 |  | | The life and career Boo now has first began to blossom with the group he formed in the mid-Eighties, The Bible. Two of their finest songs, “Graceland” and “Honey Be Good”, came tantalisingly close to becoming huge hits. (A third, “Glorybound”, is one of the recordings about which Nick Hornby rhapsodises in his book 31 Songs.) Boo now wishes he could have enjoyed The Bible’s time on the verge of success a little more. “I think I felt under a lot of pressure,” he reflects. “There were a lot of people telling me what I should do and I felt very bullied.” And some things take years to seem funny. The Bible first decided to disband after being flown over to Germany to perform “Honey Be Good” on, they belatedly discovered, a talent show. A man who wore a bowtie with lights on that spun round, and who went by the name of Mr Gadget, won with 140,000 votes. The Bible were told that they had received twelve votes. “We all took it so personally that we split up,” says Boo.
For many years Boo had been writing with and for other artists – in 1989 he released a whole album, Evidence, in collaboration with the American country singer Darden Smith – but towards the end of the Nineties he also began to write songs for and with pop artists, something he considers a complete separate endeavour. “I don’t think of myself in that world at all,” he explains. “It’s just I quite enjoy the Brill Building aspect. I enjoy it because it’s not what I do.” Amongst the many artists he has written for in this way are Natalie Imbruglia, Mel C and Alex Parks. |  |  | |
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