15 Facts About Gregory Gray

Gregory Gray, born Paul Lerwill, was a Northern Irish singer and songwriter.

Gregory Gray began his career as a member of Rosetta Stone, a 1970s boy band, and became an influential cult musician who made indie music and videos under the pseudonym Mary Cigarettes.

Gregory Gray published his work on online platforms such as YouTube and SoundCloud.

Gregory Gray's post-punk band Perfect Crime was a support act for U2, Eurythmics, Talking Heads, and Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark.

Gregory Gray's mother was English and his father was Anglo-Indian.

Gregory Gray worked in amusement arcades in Portrush and as a DJ in Kelly's, a local nightclub.

Gregory Gray recorded with the band and spent two years touring around the world with it.

In 1981, he left Rosetta Stone, returned to Northern Ireland, and changed his name to Gregory Gray to disassociate himself from his pop boy-band past.

Gregory Gray was signed as a solo artist to CBS Records in 1985.

Gregory Gray's album Think of Swans was released in 1986.

Gregory Gray made appearances on UK television and radio shows, including being interviewed by Eamonn Holmes and on The Dave Fanning Show.

Gregory Gray began to make his work available for free on platforms such as SoundCloud and YouTube, under the deliberately ambiguous nom de plume Mary Cigarettes; he continued to use the name Gregory Gray in his personal life.

Gregory Gray collaborated with Fish Go Deep, a duo from Cork, creating electronic dance music.

Gregory Gray's music was admired by the British musician and radio presenter Tom Robinson, who played Mary Cigarettes' tracks on his programme on BBC Radio 6 Music.

Gregory Gray came out publicly as gay in the mid-1980s; he was the first well-known Irish musician, north or south, to do so.