Badly Drawn Boy (1970– )

English pop musician. His indie music incorporates a variety of styles, often fusing rock, jazz, and folk. He released his first album, Hour of Bewilderbeast, featuring the hit singles ‘Once Around the Block’ and ‘Spitting in the Wind’, in 2000. He followed with Have You Fed the Fish? (2002) and One Plus One Equals One (2004).

Hour of Bewilderbeast, which featured a variety of instruments including cello and french horn, won the UK's Mercury Music Prize for Best Album in 2000. Other work includes the score to the film About a Boy, based on the novel by English writer Nick Hornby.

Gough was born in Manchester, England, and grew up in Bolton, where he worked for several years at his family's printing factory. He formed the Twisted Nerve label in 1997 with Manchester DJ and producer Andy Votel, whom he met at a nightclub. He released several EPs as Badly Drawn Boy, and established a cult following, known for his trademark woolly hat and slacker style. In 1998, he contributed the single ‘Nursery Rhyme’ to English DJ James Lavelle's UNKLE album Psyence Fiction.