Wilko Johnson | |
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | John Andrew Wilkinson[1] |
| Born | (1947-07-12)12 July 1947 Canvey Island, Essex, England |
| Died | 21 November 2022(2022-11-21) (aged 75) Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex, England |
| Genres | |
| Occupations |
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| Instruments |
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| Years active | 1970–2022 |
| Labels | United Artists |
| Formerly of | |
| Website | wilkojohnson |
John Andrew Wilkinson (12 July 1947 – 21 November 2022), better known by thestage nameWilko Johnson, was an English guitarist, singer, songwriter and occasional actor. He was a member of thepub rock/rhythm and blues bandDr. Feelgood in the 1970s. Johnson was known for his distinctive guitar playing style, which he achieved by not using aplectrum but playingfingerstyle. This enabled him to play rhythm guitar andriffs or solos at the same time creating a highly percussive guitar sound.
Johnson and Dr. Feelgood were an influence on the Englishpunk movement.Paul Weller said of Johnson: "Wilko may not be as famous as some other guitarists, but he's right up there. And there are a lot of people who'll say the same. I can hear Wilko in lots of places. It's some legacy."[2]
In 2011 and 2012 he appeared in theHBO fantasy seriesGame of Thrones, as the mute executionerSer Ilyn Payne.
Born on 12 July 1947 inCanvey Island, Essex, Johnson went toWestcliff High School for Boys and played in several local groups, before attendingNewcastle University to study for a BA in English Language and Literature.[1][3] His undergraduate courses includedAnglo-Saxon and ancientIcelandic sagas.[4][5]
After graduating, he travelled overland to India before returning to Essex to play with the Pigboy Charlie Band. The band evolved intoDr. Feelgood – a mainstay of the 1970spub rock movement.[4] After returning fromGoa, he worked in 1972 as an English teacher.[6][7] It was then that he adopted the stage name Wilko Johnson, a close anagram of John Wilkinson.[3]
In 1965 Johnson bought his firstFender Telecaster guitar from a shop inSouthend, Essex, for £90 (equivalent to £2,201 in 2023).[8][9] He later played a vintage 1962 Fender Telecaster with rosewood fingerboard which he bought in 1974, shortly after Dr. Feelgood signed their first record deal.[10]
Johnson developed his own image, coupling jerky movements on stage, his so-called "duck walk" (inherited fromChuck Berry),[11] with a choppy guitar style, occasionally raising his guitar to his shoulder like a gun,[12] and a novel dress sense: he favoured a black suit and apudding bowlhaircut. He achieved his playing style by not using apick but instead relying onfingerstyle. This enabled him to play rhythm guitar andriffs orsolos at the same time creating a highly percussive guitar sound.[13] It evolved from a failed attempt to copyMick Green ofJohnny Kidd & the Pirates, a guitarist whom Johnson greatly admired.[14] HisBo Diddley-influenced style formed the essential driving force behind Dr. Feelgood during their initial years, including the band's first four albums,Down by the Jetty,Malpractice,Stupidity, andSneakin' Suspicion, all released between 1975 and 1977.[15]
The live album,Stupidity, reachednumber one in theUK Albums Chart, but although Johnson played on Dr. Feelgood's first five single releases, including "Roxette" and "Back in the Night", the only single to chart during his membership of the band was "Sneakin' Suspicion". He left the band in April 1977, following disagreements over the tracks to be included in theSneakin' Suspicion album.[16] The remaining band members claimed that Johnson had left voluntarily.[6] But Johnson subsequently insisted: "I didn't leave, they threw me out and then told the newspapers that I'd left."[5]
In 1977, he was a founding member of Solid Senders, with keyboardist John Potter, bassist Steve Lewins, and drummer Alan Platt. They signed toVirgin in 1978 and released the album,Solid Senders that year.[17] The Wilko Johnson Band played at the 'Front Row Festival', a three-week event at theHope and Anchor, Islington in late November and early December 1977, featuring many earlypunk rock acts.[18] This resulted in the inclusion of two tracks by The Wilko Johnson Band ("Dr. Feelgood" and "Twenty Yards Behind"), on ahitdouble album ofrecordings from thefestival. TheHope & Anchor Front Row Festivalcompilation album (March 1978) which reached number 28 in theUK Albums Chart.[19]
In 1980, Johnson joinedIan Dury's band,the Blockheads. Around 1984 he then re-formed The Wilko Johnson Band, joined by Blockhead bassistNorman Watt-Roy and Italian born drummer Salvatore Ramundo. 'Sav' Ramundo left the band in June 1999 and was replaced by Steve Monti (futureCurve andthe Jesus and Mary Chain drummer). Johnson's second album,Ice on the Motorway, was released in 1981, and his EP "Bottle Up and Go!" withLew Lewis followed in 1983. Several albums were released on European labels over the next decade. In 1992, Johnson appeared at theEurockéennes music festival, and the following year atGuilFest. The albumGoing Back Home appeared on theChess label in 1998. He began to cut back on his concert appearances in 1999, and released the albumDon't Let Your Daddy Know (Live in Japan 2000) the following year.[17]
