Joe Strummer was born John Graham Mellor in Ankara, Turkey on 21 August 1952. His mother Anna Mackenzie, a crofter's daughter born and raised in Bonar Bridge in the Scottish Highlands, was a nurse. His father Ronald Mellor, was a British foreign-service diplomat born in Lucknow, India. Ronald Mellor had an Armenian maternal grandfather and a German Jewish paternal grandmother.
The family spent much time moving from place to place, and Strummer spent his childhood in places such as Cairo, Mexico City, and Bonn. At the age of 9, Strummer and his older brother David, 10, began boarding at the City of London Freemen's School in Surrey. Strummer rarely saw his parents during the next seven years. He developed a love of rock music listening to records by Little Richard and The Beach Boys as well as American folk-singer Woody Guthrie (Strummer would even go by the nickname "Woody" for a few years).
By 1970 his brother David had become estranged from his family and had joined the National Front. His suicide in July of that year profoundly affected Strummer, as did having to identify his body after it had lain undiscovered for three days.After finishing his time at City of London Freemen's School, Ashtead Park, Surrey, in 1970, Strummer moved on to London's Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, where he briefly flirted with the idea of becoming a professional cartoonist, but ultimately completed a foundations course.During this time, Mellor shared a flat in the north London suburb of Palmers Green with friends Clive Timperley and Tymon Dogg.
In 1973 Strummer moved to Newport, Wales to attend the Newport College of Art, but soon dropped out. While there, he joined up with some friends to form a band called The Vultures. This band included three former members of Rip Off Park Rock & Roll Allstars, the original college band co-founded by Terry Earl Taylor. For the next year he was the band's part-time singer and rhythm guitarist. During this time Strummer also worked as a gravedigger. In 1974, the band fell apart and he moved back to London where he met up again with Tymon Dogg. He busked on the streets for a while and then decided to form another band with his West London roommates. The band was called The 101'ers,named after the address of their squat (101 Walterton Road, in Maida Vale).The band played many gigs in London pubs, playing covers of popular American R&B and blues songs. In 1975 he stopped calling himself "Woody" Mellor and adopted the stage name of Joe Strummer, and insisted that his friends call him by that name. The name "Strummer" apparently referred to his role as rhythm guitarist, in a rather self-deprecating way. Though left-handed, he was taught to play right-handed by his friend Tymon Dogg; this hampered his abilities somewhat and confined him to strumming chords. Strummer was the lead singer of the 101'ers and began to write original songs for the group. One song he wrote was inspired by his girlfriend at the time, Slits drummer Palmolive. The group liked the song "Keys to Your Heart", and picked it as their first single.
"Shake Your Hips" (sometimes known as "Hip Shake") is a song written and first performed in 1966 by American bluesman Slim Harpo. The song has been covered and imitated by many artists, perhaps most notably by the Rolling Stones on their seminal album Exile on Main St.. The song's distinctive guitar work also provided inspiration for ZZ Top's hit "La Grange".
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this the pre clashg music when he is playing joe after them take another way of music when all close something like that his beging
andreasstamos 1 year ago
All the stuff about Joe which you never knew!!
RebelSpiritof77 1 year ago
A good un
pbrstreetgang99 1 year ago
ahhhhhhhhhh I LOVE THIS ONE!!!!!
SweetLola1973 2 years ago
Great 101ers and Strummer!!
badzatelecaster 2 years ago