Rory Graham was born on 29 January 1985 in Buckfield, near Brighton, England. As a boy, Graham was exposed to the blues music of Muddy Waters. When he discovered hip hop as a teenager, he began rapping at the age of fifteen in a local drum ’n’ bass group. His father encouraged him to start singing as well. While watching a rerun of the 1970s comedy series Steptoe And Son with his father, he found his stage name: Bag’n’Bone Man (loosely translated as ragman or ragpicker). In Brighton, he joined the hip hop collective Rum Committee, which released the album Boozetown in 2012. When success failed to materialise, he went solo.
Under the name Rag’n’Bone Man, the EP Bluestown was released in 2012, featuring eight self-written tracks. After releasing two more singles, he was signed in 2015 by Best Laid Plan Records, the label of Bastille singer Dan Smith. The song Human was released in the summer of 2016, when Rag’n’Bone Man also appeared at North Sea Jazz and Lowlands. The single was played sparingly on the radio and it took months before it really became a hit. The eponymous debut album was only available from February 2017, but it entered the charts at number 1. In 2019, Graham scored a top 10 hit as guest vocalist on Giant by DJ Calvin Harris. The second album Life By Misadventure was released in May 2021.
Top 2000
In the 23rd edition of the Top 2000, Rag'n'Bone Man appears with one entry:
Sunday Morning Classics: Human
On 30 January 2022, Rag'n'Bone Man was featured on our virtual stage as a Sunday Morning Classic with his album Human.
The title track is soulful, driven by a substantial bass, and is about his own feelings, as he once explained. ‘It’s about admitting that you often simply don’t have all the answers. “I’m no prophet or messiah” is a line, acknowledging that feeling.’ In my opinion, Skin might be even better. Why? Because it seems as if Rag’n’Bone Man lets his feelings speak even more; it’s more emotional. Not necessarily through the lyrics, but through the melody and his singing. It’s a song that on the one hand is very beautiful, but at the same time, if you’re in a low mood, can really affect you deeply. As for the other songs on the album: the more you listen to them, the better they become. The first time they might sound a bit ‘flat’, but after several listens the penny drops and appreciation grows. The closer Die Easy is also quite special. It’s an a cappella song with a very dark text for someone aged 32. Yet it sounds beautiful and wouldn’t be out of place as a soundtrack for a western film.
All in all, Rag’n’Bone Man can look back on a fine debut album. Musically, the album is quite diverse, that’s for sure, but the subjects could be a bit more varied.
