Paul Weller
Paul John Weller (born John William Weller; 25 May 1958) is an English singer-songwriter and musician. Weller achieved fame with the band the Jam in the late-1970s. Following the dissolution of the Jam in 1982, he changed musical style and had further success with the Style Council (1983–1989), before establishing himself as a solo artist with his eponymous 1992 album.
For other people named Paul Weller, see Paul Weller (disambiguation).
Paul Weller
John William Weller
25 May 1958
Woking, England
- Singer
- songwriter
- musician
- Vocals
- guitar
- piano
- bass
- Hammond organ
- 1972–present
-
Hannah Andrews(m. 2010)
Despite widespread critical recognition as a singer, lyricist, and guitarist, Weller has remained a national—rather than international—star, and much of his songwriting is rooted in English society. Many of his songs with the Jam had lyrics about working class life.[1] He was the principal figure of the 1970s and 1980s mod revival, often referred to as the Modfather,[2][3] and an influence on Britpop bands such as Oasis.[4] He has received four Brit Awards, including Best British Male three times, and the 2006 Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music.
Early life (1958–1975)[edit]
Weller was born on 25 May 1958 in Woking, Surrey, England, to John and Ann Weller (née Craddock). Although born John William Weller, he became known as Paul by his parents.[5]
Weller's father worked as a taxi driver and a builder and his mother was a part-time cleaner.[6] He started his education at Maybury County First School.[7] His love of music began with the Beatles, then the Who and Small Faces.[7] When Weller was eleven he moved up to Sheerwater County Secondary school and had started playing the guitar.[7]
Weller's musical vocation was confirmed after seeing Status Quo in concert in 1972.[8]
He formed the first incarnation of the Jam, playing bass guitar with his school friends Steve Brookes (lead guitar), Dave Waller (rhythm guitar) and Neil Harris (drums), playing sets at school and their local youth club.[9] When Harris and then Waller left the band, two more school friends replaced them: Rick Buckler on drums and Bruce Foxton on rhythm guitar.[9][10] Weller's father, acting as their manager, began booking the four-piece into local working men's clubs,[11] and the band began to forge a local reputation, playing a mixture of covers and songs written by Weller and Brookes.[9] After Brookes left the band in 1976, Weller and Foxton decided to swap guitar roles, with Weller now the guitarist.[10]
Weller became interested in 1960s mod culture in late 1974, particularly after hearing "My Generation" by the Who. As a result, he began riding a Lambretta scooter, styling his hair like Steve Marriott and immersing himself in 1960s soul and R&B music. At his instigation, the Jam began wearing mohair suits onstage and he and Foxton began playing Rickenbacker guitars (as favoured by the Who and the Beatles in the mid-1960s). He has been a committed mod ever since, declaring in a 1991 interview that, "I'll always be a mod. You can bury me a mod".[12]
Solo career (1990-present)[edit]
Early solo career (1990–1995)[edit]
In 1989, Weller found himself without a band and without a recording deal for the first time since he was 17.[36] After taking time off for most of 1990, he returned to the road late in the year, touring as "The Paul Weller Movement" with long-term drummer and friend Steve White and Paul Francis (session bassist from the James Taylor Quartet).[36] After a slow start playing small clubs with a mixture of Jam and Style Council classics, as well as showcasing new material, he released his debut solo single, "Into Tomorrow", which peaked at No. 36 in the UK Singles Chart in May 1991.[37][38] His next single, "Uh Huh Oh Yeh", reached No. 18 in the UK Chart in August 1992, followed by his debut solo LP, Paul Weller, peaking at No. 8 on the UK Chart in September that year.[38]
Buoyed by the positive commercial and critical success of his first solo album, Weller returned to the studio in 1993 with a renewed confidence,[36] recording most of the tracks on his next album in one take.[37] Accompanied by Steve White, guitarist Steve Cradock and bassist Marco Nelson, the result of these sessions was the triumphant Mercury Music Prize-nominated Wild Wood, which included the singles "Sunflower" and "Wild Wood".[39] Weller's first solo live album, Live Wood, was released in 1994, peaking at No. 13 in the UK Albums Chart.[38]
