Paul Weller

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Paul Weller (born John William Weller on 25 May 1958, in Stanley Road, Woking, Surrey) is an English singer-songwriter.

Weller was the leader and protagonist behind the formation of two successful bands, The Jam and The Style Council. In the UK, he is recognised as something of a national institution, yet because much of his songwriting is rooted in British culture, he has remained essentially a national rather than an international star. He was also the principal (if somewhat reluctant) figure of the Mod revival.


Career

The Jam

Weller first burst onto the national music scene in 1977 with his first band, The Jam, which he formed four years earlier as a teenager in Woking with his friends Rick Buckler (drums) and Bruce Foxton (bass). Weller himself took lead vocal duties and was a talented lead guitarist.

File:The gift.jpg
The Jam's 1982 album The Gift.

1977 was the year after the first wave of punk bands such as The Sex Pistols, Buzzcocks, The Clash and The Stranglers had arrived in the public eye. Although The Jam's music had much of the fire and the passion of those bands, in terms of songwriting ability and lyrical content, The Jam were more in the mould of the so-called 'new wave' bands who came later. Also, being from just outside of London rather than in it, they were never really part of the tightly-knit punk clique.

Nonetheless, The Clash semmed to take the most notice of the band. Joe Strummer even suposedly having a conversation with the young Paul Weller and suggesting he write songs about things that affected him, and songs that involved society and politics. The Clash were also suitably impressed by The Jam to take them along as the support act on their White Riot tour of 1977. The Jam went on to be far more successful, at least in terms of the singles charts, than The Clash in the UK.

"In The City" took The Jam into the UK Top 40 for the first time in May 1977, and although every subsequent single had a placing within the Top 40, it would take another two years and eight singles before they were sufficiently engrained in the British national consciousness for "The Eton Rifles" to break the Top 10, hitting the No. 3 spot in November 1979.

From then on their blend of pop tunes and politically-aware lyrics made them hugely popular, and in 1980 they hit number one for the first time with what many believe to be the definitive Paul Weller song, "Going Underground", which was to become in effect the band's signature tune. A popular story has it that hitting the charts at all was in fact an accident for "Going Underground": it was supposed to be a double A side with "Dreams of Children", a less-remembered song, but a mistake at a French pressing plant meant "Going Underground" was given 'A' status on the label. Whether this is true or apocryphal is not known, but whatever the case, after "Going Underground", The Jam - and Weller in particular - were UK superstars.

Weller was strongly influenced by 1960s bands such as The Kinks, The Small Faces and The Who, all three great favourites of his and whose influence can be heard in much of The Jam's material. However, that did not mean that he was averse to finding inspiration in the works of many other artists: the Jam's second number one single, "Start!" borrows heavily from The Beatles' "Taxman", for example. The group's third chart topper, "Town Called Malice", which recently found renewed fame on the Billy Elliot soundtrack (2001), has a driving bass line reminiscent of The Supremes' "You Can't Hurry Love" or Iggy Pop's "Lust for Life".

By the early 1980s, The Jam had become possibly the biggest band in Britain. They became the only band other than The Beatles to perform two songs ("Town Called Malice" and "Precious") on one edition of Top of the Pops (the feat would later also be equalled by Oasis and Manic Street Preachers). The Jam even had one single, "That's Entertainment", reach No. 21 in the UK singles chart despite not even being released in that country - it got there purely on the strength of the huge number of people buying import sales of the German single release. Weller, however, was eager to explore other musical avenues he felt he could not follow with The Jam. Later Jam songs such as "The Bitterest Pill (I Ever Had To Swallow)" - often described by critics as "a Style Council song pretending to be a Jam song" - showed that he longed to write in a more melodic, soulful style. He felt he had taken The Jam as far as he could and was eager to move on.

