Funboy Five: before and after
 
 
 
     
 

The Funboy Five

the members

what they did before and after

 
     
     
     
 

the funboy five

behind the legend

 
     
     
     
 

Mick Sinclair

Prior to the Funboy Five, Mick played guitar and occasional vocal in the Anal Surgeons also briefly, and less memorably, known as The Untouchables. Later, he was behind Milkshake Melon and half of the duo that created 'Great Disasters That Shook the World & Marion', a 1980 cassette release that may yet emerge, with bonus tracks, as a CD. He also created Das Boomerang, whose rendition of the Leonard Cohen song 'Suzanne' appeared on the Glass Records vinyl compilation, Shadows and Substance: The Wonderful World of Glass Vol.2, in 1984.

From mid-1981 however writing about music, rather than playing or recording it, steadily became a full-time occupation.

John McRae

After the Funboy Five, John joined the Sheep, a group that took the world less by storm than by a dark cloud lurking in a clear blue sky, and later Red Hedgehog.

Bob Brimson

Took his bass to The Bears expecting greater things but later found more fame as a actor with a decently-sized role in the film, The Krays, among other screen appearances. He found more lasting employment in the music business working with, among others, Terence Trent D'Arby, and co-managing Echobelly and XTC, before finding a self-styled niche as a dispute arbitrator between artists and record labels.

Robert

As enigmatic a drummer as anyone could wish for, Robert was rumoured to have left the Funboy Five to return to the regular money of the cabaret circuit. About this not much is known, but not much was ever known about Robert save for the fact that he was partial to the writings of George Orwell, which is why he was credited as "Robert Blair" on the 'Life After Death' sleeve.

Dave Tyler

Played in The Sheep with John McCrae after the demise of the Funboy Five, and subsequently Painted Childen among other local non-legends of the Rickmansworth, Hemel Hempstead, Watford area before moving to Birmingham and (at different times) joining "two underated guitar bands", The Haywires and Bikini Red, who were nearly part of the Moseley scene from whence came Fuzzbox, Birdland and Ocean Colour Scene. He also left school.

And strangely enough:

About a year after the Funboy Five left the world, the Fun Boy Three emerged, composed of ex-members of The Specials. The similarity in name was, as far as we know, coincidence although when the FB3 began using some of the same song titles (for quite different songs) as the Funboy Five, the coincidence became even greater.

No less a coincidence was the fact that Mick Sinclair reviewed the Fun Boy Three's first gig.

 
     
     
   
 

Introducing

 
 

Formation

 
 

Early Recordings

 
 

The John Peel Session

 
 

The Single

 
 

The Label

 
 

Last Days

 
 

CDs and stuff for sale

 
 

Funboy Five at Last FM

 
     
     
     
 

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