Oh World (album)

Oh World
Studio album by Paul Rutherford
Released	1989
Genre	Pop, funk, soul, house
Label	Island Records, 4th & Broadway

Oh World, released in 1989, is the sole solo album by Paul Rutherford, the former backing singer of Frankie Goes To Hollywood.

Following the split of Frankie Goes to Hollywood in 1987, Rutherford teamed up with two production teams, Dave Clayton and Joe Dworniak and ABC's Martin Fry and Mark White, for his debut solo album. Released in 1989, the album spawned three singles. The leading single "Get Real" was banned by the BBC, and peaked at #47 in the UK. A cover of Chic's 1979 hit single "I Want Your Love" was the second single and peaked at #82. A third and final single was the title track "Oh World" which peaked at #61. However, due to the BBC ban of "Get Real" and the disappointing chart performances of the three singles, the album was never released in the UK, in favor of a European and American issue only. It was to be Rutherford's only solo album as he faded from the public eye shortly afterwards.

On 24 March 2013, Penny Black Music published an interview with Rutherford.

Paul Waller, interviewer: So, in 1989, after the demise of Frankie you released your solo album, "Oh World". You must have had a lot more artistic control with that project, but it wasn't the greatest of times for you. Do you look fondly on that time of your life at all?

Rutherford: No, no I don't. I was going through such a big personal downer at that time. My partner died during my planned solo career so I disappeared for a while because I thought it was more important for him. He died due to AIDS complications. It was really quite hard to deal with and took five years out of my life. I made the "Oh World" album during the middle of all this, so when you listen to it now you can hear where a lot of the music comes from in a way. I wasn't turning up for stuff and the record company was getting really cheesed with me. I spent a lot of time in hospitals, and it just got all too much for me. There were bigger things going on as well that I can't really tell you about but they knew. I thought I was wasting their time, my time and worst of all his time which was more precious than anything. But some people can deal with that sort of situation. I now see it as sort of a gift in a way; I stepped up. At the time I stood up for gay rights so much. So I can see it now as a good thing for me. It turned me into a better person, I think.

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