The Fatima Mansions

Fatima Mansions
The Fatima Mansions (1991)
Background information
Origin	Cork, Ireland
Genres	Alternative rock
Years active	1988-1995
Labels	Radioactive Records
Associated acts	Microdisney, Bubonique
Past members	Cathal Coughlan Andrias O'Gruama Zak Woolhouse Hugh Bunker Nick Allum Duke O Malaithe Nick Bunker Howard Hughes Jonathan Fell Paul Murphy

The Fatima Mansions were an art rock group formed in 1988 by Cork singer/keyboardist Cathal Coughlan, formerly of Microdisney. The original line-up consisted of Coughlan, along with Nick Allum, Jonathan Fell, Zac Woolhouse and Aindrias O'Gruama. They took their name from the Fatima Mansions corporation flats in Rialto, Dublin.

The Fatima Mansions had some indie chart success with albums such as Against Nature, Viva Dead Ponies, Bertie's Brochures, Valhalla Avenue and Lost in the Former West.

They entered the Top 10 of the UK Singles Chart in 1992 with a heavily reworked version of Bryan Adams' song "(Everything I Do) I Do It for You", taken from an NME tribute album in aid of the charity, the Spastics Society. The single was a double A-side; the flip-track, Manic Street Preachers' version of "Suicide Is Painless" received most of the radio airplay. They also gained mainstream exposure by opening a European leg of U2's Zoo TV Tour in 1992, although they were nearly booed off the stage and almost started a riot when front man Coughlan swore at a Milan audience and insulted the Pope. The band often courted controversy with religion, dictators, empires and general authority being targets for Coughlan's vitriol. Despite this, The Guardian newspaper described him as "the most underrated lyricist in pop today", and DJ John Peel said he could "listen to Cathal Coughlan sing the phone book".