Elvis Costello Talks About His Split From Wife

Musician Elvis Costello has revealed he broke the heart of his first wife after participating in a string of casual sexual encounters. Suggesting he took part in a high number of affairs after he became famous in the 1970s, it ultimately led to the destruction of his marriage. Costello, 61, who took his stage name by merging that of his musical hero with his mother’s maiden name, won an army of fans with his often-political songs from the Seventies.

Now married to his third wife, Diana Krall, Costello made the revelation about his past in his new autobiography, Unfaithful Music and Disappearing Ink. Describing himself as a ‘arrogant b*****d back then’, he alluded to the encounters before admitting with regret it ruined his relationship to childhood sweetheart Mary Burgoyne, The Guardian reported.

He goes on to add he broke the heart of ‘one kind girl’ – another reference to Burgoyne. Costello, whose hits include Oliver’s Army, Shipbuilding and High Fidelity, also states he remained in his 17 year-long second marriage to the Pogues bassist Cait O’Riordan despite being unhappy.

This, he said, was because he ‘wanted to punish myself for the things I’d done. For my lack of gratitude. For all my vanity’. The music legend, who now calls Vancouver home, has previously stated he would not care if he ever played in Britain again. Although he has since performed a handful of shows, he once described his 2005 experience of Glastonbury begin ‘f****** dreadful’.

He said: ‘I don’t care if I ever play England again. I’ll say that right now. That gig made up my mind I wouldn’t come back.’ The singer, who was born Declan Patrick MacManus in Paddington, continued: ‘I don’t get along with it. We lost touch. It’s 25 years since I lived there. I don’t dig it, they don’t dig me. ‘A lot of good new bands still come out of England, but I just don’t feel part of it.’