Thus in late 1982, Weller shocked fans and the press - as well as his fellow band members Buckler and Foxton - by announcing that The Jam would disband at the end of the year. Their final single, "Beat Surrender", became their fourth UK chart topper, going straight to No. 1 in its first week, which was still a rare achievement at the time, and their farewell concerts at Wembley Arena were multiple sell-outs. Their final concert took place at the Brighton Centre on the 11 December 1982.

The Style Council

At the beginning of 1983, The Jam had disbanded, and the press and public wondered what was next for Paul Weller. The answer emerged in the form of a collaboration with a friend, keyboard player Mick Talbot, to form a new group called The Style Council. Soon after 1983 Weller brought in Steve White to play drums at the age of just sixteen. White has been playing with Weller ever since (apart from a two year break in 1989-1990).

A very different band from The Jam, The Style Council played a whole range of musical styles, from outright pop to jazz, soul and the occasional ballad. The band was at the vanguard of a jazz/pop revival that would continue with the emergence of bands like Matt Bianco, Sade, and Everything But The Girl, whose lead singer Tracey Thorn contributed vocals to a Style Council song, "Paris Match". However, the Style Council were not completely untouched by the spirit of The Jam - indeed, one of their early singles "A Solid Bond In Your Heart" was originally written and recorded during The Jam era, this earlier version later turning up on that band's Extras compilation. And as "The Bitterest Pill (I Ever Had to Swallow)" is sometimes labelled a Style Council song pretending to be a Jam song, so 1985's "Walls Come Tumbling Down!" is often compared to a Jam song disguised in Style Council colours. "Walls Come Tumbling Down!", incidentally, did well in North America, appearing with "The Internalionalists" on the Live Aid album and getting airplay on some college radio stations.

The Style Council's 1988 album Confessions of a Pop Group.

Although the Style Council were never as successful chart-wise as The Jam had been - they never had a No. 1 single - that did not stop the mid 1980s from being possibly the peak of Weller's public profile in the UK. He appeared on 1984's famous Band Aid record "Do They Know It's Christmas?" (although his major contribution was probably to mime the unavailable Bono's part on the Top of the Pops performance of the song) and the Style Council were the second act to appear in the British half of Live Aid at Wembley Stadium in 1985.

Despite their success at home, the Style Council were only marginally more successful internationally than The Jam had been, with "My Ever Changing Moods" providing them with their one and only single to ever make the US Billboard Hot 100. As the 1980s wore on, the Style Council's popularity in the UK itself began to slide, with none of their singles even reaching the Top 20 any more. For the first time in Weller's career, he found himself somewhat in the shade, and the death-knell of The Style Council was sounded in 1989 when their record company refused to even release their fifth and final studio album, Modernism - a New Decade, although this did eventually have a limited vinyl run and appeared on The Complete Adventures of the Style Council, retrospective CD box set. In a show of declining interest in the UK of the Style Council, the line: "kick out the Style, bring back the Jam" was included in the Tears for Fears' song, "Sowing The Seeds of Love".

Solo career

In 1989, Weller disbanded The Style Council and disappeared from the public eye for a few years, before returning to prominence as one of the major influences of the mid 1990s, with his long term drummer, and friend Steve White, behind the 'Britpop' movement that gave rise to such bands as Oasis and Blur, the former being heavily influenced by The Jam in particular. Weller even appeared as a guest guitarist and backing vocalist on "Champagne Supernova" Oasis's seminal 1995 album (What's The Story) Morning Glory?, perhaps the defining moment of Britpop. Noel Gallagher also appeared on Pauls album Stanley Road, providing guitar and backing vocals on the Dr John cover of 'I Walk On Gilded Splinters. In particular, Weller was an important influence in the development of Ocean Colour Scene, and members of that band, particularly guitarist Steve Cradock, who has been a regular fixture in Weller's band since the early 1990s except for 99-2000 when Ocean Colour Scene had reached their peak and guitar duties went to Matt Deighton of Mother Earth. Paul Weller went back on the road performing Jam and Style Council covers, under the guise of The Paul Weller Movement, eventually releasing a single "Into Tomorrow" on his own Freedom High record label. His first solo album, the self-titled Paul Weller, featured photography from Nick Knight. The album was financed partly from the sale of his London West End based recording studio, Solid Bond. The difference between his last work, the house music workout Modernism - A New Decade and this solo album four years on were astounding; the new sound saw a return to a raw guitar sound, enriched with samples and a funk influence, with shades of The Style Council sound. His new producer Brendan Lynch contributed to his new sound.

