Jack Lukeman (born Seán Loughman 11 February 1973), usually simply known as Jack L, is an Irish songwriter, musician, record producer, vocal artist and broadcaster.

Early life

Lukeman was born as Seán Loughman in

St Vincent's Hospital, Athy St Vincent's Hospital, Athy () is a hospital located in Athy, Ireland. History Athy workhouse was established on the site under the Irish Poor Laws; it opened on 9 January 1844, just before the Great Famine. The Sisters of Mercy arrived as nur ...

; son of Seán Loughman, who was a mechanic, and his wife, Rose. Lukeman grew up in Bennetsbridge, near

Athy Athy ( ; ) is a market town at the meeting of the River Barrow and the Grand Canal in south-west County Kildare, Ireland, 72 kilometres southwest of Dublin. A population of 11,035 (as of the 2022 census) made it the sixth largest town in Kil ...

, County Kildare. Lukeman attended a youth club in Athy known as Aontas Ogra at the age of 12 years old, where he was involved in artistic ventures as well as playing music there. He left school at 15. After spending a short period in the family business, he began playing music full-time at 18 cutting his teeth on the Bohemian busking scene around Europe in the early 90s. Playing across Holland, Belgium and Germany sometimes playing with art rock band Serious Women with David Constantine and Martin Clancy whom he has continued to collaborate with over the years. His first vocal performance can be heard on Serious Women's album 38SCR, called after the art-house in which they all lived and where the album was made.

Career

Lukeman first came to prominence in the summer of 1995 when he and The Black Romantics took up a residency at The Da Club (Dublin Arts Club) in

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

selling out night after night. The band's set included interpretations of

Jacques Brel Jacques Romain Georges Brel (; 8 April 1929 – 9 October 1978) was a Belgian singer and actor who composed and performed theatrical songs. He generated a large, devoted following—initially in Belgium and France, but later throughout the world ...

along with several of Jack's own compositions. The band recorded the album ''Wax'' in 1995 before splitting in 1997. Lukeman established himself as a solo artist and songwriter with his live work and his breakthrough 1999 multi-platinum selling album ''Metropolis Blue'', gaining record deals and touring extensively in the US and Europe, and becoming a regular fixture on U.S college radio with the singles "Rooftop Lullabye", "Georgie Boy" and "Ode to Ed Wood". John Walshe of ''

Hot Press ''Hot Press'' is a monthly music and politics magazine based in Dublin, Ireland, founded in June 1977. The magazine has been edited since its inception by Niall Stokes. History ''Hot Press'' was founded in June 1977 by Niall Stokes, who cont ...

'' magazine stated, "Lukeman's voice is powerful and fluid. His range too is impressive, from the deep baritone resonance of 'When The Moon Is High' to the aching falsetto of the magnificent 'Rooftop Lullaby' ... this is a timeless collection of fine songs, beautifully delivered, from an artist as unique as Ireland has ever produced". He released three singles from this album: ''Georgie Boy'', ''Ode to Ed Wood'' and ''Rooftop Lullaby''. ''Metropolis Blue'' was followed up with 2001's album ''Universe''. The album was recorded in L.A, Jamaica and Dublin with

Greg Wells William Gregory Wells (born 1968) is a Canadian record producer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and mix engineer. He has worked with Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Quincy Jones, J*Davey, Burt Bacharach, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Missy Elliott, ...

producing the single "So Far Gone". The album was supported in 2002 with a run of theatre shows with theatre director Raymond Keane from Barabbas Theatre Company. It was called ''The Little Universe'' and combined black box and light theatre with music and earned five star reviews in

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

. 2003 saw Lukeman play a 14-week residency of shows in Spirit in Dublin producing the DVD ''Chez Jack L''. 2005 saw the release of studio album written and produced by Lukeman, ''Broken Songs'', which included the radio hit singles "Open Your Borders", "You Can't Get Bitter", "Chocolate Eyes" and "Authentic Fake". Lukeman followed up the success of ''Broken Songs'' in 2006 with a live DVD ''MOMENTO'', recorded at the Olympia Theatre. In 2008, Lukeman released ''Burn On'', an album of

Randy Newman Randall Stuart Newman (born November 28, 1943) is an American singer, songwriter, arranger, pianist, composer, conductor and orchestrator. He is known for his non-rhotic Southern American English, Southern-accented singing style, early America ...

songs, which had a performance with the

Brooklyn Philharmonic Orchestra There have been several organisations referred to as the Brooklyn Philharmonic. The most recent one was the now-defunct Brooklyn Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, an American orchestra based in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, in existence f ...

in NYC's South Street Seaport. In 2010, Lukeman collaborated with writer Anna McPartlin on her new book ''So What if I'm Broken'', in which each chapter was inspired by and named after one of Lukeman's songs. The narrative consisted of the relationship between Jack L fans. Lukeman was awarded the Edinburgh Spotlight Best Music Award at the World biggest and oldest festival, the

Edinburgh Fringe Festival The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as the Edinburgh Fringe, the Fringe or the Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest performance arts festival, which in 2024 spanned 25 days, sold more than 2.6 million tickets and featur ...

