Gregory Gray

Gregory Gray (20 May 1959 – 25 April 2019), born Paul Lerwill, was a Northern Irish singer and songwriter. He began his career as a member of Rosetta Stone, a 1970s boy band, and became an influential cult musician who made indie music and videos under the pseudonym Mary Cigarettes. He published his work on online platforms such as YouTube and SoundCloud. During the course of his career his musical style ranged over an eclectic spectrum of pop, post-punk, indie rock, electronic dance music, jazz and folk.

His post-punk band Perfect Crime was a support act for U2, Eurythmics, Talking Heads, and Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD).

Early life

Lerwill was born in Portrush, a seaside town in County Antrim, Northern Ireland, on 20 May 1959 as Paul Lerwill. His mother was English and his father was Anglo-Indian. He had three brothers and a sister. When Lerwill was 10 years old, the family moved to Singapore, where they lived at the RAF Changi airbase for three years, as his father was stationed there with the British Royal Air Force. It was there that he learned to play the guitar.

On returning to Portrush, as a 14-year-old he accompanied the "Singing Farmer" John Watt on the guitar in the Northern Star pub in Ballymoney, which Lerwill's father owned. He also worked in amusement arcades in Portrush and as a DJ in Kelly's, a local nightclub. In the UK they appeared on the children's TV programme Crackerjack. The only country where they were very successful was Japan, where they performed sold-out shows in arenas that could accommodate 6,000 people. A rehearsal space was provided for the group by Dominican nuns in Portstewart. Along with Steel Pulse, Big Country, Eurythmics, and Simple Minds, Perfect Crime performed before a crowd of 15,000 on 14 August 1983, at a nine-hour concert at Phoenix Park Racecourse, Dublin, when they were supporting U2 on a later leg of the War Tour. It was described by RTÉ as "the rock event of the year". Perfect Crime's set received positive press reviews.

Solo career "Gregory Gray is of major significance ... because he has attempted to extend the Irish pop lexicon in important directions. Gray is also of interest as his music has articulated the diverse aspects of gay identity/ies as well as addressing gay audiences (though in no sense exclusively so) ... As [Ireland's] first 'out' gay pop performer, his story is of further interest as he has been virtually erased from the dominant discourse of Irish rock." source= McLaughlin, Noel; McLoone, Martin (2012) "Roads not taken? Gregory Gray" in Rock and Popular Music in Ireland: Before and After U2.

His second solo album, Strong at Broken Places, was produced by Davitt Sigerson and released by Atco Records, a subsidiary of PolyGram, in 1990. Sigerson became the CEO of EMI in 1994, and he signed Gray to that label, on which he released Euroflake in Silverlake in 1995. It was produced by Stephen Hague. Its title is a reference to the Silverlake gay district of Los Angeles. These two albums were released in the United States, mainland Europe, and East Asia, but not in the UK.

Personal life

While Gray (then Lerwill) was in Rosetta Stone he had a romantic relationship with Tam Paton, the band's manager, and became involved with a hedonistic social circle that included Freddie Mercury. 1983 "Brave" Single MCA Records With Perfect Crime. 1995 Euroflake in Silverlake CD EMI As Gregory Gray. With Guy Pratt as a session musician. 1995 "The Pope Does Not Smoke Dope" Single EMI CD single released from the Euroflake in Silverlake album. 2006 "Nobody Really Knows" YouTube video Self-published on YouTube As Mary Cigarettes. 2009 "Keep Your Powder Dry" YouTube video Self-published on YouTube As Mary Cigarettes. 2009 "Burning Bridges That Never Really Mattered" YouTube video Self-published on YouTube As Mary Cigarettes. 2010 "Whatever Turns You On" MP3 Self-published on SoundCloud As Mary Cigarettes. 2010 "Jimmy Page" MP3 Self-published on SoundCloud As Mary Cigarettes. 2010 "Failure and Redemption" MP3 Self-published on SoundCloud As Mary Cigarettes. 2012 "Next Years Ghost" MP3 Self-published on SoundCloud As Mary Cigarettes. 2013 "International House of Pancakes" MP3 Self-published on SoundCloud As Mary Cigarettes. 2014 "Madman in the Rain" MP3 Self-published on SoundCloud As Mary Cigarettes. 2015 "Hard Times Lately" MP3 Self-published on SoundCloud As Mary Cigarettes. 2016 "Full English Breakfast" MP3 Self-published on SoundCloud As Mary Cigarettes. 2018 "Time Is Not Cheap Anymore" MP3 Self-published on SoundCloud As Mary Cigarettes. 2018 "Big Fat Mouth" MP3 Self-published on SoundCloud As Mary Cigarettes.