Ian Gomm

• Genre: Pub Rock

About

Ian Gomm spent five years in behind-the-scenes positions at EMI before trading his day job for the bright lights of the stage in 1970. Gomm often jokes that he quit his job on a Friday and by Monday he was hired as the rhythm guitarist and additional singer for the highly influential band Brinsley Schwarz. At the time, Brinsely Schwarz were playing country-tinged pub-rock and were managed by ex-Jimi Hendrix tour manager Dave Robinson -- who would go on to form Stiff Records. Gomm's musical arrangements and solid musicianship helped build Brinsley Schwarz into the venue-packing band they became before calling it quits in 1975. After the split, Gomm retreated to Wales and built a home studio where he recorded the songs for his debut solo album, Summer Holiday. Released in 1978 on the new indie label Albion, Summer Holiday barely registered a blip on the U.K.'s musical radar. But when the same album (renamed Gomm With the Wind) was released in America the following year, Gomm found himself with a bona fide smash thanks to the song "Hold On." Gomm's star was definitely on the rise; as "Hold On" peaked at No. 12 on the U.S. charts, he was offered the opening slot on the Dire Straits tour. In addition, country music icon Glenn Campbell recorded a version of "Hooked On Love" and Nick Lowe found fame with "Cruel To Be Kind," a song co-written by Gomm back in the Brinsley Schwarz days. Although his sophomore effort What A Blow didn't yield a hit, the single "Man On A Mountain" did respectably enough to lead to a third album, 1982's The Village Voice. He's released material sporadically throughout the 1980s and '90s, but Gomm's success never reached the commercial peak of his debut.

- Linda Ryan