Roland Gift
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Roland Gift | |
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| Born | Roland Lee Gift May 28, 1962 Birmingham, England, United Kingdom |
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| Nationality | British |
| Occupation | Musician, Actor |
| Known for | Member of Fine Young Cannibals |
| Website http://www.rolandgift.com/welcome.html |
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Roland Gift (born Roland Lee Gift, 28 May 1962) is a British actor and musician. He is best known as the lead singer of the pop music band Fine Young Cannibals.
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[edit] Biography
Gift was born in Birmingham, England, but grew up in Hull, where his mother, Pauline, ran several second-hand clothes shops. He was educated at Kelvin Hall School on Bricknell Avenue in Hull but did not receive favourable yearly reports. He has two sisters, Helga and Ragna.
His first recording was with a Hull ska band Akrylykz, the second release on nearby York's Red Rhino Records.[1] Although this record was unsuccessful, it did bring him to the attention of Andy Cox and David Steele, who around 1985 asked him to be the lead singer of their new band Fine Young Cannibals after their old band, The Beat, had broken up.
In 1990, he was named by People magazine as one of the "50 Most Beautiful People" in the world.
In 2002, Gift released a self-titled solo album, featuring the single "It's Only Money". In 2007, Gift was in a recording studio, recording a follow-up album.
He has several children, but he prefers not to discuss that aspect of his personal life with the public.[2]
[edit] Acting
In 1987, Gift had his first screen role in the movie Sammy and Rosie Get Laid. In 1990 he did his first stage work, playing Romeo in the Hull Truck Theatre's production of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, a production which had a brief run in the United States at the Staller Center for the Arts.[3] He also appeared as a lounge singer (singing tunes that were included in the Fine Young Cannibals album The Raw & the Cooked) in the film Tin Men, directed by Barry Levinson.
In 1993, he began the first of several appearances as the evil Immortal Xavier St. Cloud in the television series Highlander: The Series, and appeared in an episode of the Yorkshire Television series Heartbeat. He has also appeared in the movies Scandal and The Island of the Mapmaker's Wife.
