Suzanne Rhatigan (born 1963 in Dublin) is an Irish singer, songwriter, and musician.

Career

Born and raised 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 ...

Strong, Martin C. (2003) "Suzanne Rhatigan", in ''The Great Indie Discography'', Canongate, where she learned to sing and play the guitar, Rhatigan began her career as a teenager playing with several Irish bands before moving to

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

in the early 1980s. During that period, she found steady work as a session singer with Stock, Aitken and Waterman Records, learned the piano, and began working on her own material. In 1990, she began dating

Craig Charles Craig Joseph Charles (born 11 July 1964) is an English actor, comedian and radio presenter. He is best known for his roles as Dave Lister in the science fiction sitcom ''Red Dwarf'' and Lloyd Mullaney in the soap opera ''Coronation Street'' (2 ...

and had a guest appearance alongside him in a Series Four episode of the sci-fi TV series ''

Red Dwarf A red dwarf is the smallest kind of star on the main sequence. Red dwarfs are by far the most common type of fusing star in the Milky Way, at least in the neighborhood of the Sun. However, due to their low luminosity, individual red dwarfs are ...

'' ( Season 4, Episode 1: "Camille") which was first broadcast in February 1991.

Solo album

Later in 1991, she signed a contract with Imago records to record a solo album. Entitled ''To Hell With Love'', the album consisted of twelve tracks, mostly written by Rhatigan and Charles with some contribution from other writers. The album was produced by

Fred Maher Frederick J. Maher is an American drummer, music programmer and record producer. He was a member of the bands Massacre (1980–81), the Dance, Material, Scritti Politti, and has recorded and toured with Lou Reed. In 1984 he released ''Basic'', ...

, who also played percussion, and the backing band included

Matthew Sweet Sidney Matthew Sweet (born October 6, 1964) is an American alternative rock/power pop singer-songwriter and musician who was part of the burgeoning music scene in Athens, Georgia, during the 1980s before gaining commercial success in the 1990 ...

(bass),

Robert Quine Robert Wolfe Quine (December 30, 1942 – May 31, 2004) was an American guitarist. A native of Akron, Ohio, Quine worked with a wide range of musicians, though he himself remained relatively unknown. Critic Mark Deming wrote that "Quine's eclect ...

(guitar),

Bernie Worrell George Bernard Worrell, Jr. (April 19, 1944 – June 24, 2016) was an American Keyboard instrument, keyboardist and record producer best known as a founding member of the Parliament-Funkadelic collective. In later years, he also worked with ...

(keyboards), Matt Backer (guitar), and Drew Vogelman (drums), among others. The title track was released as a single, complete with music video, early in 1992 and Rhatigan performed it live on an episode of '' Later... With Jools Holland''. The full album was released later that year, followed by a second single, ''Open Up''. In 1993 a third single ''Indian Summer'' was released, but Imago records ceased trading shortly afterwards, stalling her career. Her relationship with Charles ended soon after.

Rhatigan

She re-emerged in 1995 as the lead singer and guitarist of the punk pop trio ''Rhatigan'', alongside John Morrison (who also played in Hefner) on

bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

and Brynn Burrows (later replaced by Paul Murphy) on

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

. The band had a four-year residency at London's

12 Bar Club The 12 Bar Club was a music venue in London that opened in 1994 on Denmark Street – known as Britain's "Tin Pan Alley" – just off Charing Cross Road and close to Soho. Some of the most famous musicians and groups to play at the 12 ...

Denmark Street Denmark Street is a street on the edge of London's West End running from Charing Cross Road to St Giles High Street. It is near St Giles in the Fields Church and Tottenham Court Road station. The street was developed in the late 17th centu ...

, and Suzanne Rhatigan's night attracted many small bands early in their development, such as

Kings of Convenience Kings of Convenience is an indie folk duo from Bergen, Norway, consisting of Erlend Øye and Eirik Glambek Bøe. History Øye and Bøe were both born in 1975 (Øye on 21 November and Bøe on 25 October) and have known each other since they m ...

the Clientele The Clientele are an English indie pop band formed in London in 1991. The band are currently composed of lead singer/guitarist Alasdair MacLean, drummer Mark Keen and bassist James Hornsey. Since their inception, the Clientele have released ei ...

, Hefner, and

Turin Brakes Turin Brakes are an English band, comprising original duo of Olly Knights and Gale Paridjanian, and long-term collaborators Rob Allum and Eddie Myer. They had a UK top 5 hit in 2003 with their song " Painkiller (Summer Rain)". Since starting ...

. In 1996, the band released a twelve track album entitled ''Late Developer''. In 1998, the band recorded a seven track mini-album entitled ''Big Stick'' which had no commercial release and was sold directly to fans at performances. In 2012, their song ''Me'' was covered by former collaborator Antony Harding for the

Audio Antihero Audio Antihero is an independent record label founded in October 2009 with a South East London base, now located in New York. They have been the subject of several radio BBC, PRI and international radio stories. The label has released titles f ...

charity album "Some.Alternate.Universe. for FSID".

Albums

* ''Late Developer'' (1996) Org * ''Big Stick'' mini-album (1998) Cushy Productions

Singles, EPs

* Split EP with Pura Vida (1996) Org * "Happy" (1996) Org * ''DIY CD'' EP (1999) Cushy Productions

2010s

In early 2013, Suzanne guested on the "Sisters of St. Anthony" single by Jack Hayter (ex- Hefner), released on

. To mark her 50th birthday Suzanne started he
50 Greatest Misses Blog
uploading songs and stories of her adventures and misadventures in the music industry. Between 2012 and 2014, she uploaded much of her previously released work to music sharing sit
bandcamp.

Solo discography

* "To Hell With Love" Imago (1992, MC single) * "Open Up" Imago (1992, CD single) ("Open Up"/"Daddy"/"Finally Come Around") * ''To Hell With Love'' Imago (1992, CD album) * "Indian Summer" Imago (1993, CD single) ("Indian Summer" ''(Radio Edit)''/"Learning to Cry"/"Crosstown Traffic" ''(J.Hendrix) (2 meter session)'') * "Sisters of St. Anthony" with Jack Hayter

(2013, Digital Single) *"Before and After* Bandcamp (2013 CD single) (2 track Christmas Single) ("Time To Put Things Right"/"Spinner Of Years Acoustic Version")

References

Bibliography

* * Reviews a performance by Rhatigan in New York City at Tilt. *

External links

*
Official website of Cushy Productions

Bandcamp page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rhatigan, Suzanne Living people Irish pop singers Irish women pop singers Irish women singer-songwriters Irish singer-songwriters 1963 births