Cathal Coughlan

Born in Glounthaune, County Cork, Ireland on December 16, 1960, Cathal Coughlan was a post-punk / alternative rock singer, songwriter, and musician best known as the frontman for Microdisney in the 1980s and Fatima Mansions in the 1990s. His musical career began in the late 1970s when Cathal Coughlan became active on the local music scene in Cork. He met singer, songwriter, and musician Sean O’Hagan and the two struck up a friendship and musical bond, forming the band Microdisney in 1980. The blending of O’Hagan’s pop smarts and Cathal Coughlan’s more experimental post-punk leanings created something unique, which caught the attention of Rough Trade Records, who signed the group. The members of Microdisney relocated to London, England and built up a dedicated following. They released several singles between 1982 and 1984, all of which were compiled on the We Hate You South African Bastards! compilation in 1984, which was released the same year as their critically acclaimed debut album Everybody is Fantastic. After the release of their second album The Clock Climbs Down the Stairs (1985), they signed with Virgin Records and issued the album Crooked Mile (1987). Produced by Lenny Kaye, the album featured the hit single “Town to Town”, which has become their best-known track. The group split after the release of the album 39 Minutes in 1988. Sean O’Hagan pursued a brief solo career before forming the critically acclaimed band The High Llamas. Cathal Coughlan pursued his more radical and experimental side and formed a more aggressive band by the name of The Fatima Mansions. Throughout the band’s seven-year career, they released seven albums with their 1989 debut album, Against Nature, reaching Number 12 on the UK charts. While their albums and singles were critically successful – and sometimes controversial – the band’s only other chart success was their 1992 album Valhalla Avenue, which reached Number 52. The Fatima Mansions broke up in 1995 and Cathal Coughlan released his first solo album, Grand Necropolitan, the following year. He formed different groups to record his solo releases including The Grand Necropolitan Sextet (for 2006’s Foburg), and an acoustic quartet (2010’s Rancho Tetrahedron). Cathal Coughlan and Sean O’Hagan reformed Microdisney for a series of concerts in 2018 and 2019 before Cathal Coughlan resumed his solo career with the release of Song of Co-Aklan (2021), which was recorded with Luke Haines. That same year, he formed a new project with Jacknife Lee called Telefis, who released their only album, A Haon, in 2022. In an extremely prolific career, he was also a member of other side projects including Bubonic and The North Sea Scrolls. Cathal Coughlan died after a long illness on May 18, 2022, at the age of 61.

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