Feargal Sharkey

As co-founder and lead singer with Northern Ireland's most successful new wave band The Undertones and the voice of their biggest hit Teenage Kicks, Feargal Sharkey's place in modern rock history is assured. After several other hits like Here Comes The Summer, My Perfect Cousin and It's Going To Happen, The Undertones split in 1983, Sharkey briefly formed The Assembly with Vince Clarke (scoring one Number 4 UK hit with Never Never) before launching his solo career with Listen To Your Father, performed with members of Madness. Singing with a distinctive tremolo in his voice, he topped the singles charts all over Europe in 1985 with A Good Heart, written by Maria McKee, and followed it with another Top 5 hit, You Little Thief. His albums Feargal Sharkey (1985), followed by Wish (1988) and Songs From The Mardi Gras (1991) also sold well, but Sharkey was already moving away from the microphone to become involved in the business side as A&R man at Polydor Records. In 2004 he was appointed chairman of the government task force Live Music Forum and in 2008 became head of UK Music, representing the interests of the UK commercial music industry.