Early years Gallup was born in Duxhurst,
Surrey, and his family soon moved to
Horley. Starting in 1976, he frequented the music scene in nearby
Crawley, where his older brother Ric worked in a record shop and knew many local musicians. In 1977, Gallup formed the
punk band Lockjaw, which later evolved into the
post-punk band
the Magazine Spies (also known as Mag/Spys). Those bands frequently played and socialized with early versions of
The Cure. In late 1979, Gallup participated in the short-lived Cure side project
Cult Hero. A short time later, original Cure bassist
Michael Dempsey left the band, and Gallup was recruited as his replacement. Gallup played on the albums
Seventeen Seconds,
Faith, and
Pornography; and on the second of those he began to play keyboards occasionally in addition to his full-time bass duties.
Departure from the Cure During the tour supporting the
Pornography album in 1982, band relations within The Cure became contentious. After a performance in
Strasbourg, France, on 27 May 1982, Gallup and Robert Smith got into a fistfight reportedly over a disputed bar tab. Gallup soon left the Cure and did not speak to Robert Smith again for about eighteen months. Gallup formed a new band called The Cry, which evolved into
Fools Dance (with Biddles on vocals) by 1983. That band recorded an early EP featuring Gallup that was not released until 1985. He sang on the tracks "The Ring" and "Happy Families Waiting (At the Skylab Landing Bay)", the only released recordings in which he ever performed lead vocals.
Return to the Cure In late 1984, Biddles brokered a reconciliation between Gallup and Smith. Biddles later reformed Fools Dance with a new lineup, while Gallup has remained with the Cure ever since. Gallup's son Eden became a member of the Cure's road crew and has occasionally filled in during gigs when his father was unable to appear for personal reasons. In 2019, Gallup was inducted into the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Cure. In an unexplained incident in August 2021, Gallup announced on
Facebook that he had left the Cure after 37 years, stating that he "just got fed up of betrayal." The Cure made no official statement about Gallup's departure, and he later deleted the Facebook post. In October 2021, Gallup issued another Facebook post to clarify that he is still a member of the band. ==Personal life==