Murray Head

Murray Head Biography

Murray Seafield St George Head (born 5 March 1946 in London, England) is an English actor and singer. Head was born in London to parents Seafield Head, (1919-2009) a documentary-maker, and Helen Shingler, an actress (1919-2019). His younger brother is Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Little Britain star Anthony Stewart Head. Head began acting and writing songs as a child, and by the mid-1960s had a London recording contract. He had limited success (although some of his early singles now appear on mod/psych compilations, enjoying a cult status) until he was selected by Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber to play Judas Iscariot on the original album version of Jesus Christ Superstar. At around the same time he won a leading role in the Oscar-winning Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971), alongside Peter Finch and Glenda Jackson. Despite these successes, he received little public attention in the next ten years (save for 1975's Say It Ain't So Joe), reappearing in the spotlight in 1984 as the star of the musical, Chess. The song "One Night in Bangkok", from Chess, featuring Head on lead vocal, became a radio hit. After his 1984 hit "One Night In Bangkok", Head has had little attention internationally. Fluent in French, he has released some albums in that language, notably the song "Une femme un homme", a duet with Marie Carmen released in 1993 which became a radio hit in French-speaking Canada. Some of his most recent work was in Luc Plamondon's musical comedy Cindy, in which he played Cindy's father. Head is currently playing a character on ITV's Heartbeat.