Born in Liverpool, England on September 26, 1970, UK singer-songwriter Paul Draper rose to fame as a member of '90s Britpop mavericks Mansun, with whom he released four albums –including landmark 1998 LP Six – before they split up in 2003. A year after the band's fourth and final 2004 album, Kleptomania, closed the lid on their career, he began setting his sights on post-Mansun projects, co-writing and co-producing a single by Skin from Skunk Anansie called "Alone in My Room" and dipping his toes into dance music for a 2006 Ibiza-friendly track by Dutch DJ Mason called "Exceeder." A singer, guitarist, and songwriter, Paul Draper took on production duties for "Greyhounds in the Slips," a 2009 track by The Joy Formidable, and spent the next few years collaborating with singer and composer Catherine A.D. on a project called the Anchoress, with their debut single, "What Goes Around," arriving in 2014. That same year, he began floating the idea of unleashing demos from a solo album he had initially called Spooky Action at a Distance. He teased the full-length with a trio of EPs released during 2016 and 2017, before renaming his LP Spooky Action. Released in 2017, the album was a success, hitting Number 19 on the UK Albums Chart and rising to Number 3 on the UK Independent Albums Chart. In 2022, Paul Draper emerged with his second solo album, Cult Leader Tactics, an alt-rock satire on the phenomenon of self-help manuals. In February 2026, he released Mansun Retold, reimagining classic Mansun songs with mature, acoustic‑driven arrangements.