Danny Goffey

Danny Goffey
Danny Goffey performing with Supergrass on London's South Bank, 2008.
Background information
Birth name	Daniel Robert Goffey
Born	7 February 1974 (1974-02-07) (age 37) Slough, Buckinghamshire, England
Genres	Alternative rock, Britpop, experimental rock, soul rock
Occupations	Musician, songwriter
Instruments	Drums, vocals, piano, keyboards, percussion, guitar
Years active	1991–present
Labels	Parlophone, Capitol, Supergrass, Cooking Vinyl
Associated acts	The Jennifers, Supergrass, Lodger, Band Aid 20, Van Goffey, Diamond Hoo Ha Men, The Hot Rats, Babyshambles
Website	www.supergrass.com

Daniel Robert Goffey (born 7 February 1974 in Slough, Buckinghamshire (now Berkshire) is an English musician and singer-songwriter best known as the drummer and backing vocalist for the English Britpop band, Supergrass. In June 2010, it was announced he had become the drummer for Babyshambles following their drummer's departure.

Career

1991–1993: The Jennifers

Main article: The Jennifers

Goffey started his music career as a child when he formed his first band, The Jubbly Spufflewubs, which consisted of his brother on guitar and friend David Mackay. He had no drums so had to accompany the others by hitting chopsticks on lunch boxes.^[1] At age ten he received a high hat and snare from his parents, prompting him to start his other band, The Fallopian Tubes. They made songs such as "My Wife Shut My Gonads In The Door", Goffey saying: "That one was about sexual frustration I seem to recall. So were all the others [songs]...".^[2] At Wheatley Park School, north of Oxford, he became drummer for the four-piece The Jennifers, which featured a sixteen year old Gaz Coombes on vocals. The Jennifers began building a reputation in the Oxford indie music scene and released one single in 1992 on Nude Records before they disbanded.

Allegedly, before the split, Goffey and Coombes had agreed to continue to work together in the future.^[3]

1993–2010: Supergrass

Main article: Supergrass

In 1993 Coombes introduced Goffey to his co-worker Mick Quinn, who at the time was working at a local Harvester; "I imposed on Mick's life. I imposed on him greatly," Said Goffey. "He had a house, and I used to take people back and sleep with them on his sofa. That's how he built his foundation in this band. That's how I met him. I shagged too often on his sofa. But when we played together... we've still never been able to describe it in interviews. When we're in that room, we're all really similar. We know. We all have the same ideas. We're really quick. It just... happens."^[1]

The three of them soon started playing together and shortly after Theodore Supergrass, later just Supergrass, were formed. The band enjoyed a good start to their musical career with the release of their debut album I Should Coco (1995) which reached number one in the UK Albums Chart. This good start continued with the release of the single "Alright" which peaked at number two in the UK Singles Chart. Several albums later and Supergrass are still together, currently recording their next album tentatively titled Release the Drones, slated for release in May 2010.

Danny's brother, Nic Goffey, who was also a part of The Jennifers, has directed most of Supergrass' music videos along with his friend Dom. They work under the name of Dom and Nic. They have joked on the Supergrass Is 10 DVD about nearly killing the band on several occasions whilst filming music videos.

Other projects

Goffey embarked on a solo project in 2006 using the pseudonym "Van Goffey", a name based on the artist Vincent van Gogh. He released tracks via MySpace in August 2006, the first three being "Crack House Blues", "I Feel so Gaye" and "Natalie Loves the F". He was also a drummer for the collective of musicians called Twisted X who released a charity football song called "Born In England" which charted at number 8 in the UK Singles Charts in 2004.

In 2004 he joined other musicians including Paul McCartney to record a Christmas charity single called "Do They Know It's Christmas?" which reached number one in the UK Singles Chart.

Danny appeared with Supergrass on a 'Top Gear of the Pops' special programme for Comic Relief 2007. The band played "Richard III" with Ade Edmondson on second guitar.

In 2007 and 2008, while Supergrass band mate Mick Quinn was suffering from broken heel and vertebrae, Danny and Gaz Coombes went on a short tour of the country playing at small venues as the Diamond Hoo Ha Men. The tour was captured on film for a Rockumentary called Glange Fever, released in 2008.

Goffey and Gaz Coombes joined other musicians including Paul Weller to record a charity single called "Consequences" for the charity Crisis. The idea for the song came from Danny and his girlfriend, Pearl Lowe, who is an ambassador for the Crisis charity. Their idea was to record a song in the same way that a person would play the game Consequences. A live event took place at the Roundhouse in London on March 2, 2008.^[4]

On 7 March 2008, Goffey accompanied politician Boris Johnson in a bid to try to save the post office near where he had grown up in Forest Hill, at Stanton St. John, Oxfordshire. Goffey commented; "I used to buy sweets and cigarettes there and I want my family to be able to continue that tradition."^[5][6]

On 19 March 2008, the Diamond Hoo Ha Men played a gig on London's South Bank (having to change from the originally planned River Thames due to crowd control problems) to raise money for Crisis, offering a free ticket to their London Astoria show to whoever donated the most money. They were watched by around 75 spectators, having previously announced the busking session on radio station Xfm London. This was filmed for the BBC 2 programme, The Culture Show.^[7][8]

Goffey appeared as a contestant in the sixth series of Celebrity Masterchef on BBC One, in which he reached the semi-finals.

