Hi there and welcome to Sodejoker on songwriting, Simon and Brian here and joining us today is an Ivan Novello winning British singer and songwriter and let's face it, National Treasure, best known as lead singer of cherished Scarpop Giants Madness.

The Nutty Boy's new career-spanning 45-track collection hit parade includes a staggering 27 top 40 hits

and is a welcome reminder, if one were needed, of the consistent brilliance of their outputs across the decades.

So what better time to chat with their charismatic frontman,

it's our tremendous pleasure to welcome the one and only Suggs to the show.

Our guest was born Graham McPherson in Hastings East Sussex

in 1961 and raised by his mum. When he was around eight he went to live with an ant in Wales for a

period, then lived briefly in Liverpool before moving to London when he was 11. Tiring of the stick

he was getting at secondary school for his Scottish surname, he rechristened himself Suggs after spotting

the name Pete Suggs while browsing through an encyclopedia of jazz musicians. He first crossed paths with

saxophonist Lee Thompson, guitarist Chris Foreman and Keyes player Mike Barson in his mid-teens in

their stomping ground of Hampstead, eventually joining their band The North London Invaders in

1977. He'd auditioned at the suggestion of their drummer

John Hassler, who overheard Sugg singing to himself after a visit to the cinema to watch

American graffiti. They did their first gigs later that year at the Hampstead Trade Hall.

In 1979, they renamed themselves Madness after the Prince Bust the song, with bassist Mark Bedford,

drummer Dan

Woodgate and trumpeter Chas Smash rounding out the definitive lineup.

The same year, a residency at Camden's Dublin Castle won them a fervent local following,

and their first single, The Prince, released that summer on Jerry Dammer's two-tone label

made the UK Top 20.

Following this, they were snapped up by his stiff records, and a couple of months

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