Released on 11 November 1985 "Feargal Sharkey" was the debut solo album by former Undertones singer Feargal Sharkey, released in 1985. The album peaked at No. 12 in the UK and contains Sharkey's best known single, "A Good Heart", and his only No. 1. "You Little Thief" also became a top 10 hit in the UK Singles Chart, reaching No. 5, and "Someone to Somebody" reached No. 64 and a final single "It's All Over Now".
The album was produced by Dave Stewart of the Eurythmics who Sharkey had met in an elevator seven years previously. Sharkey said, "We both had the same commitment to excellence, to finding great songs. Whether they were our own or other people's didn't matter." The Irish singer's solo debut opens with a perfectly conceived and executed cover of Maria McKee's "A Good Heart" that deservedly shot to number one on the United Kingdom charts. The former Undertones frontman has a shot at songwriting with producer David A. Stewart, but wisely borrows numbers by Chrissie Hynde, Benmont Tench, and the Womack brothers on his favor to achieved certain success on charts.
Veteran Eurythmics producer and guitarist Stewart and arranger Michael Kamen provided a fitting R&B backdrop for the headliner, who would not reach these heights again, this made the lead singer of the Undertones while performing R&B sounded like a winning combination, as did a collaboration with Dave Stewart, however, the overproduction meant both that Sharkey's voice strained to compete with the backing instrumentation, while some tracks were anchored in the pit time of production that they now appear outdated.
Curiously, the worst tracks on the album were those jointly composed by Sharkey and Stewart, while the highlight tracks are the two lead singles, this aided the singer to earn certain degree of Top-40 costuming.
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