Chris Salewicz

Chris Salewicz is a journalist, broadcaster and novelist who lives in London. He was as a senior features writer for the New Musical Express from 1975 to 1981 where under tutelage of editor Neil Spencer he and other journalists were said to have re-written the book on music journalism. The period Chris spent at NME is regarded by some as a 'Golden Age of Music Journalism', where, fuelled by the punk rock explosion the whole genre changed into a complex revolutionary socio economic critique rather than the fan club style journalism of the previous decades. Along with other NME's illumini (Tony Parsons and Julie Burchill) of that period Chris's work soon found its way into serious mainstream publications the Sunday Times, the Independent, the Daily Telegraph, Conde Nast Traveller, Q, Mojo and Time Out, he also wrote for The Face magazine.

Salewicz's time at the NME helped him forge a unique relationship and friendship with two men who would reshape music in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s: Joe Strummer (of the Clash) and Bob Marley. His journeys with these two men from Trenchtown Ghetto, Jamaican Gun Court to Zimbabwean independence, from Maida Vale Squat to Groucho Club to the search for Garcia Lorca's bones in Andalucía, continued to redefine music journalism. As his subjects influence expanded beyond musical spheres Salewicz's writing and subsequent books on Joe Strummer (Redemption Song) and Bob Marley (The Untold Story) would also expand beyond the music into what made Joe and Bob political and cultural icons.

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