RIP--Joe Strummer

Tue Dec 24 13:58:05 CST 2002

on 12/23/02 11:55 AM, Dave Monroe at davidmmonroe at yahoo.com wrote:

> 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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