10cc founder member Graham Gouldman plays hits galore in semi-acoustic show touring to Derbyshire

Graham is a founder member of 10cc who scored chart-topping hits with I’m Not In Love, Rubber Bullets and Dreadlock Holiday during the Seventies.

He will tour his Heart Full of Songs show to Buxton’s Pavilion Arts Centre on March 9, 2023, where he will be joined by 10cc live band members Iain Hornal and Keith Hayman with accompanying percussion by Dave Cobby.

The concert will feature songs from Graham’s celebrated back catalogue, including chart hits for 10cc, The Hollies, Herman’s Hermits, The Yardbirds and his time in Wax with Andrew Gold.Graham formed what became Heart Full of Songs nine years ago purely for the pleasure of playing his songs in their simplest form: acoustically. This format proved so popular that the show now travels around the UK every two years. Since Heart Full of Songs last toured the UK in September 2021, Graham has been busy taking 10cc to some of Europe’s most prestigious concert venues, along with four hugely successful arena events with Toto.

Graham said, “I’m very much looking forward to taking Heart Full Of Songs on the road again where I get to play and talk about some of my old songs, and explain their origins, but also play some new material that I am very proud of.

“I'm also looking forward to working with multi instrumentalists/vocalists Iain Hornal and Keith Hayman, both of whom are my 10cc bandmates. On percussion we have Dave Cobby, who also happens to be 10cc's production manager. I hope you enjoy the gigs as much as we enjoy playing them.”

Graham’s prestigious career took off in 1965 when his song For Your Love became a huge hit for The Yardbirds, having been previously rejected by the Columbia label when Graham’s band The Mockingbirds offered it up.

By day Graham worked in a men’s outfitters shop and at night played in a semi-professional band. He wrote hits such as Pamela, Pamela for Wayne Fontana, For Your Love, Evil Hearted You and Heart Full of Soul (The Yardbirds), Bus Stop and Look Through Any Window (The Hollies), No Milk Today and Listen People (Herman's Hermits), and Tallyman for Jeff Beck.

In 1972, along with Eric Stewart, Kevin Godley and Lol Creme, he formed 10cc. The band enjoyed a string of top ten hits including Donna, Art For Art’s Sake, Good Morning Judge, The Thing We Do For Love and I’m Mandy Fly Me.

Graham’s more recent career highlights include being invited by Ringo Starr to join his All Starr Band for arena tours of Europe and the USA in 2018, during which the band played three 10cc songs at each performance. Graham worked with Queen’s guitarist Brian May to release the song Floating in Heaven as a single to mark the unveiling of the first images from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope during summer 2022.

Tickets cost £36 for the Heart Full of Songs concert. Book tickets online at www.buxtonoperahouse.org.ukor call 01298 72190.