A Rockapaedia Obituary
Alan Hull
Band: Lindisfarne
Alan Hull died aged fifty on 17th November 1995 of a heart thrombosis . He had been working on a new album called Statues & Liberties. After his funeral, Alan's ashes were scattered at the mouth of the River Tyne i\n Newcastle, U.K.. Alan is survived by wife Patricia and their three daughters.
On 19th July 2012 an Alan Hull memorial plaque was unveiled on the front of Newcastle City Hall, at a ceremony attended by hundreds of fans, and video broadcasted by Sky and ITV Tyne Tees.
Alan Hull was born at in Newcastle Upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, U.K. He began piano lessons at the age of nine, and guitar lessons two years later. He attended Rutherford Grammar School, Newcastle after passing his eleven-plus in 1956 and was given a guitar at the age of twelve and wrote his first song soon after this event.
Alan Hull became a member of a band called The Chosen Few alongside keyboard player Mick Gallagher in 1962. He supported himself by working as a window cleaner then one year by working as a nurse at a mental hospital and as a driver for Newcastle Co-op TV Department while appearing as a folk singer and guitarist in local clubs. He later helped to form bands Brethren and Downtown Faction, which evolved into Lindisfarne in 1970. He also released a one-off solo single, "We Can Swing Together", which was re-recorded with the group on their first album, Nicely Out of Tune, and became a regular favourite in their stage performances.
As Lindisfarne's most prolific songwriter and joint lead vocalist, Alan Hull came to be regarded as its leader. In 1972, dissatisfied with the sound and critical reception o
f their third album Dingly Dell, he considered leaving the group but instead he and joint lead vocalist Ray "Jacka" Jackson formed a new six-piece Lindisfarne the following year, leaving the three other original members to form Jack The Lad. He also released his first solo album, Pipedream, the same year and published a book of poems, Mocking Horse. Alan Hull appeared in "Squire", an episode of the BBC's Second City Firsts drama series.
Lindisfarne disbanded in 1973 and Alan Hull released a second solo album, Squire, then formed the short-lived band Radiator, which also included drummer Ray Laidlaw of Lindisfarne and Jack the Lad. In March of 1977 the original line-up of Lindisfarne reformed after a well-received series of sold-out Christmas -shows at the Newcastle City Hall in 1976 which was broadcast on local radio. Thereafter Alan combined his musical career as front man of the group with a solo career.
He was also a staunch Labour Party activist. For a time he was secretary of his local constituency Labour Party. He performed in Blackpool to coincide with the Labour Party conference in 1990 and played at numerous benefit concerts for striking or redundant miners and shipyard workers.
In January 1994, he recorded Back to Basics, a live all-acoustic survey of the best of his songwriting from 1970 onwards.