Cherry Ghost were an English music group which began in 2006, first as an alias for singer-songwriter Simon Aldred as a solo artist, before morphing into a full band. Their debut album, ''

Thirst for Romance ''Thirst for Romance'' is the debut album by Cherry Ghost, released on 9 July 2007 in the UK. The album was made available on CD, digital download, and double vinyl LP. It was recorded at Ape Studios in Cheshire and Moolah Rouge Studios in Stock ...

'', was released in July 2007 and entered the

UK Album Charts The Official Albums Chart is the United Kingdom's industry-recognised national record chart for 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 Offici ...

at No. 7. It was nominated for an

Ivor Novello award The Ivor Novello Awards, named after the Welsh entertainer Ivor Novello, are awards for songwriting and Musical composition, composing. They have been presented annually in London by the The Ivors Academy, Ivors Academy, formerly called the Britis ...

as well as winning Aldred an Ivor Novello for best song "

People Help the People "People Help the People" is the second single taken from Cherry Ghost's début album, '' Thirst for Romance''. It was made available to download on 11 June 2007, and followed two weeks later on CD and 7-inch vinyl. The band played the song liv ...

". A second album, titled ''

Beneath This Burning Shoreline ''Beneath This Burning Shoreline'' is the second studio album by Cherry Ghost, released on 5 July 2010 via Heavenly Records. The band recorded the album themselves with Dan Austin, who co-produced their debut album ''Thirst for Romance''. The al ...

'', was released in July 2010 to positive critical acclaim. Aldred, under the moniker Out Cold, released a solo album titled ''Invasion of Love'' in September 2013, featuring a markedly

synthpop Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a music genre that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s and early 1970s ...

sound. Cherry Ghost released their third and final album ''

Herd Runners Herd Runners is the third and final studio album by English band Cherry Ghost. It was released in May 2014 on Heavenly Recordings. Track listing References 2014 albums Cherry Ghost albums Heavenly Recordings albums {{2010s-i ...

'' in May 2014; Aldred last performed with Cherry Ghost in 2016 on the Marc Riley Show on

BBC Radio 6 Music BBC Radio 6 Music is a British digital radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It primarily plays a wide range of alternative music, from established and emerging artists and bands. In 2002 it was the first national music radio station t ...

. Currently based in London, Simon Aldred now works outside of music, as well as occasionally writing for and with other artists. Aldred was the featured vocalist on the 2015

Avicii Tim Bergling (8 September 1989 – 20 April 2018), known professionally as Avicii, was a Swedish DJ, remixer, and record producer. At age 16, he began posting his remixes on electronic music forums, which led to his first record deal. He rose ...

single " Waiting for Love", and more recently co-wrote several songs with

Liam Gallagher William John Paul Gallagher (born 21 September 1972) is an English singer and songwriter. He is the lead singer and co-founder of the rock band Oasis (band), Oasis and fronted the rock band Beady Eye from 2010 to 2014, before starting a succes ...

, including his 2017 top 40 hit "

For What It's Worth "For What It's Worth (Stop, Hey What's That Sound)", often referred to as simply "For What It's Worth", is a song written by Stephen Stills. Performed by Buffalo Springfield, it was recorded on December 5, 1966, released as a single on Atco Reco ...

History

Beginnings and ''Thirst for Romance'' (2006–2007)

The name "Cherry Ghost" is a reference to the

Wilco Wilco is an American Rock music, rock band based in Chicago. The band was formed in 1994 by the remaining members of alternative country group Uncle Tupelo after singer Jay Farrar's departure. Wilco's lineup changed frequently during its fir ...

song "

Theologians Theology is the study of religious belief from a Religion, religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an Discipline (academia), academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itse ...

" from the album ''

A Ghost Is Born ''A Ghost Is Born'' is the fifth studio album by the American rock band Wilco, released on June 22, 2004, by Nonesuch Records. It features singer Jeff Tweedy on lead guitar more than any previous Wilco album. The band streamed the album online ...

''. In Jan 2006, Simon Aldred began performing as Cherry Ghost as a solo artist, before morphing into a full band. Early sessions with

Doves Columbidae is a bird family consisting of doves and pigeons. It is the only family in the order Columbiformes. These are stout-bodied birds with small heads, relatively short necks and slender bills that in some species feature fleshy ceres. ...

bassist and vocalist

Jimi Goodwin Jamie Francis Alexander Goodwin (born 28 May 1970) is a British musician who is the bassist, vocalist and guitarist for Doves. Before their incarnation as Doves, the three members were in a house music group, Sub Sub. Goodwin is best known as ...

and a special appearance on '' Later...with Jools Holland'' helped excel the band's beginnings. Cherry Ghost were one of only a handful of bands and musicians to have been invited onto Jools Holland's programme before having released any material. Cherry Ghost signed to

Heavenly Records Heavenly Recordings is a London-based independent record label founded by Jeff Barrett in 1990. Heavenly released the first albums from Saint Etienne, Beth Orton and Doves, and early singles by Manic Street Preachers. Current Heavenly artists ...

