Paul Heaton: How Sheffield shaped the nicest man in pop, including school, youth club and Sheffield United
From performing a free gig for NHS workers to putting money behind the bar at pubs, Paul Heaton is probably the nicest man in pop.
The former Housemartins and Beautiful South singer grew up in Sheffield, and his time in the city left an indelible mark - from providing musical inspiration to shaping his outlook on life.
Ahead of his eagerly awaited homecoming gig at Bramall Lane stadium, home to his beloved Sheffield United, we look back at his Sheffield years and how the city influenced him.
Paul was born in Bromborough, Merseyside, in 1962, but was just four when he moved to Sheffield, and he lived here until the age of 14, when his family moved to Surrey.
He went on to live in Hull, where he formed the Housemartins, and Leeds, before settling in Manchester, where he lives today with his wife and three children.
School years in Sheffield
But he has always retained a strong affection for Sheffield, famously describing himself as being ‘bred in Sheffield, fed in Surrey’.
He attended King Edward VII School in Crosspool and described his childhood as being ‘fairly middle class, although you wouldn’t know it given the schools I went to and the friends I had’.
In 2015, he told how Sheffield was ‘still very much in my heart’ and said people were always friendly towards him and ‘give a lot of support’ at his gigs in the city.
It was in Sheffield that he fell in love with football and the Blades, despite his two elder brothers being Sheffield Wednesday fans and their father taking the three of them to watch the Owls.
Love of Sheffield United
The first Sheffield United match he attended was in 1969, when he watched them beat Aston Villa 5-0.
He described how after moving to Surrey, he sometimes went to Sheffield United games with a friend called Joe Sweetinburgh and they stood out in away ends ‘because I dressed like a tramp and he was black’. Speaking to the football magazine FourFourTwo, he added: “We were known as the ‘Cockney Blades’ to some.”
He described his footballing heroes as Geoff Salmons and Tony Currie, and his best moment as the time Cooperman, a famous Blades fan, ran onto the pitch at York and wrapped a 50-yard scarf around Tony Kenworthy, who ‘ended up looking like a mummy’.
In 1986, he played in a testimonial match for Tony Currie, alongside football legends including George Best and Geoff Hurst.
Paul was a keen amateur footballer, playing more than 700 competitive games and driving back from gigs on a Friday or Saturday night to attend matches the following day.
He is also an avid collector of footballer memorabilia, as well as crisp packets, beer mats, postcards and comics.
Sheffield’s influence on music
Paul’s time in Sheffield had a big impact on his music.
He once told how his mother went to see Lou Reed in Sheffield in 1973, with The Persuasions supporting, and the record Street Corner Symphony which she brought back with her became one of his favourite albums.
Their a cappella style proved a major influence for The Housemartins, most famously in their chart-topping single Caravan of Love.
It was also in Sheffield that he was first exposed to David Bowie - one of his musical idols.
He described hearing The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars seeping through the walls of his oldest brother’s room into the bedroom he shared with his middle brother growing up.
“You could see quite hard lads in Sheffield trying to have their hair cut like Bowie and wearing these big stack heels,” he said.
Youth club disco
Paul recalled too how his oldest brother went to the youth club disco at St Columba’s youth club on Manchester Road, Crosspool, and he and his middle brother, who were too young at the time to be allowed in, snuck a look inside.
The Jean Genie by David Bowie was playing and his brother and his friends were dancing along, banging their stack heels on the floor.
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“The noise of them banging their stack heels was louder than the music itself,” he told BBC Radio 6 Music.
Much like his fellow Sheffielder Jarvis Cocker, Paul has a knack for finding lyrical inspiration from the mundane, and marrying the words with genius melodies which mask their satirical wit.
‘We didn’t talk about women like that’
It was his experience working in a ledger office in Surrey that provided the germ for one of his biggest hits with The Housemartins, Happy Hour.
He told how he started listing all the things which annoyed him about the office, including the sexism of sales reps there.
He said that was something he ‘could not stand’, having moved down from Sheffield, ‘where we didn’t talk about women like that’.
After leaving The Housemartins, Paul achieved even greater success with The Beautiful South, whose hits include Song for Whoever, Rotterdam, Perfect 10, You Keep It All In and A Little Time.
He called time on the band in 2007 in typically humorous fashion, describing, in a twist on the old cliche, how they had split due to ‘musical similarities’.
Paul has gone on to have a very successful solo career, as well as collaborating with former Beautiful South singer Jacqui Abbot and more recently Rianne Downey.
His latest album, The Mighty Several, produced by Ian Broudie, of the Lightning Seeds, is out this month.
Money behind the bar
Tales of Paul’s generosity abound, including the free concert he put on for NHS workers in 2021, and the time he donated money to the staff of Q magazine when it closed.
In stark contrast to Oasis, he has kept ticket prices for his latest tour at a very affordable £39.50, even though he could have charged much more.
When he turned 60 in 2022, he put money behind the bar at 60 pubs across the country, including two in Sheffield, the Lord Nelson, on Arundel Street, and the Riverside, on Mowbray Street.
He did the same again to mark his headline slot at Sheffield’s Tramlines festival in 2023, this time selecting pubs in and around Hillsborough, where the event was held, to help people out during what he called ‘this cost of greed crisis’.