Today (April 22, 2010) is the 59^th birthday of singer & musician Paul Carrack. You might not immediately recognize the name, but I expect you would recognize his voice. Carrack has sung lead vocals for several bands over his career and has even enjoyed some solo success as well. He was in the band Ace and sang their 1975 hit "How Long?" In 1981, Glenn Tilbrook recruited Carrack to join the band Squeeze and he would end up singing lead vocals on their biggest U.S. hit. This week's first Flashback Video is "Tempted" by Squeeze...

I have always really liked that song and it ranks on my Top 80s Songs with One-Word Titles list. In 1985, Mike Rutherford would recruit Carrack to join his side project band Mike + The Mechanics. He would share lead vocals along with Paul Young. Carrack would sing lead on one of my favorites from their debut self-titled album. This week's second Flashback Video is "Silent Running" by Mike + The Mechanics...

He would also later sing on the band's 1989 #1 single "The Living Years." But in 1987, Carrack would release his most successful solo album, One Good Reason which included a single that would reach #9 on the Billboard Hot 100. This week's final Flashback Video is "Don't Shed a Tear" by Paul Carrack...

Since the 80s, Carrack has maintained a career which includes solo work, collaborations and regular work as a session musician. He really is an outstanding musician and his variety of contributions to 80s music are quite impressive to me. So whether it was Squeeze, Mike + The Mechanics or solo, Paul Carrack left his mark on my favorite decade.

That'll wrap up another issue of Kickin' it Old School. Thanks for reading. If you are interested in reading any of my other 80s related issues, please click there for a summary of those. If you want to see the past issues of Flashback Videos, just type that into the Google Search Box at the top of the right hand column and it should give you a list of all of them. You can also always click on the Archives in the upper left hand column or use that Google Search Box to find any past issues or topics you may have missed. If you are a fan of Kickin' it, PLEASE CLICK ON THE FACEBOOK LOGO in the upper right hand column. This will take you to the Fan Page where I ask you to then click on "Become a Fan". Even if you are not a Facebook member yet, please consider joining and registering as a fan at that page. You can also follow Old School on Twitter by clicking on the FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER LOGO also in the upper right hand column. This will take you the page and you can just click on the box that says "Follow". Even though the blog only updates a couple times a week, I try to send out daily 80s tweets. Let other 80s fans know about it as well! Peace and much love.