Joe Jackson

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Joe Jackson 1982
Joe Jackson 1979

Joe Jackson (born August 11, 1954 in Burton-upon-Trent , Staffordshire , Great Britain ) is an English musician.

Life

Joe Jackson (born as David Ian Jackson) comes from a proletarian family and had a problematic childhood ( asthma , lack of social ties). From the age of eleven he learned the violin and piano. From the age of 16 he played the piano in the pubs of his hometown Portsmouth . In 1972 he received a scholarship that enabled him to study composition at the Royal Academy of Music in London. In 1975 he graduated here as an orchestral percussionist .

The profession of classical composer did not appeal to him, so he increasingly pursued his rock and pop ambitions, which go back to before his time at the academy. From 1974 to October 1976 he played in the band Edward Bear , renamed Arms and Legs in 1975 , from 1974 on with bassist Graham Maby , with whom he still works today.

Joe Jackson Band from 1978

In 1978 Jackson brought together the musicians of what would later become the Joe Jackson Band : bassist Graham Maby, drummer Dave Houghton and guitarist Gary Sanford. With these he began to record demo tapes, through which he received a recording contract with A&M Records in 1978 . The album “ Look Sharp! “Was released in 1979 and mostly featured by the song Is She Really Going Out With Him? a commercial success. This was followed by the albums I'm the Man (1979) and Beat Crazy (1980). The band was very successful and performed numerous concerts worldwide, the last on December 15, 1980.

Solo from 1981

In 1981 he recorded an album that differs significantly from the previous ones: Jumpin 'Jive contains swing and blues standards by Cab Calloway , Lester Young , Glenn Miller and, above all, Louis Jordan .

The following album Night and Day (1982) shows Jackson's compositional diversity for the first time and contains rock, pop and jazz elements; his lyrics also became more complex. He himself thinks this album is his best so far. With Steppin 'Out he also achieved a radio-compatible pop song that is still played today. With the soundtrack for the feature film Mike's Murder , Jackson broke new ground in 1983, but neither the film nor the soundtrack could convince audiences and critics.

New York from 1984

In 1984 Joe Jackson moved to New York . Here he built on previous successes with the album Body and Soul . In keeping with the spirit of the times, brass instruments are used, but South American rhythms and classical elements can also be heard on the complex, sound-focused album. Happy Ending , a duet with singer Elaine Caswell , established itself in the charts as a single.

A special feature was the one and a half LP Big World in 1986 (not a real double LP, page 4 only contained a blank): Jackson and his music colleagues played all the songs like a concert in front of an audience, under recording conditions as in the studio.

In the following years Jackson delivered a soundtrack for the film Tucker , released a live double album with recordings from four tours and played the album Will Power, interspersed with classic elements . These projects were not granted special attention or commercial success. The fans were waiting for news from the "real" Joe Jackson and were rewarded with the albums Blaze of Glory (1989) and Laughter and Lust (1991).

After a three-year hiatus, Night Music (1994) was released, an album characterized by classical music in which Jackson played almost all of the instruments himself. Despite the commercial failure of this production (single: Ever After ) Jackson went under contract with Sony Classical in 1997. Here he released the concept album Heaven and Hell (1997), on which he sang only a few songs. For the unusual Symphony No. 1 (1999) he received a Grammy Award in the same year , but the economic success was limited. At the same time he published his autobiography A Cure for Gravity , which was published in German translation under the title A means against gravity .

With a about-face, Jackson reported back to the pop and rock stages at the beginning of the new millennium: with a live record and the ambitious Night and Day II, he continued his band sound of the early 1980s.

London from 2003

In 2003 he moved back to London and reanimated the original Joe Jackson Band , which had split up 23 years earlier, and recorded Volume 4, a highly regarded CD. The CD title alludes to the band's first three records and thus represents their continuation. The subsequent tour was documented on the live album Afterlife , which was released in spring 2004.

On William Shatner's album Has Been (2004) Jackson can be heard in a duet on the song Common People by the group Pulp . Due to artistic differences, in 2004 he did not finish work on the soundtrack for the golf film The Greatest Game of His Life . Jackson made a small guest appearance in the film.

