50 years of music from Paul Carrack

The soulful singer first came to my attention with his band Ace when they were all over Bob Harris radio shows with ‘How Long’. He played keyboards with Roxy Music then was vocalist for Squeeze on Tempted.

Becoming main vocalist for Mike & The Mechanics - the band formed by Genesis’ keyboard player, Mike Rutherford - Paul scored with The Living Years winning an Ivor Novello award and followed this up with Over My Shoulder, the latter was co-written by Paul.

His writing collaborations continued with Love Will Keep Us Alive for the reformed Eagles and this became the most played song in 1995. In 2003 he joined Ringo Starr All Starr Band to tour while building up his fan base as a solo artist.

Fast forward to the end of 2022 and the announcement of a brand-new album Don’t Wait Too Long celebrating the music of the 1950s and beyond. We have heard a few teasingly good singles and the full album will be available on January 20.

Just this week the soulful ballad Trust In Me was released and a modern arrangement to what was an Etta James track. The album reflects back to the greats like Bobby Bland, Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin and Lloyd Price. Paul had been working with the SWR Big Band on a number of projects and the idea came up to find and record some of these time warp classics.

The title song, however, is a modern Madeleine Peyroux song called Don’t Wait Too Long about which Paul said ‘I wanted a slightly more modern song to the album. Madeleine Peyroux ' stunning track, Don’t Wait Too Long has a message for us all. If there’s something you want to do, get on and do it before it’s too late’.

The first single was Cryin’ Won’t help You as a tribute to blues legend B.B. King whom Paul worked with on his album Deuces Wild and another unearthed gem is the Bobby ‘Blue’ Bland song The Only Thing Missing Is You which his discovered when they shared a record label in the early 1970’s.

The 12- track album also has the standard Bring It On Home To Me, and one of Gerry Marsden’s finest moments Don’t Let The Sun Catch You Crying. Paul plays Glasgow Royal Concert Hall on September 24.