JC Carroll
| JC Carroll | |
|---|---|
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Jean-Marie Carroll |
| Born | Camberley, Surrey |
| Genres | Punk rock, reggae, folk |
| Years active | 1974–present |
| Associated acts | The Members |
| Website | http://www.jccarroll.com/ |
| Notable instruments | |
| Accordion, mandolin, zither, mandola, 9-string electric guitar, stratocaster, 6-string electric VI, baritone ukulele | |
Jean-Marie "JC" Carroll is an English composer, songwriter and musician of French-Irish descent.
JC Carroll was born in Camberley on the 9th February 1956, and attended Salesian College in Chertsey, Surrey. After playing in various school bands, Carroll's first taste of serious music was a 1974 chance meeting in the Three Mariners in Bagshot, Surrey, with pub rock pioneer and 1970s icon Graham Parker. Together they subsequently recorded a two-track 1/4-inch tape in Carroll's bedroom later to become known in Parker mythology as "The Akai Tapes". Parker went on to international acclaim, whilst Carroll settled into life as a bank clerk living in a bedsit in Kilburn writing songs on a battered acoustic guitar about living in a bedsit in Kilburn writing songs.
A chance meeting on a train with Nicky Ritz (né Lightowlers) a Liverpool University graduate, sometimes insurance salesman, singer, beat poet bon vivant with a fantastic talent for self-promotion led in 1977 to him being asked to join Ritz's band The Members.
The Members' first single, "Solitary Confinement" (which Carroll co-wrote with Nicky Tesco), was released on Stiff Records. The original 7-inch pressing of this record is highly collectible. In the spring of 1979 the Members released their UK anthem "The Sound of the Suburbs" (which Carroll also co-wrote). This record went on to sell 250,000 copies in months. The track has subsequently been on hundreds of punk compilations and is what The Members are most known for. The subsequent album At The Chelsea Nightclub... gained critical approval and has been listed in Record Collector as one of the top 20 punk albums ever made.
The Members then recorded "Offshore Banking Business", a very early example of white reggae (with a political message). The Members then concentrated on the American and overseas market as they chalked up hits in America ("Working Girl") and Australia ("Radio") before becoming dormant in 1983.
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Wikipedia