Johnny Borrell
| Johnny Borrell | |
|---|---|
Borrell and Jamelia performing in September 2004
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Jonathan Edward Borrell |
| Born | 4 April 1980 |
| Origin | Sutton, Surrey, England |
| Genres | Indie rock |
| Occupation(s) | Musician |
| Instruments | Guitar, vocals, bass, piano, keyboards, ukulele, recorder |
| Years active | 1997–present |
| Associated acts | Razorlight, The Libertines, Dear Eskiimo |
| Notable instruments | |
| Gibson L6-S Custom and Deluxe | |
Jonathan "Johnny" Edward Borrell (born 4 April 1980 in Sutton, Surrey) is an English guitarist and singer, currently the front-man of the band Razorlight.
Borrell was involved in music and the Camden scene while still at school. At 17 he played bass guitar in a band called Violet, who regularly played gigs on the Camden circuit. The band recorded an EP and started to gain some recognition before splitting acrimoniously live on stage at Dublin Castle in late '97 . The title track of the EP was subsequently used in the soundtrack of the 1998 Michael Winterbottom film 'I Want You'. After the split, he briefly switched to being a solo artist covering The Clash and Lead Belly songs. Many of these shows were played with close friends The Libertines.
Through his friendship with schoolmate John Hassall, at Highgate School, Borrell was involved in the early formation of The Libertines. He was present at the sessions for their debut album Up The Bracket and appears as a character in songs, notably "Boy Looked at Johnny" and "Death on the Stairs", and also "What a Waster" which appeared as a bonus track on the album in Japan.
In 2002 he went on to form his own band which played house parties, rehearsing at a Hackney warehouse called Unit 13, comprising Carl Dalemo, Christian Smith-Pancorvo (later replaced by Andy Burrows) and Björn Ågren. The band were watching a video recording of themselves playing a gig and misheard the ending refrain 'Its alright, it's alright' from the song "In The City" as 'razor-light, razor-light' which was then chosen as the band name. In early 2003 XFM DJ John Kennedy began to play the band's demos, recorded at Toerag Studios in east London with producers Liam Watson and John Fortis. Razorlight signed to Mercury Records on 23 May 2003 after the Universal label fought off bids from Sony.
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