On this day (August 21st) in 1952, John Graham Mellor was born in Ankara, Turkey. His father was a British foreign service diplomat. The music world would know him as Joe Strummer, the stage name he would use as singer/guitarist/co-founder for the Clash.
He began performing while attending Newport College of Art in the early 70's; his first group was Flaming Youth who then renamed themselves the Vultures. From there, he and his roommates started a blues and R&B group called the 101'ers. It was at this point he took the name of Joe Strummer.
In 1976, he was convinced by Mick Jones to come play with him. That was the birth of the Clash. The group played together for a decade.
After that break up, Strummer did some solo work for the film Sid and Nancy. He also worked with Jones and his new group Big Audio Dynamite. He later also worked with groups like the Levellers, the Pogues, and the Mescaleros.
Strummer died on December 22nd of 2002 at age 50 from an undiagnosed congenital heart defect.
Here is a list of the Clash albums I have reviewed to date:
- for the band's 1977 self-titled debut album the Clash, click here.
- for the band's 1978 album Give 'Em Enough Rope, click here
- for the band's 1979 double-length third album London Calling, click here
- for the band's fifth album from 1982, the aforementioned Combat Rock, click here
The Clash is my favorite. I loved Joe Strummer, although the few books I've read about him after his death portrayed him as kind of a jerk most of the time. lol However, it sounded like toward the end of his life he was growing up a little. I guess that's all it takes sometimes, maturity.
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