Glenn Gregory

{{Short description|British singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist}} {{Use British English|date=May 2011}} {{Use dmy dates|date=July 2020}} {{Infobox musical artist | image = Glenn Gregory.jpg | image_size =  | alt = | caption = Gregory performing live with Heaven 17 in Liverpool, 2021 | background = solo_singer | birth_name = Glenn Peter Gregory | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1958|5|16|df=y}} | origin = Sheffield, England | genre = {{hlist|Synth-pop|electropop|electronic|new wave}} | occupation = {{hlist|Singer|songwriter|multi-instrumentalist}} | instrument = {{hlist|Vocals|guitar|keyboards|saxophone|bass guitar}} | years_active = 1973–present | label = {{hlist|Virgin|Just Music}} | current_member_of = {{hlist|Heaven 17|Honeyroot|Holy Holy}} | website = }} '''Glenn Peter Gregory''' (born 16 May 1958)<ref>{{Allmusic|class=artist|id=p82136|label=Glenn Gregory|access-date=1 September 2009}}</ref> is an English singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist whose music career spans more than 50 years. He came to prominence in the early 1980s as co-founder and lead vocalist of the new wave and synth-pop band Heaven 17, which released several UK chart hits in the 1980s and 1990s, including "(We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thang", "Temptation", "Let Me Go", "Come Live with Me", "Crushed by the Wheels of Industry", "Sunset Now", and "This Is Mine".

== Early years == Glenn Peter Gregory was born on 16 May 1958 in Sheffield, England. His father, Howard, was a steel worker. As a teenager, he wanted to be an actor, but he worked in London as a photographer.<ref name=interview>{{citation|url=http://www.lep.co.uk/what-s-on/music/stef-hall-interviews-singer-glenn-gregory-of-heaven-17-1-5868790|title=Stef Hall interviews singer Glenn Gregory of Heaven 17|author=Hall, Stef|date=20 January 2013|access-date=5 November 2015|archive-date=4 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304111141/http://www.lep.co.uk/what-s-on/music/stef-hall-interviews-singer-glenn-gregory-of-heaven-17-1-5868790|url-status=live}}</ref>

== Music career == In 1977, Gregory was part of the band 57 Men, formed by Jack Hues and Nick Feldman, who both later formed the band Wang Chung.<ref>{{cite web|title=An EXCLUSIVE Interview With WANG CHUNG's Jack Hues!|publisher=Discussions Magazine|url=http://www.discussionsmagazine.com/2013/08/an-exclusive-interview-with-wang-chungs.html|access-date=29 October 2018|archive-date=27 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190427184944/http://www.discussionsmagazine.com/2013/08/an-exclusive-interview-with-wang-chungs.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

Gregory knew the founding members of the Human League for many years. He had been singing and playing bass guitar in bands with Ian Craig Marsh since 1973, and was later also in a short-lived band with Martyn Ware.<ref name="bbcsouthyork" /> In early 1981, he was contacted by Martyn Ware after the original incarnation of the Human League broke up, and was asked to join Heaven 17, a new band resulting from the break-up.<ref name=bbcsouthyork>{{cite web|title=Glenn Gregory interview|publisher=BBC South Yorkshire|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/southyorkshire/content/articles/2005/06/07/glenn_gregory_interview.shtml|access-date=13 November 2008|archive-date=3 January 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090103021126/http://www.bbc.co.uk/southyorkshire/content/articles/2005/06/07/glenn_gregory_interview.shtml|url-status=live}}</ref>

The band Heaven 17 included the trio of Martyn Ware, Ian Craig Marsh, and Gregory as lead vocalist. The band released eight studio albums, and had many hits in the UK. However, by the late 1980s their popularity had declined. The band broke up in 1988, but reunited in 1996,<ref>{{citation|url=http://www.allmusic.com/artist/honeyroot-mn0000216283/biography|title=Honeyroot|author=Henderson, Alex|publisher=AllMusic|access-date=5 November 2015|archive-date=21 September 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160921185328/http://www.allmusic.com/artist/honeyroot-mn0000216283/biography|url-status=live}}</ref> and played their first ever live concert in 1997. Marsh left the band in 2007, but Ware and Gregory continue to perform as Heaven 17.

