Gregory Gray

Rosetta Stone's output was mainly cover versions of 1950s and 1960s pop hits.

In the UK they appeared on the children's TV programme Crackerjack.

The only country where they were very successful was Japan, where they performed sold-out shows in arenas that could accommodate 6,000 people.

Gregory Gray (20 May 1959 – 25 April 2019), born Paul Lerwill, was a Northern Irish singer and songwriter.

Lerwill was born in Portrush, a seaside town in County Antrim, Northern Ireland, on 20 May 1959 as Paul Lerwill.

His mother was English and his father was Anglo-Indian.

He had three brothers and a sister.

When Lerwill was 10 years old, the family moved to Singapore, where they lived at the RAF Changi Airbase for three years, as his father was stationed there with the British Royal Air Force.

It was there that he learned to play the guitar.

On returning to Portrush, as a 14-year-old he accompanied the "Singing Farmer" John Watt on the guitar in the Northern Star pub in Ballymoney, which Lerwill's father owned.

He also worked in amusement arcades in Portrush and as a DJ in Kelly's, a local nightclub.

When he left school at 16, he moved to Edinburgh, Scotland, where he worked as a DJ until he was 19.

He began his career as a member of Rosetta Stone, a 1970s boy band, and became an influential cult musician who made indie music and videos under the pseudonym Mary Cigarettes.

He published his work on online platforms such as YouTube and SoundCloud.

During the course of his career his musical style ranged over an eclectic spectrum of pop, post-punk, indie rock, electronic dance music, jazz and folk.

His post-punk band Perfect Crime was a support act for U2, Eurythmics, Talking Heads, and OMD.

Lerwill started his recording career as a guitarist with the boy band Rosetta Stone, originally called the Young City Stars, in 1979.

The band was managed by Tam Paton, the former manager of the Bay City Rollers.

Lerwill was a replacement for Ian Mitchell, who had performed with both the Bay City Rollers and Rosetta Stone.

He recorded with the band and spent two years touring around the world with it.

In 1981, he left Rosetta Stone, returned to Northern Ireland, and changed his name to Gregory Gray to disassociate himself from his pop boy-band past.

Gray formed Perfect Crime, a four-piece post-punk band, for which he was the lead singer, guitarist, and songwriter, in 1981.

The other original members of the group were Donal Boyle (guitar), George Nelson (bass), and Pete Kerr (drums).

The group released two singles on MCA records, "Brave" in 1983 and "I Feel Like an Eskimo" in 1984, before breaking up in 1984.

The band was promoted in the UK and gave performances on television.

A rehearsal space was provided for the group by Dominican nuns in Portstewart.

The group was a support act for U2, Eurythmics, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD), Talking Heads, and Paul Young.

On their own, they toured the UK, often performing in university towns and small venues in rural Northern Ireland.

In provincial regions, Gray's flamboyant style was often the target of hecklers, to whom he dealt sharp-witted put-downs.

Perfect Crime was an opening act for U2 on the first leg of the War Tour international concert tour on 28 March 1983 at the Nottingham Royal Concert Hall.

Along with Steel Pulse, Big Country, Eurythmics, and Simple Minds, Perfect Crime performed before a crowd of 15,000 on 14 August 1983, at a nine-hour concert at Phoenix Park Racecourse, Dublin, when they were supporting U2 on a later leg of the War Tour.

It was described by RTÉ as "the rock event of the year".

Perfect Crime's set received positive press reviews.

Gray was signed as a solo artist to CBS Records in 1985.

His album Think of Swans was released in 1986.

It was produced by Walter Samuel and featured the double-bass player Danny Thompson.

Two singles, "Sensual" and "Books to Read Twice", were released from the album.

A music video of "Sensual" was aired regularly on MTV.

Gray made appearances on UK television and radio shows, including being interviewed by Eamonn Holmes and on The Dave Fanning Show.

He toured venues in England and Northern Ireland.