Miles Stephen Hunt (born 29 July 1966) is an English singer, songwriter and guitarist. He fronts the

alternative rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...

band

The Wonder Stuff The Wonder Stuff are a British alternative rock musical ensemble, band. Originally based in Stourbridge in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England, the band's first lineup released four albums and nearly 20 singles and EPs, enjoying ...

Early life

His father was a union official for the

TGWU The Transport and General Workers' Union (TGWU or T&G) was one of the largest general trade unions in the United Kingdom and Ireland—where it was known as the Amalgamated Transport and General Workers' Union (ATGWU)—with 900,000 members (a ...

. In the 1970s, his father was based at

Derby Derby ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area on the River Derwent, Derbyshire, River Derwent in Derbyshire, England. Derbyshire is named after Derby, which was its original co ...

, and they lived in

Etwall Etwall is a village and civil parish in the South Derbyshire district of Derbyshire, England, southwest of Derby on the A50 road, A50. The population at the 2011 Census was 2,906. Geography Etwall is located between the A516 road, A516 bypass an ...

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, and South Yorkshire to the north, Nottinghamshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south-east, Staffordshire to the south a ...

, for four years, with Hunt attending the Etwall Junior School and his brother attending the John Port School.

Career

Hunt's first band (in which he played drums) was called From Eden, and featured future members of another successful Stourbridge group,

Pop Will Eat Itself Pop Will Eat Itself are an English alternative rock band formed in 1986 in Stourbridge in the West Midlands of England with members from Birmingham, Coventry and the Black Country. Initially known as a grebo act, they changed style to incorpo ...

. After leaving this band he formed

and was their lead singer and principal songwriter until their split in 1994. He briefly presented ''

120 Minutes ''120 Minutes'' is a television program in the United States dedicated to the Alternative rock, alternative music genre, that originally aired on MTV from 1986 to 2000, and then aired on MTV's associate channel MTV2 from 2001 to 2003. After it ...

'' on

MTV Europe MTV Global (formerly MTV Europe) is the international version of the American TV channel MTV as 24-hour music video and entertainment pay television network officially launched on 1 August 1987 as part of the worldwide MTV network. Initia ...

until mid '95, when he formed a new band Vent 414 who failed to match the success of his former band. He toured as a solo performer for a time until he reformed The Wonder Stuff in 2000. The band continue to tour. He also co-wrote and sang the theme tune to the

CBeebies CBeebies is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast children's television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is also the brand used for all BBC content targeted for children aged six year ...

television programme ''

Underground Ernie ''Underground Ernie'' is a 2006 British animation, British-animated children's television series produced by Joella Productions for the BBC on both CBeebies and BBC Two, and sold internationally by BBC Worldwide. It is set in ''International Und ...

''. Over the last few years he has written a series of printed and online articles for Nottingham-based culture magazine LeftLion . He also performed at the festival Bearded Theory on 15 May 2011 with Erica Nockalls.

Personal life

A former girlfriend is Helga Phillips who is now the partner of Jonn Penney, the lead singer of

Ned's Atomic Dustbin Ned's Atomic Dustbin is an English rock band formed in Stourbridge, West Midlands, in November 1987. The band took their name from an episode of radio comedy programme ''The Goon Show''. The band is unusual for using two bass-players in their ...

, and who designed the distinctive covers of Ned's albums. Hunt married radio DJ

Mary Anne Hobbs Mary Anne Hobbs (born 16 May 1964) is an English DJ and music journalist from Lancashire, England. She currently hosts on BBC Radio 6 Music. She is also a performer and curator of live events. In 2024 she created a ground-breaking collaboration ...

in April 1990, in the London borough of Tower Hamlets. She was working for the NME at the time. They were married for five years. He is currently single. His uncle, Bill Hunt, played keyboards and horns in an early incarnation of

Electric Light Orchestra The Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) are an English rock band formed in Birmingham in 1970 by multi-instrumentalists Jeff Lynne and Roy Wood and drummer Bev Bevan. Their music is characterised by a fusion of pop and classical arrangement ...

and later in

Wizzard Wizzard were an English rock band formed by Roy Wood, former member of the Move and co-founder of the Electric Light Orchestra. ''The Guinness Book of 500 Number One Hits'' states, "Wizzard was Roy Wood just as much as Wings was Paul McCar ...

Discography

Albums

Vent 414

* ''Vent 414'' (1996) * ''The Post Album Demos'' (2009)

Solo

* ''Miles Across America'' (1998) * ''By The Time I Got To Jersey'' lso known as "Common Threads Live"(1998) * ''Hairy On The Inside'' (1999) * ''MP3 Of The Month Club'' (2000) * ''The Miles Hunt Club'' (2002) * ''Interloper Live 2006'' (2006) * ''The Custodian'' (2018) * ''The Custodian 2'' (2021) * ''Things Can Change'' (2022)

With Erica Nockalls

* ''Not An Exit'' (2007) * ''Catching More Than We Miss'' (2009) *''Shared'' arious Artists - includes 3 tracks by Miles and Erica(2009) *''Shared 2'' arious Artists - includes 2 tracks by Miles and Erica(2011) *''Live 2010/11'' (2011) *''We Came Here To Work'' (2017)

Singles and EPs

* ''Fixer'' - Vent 414 (1996) * ''Life Before You'' - Vent 414 (1996) * ''Life's Great EP'' (2000) * ''Five Songs EP'' (2000) * ''Everything Is Not OK'' (2002) * ''The Miles Hunt Club EP'' (2002) * ''Stay Scared, Stay Tuned'' - with Erica Nockalls (2009) * ''We Came Here To Work'' - with Erica Nockalls (2017)

References

External links

Interview at Blueyonder

Miles Hunt writes for LeftLion Magazine
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hunt, Miles 1966 births Living people English rock guitarists English male guitarists English male singers Musicians from Birmingham, West Midlands People from Marston Green The Wonder Stuff members