John Du Cann

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John William Cann (born June 2, 1946 in Leicester , East Midlands , England , † September 21, 2011 ), who called himself John Du Cann from the mid-1970s , was a British guitarist , singer and songwriter . He is best known as a member of Atomic Rooster , the biggest hit of which he wrote, Devil's Answer .

biography

The early bands Du Cann played with included The Sonics from Wiltshire (not to be confused with the US band of the same name) and The Attack from London , who did the song Hi Ho Silver Lining a few days before the more popular version of Jeff Beck published. Du Cann was then a member of the psychedelic rock band Andromeda before he was brought to Atomic Rooster .

After leaving Atomic Rooster in 1971, he formed the band Daemon, which changed its name to Bullet, only to appear as Hard Stuff. In 1974 he played temporarily with Thin Lizzy on two European tours. During this time, his management advised him to change his name from John Cann to John Du Cann.

In 1977 Du Cann recorded the solo album The World's Not Big Enough , which remained unreleased until 1992. In addition to Du Cann, Francis Rossi from Status Quo , who also played guitar on some tracks, was the producer . The studio musicians also included Status Quo musicians Andy Bown (keyboards) and Pete Kircher (drums) as well as John McCoy (bass) and Paul Hammond (drums).

In September 1979 Du Cann had a chart success with the single Don't Be A Dummy (33rd in Great Britain). The piece came from the solo album in 1977 and had been used in a 1978 commercial for jeans.

In 1980 Atomic Rooster was revived, but it was not successful. In 1982 Du Cann left the band for good. During this time he had also played for Ginger Baker for three weeks .

John Du Cann moved to Norwich and built greenhouses. In the late 1990s he worked on re-editions of recordings from his personal archive. He died on September 21, 2011 after a heart attack.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f Richie Unterberger: Biography on Allmusic (English)
  2. ↑ a b c d e f Spencer Leigh: John Du Cann: Singer and guitarist with the hardrockers Atomic Rooster . Obituary by The Independent , October 11, 2011 (English)
  3. ↑ a b c d e f Atomic Rooster's John Cann (Later known as John Du Cann) on angelfire.com (English)
personal data
SURNAME You cann, John
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Cann, John William (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British guitarist, singer and songwriter
DATE OF BIRTH June 2, 1946
PLACE OF BIRTH Leicester , East Midlands , England
DATE OF DEATH September 21, 2011