack throughout the decade.

In 1989 he formed The Lightning Seeds and achieved great commercial success throughout the 1990s. After The Lightning Seeds dissolved in 2000, Broudie produced albums by artists such as The Coral and The Zutons before releasing his own solo album Tales Told in 2004. The Lightning Seeds reformed in 2006 and released their sixth studio album Four Winds in 2009.

Early career

Ian Broudie played in Liverpool's fledgling punk scene in the 1970s (he was a member of the band Big in Japan, which also featured Holly Johnson and Bill Drummond). He was also a founder member of John Peel favourites Original Mirrors in the early '80s, and was credited as a member of Bette Bright and the Illuminations on their lone album from 1981. In 1983, he formed the band Care with vocalist Paul Simpson; the duo released 3 singles, including the minor UK chart hit "Flaming Sword" before breaking up.

Though he was a busy writer, performer and session musician through the 1980s, Broudie was much more well known in this era as a producer, helming albums by Echo & the Bunnymen, The Icicle Works and The Three O'Clock, amongst others. From 1980 to 1983, he occasionally used the pseudonym "Kingbird" when producing.

The Lightning Seeds

Broudie put together the Lightning Seeds at the end of the 1980s, scoring a debut hit with the song "Pure". To begin with, for all the identity of The Lightning Seeds was created, the 'group' had just one member - Ian himself. This was an experiment of his "to see if I could cut it as a muso".

The Lightning Seeds produced a selection of well-received singles and albums in the 1990s. The albums Cloudcuckooland (1989) and Sense (1992) followed, the latter's song "The Life of Riley" achieving notoriety as the backing music for Match of the Day's Goal of the Month competition. Before long, however, Broudie took the step of creating an actual band to flesh out the Seeds, deciding it needed to be an actual group if it was to continue. Their 1994 album Jollification is considered by many as the moment the Lightning Seeds arrived as a mainstream band. During the same period, Broudie produced albums for other acts, including Northside and Frazier Chorus.

The Lightning Seeds twice took football anthem "Three Lions" (with comedians Frank Skinner and David Baddiel) to number one, with different lyrics for the Euro 96 and France '98 tournaments. (Broudie himself is a supporter of Liverpool; Lightning Seeds album covers and inlays often contain references such as Justice for the '96 and Support the Liverpool Dockers.)

On 14 March 1997, Broudie was the guest host of Top of the Pops. Later that year, the Lightning Seeds headlined the Hillsborough Justice Concert, which was held at the Liverpool Anfield stadium.

Broudie returned with a new lineup in 2009, releasing the album Four Winds and has extensively toured since with a line up including old Seeds favourites Angie Pollack (piano), Martyn Campbell (guitar), and Ian's son Riley Broudie (guitar).

Production work

Broudie worked with bands like Echo & the Bunnymen, The Colourfield, The Pale Fountains, Shack, The Icicle Works, Ellery Bop and The Fall under the name 'Kingbird'.

Broudie subsequently concentrated on production for other bands working with the likes of The Coral, The Subways, The Zutons, French rock band Noir Desir for their first long album Veuillez rendre l'âme (à qui elle appartient), The Rifles and on a handful of I Am Kloot songs.

Solo career

On 11 October 2004, Broudie released his debut solo effort, Tales Told, which was embraced by critics and fans alike — despite that fact that Tales Told saw Broudie move into folk rock territory and away from the chirpy pop tunes of The Lightning Seeds. However, the album performed poorly in terms of sales and Broudie's hope that "word of mouth" would help to shift copies of the work never quite transpired. The first song on the album, "Song for No One", featured in the opening episode of the 3rd season of the U.S. TV series The O.C.. Prior to his solo 2012 tour, he talked to 6 Towns Radio in Stoke-on-Trent about producing and The Three Lions.^[1]

Solo discography

Albums and EPs

• Tales Told (2004)
• Smoke Rings EP (2005)

Featured singles

Personal life

He is Jewish, divorced and has a son called Riley, the subject of the song "The Life of Riley". He lives in London but spends a substantial amount of time writing and recording in Liverpool as his studio is located there.^[2]

References

• Jewish Chronicle, February 16, 2007, p. 43: "The life of Broudie"

External links

• The Lightning Seeds official website
• Ian Broudie at AllMusic
• Ian Broudie discography at Discogs