Mal Pope - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Mal Pope (born 18 May 1960), is a Welsh

Welsh people

The Welsh people are an ethnic group and nation associated with Wales and the Welsh language.John Davies argues that the origin of the "Welsh nation" can be traced to the late 4th and early 5th centuries, following the Roman departure from Britain, although Brythonic Celtic languages seem to have...

musician

Musician

A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....

and composer

Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

, who is especially notable for his contribution to music theatre portraying Welsh national identities and themes. He resides at the village of Mumbles

Mumbles

Mumbles or The Mumbles is an area and community in Swansea, Wales which takes its name from the adjacent headland stretching into Swansea Bay...

, Swansea

Swansea

Swansea is a coastal city and county in Wales. Swansea is in the historic county boundaries of Glamorgan. Situated on the sandy South West Wales coast, the county area includes the Gower Peninsula and the Lliw uplands...

Early life and career

Pope was born to devoutly religious parents, both teachers and members of the Open (Plymouth) Brethren

Plymouth Brethren

The Plymouth Brethren is a conservative, Evangelical Christian movement, whose history can be traced to Dublin, Ireland, in the late 1820s. Although the group is notable for not taking any official "church name" to itself, and not having an official clergy or liturgy, the title "The Brethren," is...

in the Brynhyfryd

Brynhyfryd, Swansea

Brynhyfryd is a small village in Swansea, Wales mostly falling within the Cwmbwrla ward. The area is mostly residential. Brynhyfryd approximates to the area around Llangyfelach Road where it intersects with Brynhyfryd Road....

area of Swansea

Swansea

. In childhood he is said to have demonstrated unusual talent as a singer and songwriter.

In the early 1970s, a tape of Pope's songs was sent by his brother to BBC Radio 1

BBC Radio 1

BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation which also broadcasts internationally, specialising in current popular music and chart hits throughout the day. Radio 1 provides alternative genres after 7:00pm including electronic dance, hip hop, rock...

presenter John Peel

John Peel

John Robert Parker Ravenscroft, OBE , known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey, radio presenter, record producer and journalist. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly from 1967 until his death in 2004...

, who invited Pope to perform at the BBC. The session resulted in a recording contract

Recording contract

A recording contract is a legal agreement between a record label and a recording artist , where the artist makes a record for the label to sell and promote...

with Elton John

Elton John

Sir Elton Hercules John, CBE, Hon DMus is an English rock singer-songwriter, composer, pianist and occasional actor...

's recording company Rocket Records

Rocket Records

The Rocket Record Company was a record label founded by Elton John, with Bernie Taupin, Gus Dudgeon and Steve Brown among others, in 1972. The name is from the hit, "Rocket Man"...

. He performed while also studying at Christ's College, Cambridge

Christ's College, Cambridge

Christ's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge.With a reputation for high academic standards, Christ's College averaged top place in the Tompkins Table from 1980-2000 . In 2011, Christ's was placed sixth.-College history:...

, from which he graduated in 1981. On leaving Cambridge, Pope resided in London, under the management of rock promoter Harvey Goldsmith

Harvey Goldsmith

Harvey Goldsmith CBE is a British performing arts promoter. He is best known as promoter of rock concerts, charity concerts, television broadcasts for the Prince's Trust and more recently the Teenage Cancer Trust shows at the Royal Albert Hall.During early 2007 he appeared on the Channel 4...

.

In 1982, Pope returned to Wales, working for BBC Radio Wales

BBC Radio Wales

BBC Radio Wales is the BBC's national radio station broadcasting to Wales in the English language. Operated by BBC Wales, it began broadcasting on 12 November 1978 following the demise of the old "Radio 4 Wales" when BBC Radio 4 became a national network and moved from medium wave to long wave...

in Cardiff. Combining the activities of singer, songwriter and broadcaster, he was managed by Larry Page

Larry Page (British singer and manager)

Larry Page is an English former pop singer and record producer of the late 1950s and 1960s.-Biography:...

, wrote songs for Cliff Richard

Cliff Richard

Sir Cliff Richard, OBE is a British pop singer, musician, performer, actor, and philanthropist who has sold over an estimated 250 million records worldwide....

and The Hollies

The Hollies

The Hollies are an English pop and rock group, formed in Manchester in the early 1960s, though most of the band members are from throughout East Lancashire. Known for their distinctive vocal harmony style, they became one of the leading British groups of the 1960s and 1970s...