Personal life

Goffey lived in Berkshire up until the age of 13, at which point his family relocated to the Oxfordshire village of Forest Hill, east of Oxford. He began to attend Wheatley Park School, but would more often be found bunking off in a field between his house and the school itself. When Goffey was 15, he met Gaz Coombes, two years his junior, on the playing fields of Wheatley School and asked him to form a band with him (The Jennifers). Not long after this he was expelled for compulsive smoking, insolence and regular non-attendance. In 1993, (after The Jennifers had separated) he and Gaz began to share a house on Cowley Road, and Goffey later managed to complete his A-levels at Henley College, despite never making it to any of the computer lectures he was supposed to attend. Danny was also working as a dinner lady at this time.^[9]

During the recording of In It For The Money, Goffey moved out of his and Gaz's house to live in London with his partner, and singer in the band Powder, Pearl Lowe. This introduced Danny to Pearl's social circle of celebrities such as Liam Gallagher and Kate Moss, and led to a surge of appearances of him in the tabloids. During this time tensions within Supergrass began to increase, with Goffey often stalling recording of the album in Sawmills Studio, Cornwall by returning to London to record with his second band, Lodger, of which Lowe was also a member. The lyrics for "Going Out" were also causing arguments, as Danny presumed that Gaz had written them about the column inches he and Pearl had been achieving.^[1]

After being together for over thirteen years, Goffey and Lowe finally married on 4 December 2008, in a small chapel at Babington House,^[10] near their home in Frome, Somerset, where they live with their two sons, Alfie Lennon (born 9 October 1996), Frankie (born 17 May 1999) and daughter Betty (born 2005). They then spent their honeymoon in Tobago, the Caribbean.^[11] Alfie and Frankie both attend Wells Cathedral School. Lowe was expecting another baby, due in autumn 2010. However, it was announced by Goffey on May 19, 2010 that Lowe had suffered a miscarriage.^[12]

Danny Goffey is the son of Chris Goffey, motoring journalist and ex-presenter of Top Gear, and his mother is an ex-Labour Party councillor.^[1] His brother is Nic Goffey, of the directing partnership Dom and Nic.

See also

Supergrass discography

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d} The Strange Ones Supergrass Site
2. ^ The Strange Ones Supergrass Site
3. ^ "The Band - Danny Goffey". The Strange Ones. http://www.strangeones.co.uk/band/dannygoffey.htm. 
4. ^ Edwards, M. "Supergrass's Consequences changes the charity single", The Sunday Times, February 17, 2008.
5. ^ "Pop Star Fights Post Office Axe (from Oxford Mail)". Oxfordmail.net. 2008-03-07. http://www.oxfordmail.net/news/headlines/display.var.2103626.0.pop_star_fights_post_office_axe.php. Retrieved 2011-10-16. 
6. ^ "Rural post offices". Boris-johnson.com. 2008-03-08. http://www.boris-johnson.com/2008/03/08/rural-post-offices/. Retrieved 2011-10-16. 
7. ^ "Music - News - Supergrass busk at River Thames". Digital Spy. 2008-03-19. http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/music/a91924/supergrass-busk-at-river-thames.html. Retrieved 2011-10-16. 
8. ^ "Diamond Hoo Ha Men Go Busking". Xfm. http://www.xfm.co.uk/news/2008/diamond-hoo-ha-go-busking. Retrieved 2011-10-16. 
9. ^ The Strange Ones Supergrass Site
10. ^ [1]^{[dead link]}
11. ^ Garnett, Natasha (2008-12-16). "Pearl Lowe And Danny Goffey Marry In Style At Babington House". Hello! (1051): pp. 76–96 
12. ^ Scott, Elizabeth (2010-04-13). "'We're Not Alright': Supergrass Splits Up". Sky News Online. http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/Showbiz-News/Supergrass-Split-After-17-Years-Group-Will-Play-Farewell-Concerts-This-Summer/Article/201004215600050?lpos=Showbiz_News_Second_Home_Page_Article_Teaser_Region_2&lid=ARTICLE_15600050_Supergrass_Split_After_17_Years%3A_Group_Will_Play_Farewell_Concerts_This_Summer. Retrieved 2010-05-24. 

External links

• Van Goffey MySpace.
• Danny Goffey at the Internet Movie Database

Persondata
Name	Goffey, Danny
Alternative names
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Date of birth	7 February 1974
Place of birth
Date of death
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