Here’s something a bit different! Kevin Godley, best known as a member of 70s supergroup, 10cc, and then Godley & Creme, has released a new book. Part autobiography, part creative manual, “Spacecake” is available to purchase on iTunes and downloaded on iBooks (which can be read on any Mac iOS device).
“Spacecake” chronicles the misadventures of a debauched and dangerous masochist as he tantrums his way through the sleazy worlds of Rock & Roll, music video and technology, each squalid escapade dragging him ever deeper into a repugnant maelstrom of sordid excess…well sort of. A wee bit. Actually…not remotely.
Godley and Lol Creme co-founded 10cc in the late 60s (the band had been writing and playing together for 3 years before assuming the name in 1972) and left the group together in 1976 to form Godley & Creme. Along with releasing seven albums between 1977 and 1988, the pair directed videos for artists including Status Quo, Asia, Toyah, David Sylvian, Yes and Eric Clapton. They won many MTV awards for their unique films and were jointly nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Music Video, Long Form for “The Police: Synchronicity Concert” in 1986.
They were also behind the camera for Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush 1986 hit “Don’t Give Up”.
Born in Prestwich, Lancashire in 1945 into a family with Jewish ancestry, Kevin Godley went to North Cestrian Grammar School in Altrincham. His first band was Group 17, which had its origins in the Jewish Lads Brigade (The JLB). The members were Henri Shalam, Bernard Suffrin, Sydney Kaye and Jeffrey Baker, whose father may have inspired the “Sergeant Baker” character in the 10cc song, “Rubber Bullets”.
Godley writes, sings, and plays drums and percussion and in 1990 conceived and directed the TV music special “One World One Voice” that featured a global piece of music focusing on environmental and ecological issues. Godley also became a vegetarian during this period.
Both Godley and Lol Creme briefly “reunited” with their former 10cc bandmates Eric Stewart and Graham Gouldman on the 1992 album, “Meanwhile”. However, Godley claims that their involvement with the project was very limited, as studio musicians dominated the album. He performed the lead vocal on “The Stars Didn’t Show”, the band’s tribute to the late Roy Orbison. It was the only song on the album not sung by Stewart. Following “Meanwhile”, Godley and Creme went their separate ways.
He reunited with another former 10cc member, Graham Gouldman, to record new music in 2006 as GG/06, and together they have recorded six new songs which are available via their website.
Recently, Godley has moved into developing a music platform that combines audio and video to create a global recording studio in the cloud called “WholeWorldBand”. The company was nominated for the “SXSW Music Accelerator Award” in 2013 and was one of eight finalists selected from a pool of over 500.