Mike Heron

:(This page refers to Mike Heron's career after the break-up of the Incredible String Band, including his band Heron. For the folk rock band of the same name, see Heron(2)).
James Michael Heron (born 27 December 1942) is a Scottish singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, best known for his work in the Incredible String Band in the 1960s and 1970s. Heron was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, and attended the Royal High School, Edinburgh and later George Heriot's School, where his father was a teacher. He spent a year at the University of Edinburgh before leaving to start training as an accountant. He played in R&B and pop bands in Edinburgh, including the Saracens and, in late 1965, successfully auditioned to join a new trio, the Incredible String Band, with Robin Williamson and Clive Palmer.
Heron has also released a number of solo recordings, mostly more rock-oriented than the Incredible String Band material. The first of these, Smiling Men with Bad Reputations, released in 1971, when he was still a member of the ISB, took eclecticism to a new extreme, blending rock, folk and world music into an atmospheric whole. Contributing musicians included Pete Townshend, Keith Moon, Duncan Browne and Ronnie Lane (as "Tommy & the Bijoux"), John Cale, Richard Thompson, Dave Mattacks, Simon Nicol, Dave Pegg, Dudu Pukwana, Elton John, and Steve Winwood.
(Read more at Wikipedia)
==Links to Peel==
Peel was a fan of the Incredible String Band, which Mike Heron was a member of, and played their music on his shows as well as having them record a dozen sessions for him. He also played solo material from Mike Heron including a couple of sessions the singer recorded in the mid-1970's with his own band, under the names of Mike Heron's Reputation and Heron. However, Peel never played any of Mike Heron's material after that, although the singer released a solo album on Casablanca Records in the late 1970s and then resumed performing in the early 1990s under the name Mike Heron's Incredible Acoustic Band, which led to his earlier albums being reissued and eventually to an ISB reunion.
Confusingly, in the early 1970s there was another group named Heron before Mike Heron chose the name for his own band. They were also played a few times by Peel on his programmes during 1971 and he revisited them in 1995 (see the Wiki page on them for details). They had nothing to do with Mike Heron, but personnel on their album included Mike Cooper and Gerald Moore, later of G.T. Moore and his Reggae Guitars.
In the later 1970s Mike Heron had some success as a songwriter, with a couple of his songs covered by Manfred Mann's Earth Band. One of them "Don't Kill It, Carol", was a minor hit for them even if Peel seems to have ignored it. But the first Incredible String Band song JP played on the Perfumed Garden in 1967 was Heron's "Chinese White". During the lifespan of the String Band Peel gave airtime to songs from both Heron and co-leader Robin Williamson, yet according to the list of show plays on the ISB page on this wiki, all of the ISB tracks he revisited in his playlists of the 1990s and 2000s were Mike Heron songs.
==Sessions==
;thumb|220x220pxMike Heron's Reputation
1. Recorded: 1975-04-15. First Broadcast: 05 May 1975. Repeated: 16 June 1975
*Draw Back The Veil / Sold On Your Love/ Are You Going To Hear The Music / Residential Boy
;Heron 
2. Recorded: 1977-04-05. First Broadcast: 19 April 1977. Repeated: 16 May 1977
*Do It Yourself / Draw Back The Veil / Are You Going To Hear The Music
==Other Shows Played==
;thumb|220x220px1975
*17 April 1975: Meanwhile The Rain (LP - Mike Heron's Reputation) Neighbourhood
;1977
*PM048: Do It Yourself (Desert Song) (album - Diamond Of Dreams) Bronze BRON 460
*PM048: Are You Going To Hear The Music (album - Diamond Of Dreams) Bronze BRON 460
*PM048: Redbone (album - Diamond Of Dreams) Bronze BRON 460
== See Also ==
*Disc & Music Echo: Peel Columns
*Sounds
==External Links==
*Wikipedia
*Discogs
*Official Website
Category:Artists