Joe Jackson (musician)

From MedBib.com - Medicine & Nature

Joe Jackson

Performing at El Macombo, Toronto, May 21, 1979
Background information
Birth name David Ian Jackson
Born 11 August 1954 (1954-08-11) (age 55)
Burton upon Trent, England
Genres Punk rock/ska (early)
new wave, pop, power-pop, jazz, classical music
Instruments Vocals, piano, keyboards, organ, saxophone, harmonica, melodica, synthesizer, accordion, vibraphone
Years active 1978-present
Labels A&M, Virgin, Sony, Ryko
Website Official website


Joe Jackson (born David Ian Jackson, 11 August 1954, Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire[1]) is an English musician and singer-songwriter now living in Berlin, whose five Grammy nominations span 1979 to 2001.[2] He is probably best-known for the 1978 hit song "Is She Really Going Out with Him?", which still gets extensive FM radio airplay; for his 1982 hit, "Steppin' Out"; and for his 1984 success with, "You Can't Get What You Want (Till You Know What You Want)".

Along with Elvis Costello and Graham Parker, Jackson was a part of the trio of British based artists who challenged the punk scene and brought a New Wave sound to the United States in the late 1970s. He was popular for his power-pop and new wave music early on before moving to more eclectic, though less commercially successful, pop/jazz/classical musical pieces.

Contents

Biography

Born in Staffordshire, David Jackson (as he was then known) grew up in Gosport and Portsmouth.

He started off learning to play the violin but soon switched to piano. From the age of sixteen he played in bars, and won a scholarship to study musical composition at London's Royal Academy of Music. Jackson did not like the prospect of being a serious composer, and moved towards pop and rock.

Jackson's first band was Edward Bear, not to be confused with the 1970s Canadian band fronted by Larry Evoy. The band was later renamed Edwin Bear and then Arms and Legs, in order to avoid confusion with the Canadian group. Arms & Legs dissolved in 1976 after two unsuccessful singles. Although he was still known as David Jackson while in Arms & Legs, it was around this time that Jackson picked up the nickname "Joe", based on his perceived resemblance to the puppet character Joe 90. He then spent some time in the cabaret circuit to make money to record his own demos.

In 1978 a record producer heard his tape, and got him signed to A&M Records. The album Look Sharp! was recorded straight away, and was released in 1979, quickly followed by I'm the Man (also 1979) and Beat Crazy in 1980. He also collaborated with Lincoln Thompson in reggae crossover.

The Joe Jackson Band was successful and toured extensively. After the breakup of the band, Jackson took a break and recorded an album of old-style swing and blues tunes, Jumpin' Jive, featuring songs of Cab Calloway, Lester Young, Glenn Miller, and most prominently, Louis Jordan. The album, and associated single release, was credited to Joe Jackson's Jumpin' Jive.[2]

Jackson's 1982 album Night and Day paid tribute to the wit and style of Cole Porter (and indirectly to New York City).[citation needed] Night and Day was Jackson's only studio album to reach the UK Top 10, peaking at #4, and the cuts "Steppin' Out" and "Breaking Us In Two" were chart hits. The tracks "Real Men" and "A Slow Song" have pointed obliquely to the city's early 1980s gay culture.[3] Jackson lived in New York for the next twenty years, incorporating the sound of the city into his music throughout the 1980s and beyond.

Almost two years later, Jackson recorded the UK #14 album Body and Soul, also heavily influenced by pop and jazz standards and salsa, showcasing the U.S. #15 hit single "You Can't Get What You Want (Till You Know What You Want)". The album was a modest commercial success and is widely regarded among audiophiles as a digital recording of the highest quality.[citation needed]

In 1986 he collaborated with Suzanne Vega on the single "Left of Center" from Pretty in Pink's soundtrack (with Vega singing and Jackson playing piano).

Jackson followed with Big World, a three-sided double record (the fourth side consisted of a single centering groove and a label stating "there is no music on this side"), which was recorded live. The instrumental "Will Power" set the stage for things to come later, but before he left pop behind he put out two more albums, Blaze of Glory and Laughter & Lust.

For some years he drifted away from the pop style, going on to be signed by Sony Classical in 1997. They released his Symphony No. 1 in 1999, for which he received a Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Album in 2001.[4]

In 1995, Joe Jackson contributed his version of "Statue of Liberty" on a tribute album to the English band XTC called "Testimonial Dinner" (released 1998).

In 2003, he reunited his original quartet[2] for an album (entitled Volume 4, implying that it was the follow-up to his first three albums with the original band) and lengthy tour. As before the quartet consisted of Jackson, Graham Maby, Dave Houghton and Gary Sanford.

In 2004 Jackson performed a cover of Pulp's "Common People", with William Shatner for Shatner's album Has Been.

Jackson toured 45 U.S. and European cities in 2005 with Todd Rundgren and the string quartet Ethel, appearing on Late Night with Conan O'Brien performing their collaborative cover version of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps".

Thereafter, he embarked on a short tour in a piano-bass-drums trio format. He toured Europe in Spring 2007, again in a trio format. Jackson's album, Rain was released by Rykodisc on 28 January 2008 in the UK and one day later in the U.S.[5] The album included a CD and a bonus DVD containing over 40 minutes of material, including concert and behind-the-scenes footage and interviews. Jackson performed two UK shows in spring 2008, followed by a full UK tour.

