Having experienced problems in the local area and in school as a young teenager, he spent some time living in London with the father of a friend; finding himself with little to do "apart from watch cricket or play guitar",[3][9] he became proficient in the instrument (as well as the harmonica).[10] On returning to Scotland he began writing songs, with his growing interest in creating and performing music proving a distraction in his attempts to hold down jobs in various industries over several years.[3][10]
While performing a solo gig at a college he met aspiring producer Chris Marshall,[11] a neighbour from Castlemilk.[1] They began collaborating on a casual basis with Marshall arranging the songs and Crosbie the lyricist, and eventually formed a lo-fi band, The Cinnamons, along with Lori Duncan, Dave Bass and Gav Hunter;[1] with Gerry as frontman, they released a five-song EP in 2010.[12] Crosbie subsequently adopted the Cinnamon name as a solo performer and his later catalogue contains some compositions from the era, such as "Sometimes".[13]
An Open mic night in a bar on Sauchiehall Street in central Glasgow gave him an opportunity to perform his songs, and the event became increasingly popular.[10]
In 2014, having sold out gigs at small venues purely through word of mouth and social media,[14] he was invited to write and perform a song at a rally event in George Square ahead of the referendum on Scottish independence.[14][3] The song, Hope Over Fear, which was released as a single, introduced him to a wider audience – however he has stated that he had no desire to become a figurehead for the Yes campaign.[3][9]
In summer 2015, Cinnamon supported John Power on tour,[14] released another single, Kampfire Vampire,[15] and performed to a large crowd on the T-Break Stage at T in the Park,[6][3][16] fulfilling a long-held ambition to play at the festival.[10]
In July 2016, he again performed at T in the Park, this time at the 'King Tut's Wah Wah Tent' stage[17] as he had hoped to do a year earlier.[3] Despite having one of the traditionally least popular time slots across the weekend (2pm on Friday), his performance was again well-attended.[17][7][8] In October he was announced as 'Best Live Act' at the 2016 Scottish Alternative Music Awards.[18]
In November, without being signed to a record label, he headlined at Glasgow's O2 ABC Glasgow, the promotion of which had consisted of a single message on his Facebook profile;[17][16][7] he later admitted he was so disorganised that he had not even prepared a set list for the performance.[7] In December, he supported Ocean Colour Scene in their show at the SSE Hydro.[7]
2017: Debut album
In July 2017, Cinnamon appeared on the King Tut's stage at the TRNSMT festival (a non-camping replacement for T in the Park) on Glasgow Green,[9] again playing to a sizeable and enthusiastic crowd.[19] In September, he released his first album Erratic Cinematic, funded via the PledgeMusic platform[16] and produced by Chris Marshall,[20] which rose to the number 1 spot in the UK iTunes chart for singer-songwriters[21][22][23] and 6th overall.[24]
On the back of the album's release, he announced a show at the Barrowland Ballroom to take place in December,[23] followed a few days later by a second date.[13][10] This achievement – a first for an unsigned artist – later earned him a place in the 'Barrowland Hall of Fame' alongside the likes of Glasgow son Frankie Miller, Noel Gallagher, David Bowie and Ocean Colour Scene.[25]
In October, he was presented with a "Great Scot Award" for entertainment, following previous winners of the category such as Paolo Nutini and Kevin Bridges.[26][27] In December it was confirmed he would be returning to TRNSMT in 2018, this time on the main stage.[28][8][10]
A few days before playing his Barrowland gigs, Cinnamon spoke out against operators of ticket scalping websites, after discovering they had purchased gig tickets at face value and then offered them for sale on their sites to desperate fans at hugely inflated prices.[29]
Following his main stage performance at TRNSMT 2018, his debut album entered the Scottish Albums Chart, peaking at no. 7 in July 2018.[30]
2018: Touring
The early months of 2018 were dominated by a sold-out Scottish tour,[31] followed by several dates across the rest of Britain and Ireland, with some gigs moved to higher capacity venues due to the demand.[32] During one performance in Inverness, he briefly stopped playing to confront a member of the audience who had thrown a drink onto the stage.[33]
On 28 June 2018, two days before the event, the organisers of TRNSMT announced that Cinnamon's performance at the festival had been moved to a later, higher profile time slot (benefitting from J Hus's cancellation).[34][35] He was also booked to play at the RiZE Festival (the replacement of the long-running V Festival) and the Tartan Heart Festival (Belladrum) during August 2018.[36]
A further four gigs were announced for the coming December in Glasgow, including on Christmas Eve;[37] those also sold out. Some complained to Cinnamon via social media about the prices of tickets available on resale sites, leading him to respond publicly "If you think I want some corporate goon reselling my ticks for 10x the asking price you've lost it. If you think I'm somehow involved or can stop it when the biggest bands in the world can't do anything about it then you're misinformed at best".[38] Further December 2018 shows in Dundee, Aberdeen and Kilmarnock were later announced.[citation needed]
Following a run of arena shows supporting The Courteeners, Cinnamon announced his own England and Ireland tour.