The studio albumRed Hot Rocking Blues was released in 2005; this contained covers of classics by the likes ofVan Morrison,Bob Dylan,Ray Charles,Sonny Boy Williamson, andLead Belly.[20] Throughout 2005 and 2006 the band teamed up withthe Hamsters andJohn Otway to take part in 'The Mad, the Bad & the Dangerous'tour.[21]
Johnson appeared in theJulien Temple-directed documentary filmOil City Confidential (2009), where he related his memories of Canvey Island and Dr. Feelgood. The reviewerPhilip French described Johnson as "a wild man, off stage and on, funny, eloquent and charismatic",[7] while Temple described Johnson as "an extraordinary man – one of the great English eccentrics".[22] Reviewing the film forThe Guardian,Peter Bradshaw called it "the best rockumentary yet" and said that "the most likeable thing about this very likeable film is the way it promotes Wilko Johnson as a 100–1 shot for the title of Greatest Living Englishman".[23]
On 2 October 2010, it was announced that Johnson was to supportthe Stranglers on their 'Black & Blue' UK tour starting in March 2011. In April 2011, he played several sold-out shows as part of theKilkenny Rhythm & Roots Festival in Ireland.[24]
Johnson published his autobiography, co-authored withZoë Howe and titledLooking Back at Me, at the end of May 2012.[5] He appeared in the BBC4 documentariesEvidently... John Cooper Clarke andPunk Britannia in May 2012.[25] On 24 August 2012, Johnson and his band were due to headline the Blues stage atRhythm Festival, but the festival was cancelled on 3 August due to poor ticket sales.[26]
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Johnson stated in early 2013 that he had terminal cancer, and announced he was going on a farewell tour. On 22 March 2013, he played what was announced as his final show guesting withMadness on the television programmeMadness Live: Goodbye Television Centre which was broadcast onBBC Four. Afterwards he stated that he would not be able to perform his two final homecoming shows at Canvey Island due to ill health and would not be performing again.[27]
However, on 13 July 2013, he performed an unannounced hour-long live set with Norman Watt-Roy andDylan Howe at the Village Green Festival in his home town ofWestcliff-on-Sea.[28] In addition, he occasionally performed informal unannounced sets at his local pub, the Railway Hotel in Southend. In July 2013, the pub replaced their sign with a portrait of him painted by local artist Jack Melville, in honour of his long-term support of the south-east Essex music scene.[29]
Johnson also played a set on the final night atWickham Festival in Hampshire on Sunday 4 August 2013, where he was invited by the Blockheads on stage to play a song. Johnson announced a further tour with Howe and Watt-Roy during the spring of 2014.[30]
In March and April 2014, Wilko, together with Watt-Roy and Howe, appeared on several UK dates as support to the "Frantic Four" (the classic line-up ofStatus Quo on what was billed as their last ever tour). In September 2014, after a meeting in Southend-on-Sea withAlan McGee, who described Wilko as "one of his all time heroes, and a national treasure", Wilko signed toCreation Management. He performed "All Through the City" and "Going Back Home", with his classic duckwalk, atJools Holland's annualHootenanny for New Year, 2014–15.[31][32]
Johnson was forced to cancel a show in November 2012 when he was rushed to hospital with an undisclosed ailment.[33] He was diagnosed in January 2013 with late stagepancreatic cancer, and elected not to receive anychemotherapy.[34][35][36]
On 25 January 2013, he gave an interview toJohn Wilson on theBBC Radio 4 arts programmeFront Row. He discussed his cancer and said doctors had told him he had nine or ten months to live. He also talked about his "farewell tour" of the UK set for March and how his diagnosis had made him feel "vividly alive".[37] After the tour was over, he announced he would spend his final days recording a farewell album withThe Who's lead singerRoger Daltrey.[38] The album,Going Back Home, was released in March 2014. "I thought that was going to be the last thing I ever did", he later told BBC News entertainment correspondentColin Paterson in October 2014.[39] According toVariety, "The album, rather shockingly, proved the most commercially successful recording for either collaborator in more than 30 years."[40]
