| Name |
Joe Jackson |
| Height |
|
| Naionality |
English |
| Date of Birth |
11-August-1954 |
| Place of Birth |
Burton upon Trent, England |
| Famous for |
Singing |
Joe Jackson is an English musician and singer-songwriter now living in Berlin, whose five Grammy Award nominations span from 1979 to 2001. He is probably best known for the 1979 hit song and first single "Is She Really Going Out with Him?", which still gets extensive US FM radio airplay; for his 1982 hit, "Steppin' Out"; and for his 1984 success with "You Can't Get What You Want (Till You Know What You Want)".
He was popular for his pop/rock and New Wave music early on before moving to more eclectic, though less commercially successful, pop/jazz/classical hybrids. He initially learned to play the violin but soon switched to piano and prevailed on his dad to install one in the hall of their Paulsgrove council house. From the age of 16, he played in bars, and won a scholarship to study musical composition at London's Royal Academy of Music. Jackson's first band, in Gos port, was Edward Bear (not to be confused with the 1970s Canadian band fronted by Larry Evoy). The band was later renamed Edwin Bear and later Arms and Legs, but dissolved in 1976 after two unsuccessful singles. Although he was still known as David Jackson while in Arms & Legs, it was around this time that Jackson picked up the nickname "Joe", based on his perceived resemblance to the puppet character Joe 90. He then spent some time in the cabaret circuit to make money to record his own demos. However, whilst at school he had been known as 'Joe' to his schoolmates and teachers from 1972 onwards. He had been known as 'Joe' while the band were still Edward Bear, signing autographs in that name. In 1995, Joe Jackson contributed his version of "Statue of Liberty" on a tribute album to the English band XTC called "A Testimonial Dinner".
In 2003, he reunited his original quartet for the album Volume 4, and a lengthy tour. As before, the quartet consisted of Jackson, Graham Maby, Dave Houghton and Gary Sanford. In 2004, Jackson performed a cover of Pulp's "Common People", with William Shatner for Shatner's album Has Been. Jackson toured 45 US and European cities in 2005 with Todd Rundgren and the string quartet Ethel, appearing on Late Night with Conan O'Brien performing their collaborative cover version of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps".
