Cathal Coughlan

Cathal Coughlan (16 December 1960 – 18 May 2022) was an Irish singer and songwriter from Cork, best known as the frontman of the band Microdisney, formed with Sean O'Hagan in 1980. Their second album The Clock Comes Down the Stairs reached number one in the UK Indie Chart. They developed cult followings in the Irish and UK indie music scenes before breaking up in 1988.

Coughlan went on to lead the harder-edged The Fatima Mansions, who found critical success with their aggressive live shows and five consistent albums, but broke up in 1995.

In the following years Coughlan released intermittent solo material with musicians such as O’Hagan, Jonathan Fell and Nick Allum. His solo career and reputation peaked in 2021 with the well received album Song of Co-Aklan (composed from the point of view of his alter ego "Co Aklan") which was released to critical acclaim fifteen years after his previous solo album Foburg (2006).