, duetted with Bonnie Tyler

Bonnie Tyler

Bonnie Tyler is a Welsh singer, most notable for her hits in the 1970s and 1980s including "It's a Heartache", "Holding Out for a Hero" and "Total Eclipse of the Heart".-Early life:...

and Aled Jones

Aled Jones

Aled Jones is a Welsh singer and television/radio personality, broadcaster and television presenter who first came to fame as a treble...

, and toured with Art Garfunkel

Art Garfunkel

Arthur Ira "Art" Garfunkel is an American singer-songwriter, poet, and actor, best known as being a member of the folk duo Simon & Garfunkel...

and Belinda Carlisle

Belinda Carlisle

Belinda Jo Carlisle is an American singer who gained worldwide fame as the lead vocalist of the Go-Go's, one of the most successful all-female bands and the first such group whose members wrote their own songs and played their own instruments...

Radio and television

Pope presented a Radio 4 series on black gospel

Urban contemporary gospel

Traditional black gospel is music that is written to express either personal or a communal belief regarding Christian life, as well as to give a Christian alternative to mainstream secular music...

music called Gospel Train. His HTV

HTV

HTV, now legally known as ITV Wales & West, is the ITV contractor for Wales and the West of England, which operated from studios in Cardiff and Bristol. The company provided commercial television for the dual-region 'Wales and West' franchise, which it won from TWW in 1968...

series Heaven's Sound on the same subject, won an award at the New York Film and Television Awards in 2001.

In the 1990s, a late-night music chat show for HTV, The Mal Pope Show, won a number of Welsh BAFTA Awards. The show featured interviews with personalities John Cale

John Cale

John Davies Cale, OBE is a Welsh musician, composer, singer-songwriter and record producer who was a founding member of the experimental rock band The Velvet Underground....

, The Bee Gees

Bee Gees

The Bee Gees are a musical group that originally comprised three brothers: Barry, Robin, and Maurice Gibb. The trio was successful for most of their 40-plus years of recording music, but they had two distinct periods of exceptional success: as a pop act in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and as a...

, George Melly

George Melly

Alan George Heywood Melly was an English jazz and blues singer, critic, writer and lecturer. From 1965 to 1973 he was a film and television critic for The Observer and lectured on art history, with an emphasis on surrealism.-Early life and career:He was born in Liverpool and was educated at Stowe...

, David Gray

David Gray (musician)

David Gray is an English singer-songwriter. He released his first studio album in 1993 and received worldwide attention after the release of White Ladder six years later...

, Lloyd Cole

Lloyd Cole

Lloyd Cole is an English singer and songwriter, known for his role as lead singer of Lloyd Cole and the Commotions from 1984 to 1989, and for his subsequent solo work.-Early life:...

, Evelyn Glennie

Evelyn Glennie

Dame Evelyn Elizabeth Ann Glennie, DBE is a Scottish virtuoso percussionist. She was the first full-time solo percussionist in 20th-century western society.-Early life:Glennie was born and raised in Aberdeenshire...

and Neil Kinnock

Neil Kinnock

Neil Gordon Kinnock, Baron Kinnock is a Welsh politician belonging to the Labour Party. He served as a Member of Parliament from 1970 until 1995 and as Labour Leader and Leader of Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition from 1983 until 1992 - his leadership of the party during nearly nine years making him...

. He sang the theme songs of the Welsh children's television shows Fireman Sam
Fireman Sam
Fireman Sam is a Welsh animated children's television series about a fireman called Sam, his fellow firefighters, and other townspeople in the Welsh town of Pontypandy . The original idea for the show came from two ex-firemen from Kent...

(1987) and Joshua Jones
Joshua Jones
Joshua Jones is an American speaker and entrepreneur who has started various businesses and non-profit organizations. He is best known for his work with Sogro, an international relief and development organization.-Bibliography:...

(1991).

He is married to Hilary Pope, a teacher at a local school, Grange Primary School.

