Paul Hardcastle

Paul Hardcastle is the UK-born keyboard player and producer who topped the UK charts in the mid-80s with an electro-pop tune about the Vietnam War and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Hardcastle began his music career as a synth player for UK dance bands Direct Drive and First Light, before branching out on his own. He released a few electro-pop records, of which the 1984’s instrumental, “Rainforest”, was the most popular. He came to prominence the following year when he topped the UK charts for over a month with a cut and paste track “19”. The unusual sound of the record overcame the even more unusual subject matter of the lyrics. The title refers to the average age of US soldiers in Vietnam and the sampled voiceover discusses the war and its effects. The popularity of the record spread and it became a Europe-wide success, selling over two million copies.

After releasing a few more tracks, providing the theme tune to the BBC’s flagship music programme Top of the Pops showed him the way forward. He turned his back on the singles-driven pop market and branched out into TV theme writing and production. His production credits include work for Phil Lynott, Third World and Ian Dury.

In addition to releases as Hardcastle, he has performed under a long list of aliases, including Kiss the Sky, Beeps International and Jazzmasters. His Jazzmaster series of synth-jazz albums have been popular on US smooth jazz radio and in 1999 he picked up Billboard’s award for the Best British Contemporary Jazz Artist of the Year.