Ian McCulloch (singer)

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Ian McCulloch (born Ian Stephen McCulloch on 5 May 1959, in Liverpool) is an English singer.

McCulloch grew up on Parhenon Drive in the council estate area Norris Green.

He was a singer/songwriter with the Crucial Three, a little known band of the many that sprung up among the kids hanging out at a club called Eric's in the seventies. The other two were Julian Cope, later of The Teardrop Explodes and Pete Wylie who went on to form WAH! Later Mac formed Echo & the Bunnymen with Will Sergeant (Guitar) and Les Pattinson (Bass). The late Pete de Freitas joined later on drums. The Bunnymen enjoyed limited success in the late seventies and early eighties with their 1984 album Ocean Rain being the most commercially acclaimed and successful to date. The Bunnymen broke up in 1989 while Ian went on to persue a minorly successful solo career. The Bunnymen re-grouped in 1997 and are still together today, their most recent album is called Siberia, released in 2005 on Cooking Vinyl records.

His nicknames are 'Mac' and 'Mac The Mouth' because of his propensity for open criticism of fellow artistes. His favourite target was the band U2 especially its lead singer, Bono. He has since tamed his act.^{[citation needed]}

McCulloch admits to his immense liking for Lou Reed, Iggy Pop, Leonard Cohen and - in particular - David Bowie, whom he said inspired him in his youth to form a band of his own.^{[citation needed]}Apparently his nickname at Erics was "Duke" owing to his liking to David Bowie and his similarity to The Thin White Duke.

His first solo release was the single "September Song" which received great critical acclaim^{[citation needed]} but limited commercial success.^{[citation needed]} He recorded a cover version of Leonard Cohen's "Lover Lover Lover" for the album Mysterio. He is still recording and performing with Echo and the Bunnymen.

Mcculloch recently released his third solo effort dubbed Slideling. Featured guests in the album include Coldplay singer Chris Martin who had admitted to being a huge fan.^{[citation needed]} Other celebrity fans include Courtney Love, Pavement, The Flaming Lips and Robert Smith of The Cure.

In 1998, McCulloch teamed up with the Spice Girls and Space to record "Top of the World", the official song for Team England in the 1998 FIFA World Cup. Mac has been a lifetime supporter of the Liverpool Football Club. In 2006, he took part in recording the team's anthem with the Bootroom Allstars - a remake of the Johnny Cash song "Ring of Fire".

He was married for many years to Lorraine Fox. They have two daughters, Candy and Mimi.

1 Albums
2 Singles
3 UK Singles
4 External links

[edit] Albums

Candleland, 1989
Mysterio, 1992
Slideling, 2003

[edit] Singles

Year	Title	Chart positions				Album
Year	Title	US Hot 100	US Modern Rock	US Mainstream Rock	UK	Album
1989	"Proud to Fall"	-	#1 (4 weeks)	-	-	Candleland
1990	"Faith and Healing"	-	#10	-	-	Candleland