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As leader of Mott the Hoople and a highly renowned solo artist, Ian Hunter has produced a matchless repertoire of music combining homage, honesty and killer hooks. With the group, he quickly established himself as an incredibly inventive songwriter with his gritty and thought-provoking songs, which paved the way for the original wave of punk rock. As a solo performer he has also succeeded with an eclectic catalog of superbly intelligent albums and an immensely dedicated following.
Mott recorded four crazed but critically-acclaimed and highly influential albums for Island Records and possessed enormous live prowess, but poor record sales led to a temporary split and a move to CBS/Columbia. With David Bowie's 'All The Young Dudes' as the launchpad, Mott The Hoople hit superstar status between 1972 and 1974 - seven hit singles, four chart albums (including 'Mott' - still regarded as a seventies' classic); they were the first rock band to sell out a week of Broadway concerts in New York's theatreland, and Ian wrote his universally acclaimed book, Diary of a Rock 'n' Roll Star.
The band reunited for five nights at London’s prestigious Hammersmith Apollo in 2009 and were awarded Lifetime Achievement Awards from Mojo and Classic Rock magazines respectively.
Ian has been cited as a major inspiration and reference point for numerous bands including the Clash, Kiss, Def Leppard, REM, Motley Crue, Blur and Oasis. Hunter's influence has remained incalculable; accompanied on stage by Ian Astbury of The Cult, Axl Rose and Slash, Roger Daltrey, Meat Loaf and Bryan Adams amongst others (and at their request), there are now over 50 different cover versions of Ian's songs from artists as diverse as Great White, The Presidents of the United States of America, Status Quo, Blue Oyster Cult, Bonnie Tyler, Barry Manilow, The Pointer Sisters, Willie Nelson, Thunder and The Monkees - further evidence, surely, that he is one of our greatest-ever songwriters.
Unprecedented diversity of albums such as 'All American Alien Boy', 'You're Never Alone With a Schizophrenic', 'Short Back 'N' Sides' and 'YUI Orta' which bear witness to Ian's belief that artistic honesty and independence outweigh any commercial consideration whatsoever. It is also interesting to observe that so-called 'greats' such as Dylan, Springsteen and Elton John have issued their share of patchy albums over the years whilst the quality of Hunter's recorded repertoire has never wavered from the very highest calibre and consistency.
2012 will see the release of his highly anticipated new album and a major UK tour.
