Gary Barnacle

Gary Barnacle (born 1959) is an English saxophonist, flautist, brass instrument arranger, composer, and producer.

Barnacle is primarily noted for his session work and live work, including various Prince's Trust concerts at Wembley Arena, the Royal Albert Hall and the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham.

Gary Barnacle was born in Dover, England in 1959.

He was introduced to The Clash through their drummer and school friend of Barnacle's, Topper Headon, and reportedly became involved in The Clash's infamous 1978 "pigeon shooting" incident.

Barnacle, trumpeter Luke Tunney, and trombonist Annie Whitehead played together on many sessions from 1979 to 1982, when Pete Thoms came in on trombone.

Barnacle collaborated with The Ruts on their first two albums, both on Virgin Records: The Crack and Grin & Bear It.

During 1979–1980 he also contributed to M's debut album, New York • London • Paris • Munich, released in 1979 and to Sanity Stomp, released by Kevin Coyne in 1980.

Barnacle played the saxophone in many songs and albums by The Clash; he played on their album Sandinista! released on 12 December 1980 as a triple album, the single "This Is Radio Clash" released on 20 November 1981, and Combat Rock released on 14 May 1982.

After their frontman, Malcolm Owen, was found dead from a heroin overdose on 14 July 1980, the band continued as Ruts D.C. (where "D.C." stands for the Italian term da capo) in a different musical vein.

They released two other albums: Animal Now in May 1981 on Virgin Records and Rhythm Collision released in July 1982 on Bohemian Records.

In 1981, Barnacle contributed to the debut albums by Positive Noise: Heart of Darkness and Stray Cats.

He was also in an electropop duo called Leisure Process from 1982 to 1983 with ex-Positive Noise singer Ross Middleton.

In 1982, he and ex-Positive Noise singer Ross Middleton formed a electropop duo called Leisure Process.

The band released four singles on the Epic label: two in 1982 ("Love Cascade" and "A Way You'll Never Be", which featured Mark King and Phil Gould of Level 42), and two in 1983 ("Cashflow" and "Anxiety").

All four singles were produced by Martin Rushent.

In 1982, Barnacle also collaborated on Julien Clerc's Femmes, Indiscrétion, Blasphème, Mike Rutherford's Acting Very Strange, Marius Müller-Westernhagen's Das Herz eines Boxers, and with Visage's The Anvil.

Ruts D.C. split in 1983.

In 1983, he contributed to Catch as Catch Can by pop singer, Kim Wilde (whom he dated in the mid-1980s) and also to In Strict Tempo by Dave Ball and Private Dancer by Tina Turner.

He also appeared on the 1983 edition of Drama of Exile by Nico, where he also played the drums, "Right Now" by Siouxsie Sioux's second band - the Creatures, Dalek I Love You's eponymous album, Jerky Versions of the Dream by Howard Devoto, Secret by Classix Nouveaux, Vocabulary by The Europeans, C'est C Bon by Carlene Carter, and Working with Fire and Steel by China Crisis, a collaboration that was repeated later in 1986 with the release of What Price Paradise.

The year ended with the publication of the soundtrack for Educating Rita.

He also contributed to In Trance as Mission by Simple Minds, "Power and the Passion" by Midnight Oil, and played saxophone on Rick Wakeman's 1984.

That year he also played saxophone on Black Snake Diamond Röle by former Soft Boys frontman Robyn Hitchcock.

In 1984, his brother Steve was already in the band and Billy Currie and Dave Formula left; Barnacle and Andy Barnett replaced them for what would become Visage's Beat Boy album, which was released in September 1984 and yielded two singles, "Love Glove" and "Beat Boy".

In 1984, Barnacle contributed to the recording sessions for This Is What You Want... This Is What You Get by Public Image Ltd, In the Long Grass by The Boomtown Rats, All the Rage by General Public, This Last Night in Sodom by Soft Cell, and Vermin in Ermine by Marc Almond and The Willing Sinners.

He also performed on Olympia by Hong Kong Syndikat, Bite Black and Blues by Raoul and The Ruined, In on the off Beat by Hey!

Elastica and Influences, a solo album by Mark King of Level 42.

Barnacle began a long collaboration with Elvis Costello, for whom he provided saxophone for Goodbye Cruel World. He also appears on many of Costello's compilation albums.

A decision to make Visage a live band instead of a strictly studio-based project failed and the band subsequently split in 1985.

In 1985, Barnacle played in No Jacket Required, a solo album by Phil Collins, which sold over 25 million copies worldwide; he also played in Phantasmagoria by The Damned, Easy Pieces by Lloyd Cole and the Commotions, Some People by Belouis Some, The Dream Academy's eponymous debut album, Knights Like This by Peter Blegvad and Mad Not Mad by Madness.

In 1986, he appeared in Writing on the Wall by Bucks Fizz, Stop Start by Modern English, Dancing in my Sleep by Dave Adams, U-Vox by Ultravox, Cutting Crew's debut album, the UK number one album Silk and Steel by Five Star, Sooner or Later by Murray Head, the debut album by Erasure, Into the Light by Chris de Burgh, Big Canoe a solo album released by former Split Enz frontman Tim Finn, Press to Play by Paul McCartney, and 1st Down & Ten by Keep It Dark.

He also appeared on Absolute Beginners: The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, playing on tracks by David Bowie, Style Council, Ray Davies, Working Week and Gil Evans.

Along with Thoms, they formed The Phantom Horns, one of the UK's horn sections which appear on a number of recordings from 1987 onwards.

In 1987, Barnacle was featured on the hit singles "China in Your Hand" by T'Pau, "Roadblock" by Stock, Aitken and Waterman and "Breakout" by Swing Out Sister.

He performed at the Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute at Wembley Stadium in 1988, and appeared on television and in music videos during the 1980s and 1990s with many popular music acts.

Barnacle later toured in Europe with Turner and participated in the recording sessions of her 1989 album Foreign Affair.

He also contributed to the releases of Red by The Communards, Banzai Baby by Sandii & the Sunsetz, and Rick Astley's Whenever You Need Somebody, which was a collaboration that was repeated with the release of Astley's 1989 album, Hold Me in Your Arms.

Barnacle performed on Feelin' Good About It by This Way Up, Can't Wait to See the Movie seventh solo album released by Roger Daltrey of The Who, Stand Up by Jo Lemaire, Never Never Land by Simon F, If by Hollywood Beyond and Swing Out Sister's It's Better to Travel and Get in Touch with Yourself.

From 1990 to 1994 Barnacle toured with Level 42 and recorded two of the band's albums: Guaranteed and Forever Now.

The horn section he formed for Level 42, with British trumpet and fluegelhorn player John Thirkell, was known as The Hen Pecked Horns.

Since then, Barnacle and Thirkell have provided the horn section for many recordings.