Billy Bragg

Stephen William Bragg (born December 20, 1957), known as Billy Bragg, is a British musician known for his blend of folk, punk-rock, and protest music. He has been active for over 20 years. His music is a combination of poetry and political comment, with a dash of romance. He has collaborated with many other musicians, from Johnny Marr of The Smiths, protest folk singer Leon Rosselson to R.E.M., Kirsty MacColl, and Wilco.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Early years

Billy Bragg was born in a district of Essex that is now part of Greater London. He grew up in the district of Barking, which he has always considered his home. However, his successful career was to take him across the globe, singing songs of freedom and advocating social change. He is still associated with his London roots and is sometimes known, jocularly, as "the bard of Barking".

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Attending a comprehensive school, Bragg's educational career was uneventful. One source states that the only class he got an A in was English. He left school with few qualifications, but determined to do something with his life. He teamed up with his next door neighbour, Wiggy, and practised guitar. They would teach each other new riffs that they had listened to from their widening record collection. Their main influences in the early 1970s were The Faces, The Small Faces, The Rolling Stones and eventually, punk. They formed a punk/pub rock band called Riff Raff and toured London's pubs and clubs. The band also practised in a farm house in the county of Northamptonshire, and released several singles. However these records didn't receive wide exposure and the band failed.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Army career

Following the Riff Raff experience, Bragg became disillusioned with his musical career and joined the British Army. This move turned out very quickly not to be the right one for him, but would nevertheless act as an inspiration for his later work. He bought his way out of the army and returned home to his parents and his music.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Solo musical career

Bragg turned to tirelessly gigging (and even busking) around London, performing solo with an electric guitar. His demo tape fell initially on deaf ears, but by pretending to be a television repair man he got into the office of Charisma Records' A&R man Peter Jenner. Jenner liked the tape, but the company was near bankruptcy and he had no budget to sign new artists. Bragg had an offer to record more demos for a music publisher, so Jenner agreed to put them out as a record with Bragg's industrious gigging as the only promotion. Life's a Riot with Spy Vs Spy came out on Charisma's new "Utility" imprint in July 1983. The album was widely received as a demonstration of a promising new talent. Hearing DJ John Peel mention on-air that he was hungry, Bragg rushed to the BBC with a mushroom biryani, and was rewarded with airplay that Peel insisted he would have had anyway.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Within months Charisma had been taken over by Virgin Records and Jenner, who had been laid off, became Bragg's manager. A copy of Life's A Riot fell into the hands of former Stiff Records press officer Andy Macdonald, who was setting up his own record label, Go! Discs. He made Virgin an offer and the album was re-released on Go! Discs in November.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In 1984 he released Brewing Up with Billy Bragg, a mixture of political statements ("It Says Here") and songs of unrequited love ("The Saturday Boy"). The following year he put out "Between the Wars", an EP of political songs which included a cover version of Leon Rosselson's Diggers anthem "World Turned Upside Down". He later collaborated with Rosselson on the song "Ballad of the Spycatcher". Also in 1985, his song "A New England", with an additional verse, became a top ten hit in the UK for Kirsty MacColl. After MacColl's early death, Bragg always sang the extra verse, in her honour.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In 1986 Bragg released his "difficult third album", Talking with the Taxman about Poetry. Its title is taken from a poem by Russian poet Vladimir Mayakovsky, which was printed in translation on the inner sleeve. Taxman was well received, and with promotion from the single "Levi Stubbs' Tears", gave Bragg his first top ten album.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

September 1988 saw the release of his fourth album, Workers Playtime, which some claimed to be his finest work to date. This was a drastic move for Bragg, dropping his solo guitar for a backing band and accompaniment, but adding a new dimension and style.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In May 1990, Bragg released a neo-political mini-LP, entitled The Internationale. The songs were, in part, a return to his solo guitar style but other tracks featured more complicated arrangements, including brass bands.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Don't Try This At Home was released in September 1991 and included his best known hit at the time "Sexuality" which was released as a single and made it into the UK charts. Bragg had been persuaded by Go! Discs bosses Andy and Juliet Macdonald to sign to a new four-album deal with a million pound advance, and to promote the album with singles and videos. This gamble was not rewarded with extra sales, and put the company in difficulty. In exchange for ending the contract and repaying a large amount of the advance, Bragg regained all rights to his back catalogue. Bragg continued to promote the album with his backing band the Red Stars, which included his Riff-Raff colleague and longtime roadie, Wiggy.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Woody Guthrie collaboration

It would be five years until the release of his next album, William Bloke, as Bragg took time off from the music business to help look after his young son.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Around the time William Bloke was released, Bragg was asked by Nora Guthrie, daughter of American folk legend Woody Guthrie, to set some of her father's unrecorded lyrics to music. The result was a collaboration with the band Wilco with a contribution from Natalie Merchant (with whom he had worked previously), released as Mermaid Avenue (1998) and Mermaid Avenue Vol. II (2000). A rift with Wilco over mixing and sequencing of the album led to Bragg recruiting his own band, the Blokes, to promote the album. The Blokes include veteran keyboardist Ian McLagan, a member of Bragg's boyhood heroes The Faces.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

December 20: December 20 is the 354th day of the year (355th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 11 days remaining....

1957: 1957 was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar....

Folk: "Folk" can refer to a number of different things:...

Billy Bragg related Images and Photos (experimental)

Billy Bragg: Volume 2	Billy Bragg: Vol. 1 Box Set	Billy Bragg: Vol. 1 Box Set	Billy Bragg: Mr. Love and Justice
Billy Bragg: Mr. Love and Justice	Billy Boys	Billy Fury	Billy Dove
Billy Idol	Billy Zane	Billy Jack	Billy Idol