However, Johnson did not have the more commonadenocarcinoma of the pancreas. It was later discovered that he had apancreatic neuroendocrine tumour (PanNET), a less aggressive and more treatable form of the disease.[41] Johnson underwent radical surgery to treat his illness, and the doctors were hopeful that his prognosis would be good.[42] At theQ Awards on 22 October 2014, Johnson accepted the "Icon Award" and announced that he was "cancer-free" having undergone "removal of his pancreas, spleen, part of his stomach, small and large intestines and the removal and reconstruction of blood vessels relating to the liver". Johnson said: "It was an 11-hour operation… This tumour weighed 3kg – that's the size of a baby! Anyway, they got it all. They cured me. It's so weird and so strange that it's kind of hard to come to terms with it in my mind. Now, I'm spending my time gradually coming to terms with the idea that my death is not imminent, that I am going to live on". He added that he was still recovering from the operation and when asked what he would do next replied: "I don't know really".[39]
In 2015, Julien Temple released his second documentary about Johnson,The Ecstasy of Wilko Johnson, which featured Johnson’s tour of Japan and his album with Roger Daltrey. The film records Johnson’s successful medical treatment and coming to terms with the fact that he did not have terminal cancer.Variety reviewed the film: "Julien Temple’s characteristically playful, pop-culture savvy approach to the documentary form might seem ill-suited to the subject of mortality, but veteran English axman Johnson’s unexpectedly buoyant response to very bad news makes for a film about saying goodbye that is itself void of grief, fear or regret."[40]
In 2016 he received an Honorary Doctor of Arts award atAnglia Ruskin University in a ceremony atCambridge Corn Exchange.[43]
Johnson died on 21 November 2022, at his home in Westcliff-on-Sea, at the age of 75.[44][45][46] Following the announcement of Johnson's death,Billy Bragg said, "His guitar playing was angry and angular, but his presence – twitchy, confrontational, out of control – was something we'd never beheld before in UK pop.Rotten,Strummer andWeller learned a lot from his edgy demeanour."Alex Kapranos, lead singer ofFranz Ferdinand said, "His unique, wired playing & stage presence thrilled & inspired many guitarists, myself included." BroadcasterBob Harris said "Wilko was absolutely unique. His energy and spirit were incredible."[46]
For his acting debut, Johnson was cast in the role of mute executionerSer Ilyn Payne, in both the first and second season of theHBO fantasy seriesGame of Thrones, from April 2011,[47][48] after the producers had seen him inOil City Confidential. He related that "'They said they wanted somebody really sinister who went around looking daggers at people before killing them. That made it easy. Looking daggers at people is what I do all the time, it's like second nature to me'."[49] He appeared in four episodes.[1] His character name was mentioned often in future episodes by Arya Stark as she recited her list of people she wanted to kill, because he was the executioner that beheaded her father, Ned Stark.
Johnson lived in Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex. He married his childhood sweetheart Irene Knight when they were teenagers, and the couple had two sons, Matthew and Simon. Johnson was widowed in 2004 after his wife's death from cancer.[6][22][50][51] He was interested in astronomy, painting and poetry.[6][52][50] Johnson's son Simon is also a guitarist, playing in Southend-based bandEight Rounds Rapid.[53]
He was involved in politics as a student at Newcastle University, and had been a member of theYoung Communist League before university.[54]
Johnson's musical style underpinned the early years of Dr. Feelgood. His style has been cited as one of the founding influences of the Britishpunk movement.[6][52][25]Jean-Jacques Burnel ofThe Stranglers says "I often say to journalists there is a bridge between the old times and the punk times. That bridge is exclusively the Feelgoods, it allowed us to go from one thing to another. That's the connection, the DNA."[6] This influence was explored in the 2009 documentary about Dr. Feelgood,Oil City Confidential. Reviewing Johnson's autobiography, Mark Blake ofQ magazine said "In the mid-70s the band's brutish R&B and their guitarist's eye-popping thousand-yard stare inspired a youngJohn Lydon, Paul Weller, andSuggs from Madness.Looking Back at Me secures the man born John Wilkinson's reputation as one of British rock's most unique characters. Wilko recalls his childhood on Canvey Island and how he followed the '60s hippy trail to Goa ... before helping invent punk with Dr Feelgood."[52] The BBC4 three-part documentary seriesPunk Britannia, first aired in May 2012, also stressed the importance of Dr. Feelgood as "pub rockers, a generation of bands sandwiched between 60s hippies and mid-70s punks who will help pave the way towards the short, sharp shock of punk".[25]
In February 2017,The Wave Pictures released a vinyl EP titledCanvey Island Baby, which featured five covers of Johnson-penned tracks and an additional song, the title track written by the band's singer/guitarist David Tattersall.[55]
