Feargal Sharkey

Feargal Sharkey (born Sean Feargal Sharkey on 13 August 1958) is a singer from Northern Ireland who first found fame as the lead vocalist of punk band The Undertones. Since moving away from performing in the early 1990s, he has performed various roles supporting the UK's commercial music industry, winning several awards and honours for his work in that area. Sharkey, who was born in Derry, Northern Ireland, was a co-founder of The Undertones at their inception in 1976. In the 1970s they played in many locations throughout Northern Ireland, including the Flamingo Ballroom in Ballymena and Chester's in Portrush. The Undertones had several UK hits with songs such as "Teenage Kicks", "Here Comes The Summer", "My Perfect Cousin", "Wednesday Week" and "It's Going To Happen". The band split in 1983 citing musical differences, with Sharkey pursuing a solo career and other members of the band forming That Petrol Emotion the following year. Before his solo career took off, he was also the singer of the one-shot group The Assembly with ex-Yazoo and Depeche Mode member Vince Clarke (pre-Erasure). In 1983 their single "Never Never" was a UK No. 4 hit. (read more on wikipedia)

Links To Peel
Peel was a big fan of the Undertones, including their "Teenage Kicks" single, which was his favourite song of all time. Feargal Sharkey as the singer of the Undertones decided to join with Vince Clarke to form a one-shot group called The Assembly, whose track Never Never reached number 23 on the 1983 Festive Fifty. When Feargal Sharkey went solo, Peel played his debut single, playing both sides of his solo record on 25 September 1984. Feargal's solo music career was very commercialised pop, a complete contrast to his punk music when he was a member of the Undertones. Nonetheless Peel still continued supporting him and even praised his voice. Although many years later, Feargal's music rarely got played on Peel's show and on 17 January 1993 (BFBS), Peel mentioned how bad Feargal's solo records started to become. However after Peel's death, Feargal paid tribute to Peel at his funeral and took part in the 2005 Channel 4 documentary John Peel's Record Box praising the DJ in his support of the Undertones.

Other Shows Played
(The following list was compiled only from the database of this site and Lorcan's Tracklistings Archive and is certainly incomplete. Please add further details if known.)

1984 1985 1999 Others
 * 25 September 1984: Listen To Your Father / Can I Say I Love You (single) Zarjazz
 * 27 September 1984: Listen To Your Father (7") Zarjazz
 * Karl's Tape June 1985: Loving You
 * 19 January 1999: You Little Thief (7") Virgin
 * 25 December 1985 (TOTP): A Good Heart