The moody velvet tones of Colin Vearncombe - aka Black - will be filling the Rotterdam bar in Belfast this Saturday as part of an unplugged season of live music. Colin, who captured the imagination of sultry romantics everywhere with the offbeat, melancholic single Wonderful Life, is back with a new album The Accused, featuring more elegantly tailored tracks but this time suffused with a new sense of warmth and humour.
The performer was born in Liverpool in the early Sixties - in the week that Elvis Presley's Good Luck Charm stormed in at the top of the charts. A viewing of Presley's Jailhouse Rock a few years later was the catalyst for the young Colin fatefully swapping a cricket bat for a guitar... By the early Eighties, he was doing the local gig circuit but playing to poor audiences. A meeting with rock 'n' roll godfather Pete Wylie in 1981 resulted in the single More Than The Sun and ensuing record deals with WEA and A&M.
But the big break did not come until June 1987 when a reworked version of Wonderful Life sailed up the charts all over Europe, helping launch Black's debut album of the same name. A period of critical success followed but was marred by strained relations with his record company and a falling off of populist support. After a total break from music for much of the last decade, Colin attended a songwriting workshop hosted by Squeeze's Chris Difford, only to find the muse was once again moving and shaking and swinging her hips. Colin's rediscovered creativity is manifest in every chord of The Accused, a gracious and poised collection likely to appeal to easy-listening fans as well as the critics.
Admission to the Rotterdam is free before 9pm and (GBP) 3 after 9pm.