Other activities

Jackson has actively campaigned against smoking bans in both the U.S. and the UK,[6] writing a 2005 pamphlet The Smoking Issue, a 2007 essay Smoke, Lies and the Nanny State,[7] and issuing a satirical song ("In 20-0-3") on the subject.[8] It was in 2003, soon after the New York smoking ban, that Jackson left the city and returned to Portsmouth, England, where he has a flat in the oldest part of the city that overlooks the harbour. Recently, in the DVD interviews in Rain, it was stated that he moved to Berlin in early 2007.

He has been quoted as saying he now spends most of his time in Berlin, but still has places in Portsmouth and New York City. He has often been spotted in Portsmouth pubs that serve real ale,[citation needed] his enthusiasm for which is noted in his autobiography, A Cure For Gravity.

Jackson is also an author, having written A Cure for Gravity, published in 1999, which Jackson has described as a "book about music, thinly disguised as a memoir". It traces his early musical life from childhood until his twenty fourth birthday. Life as a pop star, he suggested, was hardly worth writing about.

Cover versions & popular use of music

In 1990, thrash metal band Anthrax recorded a cover of Jackson's "Got The Time" for their Persistence of Time album, which got considerable airplay on MTV.

In 2001, Tori Amos covered Jackson's song "Real Men" on her album Strange Little Girls.

In 2002, "Steppin' Out" appeared in the popular videogame Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, playing on pop radio station Flash FM. A loop of the instrumental portion of this song is used as the theme tune for the WYES-TV (New Orleans) weekly arts and entertainment program, Steppin' Out. The melody is also used frequently as 'bumper music' on The Neal Boortz show.

In 2008, Jackson's "One More Time" was used in Taco Bell commercials in the U.S.

Discography

Original albums

[2] [9]

Live albums

Compilation albums

[2]

Singles

Year Title Chart positions Album
UK Singles Chart[2] Australia Canada Germany Holland [10] U.S.
Billboard Hot 100[11]		 U.S.
Modern Rock Tracks[11]		 U.S.
Mainstream Rock Tracks[11]
1978 "Is She Really Going Out with Him?" #13 #15 #9 - #46 #21 - - Look Sharp!
1979 "Sunday Papers" - - - - - - - -
1979 "One More Time" - - - - - - - -
1979 "Fools In Love" - - - - - - - -
1979 "I'm The Man" - - #23 - - - - - I'm The Man
1979 "It's Different For Girls" #5 #85 - - - - - -
1980 "Kinda Kute" - - #91 - - - - -
1980 "The Harder They Come" - - - - #34 - - - non-album track
1981 "Jumpin' Jive" #43 #61 - - - - - - Jumpin' Jive
1982 "Real Men" - #6 - - #17 - - - Night And Day
1982 "Steppin' Out" #6 #30 #5 #28 - #6 - #7
1983 "Breaking Us In Two" #59 #90 #40 - - #18 - -
1983 "Memphis" - - - - - #85 - - 'Mike's Murder' soundtrack
1984 "You Can't Get What You Want (Till You Know What You Want)" - #96 #30 - - #15 - - Body And Soul
1984 "Happy Ending" #58 #47 - - #19 #57 - -
1984 "Be My Number Two" #70 - - - - - - -
1986 "Left Of Centre" (Suzanne Vega f/Joe Jackson) #32 #35 - - - - - - Pretty in Pink (soundtrack)
1986 "Right And Wrong" - #64 - - - - - #11 Big World
1988 "Is She Really Going Out With Him? (Live)" - - - - #5 - - - Live 1980/1986
1989 "(He's A) Shape In A Drape" - #87 #73 - #35 - - - Tucker soundtrack
1989 "Nineteen Forever" - #79 #58 - #44 - #4 #16 Blaze Of Glory
1991 "Obvious Song" - - #64 - - - #2 #28 Laughter And Lust
1991 "Stranger Than Fiction" - - #79 #53 #71 - - -
1991 "Oh Well" - - - - - - #20 #25
2001 "Stranger Than You" - - - - #91 - - -

See also

References

  1. ^ Allmusic biography
  2. ^ a b c d e f Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. pp. 274. ISBN 1-904994-10-5. 
  3. ^ "NPR Weekend Edition Sunday: Gay Pop Music", 22 June 2003
  4. ^ "Allmusic ((( Joe Jackson > Charts & Awards > Grammy Awards )))". http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:hifuxqe5ldae~T52. 
  5. ^ Rykodisc press release
  6. ^ Forestonline.org website
  7. ^ The Official Website of Joe Jackson
  8. ^ Joe Jackson.com
  9. ^ "Allmusic ((( Joe Jackson > Charts & Awards > Billboard Albums )))". http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:hifuxqe5ldae~T5. 
  10. ^ Dutchcharts.nl
  11. ^ a b c "Allmusic ((( Joe Jackson > Charts & Awards > Billboard Singles )))". http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:hifuxqe5ldae~T51. 

Literature

External links

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
All material adapted used from Wikipedia is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.
Seeking health information online: does Wikipedia matter?