Hugh Cornwell on Combining his Love of Music and Animation

Hugh Cornwell – legendary singer from The Stranglers – has one thing in common with his hero, Ray Harryhausen: they both knew at the age of six what they wanted to do with their lives. Hugh explains: “His dad took him to see the original King Kong film and when he came out with his dad afterwards – he was about six years old – he told his dad, ‘that’s what I want do when I grow up’. What an amazing thing to come up with!” For Hugh the same revelation came about at the same young age but his ambition was to be a singer.

The former Stranglers singer-songwriter has been a lifelong film buff and fondly recalls at the age of 10 going to the cinema to watch the likes of Felix The Cat and Popeye during his years growing up in London. But it was later when he saw films such as Jason and the Argonauts, whose stop-motion animation Harryhausen was responsible for, that Hugh became smitten with model animation and the possibilities it presented for films.
“I started getting interested in the history of film and that’s when I found out about the life of Harryhausen,” he says.

For anyone not familiar with Harryhausen he was the stop-motion master of Hollywood, responsible for stop-motion scenes in such classics as the Seventh Voyage of Sinbad,, Jason and the Argonauts and the Clash of the Titans. He was presented with an academy award for his own film, The Mighty Joe Young, which draws heavily upon King Kong and features eyewatering stop-motion scenes. Harryhausen, who lived in London in his later years and became a British-American citizen, died in 2013 but his legacy resonates today through the work of Tim Burton, Wes Anderson and Nick Park.

Hugh, who has used stop-motion animation extensively in videos for his solo work, is sharing his love and fascination of animation in a one-off event at Waterside Arts Centre on Thursday 24 October, to mark the launch of a new exhibition called The Lost Worlds of Ray Harryhausen. On the night he will be on conversation with Ric Michael and there will be a special screening of The Mighty Joe Young. Hugh will also share previously unseen animations developed during his music career.

The event will also feature rare and previously un-exhibited preproduction artwork for some of Harryhausen’s classic and much- loved films, as well as artwork ranging from early sketches through to detailed key drawings showing the creative process behind his groundbreaking special effects.

“I actually wrote a song about his career, called Monster. He was the go-to guy back in the ‘50s and ‘60s. When he made The Mighty Joe Young people went ‘wow’ – he was the master. He had an astonishing ability and talent in film which hopefully will inspire young innovators to do what he had in his lifetime,” says Hugh.

Stop-motion can compete with the trickery of CGI animation, says Hugh, because it is three dimensional and takes people deeper into the fantasy world they crave. His own delving into stop-motion extends to music videos for his songs.

“I love seeing animation in promotional films. I can’t see anything very positive about anyone seeing me performing a song with a microphone. Why not use the music as a sounding board and try something else, such as animation?”

Not only has Hugh ploughed a very successful solo career since leaving The Stranglers, but as an avid film fan he produces his own podcast, Mr De Mille FM, with more than 100 episodes featuring interviews with such movie luminaires as David Puttnam and Ken Loach. “In my line of work, I get introduced to lots of famous people, so if it’s someone to do with film, I’ll ask if I can interview them for the podcast.”

Hugh is back on the road this autumn promoting a new album – he is playing Manchester Academy on 29 November – and continues to include classic Stranglers tracks in his shows. But his vision is firmly fixed on the future and not the past: “I’m proud of all my work, but as time goes on the proportion of Stranglers work gets smaller and smaller. I don’t deny its importance and I’m very lucky that we made such a success of it.”

The Lost Worlds of Ray Harryhausen: Creatures, Martians, and Myths is a free exhibition. It opens at Waterside, Sale on 26 October 2024 and runs until 4 January 2025.

Hugh Cornwell: An Animated Discussion and Mighty Joe Young Film Screening is at Waterside on 24 October. See website for tickets.