John Paul Lawler (born 4 March 1979), known professionally as Jon Fratelli, is a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

musician and singer-songwriter, who is the lead singer of the band

The Fratellis The Fratellis ( ) are a Scottish rock band from Glasgow, formed in 2005. The band consists of three unrelated members, who perform under pseudonyms: lead vocalist and guitarist Jon Fratelli, bassist Barry Fratelli, and drummer Mince Fratelli ...

. Their debut album, ''

Costello Music ''Costello Music'' is the debut album by Scottish indie rock band the Fratellis. It was released on 11 September 2006 on Fallout Records and Drop the Gun Recordings and on 13 March 2007 on Cherrytree Records in the US and was a success, peaking ...

'' (2006) was a success, peaking at number 2 on the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is the United Kingdom's industry-recognised national record chart for album, albums. Entries are ranked by sales and audio streaming. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the O ...

and spending eighty-three weeks in the UK Top 100. In the United States, it peaked at forty-eight on the US ''Billboard'' 200. The Fratellis won the 2007 BRIT Award for Best British Breakthrough Act, and as of March 2018, ''Costello Music'' had sold 1,145,000 copies in the UK. ''Costello Music'' spawned five successful singles – "

Henrietta Henrietta may refer to: * Henrietta (given name), a feminine given name, derived from the male name Henry Places * Henrietta Island in the Arctic Ocean * Henrietta, Mauritius * Henrietta, Tasmania, a locality in Australia United States * Hen ...

", "

Chelsea Dagger "Chelsea Dagger" is a song by Scottish rock band the Fratellis. It was released as the second single from their debut studio album, '' Costello Music'' (2006), on 28 August 2006. It is named after Jon Fratelli's wife Heather, a burlesque da ...

", "

Whistle for the Choir "Whistle for the Choir" is a song by Scottish rock band the Fratellis. It was released on 27 November 2006 as the band's third single and reached number nine on the UK Singles Chart, marking their second UK top-10 single. In the band's native ...

", "

Baby Fratelli "Baby Fratelli" is a song by Scottish rock band the Fratellis, released as the fifth single from their debut album, ''Costello Music'' (2006). It was released on 12 March 2007, in CD, 7-inch vinyl, and DVD single formats. A limited edition USB ...

" and " Ole Black 'n' Blue Eyes". Following the success of ''Costello Music'', the Fratellis released their second album, '' Here We Stand'' (2008), before entering a hiatus period. During the hiatus period, Lawler formed

Codeine Velvet Club Codeine Velvet Club was a Scottish alternative rock band formed in 2009 by Lou Hickey and Jon Lawler, while Lawler's band The Fratellis were taking a hiatus after their second album '' Here We Stand''. Codeine Velvet Club's sole album, their ...

with

Lou Hickey Lou Hickey (born Mhairi-Louise Hickey) is a singer-songwriter from Neilston, Scotland. She has been working as a solo artist since 2006 and in 2008, joined Jon Lawler from the Fratellis in a band called Codeine Velvet Club which disbanded in 2 ...

. Their self titled debut album was released on 28 December 2009 in the UK and on 6 April 2010 in the US. Lawler returned to perform with The Fratellis, and released their third album ''

We Need Medicine ''We Need Medicine'' is the third studio album released by rock band The Fratellis, and the first since their 2012 reunion. It was released on 7 October 2013 in the UK, with a US release the following day. The record stalled at No. 26 on the UK ...

'' in 2013. Debuting at number twenty-six on the

, it was considered a disappointment and marked significant decline in popularity for the band. ''We Need Medicine'' dropped out of the UK Top 100 after just one week. The album peaked at number one hundred and six on the US ''Billboard'' 200. Chart performances improved for the band with the release of their further releases, ''

Eyes Wide, Tongue Tied ''Eyes Wide, Tongue Tied'' is the fourth album by the Scottish rock band The Fratellis. The album was announced on 1 June 2015 with the first track, "Me and the Devil" (which was given away for free from the band's website), and released on 21 Aug ...

'' (2015), ''

In Your Own Sweet Time ''In Your Own Sweet Time'' is the fifth studio album by Scottish rock band, The Fratellis. The album was released on 16 March 2018. As well as being released on the standard formats of CD, digital download and vinyl, the band also released a li ...

