[3] His family then moved to Kingston upon Hull, where his mother, Pauline, ran several second-hand clothes shops, while he was a pupil at Kelvin Hall School.

[6] On 13 February 2012, Gift appeared on BBC Radio Solent promoting the gigs and announced a potential new album in 2012.

[citation needed] He also appeared in Jools Holland's 20th annual Hootenanny show, which aired overnight on BBC2 on 31 December 2012 / 1 January 2013,[7] the last to be recorded at BBC Television Centre.

In 1987, Gift had his first screen role in the film Sammy and Rosie Get Laid, and also appeared in Out of Order the same year.

[10] He also appeared as a lounge singer (singing songs that were included in the Fine Young Cannibals' album The Raw and the Cooked) in the 1987 film Tin Men, directed by Barry Levinson.

He also had a small role as the jazz saxophonist Eddie Mullen in the mini-series Painted Lady (1997), starring Helen Mirren, and appeared in the film The Island of the Mapmaker's Wife (2001).