The one lesson I’ve learned from life: Suggs from Madness says music helps you through bad times
- Graham McPherson, 59, who lives in North London, is better known as Suggs
- Madness frontman explained music is an emotional tool that has helped him
- He listened to an old CD recorded by his mother, Edwina, when she died in 2018
Madness frontman, solo artist and presenter Graham McPherson, better known as Suggs, 59, has had more than 40 top 40 hits. He lives in North London with his wife Anne and has two grown-up daughters.
Last year, I was working with Paul Weller on a duet of the Ray Davies song Nobody’s Fool for a London show. He was being a real perfectionist, so one day I sent him an email saying: ‘Look, it’s only music.’
He emailed back saying: ‘No, it’s not only music.’ And he was right.
Though Madness always worked hard, we’ve never taken what we do too seriously. But I’ve come to realise that music for me isn’t just the tunes. It’s an emotional tool I’ve been able to use to get me through difficult times.
Graham McPherson, 59, (pictured) who lives in North London, revealed the importance of music for helping him to cope in difficult times
It was very hard when my mum, Edwina, died in 2018. She was a club singer, but many at her funeral had never heard her perform. So I found an old CD she’d recorded, with the song A Foggy Day (In London Town) on it, and played it during her funeral service. That was really something for me. It became a moment of shared reflection.
When Madness reformed in 1992 for some shows in front of 75,000 people, we were scared before we went on stage, as we hadn’t played together in six years. But the power of the music helped us.
As soon as Carl [Smyth] shouted the first words to One Step Beyond, the crowd went berserk. It felt like an earthquake. It was a euphoric moment.
Every day, I bump into someone who says: ‘Your songs affected my life.’ I know how they feel.
Music, for me, is a great way of losing yourself. When you listen to it, you’re not intellectualising or over-analysing your life.
I’m isolating in my home in Whitstable at the moment, and music is my escape from the turmoil that’s going on around us.
I don’t have good wi-fi down here, but I’ve found an old jazz CD and it’s been so nice to sit through a whole album without skipping any tracks. The news is so depressing, but the music is like an exercise in meditation.
Before We Was We: The Making Of Madness By Madness (£9.99, Virgin Books) is out now in paperback.