[ April 6, 1998 ]
Music News: Stan Cullimore's Birthday
Music News Of The World
You Say It's Your Birthday:
Stan Cullimore Of The Housemartins
Apr 06, 1998
by Frank Tortorici
Edited by Michael Goldberg
Stan Cullimore was an original member of the Housemartins, who formed in 1984 in Hull, England.
Today is the 36th birthday of Stan Cullimore, guitarist of the Housemartins, the guitar-pop outfit that came together in 1984 in Hull, England. Songwriter Paul Heaton placed an ad in the window of his home seeking musicians and Cullimore answered it. Hugh Whitaker (drums) and Norman Cook (bass) soon joined them. Billing themselves humorously as "The Fourth-Best Band in Hull," the band updated the sound of the early English beat groups and became a popular and critical U.K. favorite in the mid-'80s. In 1985, the Housemartins issued their debut single, "Flag Day," on the independent Go! Discs. They soon developed a following by spicing up their live shows with off-the-cuff, undisciplined dance routines and by writing songs that highlighted their leftist politics and droll humor.
In 1986, "Happy Hour," a song about sexism, became their first big U.K. hit (the Housemartins never rose above cult status in the U.S.). The song, which spawned a successful video, and the album that it was featured on, London 0, Hull 4, reached the top 5 on the U.K. charts. That same year, they enjoyed another success with an a cappella cover of The Isley Brothers' "Caravan of Love." Their follow-up album -- on which Whitaker was replaced by Dave Hemingway -- was 1987's The People Who Grinned Themselves To Death, which spawned three hit singles, including "Me and The Farmer" and "Five Get Over Excited." At the peak of the band's popularity in 1988, Heaton and Cullimore decided to call it quits, saying that they only intended the Housemartins to have a short life. A retrospective album, Now That's What I Call Quite Good!, was issued in 1988. Cook formed Beats International and then became a remixer; in 1997, he released Better Living Through Chemistry under the name Fatboy Slim. Heaton and Hemingway formed the Beautiful South, which became an even more popular band than the Housemartins. Cullimore is now a writer of children's books and also has written a guide to the music industry.
Other birthdays: Tony Connor (Hot Chocolate), 51, and Michelle Phillips (the Mamas and the Papas), 54.
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