Jagzfest - Chris Difford
Double Ivor Novello Award-winning Chris Difford has been writing lyrics for over twenty five years, most notably with Squeeze. After 13 albums and many top 20 hits, 32 American tours, 30 UK tours and various trips around the globe, Chris decided to stop the merry-go-round and test the waters. His first solo album, I Didn’t Get Where I Am…was released in 2001; a live release, South East Side Story, soon followed before reconvening with songwriting partner Glenn Tilbrook in a Squeeze line-up also featuring early bassist John Bentley for their first UK tour in nine years (“it’s hard to remember when Squeeze were ever quite as good as this first time around,” enthused US trade bible Billboard).
Difford’s second solo album on Stiff records came out earlier this year, co produced and written by Boo Hewerdine: The Last Temptation Of Chris received rave reviews on both sides of the Atlantic and further secured Chris’s position as one of the greatest lyricists of our time. Songs like “Tempted”, “Up the Junction”, “Cool for Cats” and “Black Coffee in Bed” still find steady airplay on UK and US radio. Squeeze released The Big Squeeze, a compilation of singles and B sides that went straight into the UK Top 10 album chart , proving the timeless appeal of their music. A live album from their 2007 tour soon followed.
Chris has written with Elton John, Trilok Gurtu, Marti Pellow, Lamont Dozier, Willie Mitchell, Bryan Ferry and many others. He continues to run his own songwriting workshops and pass on the benefit of his weighty experience as a died-in-the-wool song man. Hurst House in Wales is the new venue for his songwriters week, and this year 19 writers came together to create 35 new songs. This is a passion he has been working on for 16 years. Helioscentric, a studio he built in 1995 still runs today; it has attracted such names as The Pet Shop Boys, Paul Weller, Keane, Scouting for Girls, Elvis Costello and many others.
Five years ago Chris scripted the lyrics for the film Still Crazy, this won him his first Ivor Novello Award, a proud moment for the mantelpiece. The film documented the insane life of a rock band in the 70s, something he knew a little about! His second Ivor was presented by Mark Ronson, a life long fan - Chris and Glenn accepted their Lifetime Achievement in June this year. A Nordoff Robins Silver Clef Icon award soon followed , presented by Lily Allen, also a huge fan – who compared herself presenting an award to them with an Eastender’s actor presenting an award to Robert DeNiro.
In 1984, Chris, with Glenn Tilbrook, wrote a musical called ‘Labelled with Love’; it ran for three months in London and this remains one of his fondest memories of working with Glenn. Squeeze are resting before summer dates in 2009 and a new album early 2010. In the meantime Chris is working as Creative Director to Hurst House in Wales, a hotel with a rich musical menu, including a live TV show and studio in progress! He is also writing new songs for his next album while teaching songwriting at BIMM in Brighton. A busy creative time. The tour in ‘09 will showcase new songs and will be performed alongside a projector and screen, from which will be shown images relating to the songs of the set.
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