Fans and critics hail Wild Wood as one of his finest albums. Recorded deep in the English countryside, it had the sound and style of the new "get out of the city" Weller, a man matured and married with children. At the time, he sung "couldn't see me settling down with a mortgage and a kid".

Weller's 1995 solo album Stanley Road reached #1 in the UK.

However, his role was not that of a mere influence: his own 1995 album Stanley Road took him back to the top of the British charts, and went on to become the best selling album of his career. The album was named after the street in Woking where he had grown up. It marked a return to the more guitar-based style of his earlier days, albeit with a more grown-up mature edge than the sheer adrenaline rush The Jam had provided. The album's major single, "The Changingman", was also a big hit, taking Weller back into the Top 10 of the UK singles charts (Weller's detractors, however, noted that the song's descending guitar riff bore a strong resemblance to the one used on the Electric Light Orchestra's debut single, "10538 Overture"). The album also featured a second popular single, the ballad "You Do Something To Me".

Heavy Soul, the follow up to the million-selling Stanley Road saw Weller twist his sound again. The album was more raw than its predecessor, Weller now obsessed with playing live in the studio and with doing as few takes as possible. The album failed to top the chart, mainly because a limited edition was deemed to have too many 'freebies' included to be chart-eligible. The issue was that the images featured in the booklet of the main release were separate in the limited version. This would also include a small but often unrecognised use of Gil Scott Heron's "Lady Day & John Coltrane" on the track "science"

New Jam and Style Council 'best of' albums took his earlier career back into the charts, including a reissue of "The Bitterest Pill (I Ever Had To Swallow") and his own solo 'best of' collection Modern Classics was a substantial success in 1998.

The year 2000 saw the release of his fifth solo studio album, and seventh solo effort overall, called Heliocentric (as well as the Modern Classics compilation, there had also been the 1994 live album called Live Wood). There were rumours at the time that this would be his final studio effort, but these proved unfounded when he released the No. 1 hit album Illumination in September 2002, preceded by yet another top ten hit single "It's Written In The Stars". Between these two albums he had also released a second successful live album, 2001's Days Of Speed, which contained live acoustic versions from his world tour of the same name. The LP included some of his best-known songs not just from his solo career but from The Jam and Style Council] back catalogues as well. This was mainly due to the fact that Paul had again found himself without a record contract and the tour provided him with the opportunity to view his works as one back catalogue.

In 2004 Weller released an album of covers entitled Studio 150. It debuted at No. 2 in the UK charts and included Bob Dylan's, "All Along The Watchtower", better known by the flinky-fingered guitarist Jimi Hendrix. The album also contained the singles "The Bottle" originally performed by Gil Scott Heron, "Wishing On A Star" by Rose Royce, "Thinking Of You" by Sister Sledge and "Early Morning Rain" by Gordon Lightfoot. This was a limited edition, coloured vinyl only, double A-sided 7", along with a cover of The Beatles' "Come Together".

His 2005 album As Is Now featured the singles "From The Floorboards Up", "Come On/Let's Go" and "Here's The Good News". Weller released a double live album titled Catch-Flame! on 12 June, 2006 with songs from both his solo work and his career with The Jam and The Style Council.

