# Help me identify this popular singer from the UK **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 13, 2004, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-this-popular-singer-from-the-uk/234140 "2004-03-13T23:12:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![gallows\_fodder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8c91f0/32.png) [@gallows\_fodder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gallows_fodder)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2004, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-this-popular-singer-from-the-uk/234140/1 "2004-03-13T23:12:39Z")
His ads say he’s popular, anyway. (“This guy is one of the most important artists to emerge in recent times.” – NME) Ok, this is going to be a little involved, but bear with me. Go [here](http://www.i-a-l.com/malevo.htm). Scroll down to the entry for Neil Grainger and click on his face. You’ll get an MP3 of some voice-over work he’s done. At around 1 min 40 seconds, an ad for **some guy** ’s “Lazarus EP” featuring the song “Someone Else” will play. Who is he? I’m tearing my hair out here, searching for “lazarus ep” (and no, the band is not the Boo Radleys), searching for “someone else” on [allmusic.com](http://allmusic.com) (fruitless), searching for snippets of the few lyrics I can catch (no, the song is not “Stone” by the Unbelievable Truth), searching for online reviews based on the blurbs from the music magazines mentioned in the ad… **all for naught**. Can you help? ---
**Author:** ![Patr100](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f17d59/32.png) [@Patr100](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patr100)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2004, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-this-popular-singer-from-the-uk/234140/2 "2004-03-14T00:09:56Z")
I havent heard the snippet but I wouldn’t recognise it anyway but a Google search brought up this group " Built to Spill" Never heard of them before. [http://www.builttospill.com/](http://www.builttospill.com/) Go to Discogrphy then click on the “Perfect from now on” album. The have a track called "About Someone Else Part 2 " - which was on a single with Untrustable- click on it and it will play a sample. ---
**Author:** ![gallows\_fodder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8c91f0/32.png) [@gallows\_fodder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gallows_fodder)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2004, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-this-popular-singer-from-the-uk/234140/3 "2004-03-14T00:13:05Z")
Thanks for your help, but sadly, it’s not Built to Spill, either. (I know that band well.) ---
**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2004, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-this-popular-singer-from-the-uk/234140/4 "2004-03-14T00:54:35Z")
LOL well I haven’t had any luck yet… but I did end up downloading a good song called “Someone Else” by Rasmus in the process… I refuse to be foiled… ---
**Author:** ![Gartog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/22d042/32.png) [@Gartog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gartog)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2004, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-this-popular-singer-from-the-uk/234140/5 "2004-03-14T00:59:58Z")
An IMDB reveals that he’s from… …_Crossroads_. Playing the character of Phil Berry. > **[Neil Grainger - IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0334446/)** > > Neil Grainger, Actor: Hebburn. Neil was born in Middlesborough and began acting with the Middlesborough Little Theatre's Junior Theatre where his first leading role was in 'Santa Clause the Musical' .He was educated at Nunthorpe school where his... HTH ---
**Author:** ![Lisa-go-Blind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Lisa-go-Blind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lisa-go-Blind)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2004, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-this-popular-singer-from-the-uk/234140/6 "2004-03-14T03:03:27Z")
**Garthog** , I may be wrong but I think Neil Grainger and the mystery guy are two different people. Also, the “Crossroads” listed in Grainger’s IMDB profile is listed as a TV show, not the Britney Spears movie. As for the band, I’m stumped. ---
**Author:** ![Lisa-go-Blind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Lisa-go-Blind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lisa-go-Blind)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2004, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-this-popular-singer-from-the-uk/234140/7 "2004-03-14T03:04:32Z")
And as for the second part of what I said, consider me unable to read. :o ---
**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2004, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-this-popular-singer-from-the-uk/234140/8 "2004-03-14T03:06:34Z")
I’m totally baffled. Few things I can’t resolve with some good Google work, but I’ve broken out every weapon I have and have come up with zip. I’ll tell you what though, I’d better figure it out soon, because if I have to go through the rest of my life with only that little snippet playing in my head, it’s not going to be pretty for those around me. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2004, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-this-popular-singer-from-the-uk/234140/9 "2004-03-14T03:16:36Z")
