Black was also the pen name of
Colin Vearncombe, a British singer / songwriter who had a fairly large
hit in 1987 with '
Wonderful Life', a song which manages to be both
happy and
sad at the same time.
'Wonderful Life' was taken from Colin's 1985 debut album, also called 'Wonderful Life', released on an independent label; he had been recording since 1983 on WEA, without much success, and was on the verge of obscurity when 'Wonderful Life' came along. On the strength of the album he signed to A&M, with whom he had chart success in 1986 (the single 'Sweetest Smile') and 1987 ('Wonderful Life').
Black recorded two further albums for A&M - 'Comedy' and 'Black' without repeating this success, and left the label in 1991. A further album, 'Are we having fun yet', emerged in 1993 on his own record label, again without denting the charts. After this, the name 'Black' was dropped, and Colin continues to release records under his own name. He was born in 1962 in Liverpool and his starsign is Cancer.