The Quireboys
British band
The Quireboys are an English rock band formed in 1984 in London, with strong ties to Newcastle. Originally known as the Choirboys, then the Queerboys, billed as the London Quireboys in the United States and Canada, settling at last with their current name.
History
1985–1989: Formation
Vocalist Jonathan Gray (commonly referred to as just 'Spike') moved from Newcastle upon Tyne to London when he was 17 years old and met guitarist Guy Bailey in a bar.
By the mid-1980s, the two decided to form a rock and roll band, the name chosen for the group was originally 'the Choirboys' taken from the 1977 movie of the same name, before renaming themselves to the Queerboys, which was based on a taunting remark from another regular at a bar the pair frequented.
The Queerboys started to build up a following, playing at the Marquee Club. The band's drummer Paul Hornby soon left to join Dogs D'Amour, who would soon become friends and associates of the Quireboys, and was replaced by Nick "Cozy" Connell.
On 28 March 1986, the Queerboys appeared with Bernie Torme and the Moho Pack at what was Klub Foot at the Clarendon Hotel, Hammersmith. In May of that year, they played support dates on a Cherry Bombz tour.
By 1987, the band's controversial name was starting to hinder them, it caused some of the gigs on their tour with Andy McCoy's band to be cancelled. They were also booked to play Reading Festival, on the understanding that they would change their name.
The public source identifies “The Quireboys” as british band. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Quireboys, British and band.
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The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 12, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1243743. VIAF identifies the subject as 149711451. The Library of Congress control number is n91071644. 4 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1984, 1985, 1989 and 1977.
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This entry incorporates text from “The Quireboys” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.