2019
Cinnamon headlined a stage at Edinburgh's Hogmanay 2018/19 street party.[39] In January 2019, he played two gigs in Amsterdam. In February, he was announced as one of the Friday main stage performers at the forthcoming TRNSMT event in July,[40][5] and was also added to the bill for several other festivals in the summer season including Benicàssim, Isle of Wight, Kendal Calling, Y Not and Glastonbury Festival.
On 7 May 2019, it was announced that Cinnamon would support Liam Gallagher at his gig at Irish Independent Park in Cork on 23 June 2019.[41][42]
On 12 July, it was announced that he would be performing at the new P&J Live venue in Aberdeen on Saturday 23 November, which subsequently broke the record for highest attendance at a Scottish indoor event at 15,000 attendees, and two shows at the SSE Hydro in his hometown of Glasgow on Friday 20 December.[43] The arena tour was further extended throughout venues in England and Ireland with all 125,000 tickets selling out in advance.
In December, Cinnamon supported Liam Gallagher during his Australian tour as well as playing his own shows in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne.[44][45]
2020
In November 2019, Cinnamon announced his second album named The Bonny would be released on 17 April 2020 on his own label Little Runaway. Alongside the album announcement, Cinnamon revealed that he will play the biggest show of his career at the 50,000+ capacity Hampden Park, becoming the first Scottish act to headline the national stadium. Tickets went on sale on 15 November 2019 and were sold out within hours.
On 11 February 2020, it was announced that Gerry Cinnamon would perform the penultimate slot at Reading and Leeds festival in August 2020; the festivals were later rescheduled due to COVID-19 restrictions. Cinnamon went on to play the penultimate slot at Reading and Leeds Festival in August 2021.[46]
Gerry Cinnamon's second studio album, The Bonny, released on 17 April 2020 debuted at number one on the UK and Irish Albums Charts. The album was also the fastest-selling vinyl of the year and the third biggest-selling UK album released in 2020.[47][48][49]
Cinnamon was scheduled to tour the United States for the first time as well as join the Dropkick Murphys and Rancid as special guest on their May 2020 tour, pending the status of the COVID-19 outbreak there.
On 21 May 2020, Cinnamon announced that due to the coronavirus pandemic, he had moved the dates for his UK and Ireland tour to May and June 2021.[50]
2021-2022
Gerry spent 2021-2022 playing his biggest shows to date. His 350,000-capacity UK and Ireland tour, originally due to happen in 2020, included shows at Birmingham and Manchester Arenas, London's Alexandra Palace, the 25,000 capacity Malahide Castle, Dublin, and Musgrave Park Stadium, Cork. He also headlined at Swansea's Singleton Park, the second biggest show ever held in the Welsh city,[51] and set the record as the first artist to sell out three headline shows at the Belsonic, Belfast, playing to over 60,000 fans.[52][53]
Cinnamon was due to play Shaky Knees Music Festival on April 30, 2022, but show organizers announced on April 18 that he would not be performing.[54] No details were forthcoming.
The tour concluded with two homecoming shows at Hampden Park. With these shows, playing to over 100,000 fans, Gerry Cinnamon was the first independent act and first Scot to sell out multiple nights at the national stadium.[55]
Views on the music industry
He has encouraged aspiring artists to believe in themselves despite a lack of expensive backing,[5][10] and expressed a scathing distaste for the nature of music industry marketing and excessive hyping artists,[3][17][9] stating in 2016:
"The only reason I'm in this game is because it's full of imposters ruining music and my very existence annoys them and it pleases me. If you're a working class musician hearing this or reading it and you respect the art of song writing more than the art of pretending then you have a responsibility to get involved. There's a war on for real music and if you're sound and can write decent tunes then you're on the front line whether you like it or not."[7][8]
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