'' (2018) and ''

Half Drunk Under a Full Moon ''Half Drunk Under a Full Moon'' is the sixth studio album by Scottish rock band the Fratellis. The album was released on 2 April 2021, having been delayed by a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Background In contrast to the more rock-oriente ...

'' (2021), all of which debuted within the top five in their native Scotland. In addition to his work with both bands, Lawler has also released as a solo artist, releasing his debut album ''

Psycho Jukebox ''Psycho Jukebox'' is the debut solo album by Jon Fratelli, frontman of The Fratellis and formerly of Codeine Velvet Club. Released on 25 July 2011. It was recorded with Tony Hoffer (who produced ''Costello Music'' and mixed ''Codeine Velvet Club ...

'' in 2011, followed by his second solo studio album ''

Bright Night Flowers ''Bright Night Flowers'' is the second solo album by Jon Fratelli, frontman of The Fratellis. It was released on February 15, 2019, by Cooking Vinyl. As well as being released on the standard formats of digital download, CD and standard black vin ...

'' in 2019.

Early years

Lawler hails from

Cumbernauld Cumbernauld (; ) is a large town in the Shires of Scotland, historic county of Dunbartonshire and council area of North Lanarkshire, Scotland. It is the tenth List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, most-populous locality in Scotl ...

, where his mother was a primary school teacher at St. Helen's. He would later move to

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

sometime before forming the Fratellis. He attended St. Maurice's High School and went to college before dropping out within three hours. Before joining the Fratellis, he played in various bands including an

Oasis In ecology, an oasis (; : oases ) is a fertile area of a desert or semi-desert environmentBlur covers band.

Career

The Fratellis (2005–2009; 2012–present)

In 2005, Lawler responded to an advert placed in a music shop by drummer Gordon McRory, which stated "Opportunity of a lifetime ... seeks band to make our mark on the music industry". On this advert he put his name as "Graeme" to avoid detection of his then current bandmates finding out he was seeking a new band. After calling the number, asking for "Graeme" he got told repeatedly that he had the wrong number, he nearly gave up but tried one more time and got a hold of McRory and the band started to form, with Barry Wallace joining the band on bass. Lawler's role in the band is songwriter, lead vocalist and lead guitarist. He was initially accompanied on guitar by Mince Fratelli (Gordon McRory), but Mince switched to drums after the initial drummer did not work out. Writing credits for ''

'' are for The Fratellis, however, for '' Here We Stand'' and ''

'', they are solely credited to him. After playing the

Coachella Festival Coachella (officially called the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival and sometimes known as Coachella Festival) is an annual music and arts festival held at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, in the Coachella Valley in the Colorad ...

in California in 2007, during promotion of Fratellis' debut album ''Costello Music'', Lawler decided to flee from the US tour and return to Glasgow, stating that he was too tired to continue the rest of the tour. He later saw this as a mistake, but it allowed him to be even more grateful for the success of the band. The band spent much of 2008 touring and after playing a few dates in 2009, the band parted ways for the foreseeable future. During this time, Jon started and finished Codeine Velvet Club and a stint as a solo artist. On 4 June 2012, The Fratellis announced they had reformed to raise money for The Eilidh Brown Memorial Fund on 15 June 2012, marking nearly 3 years since they last shared a stage together. After a couple of initial gigs, to see how playing together again felt and to test audience interest, the band have continued to play together, recording albums and touring since. They've released ''

'' (2013), ''

'' (2015), ''

'' (2018), and ''

'' (2021).

Codeine Velvet Club (2009–2010)

During the promotion of '' Here We Stand'', Lawler stated that he wished to create a solo album to keep himself busy once the band were done touring the album, with the band scheduled to take a break. It later emerged that he planned on teaming up with singer-songwriter Lou Hickey, whom he met through her friendship with Lawler's wife, and creating an album. ''NME'' reported in an article that the band was set to be called Codeine Breakfast Club; however, on 23 August 2009, it was confirmed that the band had changed its name to Codeine Velvet Club. While playing in this band Lawler reverted to using his proper surname. The band's debut album was to be released on 16 November 2009 (however, this was later pushed back to 28 December 2009). Lawler shares songwriting duties with Hickey for about half the tracks on the album, penning the other half by himself (one track, "Nevada" was co-written by Lawler and

Will Foster Will Foster is an English musician who is known as the former keyboardist for the English rock band The Tears. Previously, he played with UK art rock band Delicatessen before forming Lodger - alongside Delicatessen singer Neil Carlill, ...

