- Joe Jackson (musician)
Infobox musical artist
| |
Name = Joe Jackson
| Img_capt =
Img_size = 150
Background = solo_singer
Birth_name = David Ian Jackson
Alias =
Born = Birth date and age|df=yes|1954|8|11Burton upon Trent ,England
Instrument =Vocals ,Piano ,Keyboards , Organ,Melodica
Genre =Punk rock /Ska (early)
New Wave, Pop,Power-pop ,Jazz , Classical
Occupation =
Years_active = 1978 - Present
Label =A&M Records Virgin Records Sony Ryko
Associated_acts =
URL = http://joejackson.com/
Notable_instruments =Joe Jackson (born David Ian Jackson, 11 August 1954,
Burton upon Trent ,Staffordshire [ [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:hifuxqe5ldae~T5 All Music Guide biography] ] ) is an Englishmusician andsinger-songwriter now living inBerlin , described as a unique and critically acclaimed recording artist, whose five Grammy nominations span 1979 to 2001.cite book
first= David
last= Roberts
year= 2006
title= British Hit Singles & Albums
edition= 19th
publisher= Guinness World Records Limited
location= London
pages= p. 274
id= ISBN 1-904994-10-5] He is probably best-known for the 1979 hitsong "Is She Really Going Out with Him? ", which still gets extensiveFM radio airplay; for his 1982 hit, "Steppin' Out"; and for his 1984 hit, "You Can't Get What You Want (Till You Know What You Want)".Along with
Elvis Costello andGraham Parker , Jackson was a part of the trio of British-based artists that challenged the punk scene and brought a New Wave sound to theUnited States in the late 1970s. He was popular for hispower-pop and New Wave sound early on before moving to more eclectic, though less commercially successful, pop/jazz /classical musical pieces.Biography
Born in Staffordshire, David Jackson (as he was then known) grew up in
Gosport andPortsmouth .He started off learning to play the
violin but soon switched topiano . From the age of sixteen he played in bars, and won ascholarship to studymusical composition atLondon 'sRoyal Academy of Music . Jackson did not like the prospect of being a seriouscomposer , and moved towards pop and rock.Jackson's first band was Edward Bear, not to be confused with the 1970s Canadian band fronted by
Larry Evoy . The band was later renamed Edwin Bear and then Arms and Legs, in order to avoid confusion with the Canadian group. Arms & Legs dissolved in 1976 after two unsuccessful singles. Although he was still known as David Jackson while in Arms & Legs, it was around this time that Jackson picked up the nickname "Joe", based on his perceived resemblance to the puppet characterJoe 90 .Joe Jackson, as he now calls himself, then spent some time in the
cabaret circuit to make money to record his own demos.In 1978 a
record producer heard his tape, and got him signed toA&M Records . Thealbum "Look Sharp!" was recorded straight away, and was released in 1979, quickly followed by "I'm the Man" (also 1979) and "Beat Crazy " in 1980. He also collaborated withLincoln Thompson inreggae crossover.The Joe Jackson Band was very successful and toured extensively. After the breakup of the band, Jackson took a break and recorded an album of old-style swing and
blues tunes, "Jumpin' Jive", featuringsong s ofCab Calloway ,Lester Young ,Glenn Miller , and most prominently,Louis Jordan .Jackson hit paydirt with 1982's "Night and Day", an album that paid tribute to the wit and style of
Cole Porter (and indirectly toNew York City ). Night and Day was Jackson's only album to reach the Top 10, peaking at #4, and the cuts "Steppin' Out" and "Breaking Us In Two" were chart hits, the latter of which was widely notable for the borrowed openingmelody fromBadfinger 's "Day After Day". The tracks "Real Men" and "A Slow Song" have pointed obliquely to the city's early 80s gay culture [http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1306240 "NPR Weekend Edition Sunday: Gay Pop Music", 22 June 2003] ] . Jackson would call New York home for the next twenty years, incorporating the sound of the city into his music throughout the 1980s and beyond.A little more than a year later, Jackson recorded the #20 album "Body and Soul", also heavily influenced by pop and
jazz standard s and salsa, showcasing the #15 hit "You Can't Get What You Want (Till You Know What You Want)". The album was a modest commercial success and is widely regarded among audiophiles as a digital recording of the highest quality.Fact|date=December 2007In 1986 he collaborated with
Suzanne Vega on the single "Left of center" from "Pretty in Pink "'s soundtrack (with Vega singing and Jackson playing piano).Jackson followed with "
Big World ", a three-sided double record (the fourth side consisted of a single centring groove and a label stating "there is no music on this side"), which was recorded live. Theinstrumental "Will Power" set the stage for things to come later, but before he left pop behind he put out two more cerebral and celebratory albums, "Blaze of Glory" and "Laughter & Lust ".For some years he drifted away from the pop style, going on to be signed by Sony Classical in 1997, which released his "Symphony No. 1 " in 1999 for which he received a Grammy Award.In 1990,