LMAO and on a side note… The link for Mike Hayley (just below Neil) contains a rather amusing parody involving Sean Connery, Michael Caine and the like as Teletubbies. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![gallows\_fodder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8c91f0/32.png) [@gallows\_fodder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gallows_fodder)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2004, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-this-popular-singer-from-the-uk/234140/10 "2004-03-14T03:19:02Z")
Yay, I won’t be alone then! 🙂 Seriously, I too have tried every conceivable tool at my disposal – lyrics sites, [allmusic.com](http://allmusic.com), [amazon.co.uk](http://amazon.co.uk), google, soulseek – and have come up with nothing. How could such an apparently critically acclaimed singer be so difficult to find? And why the hell did the ad not mention the guy’s name?? I appreciate your help, though! ---
**Author:** ![Gartog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/22d042/32.png) [@Gartog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gartog)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2004, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-this-popular-singer-from-the-uk/234140/11 "2004-03-14T12:03:26Z")
I’ve emailed the company. We shall see what happens… ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2004, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-this-popular-singer-from-the-uk/234140/12 "2004-03-14T12:30:17Z")
I got it via Google: the Lazarus EP appears to be by [url=http://www.booradleys.co.uk/giant\_steps/track13.htm]The Boo Radleys[/url. I’ve vaguely heard of this crowd, but I should point out that the reviews are taken from really geeky muso magazines. NME in particular is somewhat ‘up itself’ with grand pronouncements on some obscure artist being the new future of music. ---
**Author:** ![ruadh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@ruadh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruadh)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2004, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-this-popular-singer-from-the-uk/234140/13 "2004-03-14T13:03:26Z")
**jjimm** , the OP says it’s not the Boo Radleys (and I can tell it’s not by listening to it). I’m stumped too, though. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2004, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-this-popular-singer-from-the-uk/234140/14 "2004-03-14T13:26:07Z")
Oh yeah. Bollocks. Stumped then. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2004, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-this-popular-singer-from-the-uk/234140/15 "2004-03-14T14:11:34Z")
I have wasted some time on this and his latest “hit” _Someone Else_ never made the Top 40 in Britain, so I give up. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2004, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-this-popular-singer-from-the-uk/234140/16 "2004-03-14T14:14:11Z")
I just had a horrible thought. What if all the voice work is just to advertise himself and has been **made up** for that purpose because he can’t use stuff that belongs to former customers? ---
**Author:** ![Futile\_Gesture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f05b48/32.png) [@Futile\_Gesture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Futile_Gesture)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2004, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-this-popular-singer-from-the-uk/234140/17 "2004-03-14T15:11:51Z")
Give up. It doesn’t sound like anyone I recognise, but I wouldn’t rule out the Boo Radleys just from listening to it. But they don’t appear to have ever had a single called “Someone Else”. And they are a ‘they’, not a ‘guy’. I wouldn’t place too much store from the hype of the advert, that’s standard stuff. The music industry is full of artists who got praised to the heavens by the music press, yet never sold diddly. I don’t think they’re made up. There was/is a magazine called ‘Total Football’ isn’t there? And the point of the samples is to demonstrate actual work. I think either this sample is either cut, so name omitted, or is a TV ad, so the name is on-screen. If there was a way of dating it I could look up the relevant Q Mag… ---
**Author:** ![Fox\_in\_the\_Snow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/82dd89/32.png) [@Fox\_in\_the\_Snow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fox_in_the_Snow)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2004, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-this-popular-singer-from-the-uk/234140/18 "2004-03-14T17:04:07Z")
I seem to recall Martin Carr from the Boo Radleys recently released some music under the name Brave Captain. No mention of any songs called “someone else” on allmusic though so that’s probably a dead end. Nothing off the NME website either. Grrrr, annoyed by this now. ---
**Author:** ![gallows\_fodder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8c91f0/32.png) [@gallows\_fodder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gallows_fodder)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2004, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-this-popular-singer-from-the-uk/234140/19 "2004-03-16T15:12:52Z")
Ah, looks like it’s hopeless. Sigh. Thanks for all your help, though. ---
**Author:** ![Gartog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/22d042/32.png) [@Gartog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gartog)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2004, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-this-popular-singer-from-the-uk/234140/20 "2004-03-16T15:37:02Z")
No reply from the email I sent, asking who he is, if I get a responce I’ll let you know.