Holly Johnson tells Laura Davis why he has signed up to a star-studded conservation project

WHEN eighties wild child Holly Johnson talks about the “rare and exotic creatures” the world has lost, he is referring to the friends who have died before their time.

But the Liverpool-born pop singer and artist could equally mean the many species of wildlife that once walked or flew around our blue and green planet.

It is for them that he is taking part in the Ghosts of Gone Birds exhibition alongside a string of musicians, artists and writers – among them Sir Peter Blake, Rob Ryan, Gorillaz’s Jamie Hewlett and Wallasey-born illustrator Ralph Steadman, who is most famous for his working partnership with US journalist Hunter S Thompson.

Each has created an art work depicting an extinct bird, allowing their imaginations to dictate its appearance. Johnson has gone a step further. His watercolour and gold leaf painting shows a species that never existed – two facing Liver birds.

“In the picture, I’ve included the political and sporting divisions I experienced while living in Liverpool – red on the left for Labour and Liverpool and blue on the right for Conservative and Everton,” he says.

“Two Tribes that somehow unite, a kind of yin and yang that makes the whole,” he adds, quoting the title of his band Frankie Goes To Hollywood’s 1984 hit.

His choice of subject is fitting as Ghosts of Gone Birds begins its UK tour at Liverpool John Moores University’s Art and Design Academy tomorrow. It will then “migrate” south, eventually spending three weeks in a Shoreditch gallery.

Johnson, 51, was drawn to the project when he learned it aims to raise awareness of the diverse range of birds already lost to extinction and promote the conservation work of BirdLife International and the RSPB.

“For me, birds represent flight, freedom and song – all themes that have preoccupied me for as long as I can remember,” he says. “The loss of whole families or species is a great tragedy. I’ve experienced loss of many friends, many of them rare and exotic creatures – people who flew too close to the wind or sun, but the world is a poorer place without them.”

He has felt a connection with birds since he was a boy, singing to the pigeons in the playground of St Mary’s Primary School, in Wavertree.

“I have another childhood recollection of Mrs Clark, from St Helens, who lived in Wavertree, who fed sparrows in the morning with leftover bread soaked in milk in her immaculately whitewashed back yard,” he recalls.

“I hardly ever see sparrows now, yet those memories remain. When we moved near to Penny Lane, when I was about 10 years old I remember the sounds of birds suddenly being audible as there was no busy main road or railway track to drown out the songs.”

Ghosts of Gone Birds has been masterminded by documentary maker Ceri Levy and Chris Aldhous, of London-based advertising agency Goodpilot. Levy was taking a holiday in the Scilly Isles between projects in the music industry – having spent seven years on the road shooting Damon Albarn’s band, Gorillaz, for the film Bananaz – when he was swamped by birdwatchers.

“I thought, that could make a fun little half-hour film about a great eccentric English pastime,” he explains. “But very soon I became more interested in the birds themselves.”

He used his music industry contacts to enlist everyone from wildlife artists Olly and Suzi; Charming Baker, who is collected by Damien Hirst; Pete Fowler, who designed the album artwork for Welsh band Super Furry Animals; Stuckist co-founder Billy Childish; and explorer Captain Scott’s granddaughter Dafila Scott. On Friday evening, Jimi Goodwin, of indie rock band, Doves, will be performing new music with a string quartet.

The 60 pieces on display include paintings, sketches, sculptures, woodcuts, poems and installations, all of which will be sold at the end of the tour.

“We don’t want people to think it’s a few celebrities having a go at painting,” says Levy. “All of these are respected artists in their own right.”

GHOSTS of Gone Birds is at the Liverpool School of Art & Design, Duckinfield Street, tomorrow and Friday.