Family Man

Album: Roachford (1988)
Charted: 25
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Songfacts®:

  • "Family Man" was the first single released from Roachford's self-titled debut album in 1988. The song initially didn't chart. Following the success of Roachford's subsequent single, "Cuddly Toy (Feel For Me)," however, "Family Man" was rereleased in 1989 and charted at #25 in the UK.

    The song tells the story of a bachelor who's decided to commit to becoming a loving husband and father. Andrew Roachford revealed to Songfacts that the protagonist was in fact inspired by Ozzy Osbourne, who Roachford encountered in a canteen where he was rehearsing. "Ozzy Osbourne and his wife and kids were there," Roachford said. "Ozzy Osbourne is obviously the wild man of rock - biting heads off of bats and stuff - but there he was with his wife telling him off about something and it completely threw me but it was quite funny to watch. There was the wild man of rock being told off by his wife."
  • In 2017, Andrew Roachford told music journalist Malcolm Wyatt that touring had prevented him from becoming a family man himself, explaining: "I've spent so much of my life on the road I haven't really had time. I kind of missed that one. I don't really have a family in that sense but I'm on the road with my brother, and my cousins are around all the time. I've always had family around."
  • "Family Man" was accompanied by an official video starring Barrie Sharpe, founder of the influential clothing brand Duffer of St. George.

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