Born on September 11: Mick Talbot, the discreet but indispensable keyboardist of Style Council

He was born in 1958 in Wimbledon, southwest London, and, make no mistake, is not just Paul Wellr's shadow on the Style Council.

Mick Talbot made his debut on the English music scene in the late 1970s with the Merton Parkas, a band that contributed to the revival of the mod movement at the time. He then joined Dexys Midnight Runners under the iron fist of Kevin Rowland, and then, in the early 1980s, The Bureau, with defectors from his previous band who were fed up with the tyrannical nature of their singer. In 1982, after the dissolution of The Jam, he joined forces with Paul Weller to form The Style Council.

Together, they developed sophisticated sounds that owed more to jazz and soul than to new wave. A seemingly foolish gamble that nevertheless proved successful with their debut EP, "Introducing The Style Council," released in September 1983, which notably included their first hit, "Long Hot Summer."

Their partnership lasted for nearly ten years and produced four timeless albums such as "Café bleu" (1984), "Our Favorite Shop" (1985), and, notably, "The Cost of Living" (1987), which we still listen to with the same pleasure today. Paul Weller likes to take the spotlight, but he always recognised that with Mick Talbot, they truly shared a chemistry.

In 1990, before rising from the ashes with "Modernism: A New Decade" (1998), The Style Council disappeared from the radar, but the two men never truly broke ties. While Paul Weller, now solo, continued to plow the same furrows, often with dazzling mastery, Talbot developed a few discreet projects with former Style Council members (notably Steve White). He certainly lent a hand to Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend (The Who), and responded to his former colleague Weller (for the excellent "Stanley Road" in 1995), but he seems to be enjoying relative anonymity nowadays. A bit like Steve Nieve, who plays a similar role to him with Elvis Costello, he regularly tours with Gene, The Young Disciples, and Galliano, always in the shadows. However, we can detect a musical color that he finally puts to good use for himself, always on the sly, by recording the aptly named "Back To Business" (with Chris Bangs) on the Acid Jazz Records label...

(MH with Stéphane Soupart - Photo : © Etienne Tordoir)

Photo: Mick Talbot at the time of The Style Council in Brussels, Belgium, March 25, 1983