, and released their debut single "

Mathematics Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...

" in April 2007. The debut album, ''

'', was released in July 2007, following the release of the single "

" two weeks before, which charted on the UK Singles Chart at No. 27. The album was met with generally positive reviews, and entered 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 ...

at No. 7. A third single, " 4 AM," was released in September 2007 and charted at No. 128. A live EP titled ''iTunes Festival: Live in London'', recorded in July 2007 at the

iTunes Festival The Apple Music Festival (formerly known as the iTunes Festival) was a concert series held by Apple, Inc. and inaugurated in 2007. Free tickets were given to Apple Music, iTunes and DICE users who lived in the United Kingdom, through localized ...

, was released digitally in November 2007. In September 2007, Cherry Ghost were nominated for ''Best New Act'' at the 2007

Q Awards The Q Awards were the UK's annual music awards run by the music magazine '' Q''. Since they began in 1990, the Q Awards became one of Britain's biggest and best publicised music awards. Locations for the awards ceremony included Abbey Road Studios ...

. In 2008, Cherry Ghost won an

Ivor Novello Award The Ivor Novello Awards, named after the Welsh entertainer Ivor Novello, are awards for songwriting and Musical composition, composing. They have been presented annually in London by the The Ivors Academy, Ivors Academy, formerly called the Britis ...

for "People Help the People" in the category of ''Best Contemporary Song''.

''Beneath This Burning Shoreline'' (2008–2012)

In March 2008, Simon announced through a

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 ...

blog posting that the band were at the writing stage for the second album and had seven songs written, which had been distilled from over 50 different tunes. The bulk of the album was written in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

and

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

. The band began recording the album in January 2009. A later blog post indicated that the band were recording in a converted

barn A barn is an agricultural building usually on farms and used for various purposes. In North America, a barn refers to structures that house livestock, including cattle and horses, as well as equipment and fodder, and often grain.Allen G ...

. On 27 December 2009, Simon posted on MySpace that the second album had been finished and was "due to be mixed in the next month or two." On 29 April 2010, a message on the band's MySpace page stated the title of the new album as ''

'', with a release date of 5 July 2010. ''Beneath This Burning Shoreline'' was released to positive reviews, garnering 4-star reviews from publications such as '' Q'', ''

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 ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

''. The album's first single, "Kissing Strangers," was released as a single-track download on 28 June 2010. Second single "Black Fang" was released in September 2010 as the album's first commercial single on 7" vinyl and download; third single "We Sleep on Stones" was released as a double A-side with a cover of the

CeCe Peniston Cecilia Veronica "CeCe" Peniston (; born September 6, 1969) is an American singer and former beauty queen. In the early 1990s, she scored five number one hits on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot Dance Music/Club Play. Her signature song " Finally" re ...

hit " Finally" in November 2010. A fourth single, "Only a Mother", was issued as a download in March 2011.

''Invasion of Love'' and ''Herd Runners'' (2012–2014)

Simon Aldred spent much of 2012 and 2013 recording his solo album ''Invasion of Love'', released under the name Out Cold in September 2013. Aldred went into the project not wanting to make another guitar-driven album, instead turning towards

synthesizers A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

. In an interview with ''

'', he said "The pattern of strumming a guitar felt really flat, I didn't want to make another miserable northern record... The last album, I was plucking quotes from

Chekhov Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (; ; 29 January 1860 – 15 July 1904) was a Russian playwright and short-story writer, widely considered to be one of the greatest writers of all time. His career as a playwright produced four classics, and his b ...

and

film noir Film noir (; ) is a style of Cinema of the United States, Hollywood Crime film, crime dramas that emphasizes cynicism (contemporary), cynical attitudes and motivations. The 1940s and 1950s are generally regarded as the "classic period" of Ameri ...

, so I wanted to give myself a little break. I could have easily made an acoustic troubadour-style album, and I had half that written, but it shouldn't be that easy... 'Invasion' has a negative connotation, but the album is mostly about embracing relationships and love." Aldred and Cherry Ghost recorded their third and final studio album ''

'' in

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...

with Colin Elliot and Dan Austin. The album was released in May 2014 via Heavenly Recordings and

PIAS Recordings PIAS Recordings (formerly Play It Again Sam) is a Belgian record label founded in 1982 by Kenny Gates and Michel Lambot, In September 2024, the company was acquired by Universal Music Group. Play It Again Sam expanded along with other European i ...

. Herd Runners features musical contributions from

The Earlies The Earlies are a band formed by Christian Madden and Giles Hatton from Lancashire, England, and Brandon Carr and John Mark Lapham from the United States. They are notable for blending elements from a wide range of musical genres and have been ...

keyboard player

Christian Madden The Earlies are a band formed by Christian Madden and Giles Hatton from Lancashire, England, and Brandon Carr and John Mark Lapham from the United States. They are notable for blending elements from a wide range of musical genres and have been ...

, Pedal Steel Guitar player Scott Poley and Saxophonist Nicky Madden.

