Ian Page

Ian Page (born 1960) is a British singer and author, and singer in the band Secret Affair.

Life

Teaming up with guitarist David Cairns while at school, Ian Page formed power pop/punk band New Hearts and signed to CBS Records in 1977, releasing two singles and touring with The Jam before the demise of the New Hearts in 1978.

Continuing to work with Cairns and forming Secret Affair, the two songwriters spent the second half of 1978 writing songs that would form the basis of the first two Secret Affair albums. Page sang lead vocals in the group and is also credited as the band's trumpeter and keyboardist on the sleeve of their first album, Glory Boys. In a period of a little over two years, the band posted five releases in the UK Singles Chart, and released three albums. The debut single "Time For Action" sold 198,000 copies^[1] and reached number 13 in the UK pop chart in 1979, putting them at the forefront of the mod revival movement. More chart success followed with "Let Your Heart Dance", "My World" and "Sound of Confusion".

Secret Affair regularly appeared on UK television show Top of the Pops and were cover stars of many UK magazines, including New Musical Express, Sounds and Smash Hits. Likened to Jimmy Pursey, Ian Page was often asked to appear on UK television programmes and was viewed as an articulate spokesman for his generation, although his opinionated views sometimes alienated as many potential fans as they won over.

After the split of Secret Affair in 1982, Page released two solo singles – "Too Young" and "Unity Street" – under the name of Ian Page and Bop before leaving music. In his lyrics he had often railed against the music industry and his decision to quit the business was borne out of the same frustration.

By the mid 1980s, he turned fantasy author and wrote a series of spin-off books in the Lone Wolf universe titled The World of Lone Wolf.

In 1999 he returned to the live stage, touring with his band Ian Page and The Affair, performing a mixture of his own hits, soul covers and new material. With this band he released a series of singles, including "Prove It". He parted company with this band in 2007, having recorded the largest part of an as yet unreleased album.

In 2002 he once again teamed up with Dave Cairns to reform Secret Affair, initially for three gigs in the UK, including a performance at London's Shepherds Bush Empire. They returned in June the following year, playing at The Scala in London to promote the release of Time For Action: The Anthology (Sanctuary), a major CD retrospective of hits, rarities and previously unreleased tracks. The concert was filmed and released on DVD.

In 2005 Page and Cairns attempted to mend their sometimes fractious relationship and started work on a fourth Secret Affair album, recording five new songs. The album remains unfinished and unreleased as of September 2008. However, Ian Page and Dave Cairns appeared once again as Secret Affair at The Isle of Wight Scooter Rally, 22 August and The London Astoria 2, 13 September 2008.

Bibliography

The World of Lone Wolf:

• Grey Star the Wizard (1985)
• The Forbidden City (1986)
• Beyond the Nightmare Gate (1986)
• War of the Wizards (1986)

References

• Guinness Book of British Hit Singles – 16th Edition – ISBN 0-85112-190-X
• Guinness Book of British Hit Albums – 7th Edition – ISBN 0-85112-619-7
• Sleevenotes to the CD reissues of Glory Boys, Behind Closed Door and Business As Usual, by Chris Hunt
• The Mod Revival The story of the Mod Revival, by Chris Hunt, published in the New Musical Express Mod special edition, April 2005

External links

• Secret Affair Official band site