Singer Paul Holden tells us about his condition which has never held him back

Liverpool based singer/songwriter Paul Holden is back with his tantalising new release “Back To The River”.

Following his 2021 project “Say It To The Sun”, Paul has returned in fully fledged style, showcasing his unique talent with something fresh, and enticing.

"Back To The River" is a dark-disco banger, exploring electro style production, whilst on the backdrop of Paul’s signature style via the anthemic chorus.

The track speaks of how we do our best thinking when gazing down on a flowing river, and this is projected through the thought provoking lyrics, and sinuous instrumentation.

Paul Holden has been an inspiration to many from overcoming his disability, and never slowing down.

Before his solo career Paul fronted band ‘The Talkabouts’, and having performed with The Pretenders, China Crisis, and The Bluetones, Paul’s solo career took off amidst covering ‘Imagine’ at Liverpool’s M&S Arena to 10,000 people as part of ‘The Number One Project’ for charity.

Here Paul writes an exclusive article for ABLE2UK about his rising career and a condition which has never held him back.

‘I’m back with my new single “Back To The River”. It’s a bit different from my previous releases. I described it as “Dark Disco”. Not sure if I’ve created a new genre here or not! Haha. It’s about doing my best thinking, when being next to a river.

I guess the big monkey on my back now, is getting back on stage with a full band.

The boys are ready to go and I am too, but it made me stop and think about what venues are fully accessible to me, as an artist. Somewhere where I can get from the Dressing Room to stage, without any assistance. The sad truth is even in this great musical city, I can only think of one which is the big room in the 02 Academy! I mean I know, pop stars in wheelchairs are hardly ten a penny but that’s not the point.

I think it’s maybe time to start thinking about different and unique places away from the usual music venues. That’s the plan for 2024.

You see, I was diagnosed with Nemaline Myopathy around the age of 5. I think it was a slight relief to my family as up until then, they had no idea why I had this weakness. Up until that point all other specialists were drawing a blank. I got told I was just a lazy boy by one of them!

Because it is such a rare condition, I think there was a worry amongst my family, as nobody knew very much about it all (life expectancy, how it progresses etc.). It wasn’t really until the internet came about that we started to get some clarity. It turns out it was a non-progressive variant of the disease, and life expectancy is normal (as long as I learned how to not go overboard with the partying!!)

Becoming a musician wasn’t something that was in my mind at a young age, even though my mum sent me to piano lessons when I was 7 or 8 (which I really didn’t enjoy.) This was a life changing thing she did for me, I just didn’t know it yet!

We didn’t really live in an area where kids went to piano lessons if you know what I mean, but she just wanted me to do something different. It was only when I started to become obsessed with music, (around the age of 16) I remembered I knew a few chords from their piano lesson days, and that’s where the musical journey began.

Anyway, I hope everyone enjoys “Back To The River”. I’d like to think that if there are any aspiring artists out there with a disability, they take inspiration from what I’m doing and it gives them the belief to go and do it too.’