Who is Kirsty MacColl’s ex-husband Steve Lillywhite? Music producer who has worked with iconic bands
KIRSTY MacColl was known for being the fierce frontwoman of The Pogues.
But behind the scenes, her ex-husband, Steve Lillywhite was also a veteran in the music industry.
Who is Kirsty MacColl’s ex-husband Steve Lillywhite?
Steve Lillywhite has worked with some of the biggest names in the field.
He put U2 on the road to fame and has worked with some of the biggest names in music including the Rolling Stones, Talking Heads, Liam Gallagher‘s post-Oasis band Beady Eye and many more.
Born March 15, 1955, in Surrey, he began his career in 1977.
He started off as a bass player when he was 16 years old, before he got a job in a studio.
He’s been credited on over 500 records and collaborated with dozens of artists including Siouxsie and the Banshees, Simple Minds, Peter Gabriel, Morrissey, and The Killers.
Lillywhite has also won six Grammy Awards, including Producer of the Year, Non-Classical in 2006.
In 2012, he was made a Commander of the Order of The British Empire (CBE) for his contributions to music.
The Pogues
The record producer is well-known for marrying singer-songwriter and The Pogues singer, Kirsty MacColl, in 1984.
The pair shared two children together, Jamie and Louis, but divorced in 1994.
Sadly, MacColl passed away in 2000.
Speaking about his ex-wife, Lillywhite told the Guardian: “Kirsty was opinionated, she didn’t take any s***.”
Lillywhite believes that her debut hit, the 1981 new wave novelty There’s a Guy Works Down the Chip Shop Swears He’s Elvis, was created partly to “embarrass” her father, who despised pop music.
She had been signed by Dave Robinson, co-founder of the renowned indie label Stiff, after he heard her demos.
He said Lillywhite and MacColl had reportedly met at a party, and the rest is history.
Lillywhite’s cover of Billy Bragg’s A New England, produced by her, became her biggest solo hit, reaching number seven on the charts in 1985.
By the time the music video was shot, the couple were married and MacColl was heavily pregnant.
Instead of making her own records, she accompanied Lillywhite to the studio.
Lillywhite says: “The 10 years we were together, she must have sung on pretty much everything I produced with the exception of U2: [that’s] Talking Heads, the Rolling Stones, the Smiths and Happy Mondays.
“When I was working with the Stones, we ended up backstage at Live Aid in Philadelphia with Keith Richards, Ronnie Wood and Bob Dylan. I introduced Kirsty to Dylan and he looked at her and went: ‘Oh my God, your dad hated me.’”
It was via Lillywhite that MacColl made her most famous guest appearance.
He explained: “The Pogues had these quite lofty ideals as to who was to sing on Fairytale of New York; Chrissie Hynde was mentioned.
“But I took the tapes home with me over the weekend and got Kirsty to sing it.
“It’s as good a vocal as I’ve ever recorded with anyone and it’s much more complicated than you think.
“Many people have tried to cover it and no one can sing it with her nuance and swing.”
When I heard the news yesterday, it affected me a lot more than I thought it would. Because it took me back to the whole… I mean his story is such a great story of redemption.
Steve Lillywhite on Darius Danesh
Together, the couple created two MacColl albums—1989’s Kite and 1991’s Electric Landlady—which established her songwriting partnerships with Pete Glenister and Mark Nevin.
By the time of 1993’s Titanic Days, Lillywhite and MacColl’s marriage was unravelling.
He says she was the victim of too much “recreational partying … she didn’t want to carry on with that lifestyle and I decided the drug-taking had to increase.”
In May 2004, he married Patricia Louise Galluzzi, but they divorced ten years later.
Darius Danesh
In 2002, Lillywhite signed singer-songwriter Darius Danesh, having become a managing director for Universal Music Group.
He served as executive producer for his debut album Dive In, which spawned three Top 10 hits, and Mercury Records’ first number one in eighteen years.
When Darius sadly died in 2022, he said: “When I heard the news yesterday, it affected me a lot more than I thought it would. Because it took me back to the whole… I mean his story is such a great story of redemption.
“You know, how he was basically, he was ridiculed on Pop Idol, he ended up coming third.
“And there wasn’t a hell of a lot going on for him but what he had was this huge heart.”
A friend of Lillywhite’s, who was working with Campbell Danesh at the time, called him and suggested the two should meet.
Lillywhite said: “I met him and my first thought when I met him was, basically, he was a thoroughbred. He was like this incredible stallion.
“I mean, you know, tall, good-looking, he just reminded me of as good an example of the human race that you will ever find and it was fantastic.”
U2
During his career, he snagged consecutive Grammy Awards for Record of the Year with U2’s Beautiful Day and Walk On.
In 2006, he won three Grammys for Producer of the Year (Non-Classical), Best Rock Album also with U2’s How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, and a partial win for Album of the Year, also for How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb.
However, he was there from the inception of U2, producing their debut album Boy in 1980.
Lillywhite’s collaboration with U2 continued with the albums October and War.
In 1991, he co-produced songs from the band’s Achtung Baby album, working alongside Brian Eno, Daniel Lanois and Flood.
Speaking to Music and Musicians Magazine, he said: “With U2, the end of an album is chaotic—but that chaos can make for great art.
“Bono won’t sing until a song is mixed and then he’ll rewrite it.
“It’s like a tree. Some of their entire albums come from three or four song ideas.”
Phish
In 1996, he produced Phish’s Billy Breathes, and he returned to produce Joy in 2009.
During an interview, he said that Phish could “play everything, but that is not good. Limitations in art are what make great art, so when you can play everything, how do you choose what to play?”
However, he added: “To me, they’re a prog band that jams wonderfully, moving around through different time signatures and such.
“To me, that’s what makes [1996’s] Billy Breathes so good. It condenses what they do into 45 minutes. It’s as good a concept album as I’ve ever done.”
Dave Matthews Band
During the 1990s, Lillywhite produced the multi platinum albums Under the Table and Dreaming, Crash, and Before These Crowded Streets by the Dave Matthews Band.
In 2000, Lillywhite was dismissed from the Dave Matthews Band’s fourth album due to creative differences with the band members.
In 2001, some of the recordings from those sessions surfaced on a bootleg album, now known as The Lillywhite Sessions.
Many of these songs were later re-recorded and featured on the band’s album Busted Stuff.
The unfinished tracks had leaked online, prompting the band to re-record most of them, this time choosing Stephen Harris as their producer instead of Lillywhite.
Thirty Seconds to Mars, Razorlight, and more
In September 2005, Lillywhite took on the role of Senior Vice-President of A&R at Columbia Records, where he notably signed MGMT.
However, his time at the label was brief, as he left at the end of 2006.
He also signed Razorlight, and also produced Jason Mraz’s Mr. A-Z.
In 2012, Lillywhite reunited with Thirty Seconds to Mars, co-producing their fourth album, Love, Lust, Faith and Dreams, alongside actor Jared Leto.
Where is Steve Lillywhite now?
Lillywhite then ventured into the Japanese music scene for the first time in 2019, co-producing Luna Sea’s album Cross.
In interviews, he mentioned that he’s been semi-retired and living in Indonesia for the past five years, now choosing to work only with select artists.
Lillywhite stayed in the country and went on to produce singer Iwan Fals, whom he describes as an Indonesian mixture of Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen, and an all-female band.
He said: “One reason I’m doing this: If you can empower women in Muslim countries, it’s great.
“There are dark forces and fundamentalism in every religion, and women are the key to keeping that fundamentalism away.”