The Firm (novelty band)

The Firm
Origin	London, England
Genres	Novelty songs
Years active	1982–1987
Labels	Bark
Past members	John O'Connor, Grahame Lister, Tony Thorpe, Dev Douglas, Gary Wilson

The Firm is a British music act, formed by guitarist, session musician and music producer John O'Connor, which had hits in the 1980s with novelty songs.

John O'Connor, primarily an acoustic guitarist, ran his own recording studio (Bark Studios in Walthamstow, London) specialising in songwriters' demos, for some ten years. In the early 1980s he decided to concentrate more on playing and writing music, working as a session musician with artists in a variety of genres, from Maddy Prior and Isla St Clair to the more commercial pop of Bucks Fizz.

In 1982 he and fellow guitarist Grahame Lister wrote a novelty song, "Arthur Daley 'E's Alright", based on the Arthur Daley character from the British TV series Minder, and including many catchphrases from the show. Unable to find an artist willing to release the song, O'Connor & Lister did it themselves, under the name of 'The Firm'. It spent seven weeks in the UK Top 40, peaking at No. 14, and was performed on TV chart show Top of the Pops on 29 July 1982 featuring former Rubettes guitarist Tony Thorpe on lead vocals.

In 1983, with the future of the Grand National horse race in doubt, The Firm released a song "Long Live The National" as a single in support of the campaign to keep the race alive. The single did not chart. The following year they released "Superheroes" written again by Lister and O'Connor.

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