b. Fionan Hanvey, 8 October 1959, Dublin, Eire. Friday was founder of the Virgin Prunes and spent the late 80s and early 90s moving away from the discordant art expression that dominated the Prunes' turbulent but vivid career. Following their demise he took a break to concentrate on painting and open a cabaret nightclub (The Blue Jesus, a pun on Marlene Dietrich's "Blue Angel" nightclub in the movie, Touch Of Evil), though he did also record a 12-inch single version of the Rolling Stones' "You Can't Always Get What You Want" with friend Simon Carmody. The launch of a solo career proper was largely inspired through the efforts of his friend Agnes Bernelle, who years earlier had introduced him to the pre-war Germany of Edith Piaf, Jacques Brel, Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill. The Berlin vaudeville circuit of the 30s and 40s thus inspired both The Blue Jesus and Each Man Kills The Thing He Loves, produced by Hal Willner with skilled accompaniment from drummer Michael Blair, bass player Fernando Saunders and guitarist Marc Ribot. A densely crafted and moralistic take on the beauty and decadence of the period, measuring pathos with humour, it proved an instant critical success. Adam 'N' Eve was more playful, with Friday parodying himself on the self-eulogizing "King Of Trash", while elsewhere he was evidently still the maverick: "It's egotistical and outrageous, but this record is the world according to me. It's saying no, no, no to everyone who just toes the line." Tracks such as "Fun And Entertainment" were delivered in an impenetrable, working-class Dublin accent. Later in the 90s he moved into film work, writing three tracks with Bono of U2 and long-time collaborator Maurice Roycroft (aka The Man Seezer) for the soundtrack to In The Name Of The Father and scoring Robert Altman's Short Cuts, though his attitude to this new art form was typically acidic: "I generally dislike rock 'n' rollers getting involved in the music on a film. When you get to a very emotional part in the movie and you hear Phil Collins' voice you start getting the puke bag out." Shag Tobacco was co-produced with Seezer and Tim Simenon of Bomb The Bass, and reflected some of the shifts in the mid-90s music scene. However, the cover version of Marc Bolan's "The Slider" was one concession to an earlier period, while songs such as "Dolls" and "Little Black Dress" both alluded to Friday's camp cabaret fixations. Two more Australian film soundtracks followed, The Passion Of Darkly Noon and Angel Baby, before a radically altered, spoken-word version of Shag Tobacco was released early in 1996. The same year, Friday and Seezer's "Angel" was featured on the soundtrack of Romeo And Juliet. In 1998, Friday and Seezer composed a full score for Jim Sheridan's The Boxer.

Listen to Gavin Friday at Finetune.

• Angel
• Fatal Flower Garden

• Radiohead
• Garbage
• Stina Nordenstam
• Coldplay
• Everclear
• Desiree Weekes
• Quindon Tarver
• Sade
• The Cardigans
• The Wannadies
• Butthole Surfers
• Red Hot Chili Peppers
• One Inch Punch
• The Cure
• Moby
• Bjork
• Beck
• Dido
• Sarah McLachlan
• Kym Mazelle

• alexpons
• seascape