In 1984, Gregory contributed to the Band Aid single "Do They Know It's Christmas?", singing the line "No rain nor rivers flow".<ref>{{citation|url=https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/band-aid-30-years-on-4606099|title=Band Aid 30 years on: Where are the original stars three decades after the 1984 song was released?|website=Daily Mirror|date=10 November 2014|access-date=5 November 2015|archive-date=27 March 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190327101922/https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/band-aid-30-years-on-4606099|url-status=live}}</ref>

Outside Heaven 17, Gregory has been a member of the bands Ugly and Honeyroot, as well as working with ABC, Tina Turner, Grace Jones, Propaganda, Terence Trent D'Arby, Ultravox, La Roux and John Lydon of Public Image Ltd and the Sex Pistols.<ref name="bbcsouthyork"/> He was a member of the "supergroup" Holy Holy.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://thestrangebrew.co.uk/articles/tony-visconti/|title=Tony Visconti – David Bowie and Holy Holy|date=2019-02-05|website=The Strange Brew|access-date=2023-11-24|archive-date=14 October 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201014080010/https://thestrangebrew.co.uk/articles/tony-visconti/|url-status=live}}</ref> He has also established a career in soundtrack music, writing for radio, TV and film. He creates scores in a private studio built at the bottom of his garden.<ref name=interview />

== Personal life == In 1983, Gregory married the American-born singer Sarah Osborne of the Belgian funk band Allez Allez, but the two divorced after about three years.<ref>{{cite web | title=Allez Allez stirs things up with long-awaited comeback | date=6 August 2017 | url=https://www.thebulletin.be/allez-allez-stirs-things-long-awaited-comeback }}</ref> Gregory then married his second wife Lindsay who works for a design company. The couple have a son, Louis.<ref>[https://www.chaoscontrol.com/glenn-gregory-afterhere-interview/ Gourley, Bob (2018). "Glenn Gregory interviewed about Afterhere, his new collaboration working with Berenice Scott." ''Chaos Control Digizine'' (27 September 2018).] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181229175827/https://www.chaoscontrol.com/glenn-gregory-afterhere-interview/ |date=29 December 2018 }} Retrieved 28 December 2018.</ref><ref>[https://www.express.co.uk/life-style/life/1015292/Glenn-Gregory-5-things-I-cant-live-without Benyon, Lucy (2018). "Glenn Gregory: 5 things I can't live without." ''Express'' 10 September 2018.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181229171400/https://www.express.co.uk/life-style/life/1015292/Glenn-Gregory-5-things-I-cant-live-without |date=29 December 2018 }} Retrieved 28 December 2018.</ref>

== Discography == '''Heaven 17''' {{main|Heaven 17 discography}} * ''Penthouse and Pavement'' (1981) * ''The Luxury Gap'' (1983) * ''How Men Are'' (1984) * ''Pleasure One'' (1986) * ''Teddy Bear, Duke & Psycho'' (1988) * ''Bigger Than America'' (1996) * ''Before After'' (2005) * ''Naked as Advertised'' (2008)

== References == {{Reflist}}

== External links == * {{AllMusic|class=artist|id=mn0000550965}} * {{discogs artist}} * {{IMDb name|id=1105261}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gregory, Glenn}} Category:1958 births Category:20th-century English singers Category:21st-century English singers Category:Living people Category:English male singer-songwriters Category:English singer-songwriters Category:English new wave musicians Category:English keyboardists Category:British synth-pop new wave musicians Category:ABC (band) members Category:Heaven 17 members Category:Musicians from Sheffield Category:Virgin Records artists Category:British male new wave singers Category:Holy Holy (tribute band) members