14 Facts About Paul Morley

Paul Morley wrote for the New Musical Express from 1977 to 1983, and has since written for a wide range of publications and written his own books.

Paul Morley was a co-founder of the record label ZTT Records and was a member of the synthpop group Art of Noise.

Paul Morley has been a band manager, promoter, and television presenter.

Paul Morley wrote for three Manchester area magazines in the late 1970s, Penetration, Out There, and Girl Trouble.

Paul Morley then went on to write for NME, where he and colleagues such as Ian Penman developed an innovative style of music criticism that drew on critical theory and other non-musical sources.

Paul Morley is credited with steering the marketing and promotion of the phenomenal early success of ZTT's biggest act, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, heavily influenced by Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft's image for Alles ist gut.

Paul Morley was the first presenter of BBC Two's The Late Show, and has appeared as a music pundit on a number of other programmes.

Paul Morley was the focus of BBC Two's How to Be a Composer, in which he spent a year at the Royal Academy of Music attempting to learn to compose classical music, despite being unable to read music or play an instrument.

Paul Morley is the author of Words and Music: A History of Pop in the Shape of a City.

The book was later turned into the hour-long epic musical track "Raiding the 20th Century" by DJ Food, which features Paul Morley reading from his book and speculating on the cultural significance of the mashup, amidst the sounds of those very mashups.

Paul Morley teamed up with the Auteurs' James Banbury to form the band Infantjoy and in 2005 released an album entitled Where the Night Goes on Sony BMG.

Paul Morley is a fan of the jazz musician John Surman and conducted an interview with the artist for The Guardian newspaper.

Paul Morley was married to Claudia Brucken with whom he has a son and a daughter.

The Cure played a version of their song "Grinding Halt", retitled for that performance as "Desperate Journalist in Ongoing Meaningful Review Situation", on the John Peel radio show, with new lyrics parodying Paul Morley's writing style after an unfavourable review of their debut album Three Imaginary Boys.