Choral and music-theatre career

He was the President of the Welsh male voice choir Gwalia Singers

Gwalia Singers (Swansea)

The Gwalia Singers is a Welsh male voice choir based in Swansea, Wales.- History :The choir was formed in 1966 by Bryan Myles. They competed in their first serious competition in 1978 - the Welsh Brewers' Choral Competition, held in Carmarthen. The following year they won in the category for fewer...

between 2005 and 2010. He and his daughter, Miss Daisy Blue, performed at the choir's 40th anniversary concert in 2006, together with The Storys

The Storys

The Storys are a Welsh rock band from Swansea, Wales, UK, formed in Spring 2003. Their main influence is 1970s U.S. West Coast bands in the country-rock genre...

and the Vivace Singers.

His 2005 musical Amazing Grace, based on the 1904 Welsh Revival, and directed by Laurence Olivier Award winner Michael Bogdanov

Michael Bogdanov

Michael Bogdanov , is a British theatre director known for his work with new plays, modern reinterpretations of Shakespeare, musicals and work for Young People.-Early years:...

, received acclaim in performances at the Swansea Grand Theatre, the Cardiff International Festival of Musical Theatre, at the Sherman Theatre

Sherman Theatre

Sherman Cymru, also known by its previous name Sherman Theatre, is a performing arts venue in the Cathays district of Cardiff. It was built as a twin-auditorium venue in 1973 with financial support from University College, Cardiff....

, and at Theatr Clwyd

Clwyd Theatr Cymru

Clwyd Theatr Cymru , known until 1998 as Theatr Clwyd, is a regional arts centre located 1 mile from Mold, Flintshire, in north-east Wales.The complex contains five auditoria:*The Anthony Hopkins Theatre ....

in Mold

Mold, Flintshire

Mold is a town in Flintshire, North Wales, on the River Alyn. It is the administrative seat of Flintshire County Council, and was also the county town of Clwyd from 1974 to 1996...

. In 2006, it was performed to standing ovations at the Wales Millennium Centre

Wales Millennium Centre

Wales Millennium Centre is an arts centre located in the Cardiff Bay area of Cardiff, Wales. The site covers a total area of . Phase 1 of the building was opened during the weekend of the 26–28 November 2004 and phase 2 opened on 22 January 2009 with an inaugural concert...

, the first original Welsh musical to be presented there.

In 2007, Pope's next musical, Contender, about the career of heavyweight boxing champion Tommy Farr

Tommy Farr

Thomas George Farr was one of the most famous Welsh and British boxers of all time. Born in Clydach Vale, Wales and nicknamed "the Tonypandy Terror", he became British and Empire heavyweight champion on 15 March 1937. Prior to 1936, he had boxed in the light heavyweight division in which he was...

, successfully exploited an even more popular Welsh national legend. In a highlight scene set during 1937, the title character sings the Welsh national anthem "Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau

Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau

Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau is the national anthem of Wales. The title – taken from the first words of the song – means "Old Land of My Fathers", usually rendered in English as simply "Land of My Fathers". The words were written by Evan James and the tune composed by his son, James James, both residents...

" before his third-round knockout of the Nazi German opponent Walter Neusel, for whom "Deutschland über alles" has been played. Contender premiered at the United Nations

United Nations

The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...

building in New York, followed by seasons at Swansea's Grand Theatre and the Aberystwyth Arts Centre

Aberystwyth Arts Centre

Aberystwyth Arts Centre is one of Wales' busiest and largest arts centres, based on Aberystwyth University's Penglais campus Aberystwyth, Ceredigion, Wales...

. A theme of the musical is that Farr's controversial loss to Joe Louis, and disproportionate lack of success in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, may have resulted wholly from his refusal to co-operate with fight-fixing

Match fixing

In organised sports, match fixing, game fixing, race fixing, or sports fixing occurs as a match is played to a completely or partially pre-determined result, violating the rules of the game and often the law. Where the sporting competition in question is a race then the incident is referred to as...

American mobsters and bookmakers.

A new musical, Cappuccino Girls, opened in February 2009, treats contemporary themes and relationships.

Pope was the main vocalist, along with Julie Costello, for several religious albums composed by the musician, Phil Baggaley, and his co-writer Ian Blythe. Released in 1996, the debut album City of Gold won several awards and sparked international critical acclaim, followed by a number of concerts throughout England. The success of this led Pope to become involved in several other albums and concerts including Shipwrecks and Islands, Road to the City, Strands of Gold and, most recently, The Time Project.

External links

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