). The duo took a live band (consisting of Ross MacFarlane on drums, Will Foster on keys and guitar, Lewis Gordon on bass and various horn players known as 'The Velvet Horns') for a tour of the UK in 2009 and the US in 2010, playing UK dates in 2010 also. However, Lawler decided that he could not commit to the band anymore and called an end to the band, finishing off what live dates they had and announcing his solo career, with Hickey returning to her solo career also.

Solo career (2011–present)

Lawler started hinting at a solo career when he set up a new

Myspace Myspace (formerly stylized as MySpace, currently myspace; and sometimes my␣, with an elongated Whitespace character#Substitute images, open box symbol) is a social networking service based in the United States. Launched on August 1, 2003, it w ...

page, with the track "Bonnie & Clyde" streaming on it. It was also noted that he began using the name Jon Fratelli again. While discussing the end of Codeine Velvet Club, Lawler confirmed his intentions of going solo, taking the backing musicians with him due to them playing well together. Since announcing he is going solo, Lawler has given away some tracks in demo form, including "Dead Street Affair", "She's My Shaker" and "Sometimes You Just Can't Win". For live shows in 2011, Lawler announced that Mince Fratelli would be joining him on the tour, sharing drumming duties with Allan James. Lawler played some solo shows before heading to Los Angeles in late 2010 to record his debut solo album, ''

'' with

Tony Hoffer Tony Hoffer is an American record producer, songwriter, and music mixer. Career Hoffer is credited for his work on multiple platinum-selling albums including Travis, The Kooks, The Thrills, Beck, Supergrass, Turin Brakes and Air. His reco ...

, who produced the first Fratellis' album. The title is a reference to the Fratellis' song "Nina", which is featured on the "Whistle for the Choir" single. During February 2011, Lawler released a free track via his website called "Rhythm Doesn't Make You a Dancer" which was to be on the album, and also gave away a free EP called ''The Magic Hour EP''. Lawler stated that these songs couldn't fit on the album but he "still had a lot of time for them". The first single from the album was "Santo Domingo" which was released on 28 February 2011. The second single, "Baby We're Refugees!", was released on 12 June 2011. After embarking on a Scottish tour in March/April 2011, Lawler added two new tracks to ''Psycho Jukebox'', which pushed back the release date to late July 2011. He stated during a podcast that he was told that he can no longer add any more tracks to the album, owing to the label's schedule, but added that the tracks he had added and delayed the album for were worth adding to the album. Pictures were posted onto Lawler's Facebook page, showing him in the studio with his band. Lawler used his Twitter account to inform people that he was in the studio, but didn't say what these sessions were for. It eventually emerged on 13 January 2012 that it was for a second solo album, as posted on Lawler's website. The post also gave a small 3 track peek at the album, the last song in the preview being "Dead Radio", a song that Lawler tried to add to ''Psycho Jukebox'' but the label had already locked down the release dates and track listing. On 24 February 2012, Lawler announced on his website and Facebook that he had almost completed the album and that it was going to be titled ''Bright Night Flowers''. He asked that his fans record sounds of their city during the morning and night so that they could be used on the album, and whoever helped would be mentioned on the album sleeve. It was later announced that he had completed the album, but it would be put to one side for the time being as he was recording a new album and focusing on with the Fratellis. In the intervening years, when asked about it while promoting records by the Fratellis, Jon normally had this to say about it: "I actually made another record that will probably never see the light of day. I’m really happy with it, but as soon as I finished it I stuck it in a drawer and said: 'Right, no one else is ever going to hear that'. It's quite perverse to not release it, but I like that. I was only making it for me. It just needed to be done. I listen to it every so often and really enjoy it – I don't want to spoil that." In a March 2018 interview with Wired Noise, Jon revealed that he had re-recorded ''Bright Night Flowers'' and had possibly changed his stance on releasing it. "Yeah, I did that over the summer. tstill needs to be mixed, and then I guess at some point, if somebody wants to release it, it’ll find its way out there." During October 2018, fans had noticed that his own website had been changed to a "Coming Soon" holding page. The Fratellis tweeted out on 23 October 2018 with a reactivated account for Jon Fratelli, with a date of 30 October, hinting to an announcement of ''Bright Night Flowers'' is coming soon. On 30 October it was announced that ''Bright Night Flowers'' would release on 15 February 2019. Jon also released the album's title track & accompanying video.

