Ginger

The prolific frontman of the U.K. act the Wildhearts (and for a short time, London-based pop-metal act the Quireboys), Ginger (aka Ginger Wildheart) has delivered hard rock and punk-infused slices of accomplished harmony-laden pop since the '90s. As founder of the headline-grabbing and raucous hard rockers the Wildhearts -- a group that boasted no fewer than 14 different lineup changes between 1990 and 2010 -- it was never anything other than a foregone conclusion that the creative and talented Ginger would embark upon a solo career, which he launched in 2005 with the release of Valor del Corazon. Subsequent solo efforts include the ambitious crowd-funded triple-album 555% (2012) and the folk- and country-oriented Ghost in the Tanglewood (2018). Born David Walls in 1964, Ginger spent a large part of the '80s moving between bands before settling with the London-based pop-metal act the Quireboys for a two-year stint. In October 1987, on only his second day with the band, they made a prestigious appearance supporting Guns N' Roses at the Hammersmith Odeon. However, by early 1989, Ginger had been fired, the rest of the Quireboys seemingly unable to cope with the unpredictability of a guitarist who had become increasingly alcohol-dependent. Still smarting from this experience, Ginger played a one-off gig in Manhattan with a New York-based band called the Throbs before returning to the U.K. with the intention of writing new material. Within months, the first incarnation of the Wildhearts was assembled and included ex-Tattooed Love Boys guitarist Chris "CJ" Jagdhar. While their debut album, Earth vs. the Wildhearts, is held in high regard by keen fans of the band, the comparatively lavishly produced 1995 follow-up, P.H.U.Q. proved their watershed album both critically and commercially, reaching the U.K. Top Ten in May 1995. Over the next two decades, they released -- and promoted in idiosyncratically rambunctious fashion -- a further six studio albums that explored the worlds of melodic punk, glam rock, power metal, and breakneck, close-harmony-fueled pop. Before the end of the century, Ginger recorded what was -- for all intents and purposes -- his debut solo album. Released in 2000 under the moniker Silver Ginger 5, Black Leather Mojo was produced by the Cardiacs' frontman Tim Smith. A Break in the Weather, a collection of tracks from an abandoned singles club project, was issued in 2005, while Ginger's debut studio album proper -- the sprawling Valor del Corazon -- appeared early the following year. Smith assisted once more with the production of 2007's Yoni before the acclaimed Market Harbour appeared 12 months later. Next, the aptly named retrospective 10 was released in October 2010 and brought together key tracks from the previous decade. In March 2012 he launched a fan-funded triple-album project entitled 555%, the highlights of which were released in June of the same year as 100%. 2014 saw Ginger release Albion, another crowd-funded album, before taking his fan-funded releases to the next level. Setting up the Ginger Associated Secret Society in 2015 -- affectionally dubbed G*A*S*S -- Ginger gave fans an exclusive look into his own personal life; his subscribers had access to diary entries, Q&A's, reviews, and podcasts, and a three-track EP of completely new material appeared each month. The following year, he collected his favorite tracks from the EPs and bundled them together as Year of the Fanclub. After an incident at a gig in Ireland in 2017, Ginger was hospitalized after attempting suicide. Having struggled with depression for most of his life, he poured his thoughts into his 2018 album, Ghost in the Tanglewood, which found him shifting away from the raucous rock of his previous releases and instead drawing inspiration from folk and country. The following year saw the release of the emotionally raw break-up album The Pessimist's Companion, as well as the more stylistically scattered Headzapoppin. ~ James Wilkinson, Rovi