RIP--Joe Strummer

[Dave Monroe]

A Leader of The Clash Dies at 50
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
 
Filed at 10:46 a.m. ET

LONDON (AP) -- Joe Strummer, the gravel-voiced lead
singer of the legendary band The Clash, whose hits
"London Calling" and "Rock the Casbah" electrified the
punk scene, has died at age 50.

The singer, guitarist and songwriter died Sunday at
his home in Broomfield, in the southern county of
Somerset, his record company said. The British
Broadcasting Corp. quoted The Clash's video director
Don Letts as saying Strummer died of a heart attack.

[...]

Strummer -- his real name was John Graham Mellor --
was born in Ankara, Turkey, the son of a British
diplomat.

He dropped out of art school, spent time busking on
the London Underground and later formed a pub-rock
band called the 101'ers. After seeing The Sex Pistols
perform in 1976, the young musician was captivated by
the punk scene, and joined up with Mick Jones, Paul
Simonon and Nicky "Topper" Headon to form London SS,
quickly renamed The Clash.

Between 1977 and 1982, Strummer and Jones composed,
performed and recorded dozens of songs, using musical
ideas from reggae and rockabilly as well as punk. With
Jones' crisp guitar and Strummer's distinctive
Cockney-accented vocals, the band, which also included
Keith Levene and Terry Chimes, became hugely popular.

[...]

In 1980, a fight erupted during a concert in Hamburg,
Germany and Strummer was arrested after hitting a fan
with his guitar.

In 1982, he disappeared for three weeks, forcing the
band to cancel their UK tour. Strummer later explained
that he had doubts about his career, so he went to
Paris where he tried "living like a bum."

The band signed with CBS Records for $200,000, and
their first album "Clash," was released in the United
Kingdom in 1977. The record company considered the
album too crude for U.S. release, however. It wasn't
until 1979 that a compilation album would be released
as "The Clash" in America.

[...]

The band split in the early 1980s after a dispute
between Strummer and Jones, who subsequently formed
the group Big Audio Dynamite (BAD).

Strummer formed a new band, The Mescaleros, in the
late 1990s and toured with them in Britain as recently
as November. Hein van der Rey, managing director of
Epitaph Records, said Strummer had been working on a
third album with The Mescaleros.

Billy Bragg, the British folk-rocker and political
activist, noted that punk bands such as The Sex
Pistols, The Stranglers and The Ramones weren't very
political.

"It was The Clash that struck the strong political
stance that really inspired a lot of people, and
within The Clash he was the political engine of the
band," Bragg said.

"The thing about Strummer was he walked it like he
talked it. He didn't cop out. He didn't show one face
to the public and have a different face in himself,"
Bragg said.

The Clash was voted in to the Rock and Roll Hall of
Fame and is due to be inducted in a ceremony in New
York City next March.

Strummer recently collaborated with Bono of U2 and
Dave Stewart of The Eurythmics on a song in honor of
former South African President Nelson Mandela. Titled
"48864," Mandela's number in prison, the song is to be
played Feb. 2, at an AIDS benefit concert Mandela is
sponsoring at his former prison on Robben Island.

Strummer is survived by his wife Lucy, two daughters
and a stepdaughter.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/arts/AP-Obit-Strummer.html

And see as well ...

http://nme.com/news/103809.htm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/talking_point/2600757.stm

--- Richard Romeo <romeocheeseburger at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> yup, foax, the one and only passed away at 50.

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