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Jake Burns
John "Jake" Burns (born 21 February 1958) is a singer and guitarist, and is best known as the frontman of Stiff Little Fingers, although he has also recorded with Jake Burns and the Big Wheel, 3 Men + Black, and as a solo artist. Early life Burns was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and grew up in Joanmount in Ballysillan. Burns' mother was a seamstress, and his father was a machinist in a textile machinery factory/steel foundry, where he was a shop steward, and his socialist views were an influence on Burns. Prior to punk, Burns' musical influences included Rory Gallagher, Dr. Feelgood, Graham Parker, and Bob Marley. Career Stiff Little Fingers Burns started off his career at Belfast Boys' Model School with a rock covers band, Highway Star, which consisted of Burns, Gordon Blair, Henry Cluney, and Brian Faloon. Gordon Blair subsequently left the group to join Rudi, and Ali McMordie joined, about the time the band discovered punk. They were briefly named The Fa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stiff Little Fingers
Stiff Little Fingers are a punk rock band from Belfast, Northern Ireland. They formed in 1977 at the height of the Troubles, which informed much of their songwriting. They started out as a schoolboy band called Highway Star (named after the Deep Purple song), doing rock covers, until they discovered punk. They were the first punk band in Belfast to release a record – the " Suspect Device" single came out on their own independent label, Rigid Digits. Their album ''Inflammable Material'', released in partnership with Rough Trade, became the first independent LP to enter the UK top 20. After six years and four albums, they split up. They reformed five years later, in 1987. Despite major personnel changes, they are still touring and recording. In 2014, the band released their tenth studio album and a world tour followed its release. Jake Burns, their lead singer, is the only member to have been with the band during all its incarnations, but in March 2006, original bass guitaris ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gordon Blair (musician)
Gordon Blair (born 1958 in Belfast), usually known as Gordy Blair, is a Northern Irish musician. Blair started off his musical career as the bass guitarist for Highway Star, the band that was to become Stiff Little Fingers. In 1976 he joined Belfast punk band Rudi, with whom he stayed for three years. After leaving Rudi, he played for The Outcasts, The Trial, Big Self and Ruefrex, lasting for periods of between a year and three years with each band. Between 1987 and 1997, he spent various periods of time playing bass for Australian group Dave Graney and the Coral Snakes, before finally hanging up his bass to concentrate on a new career in desktop publishing Desktop publishing (DTP) is the creation of documents using page layout software on a personal ("desktop") computer. It was first used almost exclusively for print publications, but now it also assists in the creation of various forms of online .... References 1953 births Living people Musicians from Bel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bruce Foxton
Bruce Douglas Foxton (born 1 September 1955) is an English singer, songwriter and musician. Foxton's music career spans more than 40 years. He came to prominence in the late 1970s as bassist and backing vocalist of mod revival band the Jam. He occasionally performed the lead vocals, such as on the songs " News of the World", " David Watts" and " Smithers-Jones". After the band's break-up, he pursued a brief solo career releasing one studio album, '' Touch Sensitive'', in 1984. The album's single "Freak" became a UK Top 20 hit in 1983. He played in several bands, including Sharp with former Jam member Rick Buckler, before joining Stiff Little Fingers in 1990. After leaving SLF in 2007, Foxton officially joined Rick Buckler and members of his tribute band, The Gift, to tour under the name From the Jam. Early life and education Bruce Douglas Foxton was born the youngest of three boys on 1 September 1955, in Woking, Surrey, England, to parents Henry and Helen. He grew up at ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Selecter