2010 for his show "A Month of Mondays". In May 2011, Lukeman presented a series of radio shows with fellow Irish singer

Julie Feeney Julie Feeney is a singer-songwriter, composer, actress, and record producer from Galway, Ireland. She produces and orchestrates her own work, composing both instrumental and electronic music, with full orchestrations. She is a three-time nomin ...

on Lyric FM called "High Fidelity" tracing the history of recorded song from Edison to the IPOD. In 2013, Lukeman Released the ''Great Wall of China'' EP, a song cycle and travelogue. Kicking off The Great Wall of China Tour saw him support

Jools Holland Julian Miles Holland (born 24 January 1958) is an English pianist, bandleader, singer, composer and television presenter. He was an original member of the band Squeeze and has worked with many artists including Marc Almond, Jayne County, To ...

's UK tour. In 2016, Lukeman performed at RTÉ's Centenary Concert to mark the 100 year anniversary of

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

1916 Rising The Easter Rising (), also known as the Easter Rebellion, was an armed insurrection in Ireland during Easter Week in April 1916. The Rising was launched by Irish republicans against British rule in Ireland with the aim of establishing an i ...

. During his musical career Lukeman has worked with composer

Brian Byrne Brian Byrne (born January 13, 1975) is a Canadian singer and songwriter. He was the second vocalist for the band I Mother Earth. Biography Brian joined his first band in Corner Brook in 1988, a Glam metal, hair-metal band called Pandemonium. ...

, the

Nelson Riddle Nelson Smock Riddle Jr. (June 1, 1921 – October 6, 1985) was an American arranger, composer, bandleader and orchestrator whose career stretched from the late 1940s to the mid-1980s. He worked with many vocalists at Capitol Records, including ...

Orchestra, the

Brooklyn Philharmonic There have been several organisations referred to as the Brooklyn Philharmonic. The most recent one was the now-defunct Brooklyn Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, an American orchestra based in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, in existence f ...

and producers

, Craig Armstrong and Martin Clancy. Lukeman has also performed over the years supporting or alongside U2,

Ronnie Wood Ronald David Wood (born 1 June 1947) is an English rock musician, best known as a member of the Rolling Stones since 1975, and a member of Faces and the Jeff Beck Group. Wood began his career in 1964, playing lead guitar with several Brit ...

Robert Plant Robert Anthony Plant (born 20 August 1948) is an English singer and songwriter. He was the lead singer and lyricist of the rock band Led Zeppelin from its founding in 1968 until their breakup in 1980. Since then, he has had a successful solo ca ...

and

Jimmy Page James Patrick Page (born 9 January 1944) is an English musician and producer who achieved international success as the guitarist and founder of the Rock music, rock band Led Zeppelin. Page began his career as a studio session musician in Lo ...

John Lee Hooker John Lee Hooker (August 22, 1912 or 1917 – June 21, 2001) was an American blues singer, songwriter, and guitarist. The son of a sharecropper, he rose to prominence performing an electric guitar-style adaptation of Delta blues that he develo ...

Elvis Costello Declan Patrick MacManus (born 25 August 1954), known professionally as Elvis Costello, is an English singer, songwriter, record producer, author and television host. According to ''Rolling Stone'', Costello "reinvigorated the literate, lyrical ...

, and

Marianne Faithfull Marianne Evelyn Gabriel Faithfull (29 December 1946 – 30 January 2025) was an English singer and actress who achieved popularity in the 1960s with the release of her UK top 10 single " As Tears Go By". She became one of the leading female art ...

, and has appeared at venues such as

Olympia Paris The Olympia (; commonly known as L'Olympia or in the English-speaking world as Olympia Hall) is a concert venue in the 9th arrondissement of Paris, France, located at 28 Boulevard des Capucines, equally distancing Madeleine church and Opéra G ...

Royal Albert Hall The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London, England. It has a seating capacity of 5,272. Since the hall's opening by Queen Victoria in 1871, the world's leading artists from many performance genres ...

in London, and The Lincoln Center in NYC.

Personal life

Lukeman and his partner, Rebecca Mack, have one son, Seán, born in 2024.

Discography

Albums

*''Wax'' (1995, with The Black Romantics) *''Acoustico'' (1997, limited release) *''Metropolis Blue'' (1999) *''Universe'' (2001) *''Songs from the Little Universe Show'' (2002) *''The Amsterdam Album'' (2005) *''Broken Songs'' (2006) *''Burn On'' (2008) *''The Story So Far – The Essential Collection'' (2009) *''The 27 Club'' (2012) *''The Great Wall of China'' EP (2013) *''Northern Lights – Songs for the Winter Solstice'' (2014) *''The King of Soho'' (2016) *''Magic Days'' (2017) *''Streamed: Best of the Lockdown Sessions Vol. 1'' (2020) *''Echo On'' (2022) – No. 22 Ireland

Guest appearances

*'' Echoes: Ancient & Modern'' by

Trevor Horn Trevor Charles Horn (born 15 July 1949) is an English record producer and musician. His influence on pop and electronic music in the 1980s was such that he has been called "the man who invented the eighties". Horn took up the bass guitar at an ...

(2023)