Patrik Fitzgerald
| Patrik Fitzgerald | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Patrick Joseph Fitzgerald |
| Born |
19 March 1956 East London, United Kingdom |
| Genres | Folk punk, punk rock |
| Occupation(s) | Singer-songwriter |
| Instruments | guitar |
| Years active | 1977-present |
| Labels | Polydor, Red Flame, Small Wonder, Himalaya, Beat Bedsit, Anagram, Cherry Red |
| Website | www |
Patrik Fitzgerald (born Patrick Joseph Fitzgerald, 19 March 1956, East London) is an English singer-songwriter and an originator of folk punk. The son of working-class Irish immigrant parents, he began recording and performing during the punk rock movement in 1977, after working briefly as an actor.
His early songs were generally short, sarcastic efforts, recorded with just an acoustic guitar and occasional studio effects, with lyrics containing a large amount of social comment. Fitzgerald was soon regarded as an original of his genre, somewhere between a punk-poet and an urban folksinger, and was lauded in some circles as "the new Bob Dylan". After starting out as a busker, he approached David Bowie's original manager, Ken Pitt, requesting his services; Pitt declined but an audition was set up with Noel Gay in 1975 who also turned Fitzgerald down.
In 1976 Fitzgerald auditioned, alongside Mick Jones and Tony James for the band London SS, again without success. After a spell acting in a communal theatre group (9 months in Stratford's The Soapbox Theatre ), he drifted towards the developing Punk scene. He was a regular customer at the Small Wonder record shop in London, and when Small Wonder launched a record label Fitzgerald was one of the first to submit a demo - and got a deal, with the new label releasing his first three EPs, the first being Safety-Pin Stuck in My Heart, still his best-known work, and one which he subtitles "a love song for punk music". Patrik became a regular performer at London Punk gigs, and supported The Jam on their national tour.
These early recordings attracted interest from Polydor Records who signed him up to record his first LP, Grubby Stories in 1979, recorded with established punk musicians including Robert Blamire of Penetration and John Maher of the Buzzcocks. The LP contained 17 tracks, 7 of them recorded with these musicians.
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