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Michael Marra, widely acclaimed as one of Scotland's most talented and original songwriters and performers, was born 1952 in Lochee Dundee, the son of a printer and a schoolteacher. Educated at Saint Mary's Primary School, Lochee and Lawside Academy. Expelled at the age of 14, a variety of jobs followed including; message boy in the printing trade, apprentice sparky, apprentice baker and builder's labourer.
In 1971 he formed his first band, Hen's Teeth, whose line up included Dougie McLean. By the mid seventies he was a professional musician with Dundee legends Skeets Boliver, together with his brother Christopher. Four years of touring, relocation to London and three singles brought little commercial success. Skeets Boliver folded and Michael embarked on a solo career.
At this time he fell into the clutches of 'the music business'. He became a songwriter for a London publishing company, releasing his first solo album The Midas Touch on Polydor in 1980. His manager, Bernard Theobold was eager for him to produce commercial material in the Gerry Rafferty, Barbara Dickson mould and rejected songs demoed for a second album, being particularly unimpressed by the appearance of Scottish references. Michael's reaction to this was to immediately produce more of the same!
Needless to say Mr Theobold's attitude to songs like General Grant's Visit to Dundee, George III's Return to Sanity and Happed in Mist put paid to his career as the next Elton John. After this unpleasant music business experience Michael returned to Scotland releasing Gaels Blue on his own Mink Records in 1985.
Since then he has continued to follow his own career path. Theatre music work at Dundee Rep including They Fairly Mak Ye Work and Witch's Blood led to collaborations with theatre companies like Communicado in Edinburgh. This, in turn, gave him the opportunity to act, notably in Communicado's production of A Wee Home From Home, later filmed and broadcast by the BBC. Proud possessor of an Equity card, Michael now pops up regularly in Scottish TV and film. Who can forget his appearance singing Old Shep in Hamish Macbeth?
He has also written and recorded soundtrack music, notably being a musical director for the acclaimed BBC production of John Byrne's Your Cheatin' Heart.
In parallel with the theatre work Michael has continued to perform and record as a solo artist. He has toured the length and breadth of Britain from the smallest village hall to the largest concert stage.
Anyone who has witnessed his solo shows will testify to his talent to entertain and, through his combination of humour and thought provoking lyrics, offer insights into the human condition. As well as his solo act Michael has performed with his own bands, as a duo with poet Liz Lochhead and in collaboration with dancers, poets and musicians of all types, even touring Europe as support act for Deacon Blue.
Weirder sideroads on his travels include a strange telephonic collaboration between Dunkeld and Oxford, providing lyrics for Bjorn Ulvaeus of Abba and a trip last year to America's west coast to play a handful of concerts arranged by a US fan. The US trip has apparently produced many songs, and endless anecdotes. Michael is keen to go back, when he can find the time!
But above all Michael is a songwriter. Since Gaels Blue there have only been three albums of new material, which regular fans will know only scratches the surface of his song output. He is creating a body of work that can be matched by few of his contemporaries. Who else has a repertoire where an alternative Scottish national anthem like Hermless can rub shoulders with a tribute to French popstar Johnny Hallyday, a burning criticism of religious stupidity in Chain Up The Swings or the poignant tale of the divorcing, childless, couple who must divide their joint record collection in Beefhearts and Bones. He writes constantly following his own advice, "You should write about everything, if it's bad you can always throw it away". Lesser writers would have built careers on a few of the Marra castoffs. The mechanics of the business means that the journey from a song's completion to its arrival in your local shop can take years, the public can never catch up. We can only hope that the steady spread of his fame will eventually lead to the wider availability of his work.
Recent months have found Michael filming alongside the brilliant Robert Carlyle under the direction of Eastenders star Caroline Paterson, writing soundtrack music for a Channel 4 Cutting Edge documentary, playing the Edinburgh Festival, visiting Sweden with Liz Lochhead performing their In Flagrant Delicht show, and we also have a report of him doing a gig in Fife with just acoustic guitar and harmonica. This, together with the news that he would like his next album to be like Dylan's John Wesley Harding give us a hint of what might be coming.
Michael also spends time painting, drawing and going to the football, but he never enjoys it.
(Taken from issue no. 1 of the Michael Marra newsletter From the Overgate to Anchorage October 1996)
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