Songoftheday 9/8/12 - Don't need a roller or a limousine, I don't need my picture in a magazine...

Paul Carrack - "I Need You"
from the album Suburban Voodoo (1982)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #37 (two weeks)

Today's Song of the Day is by English singer/keyboardist Paul Carrack, who's been in what seems to be every British power-pop band of the 70s and 80s. His first big break was in the band Ace, where he sung lead on their big hit "How Long" in 1975. After that, he joined art-rock giants Roxy Music for their Manifesto album in 1979, before being recruited into the band Squeeze, where he sang on the classic "Tempted" in 1981.

In 1982 Paul issued his second solo album Suburban Voodoo, featuring a backing band that he was in previously supporting Nick Lowe (who produced the album), Noise To Go. The first single from that album became his first solo hit, "I Need You", written by Carrack, Lowe, and bandmate Martin Belmont...



"I Need You" made the American top 40, as well as #22 on the Rock Radio chart and #20 on the adult-contemporary (soft-rock) chart, but surprisingly didn't make it in England at all. Since then, he's had more (and bigger) solo hits, as well as a stint in Mike & The Mechanics, where he sang on the #1 "The Living Years".

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and here's Paul along with Nick Lowe performing "I Need You" live...

Up tomorrow: the most debonair of the New Romantics...