Life of Haverhill-raised Some Bizzare Records label owner Stevo Pearce explored in new Wesley Doyle book

The ground-breaking success of a Haverhill-raised music industry executive has been documented in a new book.

Journalist Wesley Doyle’s newly-released Conform to deform: The Weird and Wonderful World of Some Bizzare delves into the life of Stevo Pearce, who founded Some Bizzare Records which signed the likes of Soft Cell and THE THE in the early 1980s.

Infamously willing to push the boundaries with music, Stevo was just a teen when he shot to fame.

He was known for his unconventional behaviour, reportedly sending objects like rocking horses and teddy bears to signings with major companies.

“Stevo’s philosophy was that there was no such thing as high or low culture - it was all the same, people just needed to hear it,” said Mr Doyle, who met with Stevo while writing the novel.

“While all this was going on in 1981 and 1982, he was still a teenager. It makes it even more impressive that this teenager, who also had dyslexia and couldn’t read or write very well, managed to cause such a ruckus in the music industry,” he added.

Conform to Deform explores the history of the Some Bizzare brand through a series of interviews with those involved, including Marc Almond of Soft Cell and Matt Johnson of THE THE.

Due to disputes amongst the group, Mr Doyle was dubious about whether the artists would want to get involved in the book, but was pleased when they did.

They shared their memories of their time with Some Bizzare, including some extreme stories of label signings and drug-fuelled parties.

“I like the juxtaposition of people’s opinions, it leaves it open to interpretation and there’s a lot of humour in that difference,” he said.

“For all their extreme art that they put out into the word they are all really nice, grounded people.”

For Mr Doyle, telling Stevo’s story was important as he was a huge influence to him growing up.

“I couldn’t understand why this story hadn’t been told before,” said Mr Doyle.

“The reason for that would be because of Stevo and the kind of character he is. He is a difficult person and you have to have a lot of patience to deal with him.

"I wanted to share their story because the music meant a lot to me growing up and continues to do so," he added.

Mr Doyle hopes the book may lead to resolvement of issues and ‘legal red tape’ that is stopping certain music from being re-released.

He said Stevo still visits Suffolk occasionally and has fond memories of his time spent in Haverhill.