The Selecter are an English 2 tone ska revival band, formed in Coventry, England, in 1979. The Selecter featured a diverse line-up, both in terms of race and gender, initially consisting of Arthur 'Gaps' Hendrickson and Pauline Black on lead vocals, Neol Davies and Compton Amanor on guitar, Desmond Brown on Hammond organ, Charley 'Aitch' Bembridge on drums, and Charley Anderson on bass. The band's name is based on the term "selector", which is a Jamaican word for disc jockey (DJ). The band were one of the most successful ska bands of the 2 tone era, notching up several top forty singles in the British charts. Having co-released the first 2 tone ska single with the Specials, they are considered one of the founding acts of the movement. Though highly influential, the original lineup only remained together for a year, and even with replacement players the band only continued until breaking up in 1981. The Selecter reformed in 1991 and lead vocalist Black continued to perform and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pauline Black
Belinda Magnus (born 23 October 1953), better known as Pauline Black (), is an English singer, actress and author. In a music career spanning over 40 years, Black came to prominence in the late 1970s as the lead singer of the 2 Tone ska revival band the Selecter, which released four singles that entered the Top 40 charts in the United Kingdom during the 1970s and the 1980s, including " On My Radio", "Three Minute Hero", " Missing Words" and "The Whisper". ''Rolling Stone'' said of Black "Hands down, Pauline Black possessed the best voice that ever graced a 2-Tone release. Blessed with a bewitching soprano and dramatic panache, Black's voice reached plateaus that made every other musical detail sound like part of a backdrop painted just to set the stage for her entrance." Black has also been an actress, with roles in films and television. Early life Belinda Magnus was born on 23 October 1953, in Romford, Essex, England, to an Anglo-Jewish teenage mother and Nigerian father. She ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pete Saunders
Peter Saunders (born 1960) is an English keyboard player. Early life Saunders was born in Hammersmith in West London. When he was 14, his family moved to Birmingham. At the age of 16, he joined Pub Theatre and wrote songs and performed with them. Dexy's Midnight Runners In 1978, Saunders joined Dexys Midnight Runners in response to an advertisement in his local newspaper. After briefly separating from the band in 1979, he returned in 1980 for the writing and recording of ''Searching for the Young Soul Rebels'', which peaked in the UK charts at number 6. After leaving the band for a protracted period of time, Saunders returned to Dexys in 2003 to perform on the tracks "Manhood" and "My Life in England Part One". Various bands In 1979, Saunders moved to London, where he drove a van for a living while playing keyboards where and when he could. During this period, he played for The Damned. He also joined The Decorators, playing on their first album ''Tablets''. They shared a rec ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sean Martin (musician)
The Starjets are a Northern Irish power pop group from Belfast, Northern Ireland. History The band was formed in June 1976. The Starjets consists of guitarist/vocalist Terry Sharpe, guitarist/vocalist Paul Bowen, bassist Sean Martin and drummer Liam L'Estrange. The group sported a mix of punk and mainstream pop influences. Early sets consisted of such 1960s pop standards as "Please Please Me" by The Beatles and "Sugar, Sugar" by The Archies. They opened for groups as diverse as the Bay City Rollers and Stiff Little Fingers. The group secured a major record label recording contract with Epic Records; they were signed by Muff Winwood. They released a number of singles in 1979, with their only chart hit being "War Stories" b/w "Do the Push", which peaked at No. 51 on the UK Singles Chart. The A-side is a celebration of World War II comic book stories, such as those of Sgt. Fury. They released one album, 1979's ''God Bless the Starjets'', but it failed commercially. Following ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Steve Grantley
Steve Grantley (born 8 March 1962) is an English rock drummer who plays for Stiff Little Fingers, and formerly the Alarm and RTZ Global. Between 1982 and 1987, he played drums for Jake Burns and the Big Wheel. He has also worked with Alicia Keys, Julian Lennon and the band Eighth Wonder and auditioned for the Clash after the departure of Terry Chimes. He has written two books with Alan Parker, one about the 1970s rock band Slade and another about the Who called ''Who by Numbers''. Bibliography *''The Who by Numbers'', Steve Grantley, Alan Parker, Helter Skelter Publishing, 24 June 2010, *''Cum On, Feel the Noize : The Story of Slade'', Steve Grantley, Alan Parker, Carlton Books Welbeck Publishing Group, formerly Carlton Publishing Group, is a London-based independent book publisher of fiction, narrative and illustrated non-fiction, as well as gift and children's books. Established in 2019 by Executive Directors Mark Sm ..., 4 September 2006, References Li ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stewart Parker
