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2 Career as Aqualung 3 External links |
Hales grew up in Southampton, a city on the south coast of England, where his parents ran an independent record shop. He wanted to be - and indeed was - a musician from an early age, although he said in a BBC interview that there were a couple of years when he wanted to be a stuntman, when he was about 12. At the age of 16, he was awarded a scholarship to study music composition in Winchester. By the age of 17, he'd written his first symphony, entitled Life Cycle.
Also while he was a teenager, he formed his first band, which was known by several names during its lifespan: Da Fook Mo a Dib, White Noise, and Mecano Pig. In 1990, they produced an album, Mecano Pig, but broke up soon after that.
In the autumn of 1990, Hales moved to London to study music at City University. While he was there, he and his brother Ben formed a new band, Gravel Monsters, although they later changed their name to RUTH. They released several singles and an album, Harrison, but had very little success. They changed their name again to the 45s, and in 2001 were signed to Mercury Records. However, they only released two further singles, and in March 2002 they were dropped and the band split up.
Hales took the name "Aqualung" from a Jethro Tull album of the same name. (See Aqualung (album).)
His debut single, "Strange and Beautiful (I'll Put a spell on You)", was released in the UK on the B-Unique label on September 16, 2002, and reached number 7 in the UK Top 40.
His debut album, also called Aqualung, followed on September 30, 2002, also on the B-Unique label. It went gold in December. The following is its tracklisting:
The second single from the album, "Good Times Gonna Come", was released on December 2, 2002.
Early life
Career as Aqualung
The album reached number 15 in the UK album chart.External links