A founding member of the groundbreaking
Bauhaus,
Tones on Tail, and
Love and Rockets, guitarist, singer, and songwriter
Daniel Ash distinguished himself in the world of alternative rock during the 1970s, '80s, and '90s.
Ash was born in Northampton, England, on July 31, 1957. As a child, he heard
the Dave Clark Five's "Bits and Pieces" and was blown away by the massive booming echo of the song, but it wasn't the first single he purchased -- "The first record I bought was
Dave & Ansel Collins' 'Double Barrel'," he recalls. Driven by a love of rock & roll,
Ash began playing in cover bands: "The first gig I ever played was in the Glasgow Rangers Workman's Club." That show ended in a fracas.
Ash had become friends with
Peter Murphy in his teenage years: "We were two oddballs in the class who didn't fit in."
Ash went to art school and
Murphy went to work in a printing factory. They met up five years later and
Ash suggested forming a band.
Rigging up a makeshift rehearsal space,
Ash played an echo 12-bar blues, while
Murphy sang a series of newspaper articles. "After 15 seconds,"
Ash says , "I knew we'd have some sort of success. Four weeks after, we formed
Bauhaus, and we recorded 'Bela Lugosi's Dead'." That song, issued in 1979, became the cornerstone of the goth rock movement. After nearly five years of trailblazing recording and performing,
Bauhaus broke up and
Ash put together
Tones on Tail with
Bauhaus drummer
Kevin Haskins. After several EPs, the full-length
Pop, and a club hit in "Go!," the group mutated into the highly influential
Love and Rockets in 1985, when
Bauhaus bassist
David J came on board. The band became one of the biggest alternative bands of the '80s, issuing respected LPs like 1986's
Express and 1987's
Earth, Sun, Moon, and finally enjoying a worldwide Top Ten hit with 1989's "So Alive."
While
Daniel Ash's first solo album,
Coming Down, was a moody, late-night rumination written in the aftermath of divorce,
Foolish Thing Desire, his second, was a celebration of life's perils and pleasures, recorded at Woodbine Street Studios with longtime collaborator
John A. Rivers. It's essentially positive, presenting a rush of passionate and powerful rock riffs. In 2002,
Ash released a self-titled album that flirted with electronic dance which was followed three years later by a live album, Come Alive. In 2008,
Ash would see the reunions of both of his primary bands with
Bauhaus going on to release Go Away White, their first studio album in 25 years, and Love & Rockets reforming to play at the famed Coachella Music and Arts Festival. ~ All Music Guide