Joe Jackson is one of those musicians who will move between genres, not because that is where popular music moved, but instead where he moved. In his 30+ year career, Jackson has ranged from post-pink new wave to old style swing and blues to soundtrack work to Orchestral work.
Born David Jackson in Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire and growing up in Portsmouth England, he suffered from severe asthma throughout his childhood and turned to music instead of sports. He played violin, timpani and oboe and then eventually his parent bought a second-hand piano. He won a scholarship to study musical composition at London's Royal Academy of Music in 1973. No wanting to stay with classical music, he gravitated toward pop. After several unsuccessful bands in the mid 70's, producer David Kershenbaum heard Jackson's demo tape, and signed him to A&M Records in 1978. Jackson quickly went into the studio and record the fantastic album, Look Sharp!.
The album was a hit and the song 'Is She Really Going Out With Him' is still a staple on many FM stations. The song was was nominated for a 1979 Grammy - Best Rock Vocal Performance, Male. He soon released I'm The Man and then Beat Crazy. Beat Crazy was not a commercial success and Jackson's band broke up. Jackson went into the studio and then recorded Jumpin' Jive, featuring the songs of Cab Calloway, Lester Young, Glenn Miller, Louis Jordan. And quickly followed up with the 1982 album, Night and Day, which was a tribute to the wit and style of Cole Porter. Night and Day became the only top 5 album from Jackson with two top singles in Steppin' Out and Breaking Us In Two.
He continued to record and release music, and it seemed by the late 90's he had retired from mainstream pop, instead concentrating more on semi-classical pieces. But in 2000 he began to record pop tunes again with his release of Night and Day II. However, he never regained the mainstream success of his early career.
Invisible Man is a great tune off his 2008 release, Rain, and shows that Jackson can still write great music.
Trivia: Jackson took the name Joe after is was said he looked like the puppet Joe from the late 60's British show Joe90.
Posts
0 comments:
Post a Comment