James Stewart Parker (20 October 1941 – 2 November 1988) was a Northern Irish poet and playwright. Biography He was born in Sydenham, Belfast, of a Protestant working-class family. His birthplace is marked by an Ulster History Circle blue plaque. While still in his teens, he contracted bone cancer and had a leg amputated. He studied for an MA in Poetic Drama at Queen's University, Belfast, on a scholarship, before commencing teaching in the United States at Hamilton College and Cornell University. Parker was a member of a group of young writers that included Seamus Heaney and Bernard MacLaverty in the early 1960s at Queen's University in Belfast. In ''British Poetry since 1945'', Edward Lucie-Smith calls him "a rawer, rougher, more unformed poet than either of the other two Belfast poets presented here" (i.e. Seamus Heaney and Derek Mahon). He notes that all three are post-Movement and neo-Georgian, owing little to William Butler Yeats and not much more to Patrick Kava ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Play For Today
''Play for Today'' is a British television anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC1 from 1970 to 1984. During the run, more than three hundred programmes, featuring original television plays, and adaptations of stage plays and novels, were transmitted. The individual episodes were (with a few exceptions noted below) between fifty and a hundred minutes in duration. A handful of these plays, including ''Rumpole of the Bailey'', subsequently became television series in their own right. History The strand was a successor to ''The Wednesday Play'', the 1960s anthology series, the title being changed when the day of transmission moved to Thursday to make way for a sport programme. Some works, screened in anthology series' on BBC2, like Willy Russell's '' Our Day Out'' (1977), were repeated on BBC1 in the series. The producers of ''The Wednesday Play'', Graeme MacDonald and Irene Shubik, transferred to the new series. Shubik continued with the series until 1 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Vibrators
The Vibrators are a British punk rock band that formed in 1976. Early career The Vibrators were founded by Ian ' Knox' Carnochan, bassist Pat Collier, guitarist John Ellis, and drummer John 'Eddie' Edwards. They first came to public notice at the 100 Club when they backed Chris Spedding in 1976. On Spedding's recommendation, Mickie Most signed them to his label RAK Records. Most produced their first single, "We Vibrate". The band also backed Spedding on his single, "Pogo Dancing". The Vibrators recorded sessions for John Peel at BBC Radio 1 in October 1976, June 1977, and February 1978. They were one of the pioneering punk bands that played at London's Roxy Club. They headlined in January 1977, supported by the Drones, and in February they played twice at the venue. In March 1977, the band supported Iggy Pop on his British tour. Later that year, they backed ex-Mott the Hoople frontman Ian Hunter. Epic Records The band signed to Epic Records in early 1977. Their debu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ali McMordie
Alistair Jardine "Ali" McMordie (born 31 March 1959 in Belfast, Northern Ireland) is a bass guitarist, best known as a founding member of Stiff Little Fingers, playing with the band from 1977 until they broke up in 1983, and joined them on the first few years of reunion tours five years later. After Stiff Little Fingers disbanded in 1983, McMordie joined a group of Reading musicians in the newly formed dance-punk band, Friction Groove. They secured a deal with Warner label, Atlantic, and went on to record an album - ''The Black Box'' - in Berlin and Brussels, from which the first single ("Time Bomb") charted very briefly. Around 1986 he provided, along with other Friction Groove members, the core band behind Sinéad O'Connor, who had just arrived in London from Dublin. Ali was later sacked. Between 1992 and 1994 Ali McMordie was executive producer for the Peace Together Irish concert events. Since 1994 he has been the tour manager for American artist Richard Hall AKA Moby ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
