Pete Astor 'Mr. Music'

Pete Astor writes, sings songs and teaches music. He was singer songwriter in early Creation Records trailblazers The Loft, releasing two singles, Why Does the Rain and Up the Hill and Down the Slope that helped define the sound of the label and the emerging Indie genre. He subsequently formed The Weather Prophets, and launching a solo career with the albums Submarine and Zoo in the early 1990s.

Continuing to perform extensively in France and mainland Europe, his next two solo albums, Paradise and God and Other Stories were on the Danceteria label. Following a two year stint as A&R manager at the publishing arm of the Beggars Group, working with acts such as Hefner, Cornershop and Republica, Astor returned to music in the late 1990s with his Ellis Island Sound and Wisdom of Harry projects, both releasing music on 7', 12' and 10' for a variety of emerging independent labels such as Static Caravan, Wurlitzer Jukebox and Astor's own label, Faux Lux.

The Wisdom of Harry eventually signed to Matador, releasing three albums. Astor's collaboration with David Sheppard, Ellis Island Sound, signed with Heavenly Records, also releasing a compilation of their early releases. The solo album, Songbox came out on Second Language in 2011, featuring an extra disc of cover versions of the albums'songs by Let's Wrestle, The Raincoats, Darren Hayman, Comet Gain, The Proper Ornaments and Mathew Sawyer, among others. 2013 saw the publication of Astor's study of Richard Hell and the Voidoids'Blank Generation as part of Bloomsbury's 33 and a Third Series, along with scholarly articles with Keith Negus on songwriting practice for the Cambridge Journal of Popular Music and Ashgate books.

Astor is Senior Lecturer at the University of Westminster, and currently working on new material for the Fortuna POP! Label with Veronica Falls/ Proper Ornaments/ Ultimate Painting's James Hoare, the first fruits of which is the single Mr. Music.

Tracklisting:

Side A:
Mr. Music

Side B:
Armitage Shanks