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Wilko Johnson
Photo: Roger Green (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0)
British

Wilko Johnson

This artist is no longer with us.
Born: 1947-07-12 · Died: 2022-11-21• United Kingdom• Active: 1970–2022
BritishPub RockR&B

Passed away November 21, 2022, at 75 — still performing weeks before, fifty years after Dr. Feelgood and a cancer diagnosis he beat against the odds.

Instruments
Electric guitar
Labels
United Artists, Solid Senders / Wilko Johnson Band, Chess Records
from
Canvey Island, Essex
Born
1947-07-12
Wilko Johnson played guitar like nobody else bothered to: no plectrum, both rhythm and lead happening in the same hand at the same time, and a stage manner — jerky, twitchy, machine-gunning his guitar neck at the front row — that punk would later claim as an ancestor. He was born John Andrew Wilkinson on July 12, 1947, in Canvey Island, Essex. He studied English Language and Literature at Newcastle University, including Anglo-Saxon and Icelandic sagas, and was working as an English teacher when he adopted the stage name Wilko Johnson — a near-anagram of his birth name — in 1972 (Kilde: Wikipedia). That same year he became the driving force of Dr. Feelgood, the pub rock band from his native Canvey Island that helped drag British rock back toward something rawer and more direct just as punk was forming. His fingerstyle technique — copied and reshaped from his hero Mick Green of Johnny Kidd & the Pirates — let him play rhythm chords and biting lead lines simultaneously, creating what he called his own "highly percussive guitar sound." Dr. Feelgood's four studio albums with him in the band were Down by the Jetty (1975), Malpractice (1975), Sneakin' Suspicion (1977) and the live album Stupidity (1976), which reached No. 1 on the UK Albums Chart (Kilde: Wikipedia). He left Dr. Feelgood in April 1977, in circumstances he always described as a dismissal rather than a resignation. He went on to form the Solid Senders, join Ian Dury's Blockheads in 1980, and lead the Wilko Johnson Band from the mid-1980s onward. His percussive, no-plectrum style and black-suited, "duck walk" stage presence — inherited in part from Chuck Berry — went on to influence a generation of guitarists including Will Sergeant of Echo & the Bunnymen and Andy Gill of Gang of Four; Paul Weller said flatly, "Wilko may not be as famous as some other guitarists, but he's right up there" (Kilde: Wikipedia). In January 2013, Johnson announced he had been diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer and had been given nine to ten months to live; he declined chemotherapy and instead played a farewell tour. The diagnosis turned out to be wrong in the most fortunate way possible: rather than aggressive adenocarcinoma, he had a rarer, more treatable pancreatic neuroendocrine tumour. In 2014, a specialist surgical team removed an 11-hour, three-kilogram tumour along with his pancreas, spleen, part of his stomach and sections of intestine, reconstructing blood vessels in the process. He announced he was cancer-free at the Q Awards that October (Kilde: Wikipedia). Johnson also appeared as the mute executioner Ser Ilyn Payne in HBO's Game of Thrones (2011–2012), a role that grew out of his profile in the 2009 documentary Oil City Confidential, about Dr. Feelgood and Canvey Island. In 2014, newly recovered, he recorded Going Back Home with the Who's Roger Daltrey — released on Chess Records, it entered the UK Albums Chart at No. 3, Daltrey's best chart placing since 1981. Johnson received an honorary Doctor of Arts from Anglia Ruskin University in 2016 (Kilde: Wikipedia). He continued performing until shortly before his death, appearing at London's Shepherd's Bush Empire in October 2022. He died at his home in Westcliff-on-Sea on November 21, 2022, at age 75 (Kilde: NME, CBS News, Wikipedia).

Musical Influence

Wilko Johnson is the missing link punk rarely credits by name: a no-plectrum, rhythm-and-lead-at-once guitar style and a jittery, aggressive stage presence that arrived years before the Sex Pistols, out of a pub rock scene most punk histories treat as a footnote. He beat terminal cancer that wasn't quite what doctors first thought, recorded a UK Top 3 album with Roger Daltrey at 66, and kept playing until weeks before his death — proof that his version of urgency was never a pose (Kilde: Wikipedia).

