The Housemartins and Beautiful South singer on his happiest hours by the stereo: “It still sounds exciting now”

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DAVID BOWIE

The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars

RCA, 1972

I shared a room with my middle brother growing up, and this is one of the records that seeped through the walls of my oldest brother’s room into ours. It was just really different – it was on the edge of glam rock, I suppose, but it was also totally by itself. I had no idea what “Suffragette City” was, or “Moonage Daydream”, and Ziggy Stardust sounded like the name of a wrestler. But it was really exciting to watch it have influence over ordinary people. You could see quite hard lads in Sheffield trying to have their hair cut like Bowie and wearing these big stack heels. Some of the songs make no sense at all – I didn’t know what “Lady Stardust” meant and probably still don’t – but his voice is beautiful.

ARETHA FRANKLIN

Aretha With The Ray Bryant Combo

COLUMBIA, 1961

The first soul record I got was called This Is Soul – there’s a song by Wilson Pickett, Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding, and I worked backwards from each of the artists on there. I think I’ve got about 25 different albums by Aretha, but this was one I found quite late. It’s jazzy but it’s also very gospel-y as well. There are a couple of really nice songs: “Are You Sure”, which I think is from a musical, “Today I Sing The Blues” and “Love Is The Only Thing”… It’s more uptempo than her other early stuff, and I used to like Ray Bryant anyway. It’s just a really nice album to find after you thought you’d secured most of her records.

THE LURKERS

Fulham Fallout

BEGGARS BANQUET, 1978

I was really struggling to decide which punk album to pick. I was thinking the Buzzcocks or The Clash or maybe even Siouxsie & The Banshees, but I went for The Lurkers’ first album . I wanted to be Pete Shelley, but I also wanted to be Howard Wall, the lead singer from The Lurkers. I just loved the album because it felt like it was within my grasp, in terms of musical ability. They were obviously quite an underrated band. They were really good live, but they were unassuming – they didn’t speak much, didn’t say much outrageous, which a lot of people used to go to concerts for then. So it doesn’t surprise me that they went under the radar a little bit.

OWEN GRAY

The Singles Collection 1960-1962

NOT BAD RECORDS, 2014

When punk was happening, I started pinching bluebeat records from upstairs at Beanos in Croydon – I do apologise to Beanos for this! There was one artist called Owen Gray who I absolutely loved. So a few years ago I went out and bought this compilation, which had all four of the singles I’d pinched. It was a weird era for Jamaican music, because it was before ska and reggae and everything that came after that. It’s basically blues, but with a very faint skank on it. The musicianship on those early Jamaican records, especially with the brass, was quite out-there. They weren’t like the jazz musicians of New York – they were a lot more free with the tuning, but the trombone solos were fantastic. It still sounds exciting now.

THE PERSUASIONS

Street Corner Symphony

ISLAND, 1972

Of all the a capella bands, they’re probably the most well-known – one of their songs, “Good Times”, is in an advert that’s on permanently at the moment. My Mum went to see Lou Reed in Sheffield in 1973 with The Persuasions supporting, which is pretty incredible, and she brought this record back with her. I didn’t play it until much later, but obviously The Housemartins went on to sing quite a bit of acapella vocals live, so it became quite an influence. Even before “Caravan Of Love”, we used to do a lot of quasi-religious stuff like “Joy Joy Joy” and “We Shall Not Be Moved”. So Street Corner Symphony really set that up.

SILAS HOGAN

Trouble

EXCELLO, 1971

When I was 17, I was a massive blues fan. I played this a lot when I was learning harmonica, and it’s an absolutely brilliant album. Silas Hogan was only discovered later in life, in his fifties, and you can tell it in the way he plays. It’s electric guitar instead of acoustic, a little bit like Jimmy Reed, that sort of sound. He didn’t play harmonica himself, but the guy who does, Moses Smith, is absolutely fantastic. It’s one of those records that I went out and bought on CD much later, because I needed it in my CD collection as well. I still occasionally play it, which says a lot because I don’t listen to a lot of blues at the moment.

VARIOUS ARTISTS

The Gospel At Colonus

WARNER BROS, 1984

This was something my Mum recorded off the telly. She knew I was a fan of gospel music, so she sent the video up to me. It was such a good thing to do, because it’s beautiful. It’s the story of Sophocles’ Oedipus At Colonus but it’s got The Blind Boys Of Alabama in it, and the JD Steele Singers – Jevetta Steele’s got an incredible voice – and Morgan Freeman doing the main source of speech. I think you have to watch it before buying the record which may sound daft, but it’s quite a spectacle. It’s one of the last chances to see really powerful performances by Clarence Fountain and people like that. It was a big influence on me making [2012 stage show and album] The 8th.

BILL WITHERS

Making Music

CBS, 1975

It’s not one of his famous ones, but it’s such a great example of his songwriting. “Paint Your Pretty Picture” was the song that me and my wife came out to when we got married, so it has enormous significance for me. I do think Bill Withers is a bit underrated because the modern era cuts it down to a couple of songs, “Lean On Me” and “Lovely Day”. They were great hit records, but there’s so much more to his character than that. There’s a beautiful documentary called where you can see why he’s underrated, because he’s not impressed by his own ability at all. He will not blow his own trumpet, and he’s just a very nice fella. So I was sad when he died.

Paul Heaton’s new album The Mighty Several is released by EMI on October 11; he tours the UK from November 29, see paulheaton.co.uk for the full list of dates