Porl Thompson
Encyclopedia
Porl Thompson is an English
musician
best known for his work with The Cure
.
, and together they have three sons and a daughter.
Thompson was part of the original lineup of the Cure, which also included Robert Smith
, Michael Dempsey
, and Lol Tolhurst when the band
was first formed in 1976; however, he was dropped by the time they released their debut album, Three Imaginary Boys
, in 1979 because his lead guitar style was at odds with Smith's growing preference for minimalist songwriting. He rejoined the band in 1983 on saxophone
and helped record the album
The Top
. During the Top tour, Thompson played keyboard
as well as the guitar and saxophone. He also performed with The Glove
when they appeared on television
.
Thompson performed on four more studio
albums (The Head on the Door
, Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me
, Disintegration and Wish) and four live album
s (Concert
, Entreat
, Paris and Show) as well as the videos The Cure in Orange
, Picture Show and Festival 2005
. He also appears on the remix
album Mixed Up and the deluxe issue of Three Imaginary Boys
.
Thompson left the Cure in 1994 to play with Jimmy Page
and Robert Plant
of Led Zeppelin
during the Page and Plant
tour of 1995. He also played with Babacar
, the band formed by Boris Williams
following his departure from The Cure, and later formed his own solo project called Quietly Torn. Thompson worked with Plant again when he joined the singer's group for the 2002 release Dreamland
.
Thompson still paints and has a collection entitled "100% Sky" posted at his website. He officially rejoined the band for a third time in June 2005 and recorded the live DVD
, The Cure: Festival 2005
and appeared on their 13th studio album, 4:13 Dream.
Thompson also toured with The Cure for their 2007-2008 4Tour
.
Without any official explanation, Thompson was absent from all of the tour dates that The Cure performed in 2011.
Thompson has the distinction of being the only other person, besides Robert Smith
, to have worked with every other member of The Cure both past and present. Although he and Matthieu Hartley
were never in the same line-up, the two of them did work together on the single
"I'm a Cult Hero
".
In 2007 Schecter Guitars released a Porl Thompson Signature model featuring graphics by the British artist
, Kev Grey.
Thompson and designer Andy Vella are the co-founders of Parched Art, which has produced many of the record sleeves found on The Cure albums, many of which Thompson drew or painted.
Page and Plant
Robert Plant
Shelleyan Orphan
Babacar
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
musician
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
best known for his work with The Cure
The Cure
The Cure are an English rock band formed in Crawley, West Sussex in 1976. The band has experienced several line-up changes, with frontman, vocalist, guitarist and principal songwriter Robert Smith being the only constant member...
.
Life and work
Thompson is the oldest of four children; he has two brothers and one sister. Thompson was married to Janet Smith, the younger sister of Cure bandmate Robert SmithRobert Smith (musician)
Robert James Smith is an English musician. He is the lead singer, guitar player and principal songwriter of the rock band The Cure, and its only constant member since its founding in 1976...
, and together they have three sons and a daughter.
Thompson was part of the original lineup of the Cure, which also included Robert Smith
Robert Smith (musician)
Robert James Smith is an English musician. He is the lead singer, guitar player and principal songwriter of the rock band The Cure, and its only constant member since its founding in 1976...
, Michael Dempsey
Michael Dempsey
Michael Dempsey is a bassist from England, who has performed as a member of several post-punk and New Wave bands including The Cure and Associates.-Early years:...
, and Lol Tolhurst when the band
Band (music)
In music, a musical ensemble or band is a group of musicians that works together to perform music. The following articles concern types of musical bands:* All-female band* Big band* Boy band* Christian band* Church band* Concert band* Cover band...
was first formed in 1976; however, he was dropped by the time they released their debut album, Three Imaginary Boys
Three Imaginary Boys
The album included an uncredited, final instrumental track informally called "The Weedy Burton". The fact was not acknowledged until the Deluxe Edition re-issue.-2004 Deluxe Edition:...
, in 1979 because his lead guitar style was at odds with Smith's growing preference for minimalist songwriting. He rejoined the band in 1983 on saxophone
Saxophone
The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
and helped record the album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
The Top
The Top (album)
The Top is the fifth studio album by British band The Cure, released in 1984.-Overview:The Top was the studio album to follow Pornography. After Pornography, Robert Smith found himself without his friend Simon Gallup, who departed the band due to a fight.Smith then took a radical shift in his music...
. During the Top tour, Thompson played keyboard
Keyboard instrument
A keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
as well as the guitar and saxophone. He also performed with The Glove
The Glove
The Glove was a short-lived one-off alternative rock supergroup, formed in 1982 by The Cure's Robert Smith and Siouxsie and the Banshees' Steven Severin.-History:...
when they appeared on television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
.