Influences

Mick GreenChuck BerryJohnny Kidd & the Pirates

Family and personal life

Spouse
Irene Knight

Married as teenage sweethearts; two sons, Matthew and Simon. Irene died of cancer in 2004.

Formative experiences

  • •1947: Born John Andrew Wilkinson on Canvey Island, Essex. (Kilde: Wikipedia)
  • •Newcastle University: Studies English Language and Literature, including Anglo-Saxon and Icelandic sagas. (Kilde: Wikipedia)
  • •1972: Adopts the stage name Wilko Johnson and becomes the driving force of Dr. Feelgood. (Kilde: Wikipedia)
  • •April 1977: Leaves Dr. Feelgood. (Kilde: Wikipedia)
  • •January 2013: Announces a terminal cancer diagnosis and plays a farewell tour. (Kilde: Wikipedia)
  • •2014: Surgery reveals the diagnosis was a rarer, treatable tumour; he is declared cancer-free that October. (Kilde: Wikipedia)

Instruments & Equipment

Stories & Anecdotes

"Played the mute executioner Ser Ilyn Payne in HBO's Game of Thrones (2011–2012), a role that grew out of the 2009 documentary Oil City Confidential. (Kilde: Wikipedia)"
"Was given nine to ten months to live in January 2013 — the diagnosis turned out to be a rarer, treatable tumour, and he lived almost another decade. (Kilde: Wikipedia)"
"Recorded Going Back Home (2014) with Roger Daltrey of the Who shortly after recovering from surgery; it became Daltrey's best UK chart placing since 1981. (Kilde: Wikipedia)"
"Kept performing live until weeks before his death, including a show at Shepherd's Bush Empire in October 2022. (Kilde: NME)"

Collaborators

Ian Dury

Joined the Blockheads in 1980.

Roger Daltrey

Recorded Going Back Home (2014), which reached No. 3 on the UK Albums Chart.

Mick Green

Guitarist of Johnny Kidd & the Pirates; the model for Johnson's fingerstyle technique.

Watch & Listen

Featured

Roxette (Live) [2012 Remaster]

Dr. Feelgood - Topic

Back in the Night

Back in the Night

Wilko Johnson, Roger Daltrey - Going Back Home

Wilko Johnson, Roger Daltrey - Going Back Home

Sneaking Suspicion

Sneaking Suspicion

Milk and Alcohol

Milk and Alcohol

Watch & Listen

Henter videoer fra YouTube…

Discography

YearTitleProducerStudioLabelChartSalesMusiciansYouTubeNotes
1975Down by the JettyVic Maile—United Artists———Dr. Feelgood's debut album, recorded in mock-mono to capture their raw live sound.
1975MalpracticeVic Maile—United Artists———Second album the same year, continuing the band's stripped-down R&B attack.
1976StupidityVic Maile—United Artists———Live album that reached No. 1 on the UK Albums Chart.
1977Sneakin' Suspicion——United Artists———Johnson's final studio album with Dr. Feelgood before his departure that April.
1981Ice on the Motorway——Solid Senders / Wilko Johnson Band———Recorded with his own post-Feelgood band.
2005Red Hot Rocking Blues——Wilko Johnson Band———A later Wilko Johnson Band studio release.
2014Going Back HomeDave Eringa—Chess Records———Collaboration with Roger Daltrey of the Who, recorded shortly after Johnson's cancer surgery. Reached No. 3 on the UK Albums Chart — Daltrey's best placing since 1981.

Famous songs

01Roxette
02Back in the Night
03Sneaking Suspicion
04Milk and Alcohol
05Going Back Home

Awards & Recognition

2016
Honorary Doctor of Arts, Anglia Ruskin University

External links

Wikipedia Facebook

Sources