Renowned for their raucous upbeat shows, Madness have produced some of the most uplifting tunes ever, including It Must Be Love and Our House. Yet their frontman Suggs had a tough upbringing which he unveils in a new show. Chris Price found out more.

He fronts one of the biggest bands of the last 30 years and is one of the nation’s most recognisable faces, yet it was a British blue cat called Mamba that triggered Suggs to tell his life story.

“I’m quickly realising the world is divided into people who like cats and those who don’t,” revealed the Madness lead singer whose real name is Graham McPherson.

Lying in the bath the night after his 50th birthday, Suggs heard an almighty crash as a glass shelf gave way with his cat standing on it.

“The kids had grown up and left home, our garden was a pet cemetery, I was 50, I was feeling rough as I’d had my birthday party the night before, and my cat fell off the shelf in my bathroom and died next to me. I thought 'what the hell is going on, God? Everything always happens at the same time’.”

This moment sparked off a deluge of emotion in the House of Fun and Baggy Trousers hitmaker. Already having been approached about producing a one-man show about his career, Suggs, who owns a beach hut in Whitstable (he enthuses “we go there a lot ’cause it’s really brilliant,”) was now feeling reflective on his mortality and changed his angle completely.

“When I was first supposed to do this show it was more like stand-up jokes and showbiz tales but I was talking to my friend and he said 'do the serious stuff’. I’ve got a good director which really helps.

“I go from real tragedy to real comedy and the audience will go with you as long as you do it with confidence. It is strange because it is not the way you would do it in the pub. It is very theatrical.”

A pivotal part of his show, entitled Suggs: My Life Story in Words and Music, is his relationship with his absent father, who left his mother when Suggs was about three. Named William – but everyone called him Mac – he worked for a photographic developers but his life was overtaken by drugs. He died aged 40, leaving Suggs without any recollection of his father.

“It is hard to talk to the audience about it but the hardest thing was writing it,” said Suggs, who is a massive Chelsea fan and even recorded one of the club’s cup final songs, Blue Day.

“When the words were finished that was what I was going to say. It was painful but I discovered what happened to my dad. Also it galvanised me to talk to my mum about him, which I have not done before.”

Despite his decision to leave his family, Suggs’ mother described his dad as a “nice man”, even though his leaving had caused Suggs’ uprooted childhood, forcing the family to move from Hastings to Liverpool and then to various homes in London.

“That is an important part in the show. I came out of my mum’s flat after she told me this. I thought 'blimey, he was a nice man. What a birthday. My dad was a nice man’. It shows all the darker people in life are still human beings. It helped me to understand he was a human being. I always thought he was a swine for leaving us but it was ok to deal with him being a 'nice man’ now I am older.

“I have written this show in a way which is not moody. I hope that people come away from this feeling better about themselves. That is what happened to me. It is not horrible Heat magazine rubbish. It is my life broken up and I have had lots of ups and downs, but the most important thing is the people around you right now. I hope that is the abiding thought.”

Album "more lively"

Madness have just finished work on their 10th studio album, due to be released in the autumn, something Suggs is very excited about.

He said: “The last record we made was quite a dense record. People talked about it being a concept record, with its 12-minute songs and to an extent that was true.

“This album is more the Madness which make you want to dance. I hope there is some quality of songwriting but it is more 'up’, for want of a better expression. It is a bit more lively.”

Minor earthquake!

Suggs describes his career high point as Madness’ comeback gig at Madstock! in Finsbury Park in 1992. The band had not played together for eight years but 75,000 people turned up to see them play, causing a minor earthquake two days running in north London, which was picked up by seismologists in Scotland.

“The police were fairly sceptical when they got the call about the earthquake,” recalled Suggs.

“I don’t think sceptical was the word they used. But the seismologists recorded the same earthquake at exactly the same time the next day and it was because all these grown men were jumping about to One Step Beyond. That was quite a moment.”

Suggs: My Life Story in Words and Music comes to Bromley’s Churchill Theatre on Monday, January 23. Box office 0844 871 7627. He then comes to Dartford’s Orchard Theatre on Tuesday, January 31. Box office 01322 220000. Tickets £20.50.