Thompson performed on four more studio
Recording studio
A recording studio is a facility for sound recording and mixing. Ideally both the recording and monitoring spaces are specially designed by an acoustician to achieve optimum acoustic properties...
albums (The Head on the Door
The Head on the Door
The Head on the Door is the sixth studio album by British band The Cure, released in 1985. The album is the first to feature drummer Boris Williams, it also features the return of Simon Gallup and is Porl Thompson's first album as an official member....
, Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me
Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me
Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me is the seventh studio album by British alternative rock band The Cure. Released in 1987, this album helped put The Cure into the American mainstream, becoming their first album to reach the Billboard Top 40.-History:...
, Disintegration and Wish) and four live album
Live album
A live album is a recording consisting of material recorded during stage performances using remote recording techniques, commonly contrasted with a studio album...
s (Concert
Concert (album)
Concert: The Cure Live is the first live album of English rock band The Cure. It was recorded in 1984 at the Hammersmith Odeon in London and in Oxford...
, Entreat
Entreat
Entreat is a live album by The Cure, recorded at London's Wembley Arena in July 1989. It consists entirely of songs performed from the band's 1989 record Disintegration; while they were on their international Prayer Tour. Entreat was distributed exclusively in France as a promotional tool...
, Paris and Show) as well as the videos The Cure in Orange
The Cure in Orange
The Cure in Orange is a concert film by British rock group The Cure. It is viewed as being as an essential document of the Cure at their mid-late 1980's peak by fans of the group.-Plot Description:...
, Picture Show and Festival 2005
The Cure: Festival 2005
Festival 2005 is a live DVD by The Cure released in late 2006. It was shot during the band's headlining shows at 9 European music festivals in the summer of 2005...
. He also appears on the remix
Remix
A remix is an alternative version of a recorded song, made from an original version. This term is also used for any alterations of media other than song ....
album Mixed Up and the deluxe issue of Three Imaginary Boys
Three Imaginary Boys
The album included an uncredited, final instrumental track informally called "The Weedy Burton". The fact was not acknowledged until the Deluxe Edition re-issue.-2004 Deluxe Edition:...
.
Thompson left the Cure in 1994 to play with Jimmy Page
Jimmy Page
James Patrick "Jimmy" Page, OBE is an English multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and record producer. He began his career as a studio session guitarist in London and was subsequently a member of The Yardbirds from 1966 to 1968, after which he founded the English rock band Led Zeppelin.Jimmy Page...
and Robert Plant
Robert Plant
Robert Anthony Plant, CBE is an English singer and songwriter best known as the vocalist and lyricist of the iconic rock band Led Zeppelin. He has also had a successful solo career...
of Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin were an English rock band, active in the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s. Formed in 1968, they consisted of guitarist Jimmy Page, singer Robert Plant, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham...
during the Page and Plant
Page and Plant
Jimmy Page and Robert Plant, both formerly of English hard rock band Led Zeppelin, recorded and toured in the mid-1990s under the title Page and Plant. The pair re-united in 1994 and, after recording a highly successful first album, they embarked on a world tour. They then recorded a second album,...
tour of 1995. He also played with Babacar
Babacar
Babacar was a short-lived worldbeat supergroup formed in England, featuring former members of Shelleyan Orphan, The Cure, and Presence. The group released one album in their brief existence, their self-titled debut album in 1998, before the band dissolved when Shelleyan Orphan reunited in...
, the band formed by Boris Williams
Boris Williams
Boris Peter Bransby-Williams is an English drummer best known for his extensive work with The Cure . He had previously worked with various artists, including Thompson Twins, Kim Wilde, Strawberry Switchblade and Tomato City...
following his departure from The Cure, and later formed his own solo project called Quietly Torn. Thompson worked with Plant again when he joined the singer's group for the 2002 release Dreamland
Dreamland (Robert Plant album)
Dreamland is singer Robert Plant's seventh solo album and the first with the band "Strange Sensation". The album was released in July 2002.Many of the songs are cover versions, mainly blues, but also some rock...
.
Thompson still paints and has a collection entitled "100% Sky" posted at his website. He officially rejoined the band for a third time in June 2005 and recorded the live DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
, The Cure: Festival 2005
The Cure: Festival 2005
Festival 2005 is a live DVD by The Cure released in late 2006. It was shot during the band's headlining shows at 9 European music festivals in the summer of 2005...
and appeared on their 13th studio album, 4:13 Dream.
Thompson also toured with The Cure for their 2007-2008 4Tour
4Tour
4 Play Tour is the name of The Cure's 2007-2008 concert tour. It began with their first concert in Japan in over 22 years at the Fuji Rock Festival on 27 July 2007 and ended at New York City's Radio City Music Hall on 21 June 2008...
.
Without any official explanation, Thompson was absent from all of the tour dates that The Cure performed in 2011.
Thompson has the distinction of being the only other person, besides Robert Smith
Robert Smith (musician)
Robert James Smith is an English musician. He is the lead singer, guitar player and principal songwriter of the rock band The Cure, and its only constant member since its founding in 1976...