His 1995 album Stanley Road took him back to the top of the British charts for the first time in a decade,[38] and went on to become the best-selling album of his career.[40] The album, named after the street in Woking where he had grown up, marked a return to the more guitar-based style of his earlier days.[36] The album's major single, "The Changingman", was also a big hit, taking Weller to No. 7 in the UK Singles Chart. Another single, the ballad "You Do Something To Me", was his second consecutive Top 10 single and reached No. 9 in the UK.[38]
Weller found himself heavily associated with the emerging Britpop movement.[41] Noel Gallagher (of Oasis) is credited as guest guitarist[42] on the Stanley Road album track "I Walk on Gilded Splinters". Weller also returned the favour, appearing as a guest guitarist on Oasis' hit song "Champagne Supernova".[43]
Influences[edit]
Weller's formative influences that have remained relatively constant include the Beatles,[83] the Who, Small Faces, the Kinks, as well as the mid-late 1960s soul and R&B records released by Tamla Motown and Stax.[84]
During the Jam years, Weller was influenced by early punk bands, including the Sex Pistols and the Clash,[85] and later post-punk acts such as Gang of Four and Joy Division.[40] During the final part of the Jam's career, he introduced more contemporary soul and funk into the band's music, with Spandau Ballet's "Chant No. 1 (I Don't Need This Pressure On)" and Pigbag's "Papa's Got A Brand New Pigbag" inspiring Jam tracks, including "Absolute Beginners" and "Precious".[86] Weller's inspiration also came from 1970s soul and funk artists — most notably Curtis Mayfield.[86]
Weller has worked various literary influences into his work, such as George Orwell's work together with a short story written by Weller's friend Dave Waller, providing inspiration for the Jam's Setting Sons album.[87] Weller has also cited Geoffrey Ashe's Camelot and the Vision of Albion, Orwell and Percy Shelley as sources of inspiration for the Jam's Sound Affects album.[87]
Jazz influenced Weller's work during the early Style Council years, and he has cited John Coltrane as one of his favourites, saying "I love all of his stuff from A Love Supreme onwards."[88] His tastes became increasingly eclectic during his Style Council period, with releases influenced by music as diverse as Claude Debussy, Philadelphia soul and Erik Satie,[40] culminating in the band's American house music inspired album Modernism: A New Decade.[34]
During the 1990s, Weller's work began being influenced by late 1960s and early 1970s artists such as Neil Young, Nick Drake, and Traffic.[40][89][90] He has also embraced the influence of David Bowie, despite having once said that all but three of his records were "pish".[91]
Despite telling Mojo magazine in 2000 that he did not "make music with fuzzy radios or electric spoons",[92] since then, he has incorporated experimental influences into his music, citing Pierre Schaeffer and Karlheinz Stockhausen as major influences for On Sunset's experimental tracks.[93] Additionally, Mojo has noted Neu!'s influence on Sonik Kicks' "Green" and "Around the Lake".[94]
Among the many albums that Weller has cited as all-time favourites are Odessey and Oracle, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, What's Going On, Innervisions, Low, Journey in Satchidananda, The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society, the Small Faces eponymous 1967 album, Traffic's eponymous 1968 album, McCartney, Down by the Jetty, and My Generation.[95] Other songs he has nominated as favourites include the Beatles' "Tomorrow Never Knows" and "Strawberry Fields Forever", the Small Faces' "Tin Soldier", James Brown's "Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine", Declan O'Rourke's "Galileo (Someone Like You)", the Kinks' "Waterloo Sunset" and "Days", and Pharrell Williams' "Happy".[96]
In 2012, Weller invaded a live radio interview with singer-songwriter Gilbert O'Sullivan to praise his songs "Alone Again (Naturally)" and "Nothing Rhymed" as "two of my favourite songs, great lyrics, great tunes".[97][98]
His favourite film is A Clockwork Orange.[99]
Recognition and influence[edit]
In 2007, the BBC described Weller as "one of the most revered music writers and performers of the past 30 years".[124] In 2015, Pete Naughton of The Daily Telegraph wrote, "Apart from David Bowie, it's hard to think of any British solo artist who's had as varied, long-lasting and determinedly forward-looking a career."[125]
In 2012, he was among the British notables selected by the artist Peter Blake to appear in a new version of his most famous artwork—the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album cover—to celebrate the British social figures of his life.[126]
Studio albums
