While Heaton’s back catalogue is increasingly acclaimed, there’s one aspect to his talent which rarely draws enough attention: his voice, which displays the innocence of a chorister dragged reluctantly into adulthood, now sporting a wry smile, a dry wit and a finely tuned sense of injustice. This lack of praise is something he doesn’t really think about, but it is, nevertheless, as he himself acknowledges, a subject that doesn’t come up regularly.
“People don’t often... they sort of sometimes suggest... They say it’s ‘special’ or whatever.”
The Housemartins pictured in 1986
© Alamy