, to have worked with every other member of The Cure both past and present. Although he and Matthieu Hartley
Matthieu Hartley
Matthieu Hartley is an English musician born in Smallfield, England. He is best known as the original keyboardist for The Cure, but before that he and Simon Gallup were involved in two other bands called Lockjaw and The Magazine Spies....
were never in the same line-up, the two of them did work together on the single
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
"I'm a Cult Hero
I'm a Cult Hero
"I'm a Cult Hero" is a single released by an extended lineup of The Cure under the name Cult Hero.-History:The single was conceived by Robert Smith and Simon Gallup as a way to test their musical compatibility...
".
In 2007 Schecter Guitars released a Porl Thompson Signature model featuring graphics by the British artist
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
, Kev Grey.
Thompson and designer Andy Vella are the co-founders of Parched Art, which has produced many of the record sleeves found on The Cure albums, many of which Thompson drew or painted.
Discography
The Cure- The TopThe Top (album)The Top is the fifth studio album by British band The Cure, released in 1984.-Overview:The Top was the studio album to follow Pornography. After Pornography, Robert Smith found himself without his friend Simon Gallup, who departed the band due to a fight.Smith then took a radical shift in his music...
(1984) - ConcertConcert (album)Concert: The Cure Live is the first live album of English rock band The Cure. It was recorded in 1984 at the Hammersmith Odeon in London and in Oxford...
(1984) - The Cure Live In JapanThe Cure Live in JapanThe Cure Live In Japan was a Japan only VHS and Betamax release of The Cure performing live at the Nakano Sun Plaza in Tokyo October 17, 1984.-Track listing:# Shake Dog Shake# Play For Today# Primary# Wailing Wall# The Empty World# The Hanging Garden...
(1984) VHS - The Head on the DoorThe Head on the DoorThe Head on the Door is the sixth studio album by British band The Cure, released in 1985. The album is the first to feature drummer Boris Williams, it also features the return of Simon Gallup and is Porl Thompson's first album as an official member....
(1985) - Standing on a BeachStanding on a BeachStanding on a Beach is a singles compilation released by the British rock band The Cure in May, 1986, marking a decade since the band's founding in 1976...
(1986) - The Cure In OrangeThe Cure in OrangeThe Cure in Orange is a concert film by British rock group The Cure. It is viewed as being as an essential document of the Cure at their mid-late 1980's peak by fans of the group.-Plot Description:...
(1986), VHS - Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss MeKiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss MeKiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me is the seventh studio album by British alternative rock band The Cure. Released in 1987, this album helped put The Cure into the American mainstream, becoming their first album to reach the Billboard Top 40.-History:...
(1987) - Disintegration (1989)
- Mixed Up (1990)
- EntreatEntreatEntreat is a live album by The Cure, recorded at London's Wembley Arena in July 1989. It consists entirely of songs performed from the band's 1989 record Disintegration; while they were on their international Prayer Tour. Entreat was distributed exclusively in France as a promotional tool...
(1991) - Wish (1992)
- ParisParis (The Cure album)Paris is a live album recorded by The Cure at Le Zénith de Paris, in October 1992 during their Wish tour, but released in 1993.Paris was released at the same time as Show, which was recorded in the United States. The album features more cult classics like "The Figurehead" and "One Hundred Years"...
(1993) - Show (1993)
- Galore (1997)
- Greatest HitsGreatest Hits (The Cure album)Greatest Hits is a 2001 compilation album by The Cure. The band's relationship with longtime label Fiction Records came to a close, and The Cure were obliged to release one final album for the label. Robert Smith agreed to release a greatest hits album under the condition that he could choose the...
(2001) - Festival 2005The Cure: Festival 2005Festival 2005 is a live DVD by The Cure released in late 2006. It was shot during the band's headlining shows at 9 European music festivals in the summer of 2005...
(2005), DVD - 4:13 Dream (2008)
Page and Plant
- No Quarter: Jimmy Page and Robert Plant UnleddedNo Quarter: Jimmy Page and Robert Plant UnleddedNo Quarter is a live album by Page and Plant, both formerly of English rock band Led Zeppelin. It was released by Atlantic Records on 14 October 1994. The long awaited reunion between Page and Plant occurred on a 90 minute "UnLedded" MTV project, recorded in Morocco, Wales, and London, which rated...
(1994)
Robert Plant
- DreamlandDreamland (Robert Plant album)Dreamland is singer Robert Plant's seventh solo album and the first with the band "Strange Sensation". The album was released in July 2002.Many of the songs are cover versions, mainly blues, but also some rock...
(2002)
Shelleyan Orphan
- Humroot (1992)
Babacar
- BabacarBabacar (album)Babacar is the first album released by the British rock band Babacar in 1998. The album only received mediocre reviews and was a commercial failure...
(1998)