Post-Breakup (2015-present)

While they split up in 2015, they briefly reformed in 2019 with "Blue Christmas", just a day before the election. The song itself is a social commentary on the election and how it takes advantage of the poor. In 2020, a live performance at the Trades Club in Hebden Bridge from 2015 was released. The band reformed again in 2022 for a one-off concert at the Trades Club.

Members

* Simon Aldred – Lead vocals, guitar * Jim Rhodes – Guitar * Ben Parsons – Keyboards * Phill Anderson – Bass, synthesizer, cornet * Grenville Harrop – Drums

Discography

Albums

Singles and EPs

Songs Cherry Ghost have covered

* "Junebug" (

Sparklehorse Sparklehorse was an American indie rock band from Richmond, Virginia, led by singer and multi-instrumentalist Mark Linkous. It was active from 1995 until Linkous's 2010 death. Before forming Sparklehorse, Linkous fronted local bands Johnson Fa ...

) ''(B-side)'' * " Finally" (

) ''(B-side)'' * "

Welcome to the Black Parade "Welcome to the Black Parade" is a song by the American rock band My Chemical Romance from their third studio album '' The Black Parade'' (2006). It was released as the album's lead single on September 12, 2006. An emo and pop-punk song, it op ...

" (

My Chemical Romance My Chemical Romance is an American Rock music, rock band from New Jersey. The band's current lineup consists of lead vocalist Gerard Way, lead guitarist Ray Toro, rhythm guitarist Frank Iero, and bassist Mikey Way. They are considered one of ...

) ''(played live)'' * "

Back to Black ''Back to Black'' is the second and final studio album by English singer-songwriter Amy Winehouse, released on 27 October 2006 by Island Records. Winehouse predominantly based the album on her tumultuous relationship with Blake Fielder-Civil, ...

" (

Amy Winehouse Amy Jade Winehouse (14 September 1983 – 23 July 2011) was an English singer, songwriter, musician, and businesswoman. With over 30 million records sold worldwide, she was known for her deep, expressive contralto vocals and her eclectic mix ...

) ''(played live)'' * "

Under My Thumb "Under My Thumb" is a song recorded by the English rock band the Rolling Stones. Written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, "Under My Thumb" features a marimba played by Brian Jones. Although it was never released as a single in English-speakin ...

" (

The Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for over six decades, they are one of the most popular, influential, and enduring bands of the Album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the band pione ...

) ''(played live)'
link
* " Pounding" (

) ''(played live)'' * "

Drive Drive or The Drive may refer to: Motoring * Driving, the act of controlling a vehicle * Road trip, a journey on roads Roadways Roadways called "drives" may include: * Driveway, a private road for local access to structures, abbreviated "drive" * ...

" (

The Cars The Cars were an American Rock music, rock band formed in Boston in 1976. Emerging from the New wave music, new wave Subculture, scene in the late 1970s, they consisted of Ric Ocasek (rhythm guitar), Benjamin Orr (bass guitar), Elliot Easton (l ...

) ''(played live)'' * "

Androgynous Androgyny is the possession of both masculine and feminine characteristics. Androgyny may be expressed with regard to biological sex or gender expression. When ''androgyny'' refers to mixed biological sex characteristics in humans, it often r ...

" ( The Replacements) ''(Played Live on Marc Riley Show)''

Cherry Ghost songs that other artists have covered

* "4AM" (Liam Fray) * "

" ( Birdy) * "My Lover Lies Under" ( Rumer)

Festival appearances

Camden Crawl Camden Crawl was a music festival in London Borough of Camden, Camden, London, which first appeared in 1995 and then was held annually from 2005 to 2014. Overview Rather than a single venue, Camden Crawl operated at multiple venues simultaneous ...

2007: 19 and 20 April *

Glastonbury Festival The Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts (commonly referred to as simply Glastonbury Festival, known colloquially as Glasto) is a five-day festival of contemporary performing arts held near Pilton, Somerset, England, in most su ...

2007: Queen's Head stage, 24 June *

2010: Queen's Head Stage, 26 June *

2011: Oxylers In West Stage, 25 June * Oxegen Festival 2007: New Bands/Futures stage * Latitude 2007: Uncut Arena *

Summer Sundae Summer Sundae (also called the Summer Sundae Weekender) was an annual music festival held in Leicester, England which initially focused on indie (music), indie, Indie folk, alternative, and local music. The festival began as a one-dayer in 20 ...

2007: Main stage * Guilfest 2007: Guildford, Stoke Park, July 2007 * iTunes Festival 2007: London, 22 July * V Festival 2007 Weston Park: Virgin Mobile Union stage, 18 August * V Festival 2007 Hylands Park: Virgin Mobile Union stage, 19 August * Dpercussion 2007, Manchester, Main Stage, 4 August * Ben & Jerry's Sundae On The Common 25 July 2010

References

External links

Cherry Ghost's official websiteCherry Ghost's official Facebook PageCherry Ghost's official MySpace page
{{Authority control Rock music groups from Greater Manchester Musical groups established in 2006 Musicians from the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton English indie rock groups Ivor Novello Award winners People educated at Canon Slade School Heavenly Recordings artists