Deacon Blue

‘Bigger Than Dynamite’ – brand new single. UK release date October 9th

‘Singles’ – album release (16 Top 40 hits and 3 new songs). UK release October 16th

"Great songs and impassioned lyrics" - Q Magazine

If a band can claim squatters’ rights, then Deacon Blue can take ownership of the charts. Theirfirst album ‘Raintown’ set the precedent, spending 77 weeks in the album chart, and with five top 5 UK albums (of which 2 were number 1) under the belts they have chalked up an impressive 4 years in the British album charts. Their seventeen top 40 singles resided in the chart for more than 2 years.

So what better way to celebrate their 21st anniversary than a collection of those hit singles?

Deacon Blue are one of the UK's most commercially successful bands with a reputation for writing and performing classic and timeless pop songs. ‘Singles’ is a CD for all lovers of great pop music– a 19 track digitally re-mastered collection that includes 16 of their hit singles – including their first hit single ‘Dignity’, the ‘Real Gone Kid’, 'Chocolate Girl', and 'Twist and Shout' - and 3 brand new songswhich continue their extraordinary legacy - ‘The One About Loneliness’, ‘Haunted’ and the single ‘Bigger Than Dynamite’.

Ricky Ross explains: “the new songs were written for this project in and around December 05 with the exception of ‘The One About Loneliness’ which I wrote as a closing song for my last solo tour in May 2005. Fortunately/unfortunately I never got round to learning it well enough to play live so it seemed an ideal starting point for the recording session on this album. It also felt like a song made for Deacon Blue. ‘Haunted’ was fairly slow moving song until Lorraine insisted she had a better plan and upped the tempo and brought in a new chorus. ‘Bigger Than Dynamite’ was a happy outcome of a day Scott (Fraser) and I decided to try writing something for the project.

Away from the band the members have been busy – Ricky Ross released his solo album Pale Rider last year and is very much a songwriter in demand, writing for James Blunt, Ronan Keating, Robert Post and Gareth Gates; following her role in the Ken Loach film ‘My Name Is Joe’ Lorraine has been acting in the Scottish TV series River City since 2002; Dougie’s broadcasting career has gone from strength to strength and, in addition to presenting on Grandstand, he is the anchor and main reporter for BBC Scotland’s Sportscene programmes, Jim meanwhile is a lecturer in commercial music at the University of Paisley in Scotland.

A concert for 30,000 fans on New Year's Eve marked the start of a return for the band in 2006 accompanied by the re-release of their classic debut album 'Raintown'. A band who enjoys performing live, Deacon Blue will be undertaking a 17 date UK tour in November in support of the album release.

DEACON BLUE - WINTER TOUR 2006

Studio 202  Westbourne Studios 242 Acklam RoadLondonW10 5JJ

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Sun 05 Nov 06Cambridge Corn Exchange

Mon 06 Nov 06 Portsmouth Guildhall

Tue 07 Nov 06 Newcastle City Hall

Thu 09 Nov 06 Sheffield City Hall

Fri 10 Nov 06 Manchester Carling Apollo

Sun 12 Nov 06 Leicester De Montfort Hall

Mon 13 Nov 06 Bristol Colston Hall

Wed 15 Nov 06 Brighton Centre

Thu 16 Nov 06 Birmingham Symphony Hall

Fri 17 Nov 06 London Hammersmith Apollo

Mon 20 Nov 06 Dundee Caird Hall

Tue 21 Nov 06 Aberdeen Music Hall

Thu 23 Nov 06 Edinburgh Usher Hall

Fri 24 Nov 06 Glasgow Carling Academy

Sat 25 Nov 06 Glasgow Carling Academy

Sun 26 Nov 06 Liverpool Empire

Studio 202  Westbourne Studios 242 Acklam RoadLondonW10 5JJ

t 020 8960 7449  f 020 8960 7524  e 

Studio 202  Westbourne Studios 242 Acklam RoadLondonW10 5JJ

t 020 8960 7449  f 020 8960 7524  e 