thrash metal band Anthrax recorded a cover of Jackson's "Got The Time" for their "Persistence of Time " album, which got considerableairplay onMTV .Jackson is also an
author , having written "A Cure for Gravity", published in 1999, which Jackson has described as a "book about music, thinly disguised as a memoir". It traces his early musical life from childhood until his twenty fourth birthday. Life as a pop star, he suggested, was hardly worth writing about.In 2001,
Tori Amos covered Jackson's song "Real Men" on her album "Strange Little Girls ".In 2002, "Steppin' Out" appeared in the popular
videogame "", playing on popradio station Flash FM . A loop of the instrumental portion of this song is used as thetheme tune for theWYES-TV (New Orleans) weekly arts and entertainment program "Steppin' Out."In 2003, he reunited his original
quartet cite book
first= David
last= Roberts
year= 2006
title= British Hit Singles & Albums
edition= 19th
publisher= Guinness World Records Limited
location= London
pages= p. 274
id= ISBN 1-904994-10-5] for an album (entitled "Volume 4", implying that it was the follow-up to his first three albums with the original band) and lengthy tour. As before the quartet consisted of Jackson,Graham Maby , Dave Houghton and Gary Sanford.In 2004 Jackson performed a cover of Pulp's "
Common People ", withWilliam Shatner for Shatner's album "Has Been ".Jackson toured 45 U.S. and European cities in 2005 with
Todd Rundgren and the string quartet Ethel, appearing on "Late Night with Conan O'Brien " performing their collaborative cover version of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps ". [http://www.joejackson.com/newsfaqs.htm (video)]Thereafter, he embarked on a short tour in a piano-bass-drums trio format. He toured Europe in Spring 2007, again in a trio format, and announced that he is recording. Jackson's new album, "Rain" was released by
Rykodisc on 28 January 2008 in the UK and one day later in the U.S. [ [http://www.noblepr.co.uk/Press_Releases/ada/joe_jackson.htm Rykodisc press release] ] The album will include a CD and a bonusDVD containing over 40 minutes of material, including concert and behind-the-scenes footage and interviews. Jackson plans to perform two UK shows in Spring 2008, followed by a full UK tour later that year.In 2008, Jackson's "One More Time" was used in
Taco Bell commercials in the U.S.Jackson has actively campaigned against
smoking ban s in both the U.S. and the UK [ [http://www.forestonline.org/output/Page303.asp Forestonline.org website] ] , writing a 2005 pamphlet "The Smoking Issue", a 2007 essay "Smoke, Lies and the Nanny State" [http://www.joejackson.com/news.php?id=78&m=05&y=2007 The Official Website of Joe Jackson ] ] , and issuing a satirical song ("In 20-0-3") on the subject [ [http://www.joejackson.com/forest.htm Joe Jackson.com] ] . It was in 2003, soon after the New York smoking ban, that Jackson left the city that had been his home for more than two decades, and returned to Portsmouth, England, where he has a flat in the oldest part of the city that overlooks the harbour. Recently, in the DVD interviews in "Rain", it was stated that he moved toBerlin in early 2007.He has been quoted as saying he now spends most of his time in Berlin, but still has places in Portsmouth and New York City. He has often been spotted in Portsmouth pubs that serve real ale, his enthusiasm for which is noted in his
autobiography , "A Cure For Gravity".Discography
*"Look Sharp!" (1979, A&M) #20 U.S., #40 UK
*"I'm the Man" (1979, A&M) #22 U.S., #12 UK
*"Beat Crazy " (1980, A&M) #41 U.S., #42 UK
*"The Harder They Come " (EP) 1980
*"Jumpin' Jive" (1981, A&M) #42 U.S., #14 UK
*"Night and Day" (1982, A&M) #4 U.S., #3 UK
*"Mike's Murder " (1983, A&M) #64 U.S.
*"Body and Soul" (1984, A&M) #20 U.S., #14 UK
*"Big World " (1986, A&M) #34 U.S., #41 UK
*"Will Power" (1987, A&M) #131 U.S.
*"Live 1980/86 " (1988, A&M) #91 U.S., #66 UK
*"Tucker" Original Soundtrack (1988, A&M)
*"Blaze of Glory" (1989, A&M) #61 U.S., #36 UK
*"Laughter & Lust " (1991, Virgin) #116 U.S., #41 UK
*"Night Music" (1994, Virgin)
*"Heaven & Hell" (1997,Sony )
*"This Is It! (The A&M Years 1979-1989) (Joe Jackson)" (1997, A&M)
*"Symphony No. 1" (1999, Sony)
*"" (2000, Sony)
*"Night and Day II " (2000,Sony )
*"Two Rainy Nights " (2002, Great Big Island)
*"Volume 4" (2003,Rykodisc )
*"AfterLife" (2004, Rykodisc)
*"Rain", (2008, Rykodisc)cite book
first= David
last= Roberts
year= 2006
title= British Hit Singles & Albums
edition= 19th
publisher= Guinness World Records Limited
location= London
pages= p. 274
id= ISBN 1-904994-10-5][http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:hifuxqe5ldae~T5]
ingles
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