Equipment

For The Fratellis' debut album, ''Costello Music'', Lawler mainly used a

Fender Telecaster The Fender Telecaster, colloquially known as the Tele (), is an electric guitar produced by Fender (company), Fender. Together with its sister model the Fender Esquire, Esquire, it was the world's first mass-produced, commercially successfulLes ...

, with the exception of a few songs in which he used a

Gibson Les Paul The Gibson Les Paul is a solid body electric guitar that was first sold by the Gibson Guitar Corporation in 1952. The guitar was designed by factory manager John Huis and his team with input from and endorsement by guitarist Les Paul. Its typic ...

and a

Gibson ES-335 The Gibson ES-335 is a semi-hollow body semi-acoustic guitar introduced by the Gibson Guitar Corporation as part of its Gibson ES Series, ES (Electric Spanish) series 1958 in music, in 1958. It has a solid maple wood block running through the cente ...

. With their second album '' Here We Stand'', he used a

Fender Stratocaster The Fender Stratocaster, colloquially known as the Strat, is a model of double- cutaway electric guitar designed between 1952 and 1954 by Leo Fender, Bill Carson, George Fullerton, and Freddie Tavares. The Fender Musical Instruments Corpora ...

Gibson Firebird The Gibson Firebird is a particularly distinctive solid-body electric guitar manufactured by Gibson Guitar Corporation, Gibson beginning in 1963. It features several unusual features for a Gibson guitar. It has distinctive shape. It is made wit ...

Rickenbacker Rickenbacker International Corporation is a string instrument manufacturer based in Santa Ana, California. Rickenbacker is the first known maker of electric guitars, with a steel guitar in 1932, and produces a range of electric guitars and bass ...

12 string, Gibson Les Paul, and an ES-335 for his electrics. For the acoustic performances, he used a Gibson SJ-200, a

Gibson Hummingbird The Gibson Hummingbird is an acoustic guitar model/series produced by the Gibson Guitar Corporation. Unlike the other flat-top Gibson acoustics, the Hummingbird was Gibson's first square-shoulder dreadnought, similar to the dreadnoughts produced ...

, and a

Gibson J-45 The Gibson J-45 is a guitar manufactured by the Gibson Guitar Corporation. Generally regarded as Gibson's most famous and widely used acoustic guitar model, it is considered the workhorse of guitars. The Jumbo guitar is signified by the "J" and ...

. During promotional performances of the album, Lawler was mainly using a Gibson Les Paul Black Beauty with Bareknuckle Mississippi Queen pickups (humbucker sized P-90's) While playing on live performances with Codeine Velvet Club, he tended to use a red Fender Stratocaster and a rosewood Fender Telecaster. During his solo career and his third run with the Fratellis, his preferred guitars were still Stratocasters and Telecasters. For the Fratellis' tour he exclusively used a red Telecaster.

Backing band

* Lewis Gordon – Bass / backing vocals * Will Foster – Keyboards / guitar * Allan James – Drums * Mince Fratelli – Drums / backing vocals / guitar

Personal life

Lawler resides in

's West End with his wife, Heather Donnelly. Donnelly's

burlesque A burlesque is a literary, dramatic or musical work intended to cause laughter by caricaturing the manner or spirit of serious works, or by ludicrous treatment of their subjects.

name was used as the title and inspiration for the Fratellis' hit single, "

", a play on

Britney Spears Britney Jean Spears (born December 2, 1981) is an American singer. Often referred to as the "Princess of Pop", she has sold over 150 million records worldwide, making her one of the world's best-selling music artists. Cultural impact of Brit ...

. Lawler has a son named Jamie, born in 1998. Lawler is also an avid supporter of

Celtic F.C. The Celtic Football Club, commonly known as Celtic (), is a professional Association football, football club in Glasgow, Scotland. The team competes in the Scottish Premiership, the top division of Scottish football league system, Scottish ...

Discography

With The Fratellis

*''

'' (2006) *'' Here We Stand'' (2008) *''

'' (2013) *''

'' (2015) *''

'' (2018) *''Half Drunk Under a Full Moon'' (2020)

Solo and others

*''

'',

(2010) *''

'', solo (2011) *''

'', solo (2019)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fratelli, Jon Scottish rock musicians 1979 births Living people 21st-century Scottish male singers People from Cumbernauld Scottish people of Italian descent it:John Lawler