Paul Young: Movies & Box Office

Paul Young (born Paul Antony Young on 17 January 1956 in Luton, Bedfordshire) is an English musician, singer and songwriter whose smooth, blue‑eyed soul voice made him one of the defining artists of the 1980s British pop scene. After leaving school he worked at the Vauxhall Motors factory, playing football for the company team while honing his craft in local groups as a bass guitarist. His first front‑man role came with the short‑lived Kat Kool & the Kool Kats, followed by a stint in Streetband, whose novelty hit “Toast” gave him early exposure, and then Q‑Tips, a brass‑enhanced pop‑rock outfit that toured with the Who and performed at the Montreux Jazz Festival before disbanding in 1982. Signed by Columbia Records, he released his breakthrough debut No Parlez in 1983; the album produced three UK top‑ten singles – Love of the Common People, Wherever I Lay My Hat (which held the No. 1 spot for three weeks) and Come Back and Stay – and spent five weeks at the top of the UK Albums Chart. The follow‑up The Secret of Association (1985) cemented his trans‑Atlantic success with the US‑chart‑topping ballad Everytime You Go Away, earning him a Brit Award for Best British Male and a Billboard Hot 100 number‑one. Young’s vocal talent was called upon for numerous charitable events, including opening the Band Aid anthem “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” in 1984, performing at Live Aid in 1985, and joining the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert in 1992 to sing “Radio Ga Ga” with the remaining members of Queen. Since the mid‑1990s he has fronted the Tex‑Mex–styled group Los Pacaminos, releasing albums such as Los Pacaminos (2002) and A Fistful of Statins (2014), while continuing to tour Europe and appear on TV specials. His personal life has seen both triumph and tragedy; he married former model Stacey Smith in 1987, with whom he had two daughters and a son, and after her death in 2018 he remarried Lorna Young in 2024. Throughout a career spanning over four decades, Paul Young remains celebrated for his emotive vocal delivery, enduring hits, and contributions to pop culture.