Legacy

  • Proving that interest still remained in his seminal days of the 1970s and 1980s, no less than three of his songs - two Style Council numbers and one song from The Jam - turned up on the soundtrack of 2001's hit British movie Billy Elliot, bringing him a new generation of fans to discover his music.
  • His influence upon the 1990s generation of British guitar bands, coupled with his love of 1960's Mod-era music, had earned him the affectionate nickname "The Modfather", and the late 1990's saw him cement his position as one of Britain's major musical figures. In 1995 he collaborated with Oasis's guitarist/songwriter Noel Gallagher and none other than Paul McCartney to form a one-off 'super group' called The Smokin' Mojo Filters, releasing a charity version of The Beatles' hit "Come Together" in aid of Bosnian children.
  • Evidence of his continued popularity was also provided by a poll run by the British national radio station Virgin Radio in December 2002 to find the top 100 British artists of all time. More than 25,000 listeners voted and in the final results revealed on 31 December, The Style Council came in at No. 97, Weller as a solo artist at No. 21 and The Jam at No. 5 - ahead of such acts as The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, The Clash and Weller's own heroes, The Who and The Kinks.
  • In February 2006 Paul Weller received the Lifetime Achievement award at the Brit Awards. At the presentation, he played his solo tracks "From The Floorboards Up", "Come On"/"Let's Go", "The Changingman" and also The Jam's "Town Called Malice".
  • With Steve White, Weller also set up a website called checkemlads.com following a chat with a fan Philly Morris who was going through cancer treatment in 2003. The cancer awareness website is now the most viewed cancer website by men in the UK.
  • Paul Weller is the only other artist other than the Beatles to have 7 singles in the Top 100 at any one time. This happened at the end of his Jam career when Polydor rushed to re-release all their back catalogue

Personal life

Soon after the formation of the Style Council, Weller and Style Council back-up vocalist Dee C. Lee (ex-Wham! back-up singer) formed a romantic relationship. The couple married, and have two children, Nathaniel and Leah. The couple are now divorced.

Weller has 5 children in total, 2 with Lee, 1 from a short relationship, and two with his current girlfirend.

Trivia

Solo discography

Albums

Singles

From "Paul Weller"

  • "Into Tomorrow" (as Paul Weller Movement) (1991) - #36 UK
  • "Uh Huh Oh Yeh" (1992) - #18 UK
  • "Above The Clouds" (1992) - #47 UK

From "Wild Wood"

  • "Sunflower" (1993) - #16 UK
  • "Wild Wood" (1993) - #14 UK
  • "The Weaver" (1993) - #18 UK
  • "Hung Up" (1994) - #11 UK

From "Stanley Road"

  • "Out Of The Sinking" (1994) - #20 UK
  • "The Changingman" (1995) - #7 UK
  • "You Do Something To Me" (1995) - #9 UK
  • "Broken Stones" (1995) - #20 UK
  • "Out Of The Sinking" re-recording (1996) - #16 UK

From "Heavy Soul"

  • "Peacock Suit" (1996) - #5 UK
  • "Brushed" (1997) - #14 UK
  • "Friday Street" (1997) - #21 UK
  • "Mermaids" (1997) - #30 UK

From "Modern Classics - The Greatest Hits"

  • "Brand New Start" (1998) - #16 UK
  • "Wild Wood" re-release (1999) - #22 UK

From "Heliocentric"

  • "The Keeper" (2000) - Did Not Chart
  • "Sweet Pea, My Sweet Pea" (2000) - #44 UK

From "Illumination"

  • "It's Written In The Stars" (2002) - #7 UK
  • "Leafy Mysteries" (2002) - #23 UK

From "Studio 150"

  • "The Bottle" (2004) - #13 UK
  • "Wishing On A Star" (2004) - #11 UK
  • "Thinking Of You" (2004) - #18 UK
  • "Early Morning Rain"/"Come Together" (2005) - #40 UK

From "As Is Now"

  • "From The Floorboards Up" (2005) - #6 UK
  • "Come On/Let's Go" (2005) - #15 UK
  • "Here's The Good News" (2005) - #21 UK

Non-album single

  • "Wild Blue Yonder" (30/10/2005)

External links

References

Munn, Iain (2006). Mr Cool's Dream. The Complete History Of The Style Council. Wholepoint Publications. ISBN 0-9551443-02.

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