Joe Jackson was born on August 11, 1954 in Burton-on-Trent, England, but grew up in the naval town of Portsmouth on the south coast. At the age of 16, he had his first paid gig as a pianist in a pub next to a glue factory outside Portsmouth.
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KEY VISUAL Joe Jackson - Two Rounds of Racket Tour
More pub gigs followed (often trying to entertain a crowd of drunken, bottle-throwing sailors) and accompanying a bouzouki player in a Greek restaurant.
At 18, Joe won a scholarship to study composition, piano and percussion at the Royal Academy of Music in London.
By 1978, Joe was living in London and selling an album-length demo with his own band (Graham Maby, bass; Dave Houghton, drums; Gary Sanford, guitar). This demo - already bearing the name Look Sharp - eventually found its way to American producer David Kershenbaum, who was in London as a talent scout for A&M Records.
Joe was signed immediately and Look Sharp was re-recorded even more professionally in August '78. The Joe Jackson Band eventually began playing regular gigs and the album was released in January 1979.
Joe Jackson's story up to this point is told in much more detail, in a more fascinating and fun way in his book A CURE FOR GRAVITY. From here on, however, it becomes more of a public affair. Look Sharp was followed within a year by the very similar I'm The Man, and in 1980 by the darker, more reggae-influenced Beat Crazy. At the end of 1980, drummer Houghton decided to quit and Joe decided to break up the band and try something new.
In 1981, Jackson recorded Jumpin' Jive, a "musical vacation" in homage to swing and jump blues artists such as Louis Jordan and Cab Calloway. Returning to songwriting, he spent much of 1982 in New York. The result was Night and Day, a more sophisticated and melodic record that focused on keyboards and Latin percussion instead of guitars.
With a new, guitar-less band, Jackson toured for a full year, and the album became his biggest hit, going platinum in the U.S. While on tour, Joe also found time to write his first film score, for James Bridges' Mike's Murder. Several more followed, including Francis Ford Coppola's 1988 Tucker.
Dates
September 2024
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