Berlin from 2006

Jackson has lived mainly in Berlin since 2006 . In 2006 Joe Jackson presented new songs as part of a European tour with bassist Graham Maby and drummer Dave Houghton. In Berlin, the three musicians recorded the album Rain , which was released in January 2008. The trio has since played other tours, most recently in Europe and Germany in autumn 2010. The sets were enriched with a few cover versions (up to five songs per evening).

In autumn 2012, the album The Duke took place on another tour in the USA and Europe. This time he was accompanied by "the Bigger Band" with six other musicians: Regina Carter , Sue Hadjopoulos, Allison Cornell, Jesse Murphy, Adam Rogers and Nate Smith .

As part of the album Fast Forward , released in 2015, there was a concert tour through Europe in spring 2016. In 2018 he was on tour. In January 2019, Joe Jackson released his 20th studio album, Fool . Joe Jackson celebrated the 40th year of his music career with a world tour in 2019.

Private

Jackson was briefly married at a young age, which he says was "a disaster". In 2001 he said in an interview that he was bisexual and had been in a relationship with a man for years.

Well-known songs

The most famous song by Joe Jackson is from 1982: Steppin 'Out (from the album Night and Day ); in addition, the tracks You can't get what you want (till you know what you want) and Happy Ending (both from the album Body and Soul ) and the tracks Is She Really Going Out With Him? and Breaking Us In Two are among his most popular in Germany. Is She Really Going Out With Him? is included three times on the live album Live 1980/86 : a version with a rock band, a version a cappella and a version recorded with acoustic instruments ( accordion and wind instruments). Jackson couldn't decide which version to go with. Since 1982, the piece "Slow Song" has usually rounded off the live concerts.

Discography

Studio albums

year title Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements
(Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes) 		Remarks
DE DE AT AT CH CH UK UK US US
1979 Look Sharp! - - - UK40
silver
silver

(11 weeks)UK 		US-
gold
gold
US
I'm the man - - - UK12
gold
gold

(17 weeks)UK 		US22 (25 weeks)
US
1980 Beat crazy - - - UK42 (3 weeks)
UK 		US41 (16 weeks)
US
1981 Jumpin 'jive - - - UK14 (14 weeks)
UK 		-
1982 Night and Day DE11 (20 weeks)
DE 		- - UK3
gold
gold

(27 weeks)UK 		US4th
gold
gold

(57 weeks)US
1984 Body and Soul DE21 (22 weeks)
DE 		- CH11 (10 weeks)
CH 		UK14th
silver
silver

(14 weeks)UK 		US20 (29 weeks)
US
1986 Big World DE24 (17 weeks)
DE 		- CH18 (6 weeks)
CH 		UK41 (5 weeks)
UK 		US34 (25 weeks)
US
1987 Will power DE58 (3 weeks)
DE 		- - - US131 (8 weeks)
US
1989 Blaze of Glory DE27 (15 weeks)
DE 		- CH22 (4 weeks)
CH 		UK36 (3 weeks)
UK 		US61 (21 weeks)
US
1991 Laughter & Lust DE20 (13 weeks)
DE 		- CH17 (6 weeks)
CH 		UK41 (2 weeks)
UK 		US116 (4 weeks)
US
2003 Volume 4 DE49 (3 weeks)
DE 		- - - -
Joe Jackson Band
2008 Rain DE44 (4 weeks)
DE 		- CH99 (1 week)
CH 		- US133 (1 week)
US
2012 The Duke DE33 (2 weeks)
DE 		- CH49 (1 week)
CH 		- US93 (1 week)
US
2015 Fast forward DE54 (1 week)
DE 		- - - -
2019 Fool DE11 (3 weeks)
DE 		AT71 (1 week)
AT 		CH16 (2 weeks)
CH 		- -

gray hatching : no chart data available for this year

More studio albums

  • 1994: Night Music
  • 1997: Heaven and Hell
  • 1999: Symphony No. 1
  • 2000: Night and Day II

