Candida Mary Doyle (born 25 August 1963) is an Irish musician who is

keyboard player A keyboardist or keyboard player is a musician who plays keyboard instruments. Until the early 1960s musicians who played keyboards were generally classified as either pianists or organists. Since the mid-1960s, a plethora of new musical instru ...

and occasional backing vocalist with the band

Pulp Pulp may refer to: * Pulp (fruit), the inner flesh of fruit * Pulp (band), an English rock band Engineering * Pulp (paper), the fibrous material used to make paper * Dissolving pulp, highly purified cellulose used in fibre and film manufacture ...

, which she joined in 1984. She joined her brother, drummer Magnus Doyle, in the line-up to replace the previous keyboard player, Tim Allcard, who had left the band.

Biography

Candida Mary Doyle was born in

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

, Northern Ireland on 25 August 1963 to Sandra Voe and Rex Doyle. Both of her parents were actors. She has two musician brothers, Magnus Doyle and Daniel Doyle. Her grandfather owned a fishing factory in the

Shetland Islands Shetland (until 1975 spelled Zetland), also called the Shetland Islands, is an archipelago in Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the Uni ...

. Doyle attended piano lessons from age 8, but did not practise despite finding the experience enjoyable. Aged 16, Doyle began suffering from

rheumatoid arthritis Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a long-term autoimmune disorder that primarily affects synovial joint, joints. It typically results in warm, swollen, and painful joints. Pain and stiffness often worsen following rest. Most commonly, the wrist and h ...

, which was diagnosed when she was 17. She was informed that there was the possibility that her conditions could worsen to point that by the age of 30 she could be in a wheelchair. Depressed by the impact of the rheumatoid arthritis on her body she left school when she was in the sixth form. She later commented, "I think because I was living every day and night with discomfort, and I wasn't that interested ..I just wanted to date boys, go dancing and see groups." When Pulp's keyboard player, Tim Allcard, left the band in 1984 her brother, drummer Magnus Doyle, suggested her as his replacement. During Doyle's first few years in the group, Pulp were not enjoying financial success; she said that she spent more money on the band than she made from it. She kept jobs in two toy shops in

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

, before being sacked from one for a "lack of dedication". Although Pulp "sort of split up" in the period around 1986, they went on to release '' Freaks'' in 1987 with Doyle on board for her first album. She then remained a member of the group for the 1990s, an integral part of the band's sound as they progressed towards fame. With Pulp, Doyle recorded the albums and compilations '' Separations'', ''

Intro – The Gift Recordings ''Intro – The Gift Recordings'' is a compilation album by Pulp. It contains the band's three singles recorded for Gift and was released in October 1993. The version of "Babies" included here is the original single mix released in 1992, sligh ...

'', '' His 'n' Hers,'' '' Different Class,

This Is Hardcore ''This Is Hardcore'' is the sixth studio album by English rock band Pulp, released on 30 March 1998. Following the success of '' Different Class'' (1995), friction grew in the band, culminating in the departure of the guitarist and violinist ...

,'' and '' We Love Life''; songs featuring Doyle include "

Common People A commoner, also known as the ''common man'', ''commoners'', the ''common people'' or the ''masses'', was in earlier use an ordinary person in a community or nation who did not have any significant social status, especially a member of neithe ...

", "Disco 2000", " Do You Remember the First Time?", "Babies", " Something Changed", "This Is Hardcore", and "Sunrise", as well as every other Pulp song recorded during this time. When playing live with the band Doyle has used

Farfisa Farfisa () is a manufacturer of electronics based in Osimo, Italy, founded in 1946. The company manufactured a series of compact electronic organs in the 1960s and 1970s, including the Compact, FAST, Professional and VIP ranges, and later, a se ...

Compact Professional electronic organs and Roland XP-10 synthesizers as well as Akai S3000 samplers. When Pulp began a hiatus in 2002, Doyle went travelling for a year. During the hiatus she occasionally appeared live with

Jarvis Cocker Jarvis Branson Cocker (born 19 September 1963) is an English musician. As the founder, frontman, lyricist and only consistent member of the band Pulp (band), Pulp, he became a reluctant figurehead of the Britpop genre of the mid-1990s. Cocker h ...

. Following this period, with Pulp's 2011 reunion, Doyle joined the rest of the '' Different Class'' line-up on stage in concert for their UK comeback gig at the

Isle of Wight Festival The Isle of Wight Festival is a British music festival which takes place annually in Newport, Isle of Wight, Newport on the Isle of Wight, England. It was originally a Counterculture of the 1960s, counterculture event held from 1968 to 1970. Th ...

on 11 June 2011. This reunion ended in 2013, but a decade later, Doyle would return to the stage with Cocker and Pulp veterans

Nick Banks Nicholas David Banks (born 28 July 1965) is an English drummer, a member of the British band Pulp. He lives in Sheffield with his wife Sarah and two children. He is the nephew of Gordon Banks, goalkeeper of the 1966 FIFA World Cup-winning Eng ...

and Mark Webber, performing new Pulp shows.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Doyle, Candida 1963 births Living people Keyboardists from Northern Ireland Pulp (band) members Musicians from Belfast Northern Irish women in electronic music British women keyboardists Women musicians from Northern Ireland Rock musicians from Northern Ireland Britpop musicians