Background
Gift was born in Sparkhill in Birmingham to a white mother and a black father, and lived in the city until the age of 11. He then moved to Hull, where his mother, Pauline, ran several second-hand clothes shops.
Gift was born in Sparkhill in Birmingham to a white mother and a black father, and lived in the city until the age of 11. He then moved to Hull, where his mother, Pauline, ran several second-hand clothes shops.
He was educated at Kelvin Hall School in Hull.
He was the lead singer of the band Fine Young Cannibals, who rose to fame in the late 1980s. Akrylykz and Fine Young Cannibals
His first recording, on which he played the saxophone, was with Hull ska band Akrylykz. The second release on York"s Red Rhino Records.
Although this record was unsuccessful, it did bring him to the attention of Andy Cox and David Steele of The Beat.
Akrylykz toured with The Beat, which led to them, in around 1985, asking him to be the lead singer of their new band Fine Young Cannibals after their old band, The Beat, had broken up. He also was a guest artist on the Ska City Rockers" "Time Is Tight" single.
In 1990, he was named by People magazine as one of the "50 Most Beautiful People" in the world. Solo career
Gift contributed a cover of "That"s How Strong My Love Is" for the soundtrack of the 1996 film Beautiful Girls.
In 2002, Gift released a self-titled solo album, featuring the single "lieutenant"s Only Money".
In 2007, Gift was in a recording studio working on a follow-up album. Gift has performed as a solo artist again, appearing at the Rewind Festival in Henley. On 13 February 2012, Gift appeared on British Broadcasting Corporation Radio Solent promoting the gigs and announced a potential new album in 2012.
This will be a soundtrack to a film Gift is involved with.
"The Prisoner" was played on the show and Roland said this would probably be included in the soundtrack. He also appeared in Jools Holland"s 20th annual "Hootenanny" show, which aired overnight on BBC2 on 31 December 2012 / 1 January 2013, the last to be recorded at British Broadcasting Corporation Television Centre.
Gift sang the Fine Young Cannibals hits "Good Thing" and "Suspicious Minds". Gift was a guest vocalist on Jools Holland"s 2013 tour.
In August 2014 Gift gave four live United Kingdom performances at Hare & Hounds Birmingham, Freedom Festival Hull, Sage Gateshead and Café de Paris, London.
As of February 2015, Roland Gift is recording a new album, "Return to Vegas". In 1987, Gift had his first screen role in the film Sammy and Rosie Get Laid, and also appeared in Out of Order the same year. In 1990 he did his first stage work, playing Romeo in the Hull Truck Theatre"s production of Shakespeare"s Romeo and Juliet, a production which had a brief run in the United States at the Staller Center for the Arts.
He also appeared as a lounge singer (singing songs that were included in the Fine Young Cannibals album The Raw and the Cooked) in the 1987 film Tin Men, directed by Barry Levinson.
In 1989, he appeared in Scandal as Johnny Edgecombe, Christine Keeler"s boyfriend. In December 1992, he began the first of five appearances as the evil Immortal Xavier Saint Cloud in the television series Highlander: The Series, and appeared in an episode of the Yorkshire Television series Heartbeat.
He also had a small role as the jazz saxophonist Eddie Mullen in the mini-series The Painted Lady (1997), starring Helen Mirren, and appeared in the movie The Island of the Mapmaker"s Wife (2001). In 2001 Gift was considered for the role of Xander Cage in xXx but was ultimately passed over in favour of Vin Diesel.
