Paul Morley

Paul Morley
Paul Morley (left) with Chris Austin, in rehearsal for Morley's "Yet another example of the porousness of certain borders" at the Royal Academy of Music
Background information
Birth name	Paul Robert Morley
Born	(1957-03-26) 26 March 1957 (age 59) Farnham, Surrey, England, UK
Occupation(s)	Journalist, writer, music producer
Associated acts	Art of Noise, Infantjoy

Paul Robert Morley (born 26 March 1957) is an English music journalist. He wrote for the New Musical Express from 1977 to 1983 and has since written for a wide range of publications. He has also been a band manager and promoter as well as a television presenter.

Morley was born in Farnham, Surrey, and moved with his family to Eccles, Salford, before starting school. He was educated at , at the time a direct grant grammar school, and the Royal Academy of Music.

Morley wrote for three Manchester area magazines in the late 1970s, Penetration, Out There and Girl Trouble. He then went on to write for NME, where he and colleagues such as Ian Penman developed an innovative style of music criticism that drew on critical theory and other non-musical sources. After leaving the NME, he was a regular contributor to BLITZ magazine from 1984 to 1987, penning a monthly television column as well as a series of interviews.

For a period of time, Morley produced and managed Manchester punk band the Drones. However, he first came to wider attention with a brief appearance in the video for ABC's "The Look of Love" (in which he mimes the words "what's that?" in a call-and-response routine with singer Martin Fry), and some fame as co-founder, with Trevor Horn, of ZTT Records and electronic group Art of Noise.

Morley is credited with steering the marketing and promotion of the phenomenal early success of ZTT's biggest act, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, heavily influenced by Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft's image for Alles Ist Gut. Although it has never been confirmed, it is claimed that Morley authored the provocative slogans on the band's T-shirts (e.g. "Frankie Say Arm the Unemployed", "Frankie Say War! Hide Yourself").