Celebrating the Paperback Release of Paul Hardcastle's THE HARD WAY

Calling all music fans! Just in time for Christmas, Paul Hardcastle’s career-spanning memoir THE HARD WAY is now available in paperback – with special, limited edition SIGNED copies also available!

The artist behind the global pop sensation ‘19’ has had a long and illustrious career in the music industry, mixing with some of the world’s biggest stars and playing to crowds across the globe.

To set the scene for Paul’s book, below are the opening pages, which feature an introduction by co-author Paul Zanon; a foreword by Paul’s manager, long-term friend and music icon Simon Fuller; as well as an introduction to the man himself – Paul Hardcastle.

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October 2022

I was writing Tony Gale’s book, compiling a list of people to interview who might have some good anecdotes to add colour to Tony’s life. Galey started with family, then the kids he grew up with on his estate in Pimlico. As he mentioned a few names, he said, ‘Give Paul Hardcastle a call. We used to play football together as kids.’

I replied jokingly, ‘Spelt like the guy who did Na-na-na-na-nineteen!’

Tony calmly replied, ‘Yep. That’s him, mate.’

A few weeks later, I caught up with Paul, who kindly shared a few stories from back in the day and towards the end of the call, we spoke about the possibility of him having his life story penned. Writing a book isn’t just a case of meeting someone and agreeing to write their life story; it’s like a marriage. You spend several months talking with the client, getting to know their life inside and out, so it’s essential you get on.

A few months later, I had taken Tony’s book over the line and Paul and I met. Well – let’s just say we clicked immediately. He’s the most unassuming person, generous, down to earth and his anecdotes have been a pleasure to scribe. If you thought you knew Paul Hardcastle because of ‘19’, you’ll be knocked back by the depth of the man’s life either side of that one track. Enjoy the nostalgic ride as it takes you through drainpipe trousers, to flares, 80s shoulder pads and way beyond. I assure you, at some point of reading this book, you will nod your head in recognition of going down memory lane and say to yourself, ‘I remember that!’

Paul Zanon

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Foreword- The Unexpected

It was around the start of 1985 that I first came across the name Hardcastle. I was working for Chrysalis Music, publishing at the time, and had just signed the writers of Madonna’s ‘Like a Virgin’. The track was sitting at No.1 on the 12" sales chart for a little while, then I noticed it had been replaced by a record called ‘Rainforest’ and by someone who I didn’t really know much about. His name was Paul Hardcastle.

What was quite unbelievable was that ‘Rainforest’ was an instrumental, but seemed to capture a lot of different audiences by way of Club, RnB, Hip Hop, etc. I wanted to know more about this guy and decided to track him down. After getting hold of his contact details, I gave him a call, explained who I was and asked him if he fancied a chat about maybe doing something for Chrysalis.

We met at the Chrysalis building in Stratford Place and straight away, I saw a young guy who I knew wanted to succeed in the music industry. I think my first words were, ‘Oh. So, you’re the bloke who has taken my No.1 spot!’

He laughed, then said, ‘Errrrr, yeah, sorry about that!’

We talked for about an hour and I thought it would be a good idea for him to meet the record label personnel and some of the top A&R people, plus two of the managing directors. I asked him to bring any new material he might be working on and he said he had something which he couldn’t describe as it was impossible to do so, which instantly did set my mind off wondering what it was.

About a week later, Paul came back and we were all in the main room at Chrysalis and everyone was expecting a kind of ‘Rainforest Part II’. Oh boy – that was so far from what he was about to play us all. As he started to play the demo of this track, the room went silent, as everyone thought, What the hell is this? I even thought the same at first, but something told me, Hey – this is so different, it might just change the dance world, as it had a mega story. Also, it had this na-na-na nineteen sample, which was most probably the first track to use a sampler in this way.

Well, the meeting ended in a sort of confused state and everyone kind of said unenthusiastically, ‘Let’s keep in touch.’ However, I asked Paul to stay along with the promotions man, Ken Grunbaum. Ken felt that it would either be a monster hit or the biggest flop that year. Then Ken left and it was just Paul and me.

Paul knew as well as I did that they thought I was mad to back a record which talked about people being killed at such a young age and this strong na-na-na nineteen sample, which highlighted that even more! I still remember saying to myself, ‘Even if it’s not this track, this guy will do something in the music industry.’ So, I said to him shortly after Ken left the room, ‘What would you say if I became your manager and left my job here?’

He just looked at me a bit strangely and said, ‘What does a manager do?’

At the time, I was not a manager and replied, ‘Oh. I guess I just take all the shit for you.’

He said, ‘OK! Let’s do it.’

Two months later, the track was a global success and reached No.1 in thirteen countries. Paul was my first client. We started out together, are still on top of our game and, most importantly, are still the best of friends.

Simon Fuller

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December 1957

First large-scale nuclear power plant for peacetime use opens in Pennsylvania, USA.

Sam Cooke reaches No.1 with his single, ‘You Send Me’.

CBS broadcast The Sound of Jazz, live, featuring a number of contemporary jazz artists, including Count Basie, Thelonious Monk and Billie Holiday.

The Soviet Union launches Sputnik.

Alexander R. Todd wins the Nobel Peace Prize in chemistry.

Paul Hardcastle is born on 10 December 1957.

The Hard Way is available in hardback, paperback and on the Kindle Store.

Limited edition signed paperback copies are also available.