Tom Hingley
title: "Tom Hingley" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1965-births", "living-people", "english-male-singers", "english-male-songwriters", "people-from-abingdon-on-thames", "musicians-from-oldham", "musicians-from-the-metropolitan-borough-of-oldham", "inspiral-carpets-members", "academics-of-the-university-of-salford", "musicians-from-manchester", "madchester-musicians", "alumni-of-manchester-metropolitan-university"] topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Hingley" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::data[format=table title="Infobox musical artist "]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Tom Hingley |
| image | Tom_Hingley.jpg |
| caption | Tom Hingley onstage in 2003 |
| background | solo_singer |
| birth_name | Thomas William Hingley |
| birth_date | |
| birth_place | Abingdon, Berkshire, England |
| instrument | |
| genre | Indie |
| occupation | Musician, singer, songwriter |
| years_active | 1985–present |
| label | Ugly Man |
| Mute | |
| Newmemorabilia | |
| associated_acts | Tom Hingley Band |
| The Lovers | |
| Inspiral Carpets | |
| Too Much Texas | |
| website | |
| :: |
| name = Tom Hingley | image = Tom_Hingley.jpg | caption = Tom Hingley onstage in 2003 | image_size = | background = solo_singer | birth_name = Thomas William Hingley | alias = | birth_date = |birth_place = Abingdon, Berkshire, England | death_date = | instrument = | genre = Indie | occupation = Musician, singer, songwriter | years_active = 1985–present | label = Ugly Man Mute Newmemorabilia | associated_acts = Tom Hingley Band The Lovers Inspiral Carpets Too Much Texas | website =
Thomas William Hingley (born 9 July 1965) is an English singer, songwriter and guitarist, best known as the frontman of Inspiral Carpets.
Early life
Hingley was born in Abingdon, Berkshire (now Oxfordshire) and grew up in nearby Frilford. He is the seventh child of the Russian scholar Ronald Hingley, translator of Chekhov for Oxford University Press.{{cite news |url =https://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/9893558.former-frontman-inspiral-story-tell/|title =Former frontman has an Inspiral story to tell |first =Andrew |last =Ffrench|newspaper =Oxford Mail|date =26 August 2012}} He attended Larkmead School before moving to Manchester in 1984 to study English at Manchester Polytechnic.
Career
Hingley formed a band called Too Much Texas, and got a job collecting glasses at The Haçienda nightclub in Manchester. He joined Inspiral Carpets as lead vocalist in 1989. Inspiral Carpets broke up in 1995 and Hingley started a career as a solo artist, releasing Keep Britain Untidy (2000) and Soulfire (2002), on his label Newmemorabilia Records. Inspiral Carpets later reformed in 2003 to promote their Greatest Hits and tour the UK.
Hingley finally parted company with Inspiral Carpets in February 2011, the band returned to performing and writing with their original pre-1989 singer Stephen Holt who remains their frontman to date. Hingley's memoir Carpet Burns, My life with Inspiral Carpets charts his time with the band from 1989 to 2011.
In 2001, Hingley formed the band The Lovers with Steve and Paul Hanley (both former members of The Fall), Jason Brown, and Kelly Wood. The Lovers' first album, Abba Are The Enemy, was released in 2004. In 2002–03, he joined a reformed Inspiral Carpets for two UK tours and again in 2006/2007.
His second album with the Lovers, Highlights, was released in March 2008. In August 2009 Hingley played the Rebellion Punk Festival in Blackpool. In 2009, Hingley released a new solo acoustic record on Newmemorabilia Records called Thames Valley Delta Blues, a kind of follow up to the earlier, much-acclaimed Keep Britain Untidy.
Discography
Solo albums
- Keep Britain Untidy (2000)
- Soulfire (2001)
- Thames Valley Delta Blues (2009)
- Sand (2013)
- Paper (2013)
- Hymns for the hungry (2020)
- the grand mal (2024)
EP'S
- Happiness EP (2002)
With Mackay Hingley
- Decades (2023)
With Tom Hingley Band
- No Peace for the Good Looking (2014)
- I love my job (2018)
With Tom Hingley and The Lovers
- Work, Rest & Play (EP) (1997)
- "Yeah" (single) (2003)
- Abba Are The Enemy (album) (2004)
- Highlights (album) 2008
With Inspiral Carpets
;Studio albums
- Life (1990)
- The Beast Inside (1991)
- Revenge of the Goldfish (1992)
- Devil Hopping (1994)
;Compilation albums
- The Singles (1995)
- Radio 1 Sessions (1996)
- Greatest Hits (2003)
- Cool As (2003)
- Keep the Circle (2007)
;VHS/DVD
- 21.07.90 Live at Manchester G-Mex VHS (1990)
- The Singles VHS (1995)
- Live at Brixton Academy DVD (2004)
;EPs
- The Peel Sessions (1989)
- Cool As Fuck (1990)
- Island Head (1990)
- The Peel Sessions 1990 (1992)
Singles
::data[format=table]
| Release date | Title | UK Single Chart | Album |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1989, May | "Joe" | – | – |
| 1989, August | "Find Out Why" | 90 | – |
| 1989, November | "Move" | 49 | Life |
| 1990, March | "This Is How It Feels" | 14 | Life |
| 1990, June | "Commercial Reign" (U.S. release) | – | Life |
| 1990, June | "She Comes in the Fall" | 27 | Life |
| 1991, March | "Caravan" | 30 | The Beast Inside |
| 1991, June | "Please Be Cruel" | 50 | The Beast Inside |
| 1992, February | "Dragging Me Down" | 12 | Revenge of the Goldfish |
| 1992, May | "Two Worlds Collide" | 32 | Revenge of the Goldfish |
| 1992, September | "Generations" | 28 | Revenge of the Goldfish |
| 1992, November | "Bitches Brew" | 36 | Revenge of the Goldfish |
| 1993, May | "How It Should Be" | 49 | – |
| 1994, January | "Saturn 5" | 20 | Devil Hopping |
| 1994, February | "I Want You" | 18 | Devil Hopping |
| 1994, April | "Uniform" | 51 | Devil Hopping |
| 1995, September | "Joe" | 37 | The Singles |
| 2003, July | "Come Back Tomorrow" | 43 | Cool As |
| :: |
With Too Much Texas
- Fixed Link (Flexi disk) (1986)
- Hurry on Down (1988) on Ugly Man
- Juvenilia (2006)
Collaborations
- Oliver Klein featuring Tom Hingley: Shakedown/Shakedub (EP) (2002)
References
References
- (January 2018)
- Strong, Martin C. (2003) ''The Great Indie Discography'', Canongate, {{ISBN. 1-84195-335-0, p. 803
- Frame, Pete (1999) ''Pete Frame's Rockin' Around Britain: Rock'n'roll Landmarks of the UK and Ireland'', Omnibus Press; {{ISBN. 978-0-7119-6973-5, p. 127
- Harrison, Flicky (2009) "[http://www.thisiswiltshire.co.uk/leisure/music/4303315.TOm_Hingley_at_THe_12_Bar__Westcott_Place__Swindon_on_April_30 Tom Hingley at The Vic, Victoria Road, Old Town, Swindon on 30 April]", Thisiswiltshire.co.uk, 20 April 2009; retrieved 1 November 2010
- Hingley, Tom. (2012). "Carpet Burns: My Life with Inspiral Carpets". Route Publishing.
- Express & Star. (20 February 2008). "Inspiral Carpets fly high again".
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