Biography

Introduction

Eugene Michael McGuinness (born September 1985 in Leytonstone) is a British singer-songwriter currently living in London and is of Irish heritage.

Music career

McGuinness began writing music at the age of 15. He moved to Liverpool to attend the Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts (LIPA) after leaving school in London. While he was in Liverpool, he made friends with fellow LIPA alumni The Wombats and performed for Paul McCartney.

His first release, The Early Learnings Of Eugene McGuinness, was released on 6 August 2007, on Domino Records' sublabel Double Six Records. Although the extended play was less than half an hour long, it received praise from critics while not selling many copies. BBC reviewer Chris White called it "brimful with ideas" and stated that McGuinness' voice on the record "soars euphorically and coos playfully with equal aplomb". Drowned in Sound gave the EP a rating of 9/10, saying "McGuinness has a way with words that's quite remarkable". However, despite gaining the backing of its critics, it failed to chart in the United Kingdom.

Following the good response of Learnings, he went on to release his eponymous debut album, Eugene McGuinness, under the Domino label on 13 October 2008. Unlike the last release, Eugene McGuinness is a full-length album with twelve tracks. Like his EP, the album has given glowing reviews by critics. An Observer journalist called the album "busily eclectic", while Drowned in Sound labelled it "a bold and confident piece of brilliance, equally off kilter as it is tenderly raw". The BBC said that the album "runs the formative gamut of angsty, carefree, happy-sad, hormone-fuelled, late-teens emotions with a solipsistic disregard for any feelings but his own".