James Lawrence Irvin is an English singer, songwriter, music journalist and podcast host. Irvin was a singer in the English new wave band

Furniture Furniture refers to objects intended to support various human activities such as seating (e.g., Stool (seat), stools, chairs, and sofas), eating (table (furniture), tables), storing items, working, and sleeping (e.g., beds and hammocks). Furnitur ...

, who had a UK hit single, in 1986 with Irvin's " Brilliant Mind". Irvin contributed to ''

Melody Maker ''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. In January 2001, it was merged into "long-standing rival" (and IPC Media sister publicatio ...

'' magazine, before becoming its reviews editor. Later he became the features editor of '' Mojo'' magazine. Irving has written or edited a number of books, including ''The Mojo Collection'' and ''Jeff Buckley: From Hallelujah To The Last Goodbye.'' Irvin returned to songwriting full-time in 2001 including the 2004 hit " The Weekend" by Michael Gray, and the song "Love", co-written with, and performed by, Unloved, introduced the Apple Keynote Speech in March 2019.

Early life

Irvin was raised in west London.

Career

Furniture

Irvin was the singer in the English new wave band

, who released singles and albums with Survival, Stiff and

Arista Records Arista Records ( ) is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the American division of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. The label was previously a division of Bertelsmann Music G ...

between 1982 and 1990. He co-wrote their 1986 UK

hit single A hit song, also known as a hit record, hit single, or simply hit, is a recorded song or instrumental that becomes broadly popular or well-known. Although ''hit song'' means any widely played or big-selling song, the specific term ''hit record'' ...

, " Brilliant Mind", taken from the album, '' The Wrong People''. The song also appeared in the John Hughes movie, '' Some Kind of Wonderful'' and was re-recorded for the soundtrack. Furniture made one further album, '' Food, Sex & Paranoia'', for Arista (1990), and disbanded in 1991. In 1992, Irvin recorded an album, ''Mad Scared Dumb and Gorgeous'' with jazz musician Chris Ingham, under the name Because. It was released on Boo Hewerdine's Haven label. In 2019, Emotional Rescue records reissued Furniture's debut, six-song mini-album, '' When the Boom Was On'' (1983) and an EP of 12" mixes called ''On Broken Glass''

Music journalism

In 1991, Irvin began contributing to ''

'' magazine, where his work appeared under the name Jim Arundel. He was later made reviews editor. In 1994, reverting to Jim Irvin, he became the founding features editor of '' Mojo'' magazine. One of his most notable pieces for the magazine was "Angel of Avalon", a major profile of the late

Sandy Denny Alexandra Elene MacLean Denny (6 January 1947 – 21 April 1978) was an English singer-songwriter who was lead singer of the British folk rock band Fairport Convention. She has been described as " guably the pre-eminent British folk-rock sin ...

, published in 1998. He also edited an acclaimed book, '' The Mojo Collection''. He has written for '' The Word'', '' Time Out'', ''

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British Sunday newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of N ...

'' and ''

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 ...

'' and continues to write a reissues column for ''Mojo''. In February 2015, he published an e-book, ''A Book Of Wild Flowers'', which collected his writings on

Joni Mitchell Roberta Joan Mitchell (née Anderson; born November 7, 1943) is a Canadian and American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and painter. As one of the most influential singer-songwriters to emerge from the 1960s folk music circuit, Mitch ...

and

Kate Bush Catherine Bush (born 30 July 1958) is an English singer, songwriter, record producer, and dancer. Bush began writing songs at age 11. She was signed to EMI Records after David Gilmour of Pink Floyd helped produce a demo tape. In 1978, at the ...

. In May 2018, he co-authored ''Jeff Buckley: From Hallelujah To The Last Goodbye'' (Post Hill Press), a biography of Jeff Buckley written with Dave Lory, the singer's former manager. In 2020, he launched a podcast, “Here’s One I Made Earlier” where he interviewed musical creators about a significant work in their career. The following year he launched a second podcast “You’re Not On The List” dedicated to “forgotten albums and the people who love them”, in which guests nominate undervalued albums and discuss them.

Later production and songwriting

In 1995, Irvin produced the first demos by the band Gay Dad, and co-wrote some of the songs which later appeared on their debut album, '' Leisure Noise''. Their single, " Oh Jim", was said to be dedicated to him. In 1999, he produced ''

Lido Lido may refer to: Geography * Lido (Belgrade), a river beach on the Danube in Belgrade, Serbia * Venice Lido, an 11-kilometre-long barrier island in the Venetian Lagoon, Venice, Italy * Ruislip Lido, a reservoir and artificial beach in Ruisl ...

'', the debut album by Clearlake, released in 2000 on his own label, Dusty Company, an offshoot of Domino Records. Irvin returned to full-time songwriting in 2001, concentrating initially on

dance music Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole piece or part of a larger musical arrangement. In terms of performance, the major categories are live dance music and recorded dance musi ...

. He co-wrote the 2004 hit " The Weekend" by Michael Gray, and had work recorded by Groove Armada, Full Intention and

David Guetta Pierre David Guetta (; born 7 November 1967) is a French DJ and record producer. He has sold over 10 million albums and 65 million singles globally, with more than 30 billion streams on Spotify. Guetta was voted the number one DJ in the DJ Mag ...

.Radius Music Ltd. – Music industry artist management , Imogen Heap , Jack McManus , Rogue States
Radiusmusic.co.uk. Retrieved 13 November 2010. Since 2006, his work has been mostly outside dance music, with artists like Lana Del Rey, Lissie,

Simple Plan Simple Plan is a Canadian rock band formed in Montreal, Quebec, in 1999. The band's current lineup consists of Pierre Bouvier (lead vocals, studio bass guitar), Chuck Comeau (drums), Jeff Stinco (lead guitar), and Sébastien Lefebvre (rhyt ...

, Jack Savoretti, Unloved, Nothing but Thieves and

Yungblud Dominic Richard Harrison (born 5 August 1997), known professionally as Yungblud, is an English singer, songwriter and actor. In 2018, he released his debut EP ''Yungblud'', followed by his first full-length album ''21st Century Liability''. In ...

. The song "Love", co-written with and performed by Unloved, introduced the Apple Keynote Speech in March 2019.

Discography

Bibliography

Essays and reporting

* * Review of five albums by

Françoise Hardy Françoise Madeleine Hardy (; 17 January 1944 – 11 June 2024) was a French singer-songwriter, actress, and author. She was known for singing melancholic, sentimental ballads. Hardy rose to prominence in the early 1960s as a leading figure in F ...

References

External links

*
Radius Music
{{DEFAULTSORT:Irvin, Jim 1959 births Living people English rock singers English rock keyboardists English music journalists English record producers English male songwriters English new wave musicians English house musicians British male new wave singers Musicians from London Mojo (magazine) people