Live albums

year title Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements
(Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes) 		Remarks
DE DE AT AT CH CH UK UK US US
1988 Live 1980/86 DE52 (8 weeks)
DE 		- - UK66 (2 weeks)
UK 		US91 (12 weeks)
US

More live albums

  • 2000: Summer in the City: Live in New York
  • 2002: Two Rainy Nights
  • 2004: Afterlife
  • 2011: Live Music

Compilations

year title Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements
(Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes) 		Remarks
DE DE AT AT CH CH UK UK US US
1990 Stepping Out - The Very Best of Joe Jackson DE78 (4 weeks)
DE 		- - UK7th
gold
gold

(9 weeks)UK 		-
2007 Very best of - - - UK60 (1 week)
UK 		-

More compilations

  • 1997: This Is It - The A&M Years 1979–1989 (2 CDs, digitally remastered, compiled by Joe Jackson himself)
  • 1998: Stepping Out - The Very Best Of (1979-89)
  • 2001: The Collection (UK:silversilver)
  • 2009: Joe Jackson at the BBC (2 CDs, recorded live 1979-83)
  • 2012: Live at Rockpalast (2 CDs, recorded live 1980–83)

Soundtracks

year title Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements
(Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes) 		Remarks
DE DE AT AT CH CH UK UK US US
1983 Mike's Murder - - - - US64 (10 weeks)
US

More soundtracks

Singles

year Title
album 		Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements
(Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes) 		Remarks
DE DE UK UK US US
1979 Is She Really Going Out with Him
Look Sharp! / I'm the man 		- UK13 (9 weeks)
UK 		US21 (15 weeks)
US
1980 It's Different for Girls
I'm the Man 		- UK5
silver
silver

(9 weeks)UK 		-
1981 Jumpin 'Jive
Jumpin' Jive 		- UK43 (5 weeks)
UK 		-
1982 Steppin 'out
night and day 		DE28 (12 weeks)
DE 		UK6 (9 weeks)
UK 		US6 (27 weeks)
US
1983 Breaking Us in Two
Night and Day 		- UK59 (4 weeks)
UK 		US18 (16 weeks)
US
Memphis
Mike’s Murder OST 		- - US85 (4 weeks)
US
1984 You Can't Get What You Want (Till You Know What You Want)
Body and Soul 		- UK77 (2 weeks)
UK 		US15 (16 weeks)
US
Happy ending
body and soul 		- UK58 (5 weeks)
UK 		US57 (8 weeks)
US
Be My Number 2
Body and Soul 		- UK70 (4 weeks)
UK 		-
1986 Right and Wrong
Big World 		- UK90 (1 week)
UK 		-
1991 Stranger Than Fiction
Laughter & Lust 		DE53 (13 weeks)
DE 		- -

literature

  • Joe Jackson: A Cure for Gravity , 1999, autobiography, German: A means against gravity , Satzwerk Verlag 1999, ISBN 3-930333-33-3 .

Awards

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b The Joe Jackson Archive: The Joe Jackson Chronicle. Retrieved February 9, 2020 .
  2. ↑ The Joe Jackson Archive: Rock family tree of Joe's early bands. Retrieved February 9, 2020 .
  3. ↑ The Joe Jackson Archive: Joe's early bands. Retrieved February 9, 2020 .
  4. ↑ a b joejackson.com: Info
  5. ↑ Joe Jackson celebrates 40 years of music career with a new record and tour. Retrieved October 12, 2018 .
  6. ↑ a b independent.ie: Is Joe Jackson really going out with him?
  7. ↑ a b c d e Chart sources: DE AT CH UK US
  8. ↑ a b c d e Music Sales Awards: US UK
  9. ↑ bz-berlin.de: BZ Culture Prize 2016
  10. ↑ MPC 99355. Retrieved March 24, 2016 .
personal data
SURNAME Jackson, Joe
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English musician
DATE OF BIRTH August 11, 1954
PLACE OF BIRTH Burton-upon-Trent , Staffordshire