Paul Weller

Paul Weller (born John William Weller May 25, 1958 in Woking, Surrey, England, UK) is a British singer / songwriter who has been one of the biggest influences on British popular music for more than a quarter of a century, fronting two highly successful bands, The Jam and The Style Council. In the UK, he is recognised as something of a national institution, yet because much of his songwriting is rooted in British culture, he has remained essentially a national rather than an international star.

The Style Council

At the beginning of 1983, The Jam were no more and the press and public wondered what was next for Weller. The answer emerged in the form of a collaboration with his friend, keyboard player Mick Talbot, to form a new group called The Style Council. A very different band to The Jam, the Style Council played a whole range of varying musical styles, from outright pop to jazz, soul and the occasional ballad. Weller and Style Council back-up vocalist Dee C. Lee (ex-Wham! back-up singer) formed a romantic relationship during this period and later married.

Related Topics:
1983 - Mick Talbot - The Style Council - Dee C. Lee

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However, the Style Council were not completely untouched by the spirit of The Jam - indeed, one of their early singles A Solid Bond In Your Heart was originally written and recorded during The Jam era, and this earlier version later turned up on that band's Extras compilation. And as The Bitterest Pill (I Ever Had to Swallow) is sometimes labelled as a Style Council song pretending to be a Jam song, so 1985's Walls Come Tumbling Down is often compared to a Jam song, hiding under Style Council colours.

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Although the Style Council were never as successful chart-wise as The Jam had been - they never had a No. 1 single, for instance - that didn't stop the mid-1980s from being possibly the peak of Weller's high profile in the UK. He appeared on 1984's famous Band Aid record Do They Know It's Christmas? (although his major contribution was probably to mime the unavailable Bono's part on the Top of the Pops performance of the song) and the Style Council were the second act on in the British half of Live Aid at Wembley Stadium in 1985.

Related Topics:
1984 - Band Aid - Bono - Top of the Pops - Live Aid - Wembley Stadium - 1985

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Despite this success at home, the Style Council were little more successful internationally than The Jam had been, with My Ever Changing Moods providing them with their one and only single to ever make the US Billboard Chart's Top 40. As the 1980s wore on, the Style Council's popularity in the UK itself began to slide, with none of their singles even reaching the Top 20 any more. For the first time in Paul Weller's career, he found himself somewhat in the shade, and the death-knell of The Style Council was sounded in 1989 when their record company refused to even release their fifth and final album, Modernism - a New Decade, although this did eventually have a limited vinyl run and appeared on The Complete Adventures of the Style Council, retrospective box set.

Related Topics:
Billboard Chart - 1989

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