Tony James (musician)
| Tony James (musician) | |
|---|---|
Tony James when a member of Sigue Sigue Sputnik, in San Francisco, 1986
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Anthony Eric James |
| Born |
12 April 1953 Shepherds Bush, London, England |
| Genres | Punk rock, glam punk, post-punk, new wave, rock, garage rock, alternative rock |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, record producer |
| Instruments | Bass guitar, guitar |
| Years active | 1975–present |
| Associated acts | London SS, Chelsea, Generation X, Gen X, Sigue Sigue Sputnik, The Sisters of Mercy, Carbon Silicon |
| Website |
www sputnikworld |
Anthony Eric "Tony" James (born 12 April 1953 in Shepherds Bush, London) is an English pop musician and producer, who was the bassist for the 1970s-1980's bands Generation X and Sigue Sigue Sputnik.
Tony James was born in Shepherd's Bush in West London on 12 April 1953, and spent his childhood years in Twickenham. After formal education at Hampton Grammar School he attended Brunel University, from which he graduated with first-class honours in mathematics and computer science. Before becoming a professional pop musician he was briefly employed as a computer programmer.
In 1975 James was a member of an early London proto-punk rock formation styling itself as The London S.S., along with Brian James (later of The Damned) and Mick Jones and Terry Chimes (both future members of The Clash).
In late 1976 James joined the new band Chelsea as its bassist, the group included William Broad (a member of the Bromley Contingent) on guitar, John Towe on drums and Gene October as its frontman/lead singer. After a few weeks and a handful of support gigs in London and Manchester, James and Broad parted company with Gene October over a lack of personal chemistry, which October reciprocated the sentiment of, and departed taking John Towe with them to form another new band.
James, Broad and Towe together formed a new act named Generation X, Broad renaming himself with the performance punk pseudonym 'Billy Idol' as he switched from the guitarist's role to be the singer/frontman on the recruitment of Bob "Derwood" Andrews as its lead guitarist from the Fulham band Paradox. Generation X played its first gigs in London in December 1976, and swiftly began writing its own material and playing live in venues around London and further afield. After five months Towe was dropped from the act's formation at James' instigation, and was replaced by the drummer Mark Laff, to complete the line-up that signed to Chrysalis Records and released the band's first single, "Your Generation" in September 1977, which entered the U.K.'s Top 40 Singles Chart. The band went on to release two albums, the self-titled Generation X (1978) and Valley of the Dolls (1979), and several singles, all but one of which charted, and through a hectic touring schedule increasingly gained media recognition as one of the acts with a potentially bright commercial future that had emerged from the punk-rock scene. However, in early 1979 the band's internal cohesion began to come apart after the relative commercial failure of the Valley of the Dolls L.P., which had gone no higher than #51 in the U.K. Albums Chart, and disagreements arose within it about its future musical direction in London's post-punk landscape, the writing process and credits for its work, augmented by the appearance of personality clashes. These came to a head in late 1979 during the recording of what was the band's (unfinished) third long-player (retrospectively commercially released 20 years later the under the title Sweet Revenge). Generation X broke up in acrimony at the year's end with Andrews the lead guitarist quitting the act after confrontations with James and Idol at Olympic Studios, and James and Idol asking its drummer Mark Laff to leave the band shortly afterwards over another disagreement.
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