Rod Clements

Rod Clements
Rod Clements on stage with Lindisfarne in 1991
Background information
Birth name	Roderick Parry Clements
Born	(1947-11-17)17 November 1947 North Shields, Tyne and Wear, England
Genres	Folk rock, roots, blues, Americana, folk, rock
Instruments	Slide guitar, dobro, acoustic guitar, bass guitar, mandolin, violin, keyboards
Associated acts	Brethren, Downtown Faction, Jack the Lad, Lindisfarne, Pacamax, Pentangle, Rod Clements & The Ghosts of Electricity

Roderick Parry "Rod" Clements (born 17 November 1947, North Shields, Tyne and Wear) is a British guitarist, singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He formed the folk-rock band Lindisfarne with Alan Hull in 1970, and wrote "Meet Me on the Corner", a UK Top 5 hit in March 1972, which won Clements an Ivor Novello Award. Lindisfarne broke up in 1973 and Clements became a founding member of Jack the Lad, also working with Ralph McTell and Bert Jansch. Lindisfarne reformed in 1977 and Clements continued to be part of the line-up until 2003. Rod rejoined Lindisfarne in 2015 and is currently touring and performing with the band.

Clements was an only child, and grew up in a household in which neither parent was especially active musically, though his mother did play the piano. His father was a lover of classical music and he encouraged his son to attend concerts. Clements attended The King's School, Tynemouth after which, at the age of 12, he was sent to Durham School. He subsequently attended Durham University, graduating with a BA in ancient history and anthropology.

From an early age he had been able to pick up a tune and play it and his first inspiration to play the guitar came from hearing the hits of Duane Eddy, The Shadows and The Ventures. By 1965 he had formed an R&B group called Downtown Faction.

As a bass guitarist, Clements teamed up with local musicians in North Shields to form a blues band (also called the Downtown Faction). The band was later renamed Brethren, and became regular performers at folk clubs in the North East. Clements befriended a Newcastle singer/songwriter called Alan Hull, and formed the folk-rock band Lindisfarne with him and several members of Brethren in 1970. Although Hull was Lindisfarne's main songwriter, Clements provided the band with its first hit in "Meet Me on the Corner", a UK Top 5 hit in March 1972. Clements won a Certificate of Honour at the Ivor Novello Awards for the song.