Paul Weller

Paul John Weller (born John William Weller; 25 May 1958) is an English singer-songwriter and musician.

Weller was born on 25 May 1958 in Woking, Surrey, England, to John and Ann Weller (née Craddock).

Although born John William Weller, he became known as Paul by his parents.

Weller's father worked as a taxi driver and a builder and his mother was a part-time cleaner.

He started his education at Maybury County First School.

His love of music began with the Beatles, then the Who and Small Faces.

When Weller was eleven he moved up to Sheerwater County Secondary school and had started playing the guitar.

Weller became interested in 1960s mod culture in late 1974, particularly after hearing "My Generation" by the Who.

As a result, he began riding a Lambretta scooter, styling his hair like Steve Marriott and immersing himself in 1960s soul and R&B music.

At his instigation, the Jam began wearing mohair suits onstage and he and Foxton began playing Rickenbacker guitars (as favoured by the Who and the Beatles in the mid-1960s).

Weller achieved fame with the band the Jam in the late-1970s.

He was the principal figure of the 1970s and 1980s mod revival, often referred to as the Modfather, and an influence on Britpop bands such as Oasis.

Weller's musical vocation was confirmed after seeing Status Quo in concert in 1972.

He formed the first incarnation of the Jam in the same year, playing bass guitar with his best friends Steve Brookes (lead guitar) and Dave Waller (rhythm guitar).

Weller's father, acting as their manager, began booking the band into local working men's clubs.

Joined by Rick Buckler on drums, and with Bruce Foxton soon replacing Waller on rhythm guitar, the four-piece band began to forge a local reputation, playing a mixture of Beatles covers and a number of compositions written by Weller and Brookes.

Brookes left the band in 1976, and Weller and Foxton decided they would swap guitar roles, with Weller now the guitarist.

The Clash were early advocates of the band, and added them as the support on their White Riot tour in May of 1977.

The Jam's first single, "In the City", took them into the UK Top 40 in May 1977.

In 1979 the group released the political "The Eton Rifles" and first broke into the Top 10, hitting the No. 3 spot in November.

The increasing popularity of their blend of Weller's barbed lyrics with pop melodies eventually led to their first number one single, "Going Underground", in March 1980.

The Jam became the first band since the Beatles to perform both sides of the same single ("Town Called Malice" and "Precious") on one edition of Top of the Pops.

They also had two singles, "That's Entertainment" (1981) and "Just Who Is the 5 O'Clock Hero?" (1982), reach No. 21 and No. 8 respectively in the UK singles chart despite not being released as singles in the UK—on the strength of import sales of the German single releases.

At that time, "That's Entertainment" was the best-selling import-only single to date in the UK charts.

Following the dissolution of the Jam in 1982, he changed musical style and had further success with the Style Council (1983–1989), before establishing himself as a solo artist with his eponymous 1992 album.

Despite widespread critical recognition as a singer, lyricist, and guitarist, Weller has remained a national—rather than international—star, and much of his songwriting is rooted in English society.

Many of his songs with the Jam had lyrics about working class life.

Having already told Buckler and Foxton that he was leaving the band, in October 1982 Weller announced that the Jam would disband at the end of that year.

Although Weller was determined to end the band and move on, the action came as a surprise to Foxton and Buckler who both felt that the band had scope to develop further professionally.

Their final single, "Beat Surrender", became their fourth UK chart topper, going to No. 1 in its first week.

Their farewell concerts at Wembley Arena were multiple sell-outs; their final concert took place at the Brighton Centre on 11 December 1982.

In 1983, Weller teamed up with keyboard player Mick Talbot to form a new group called the Style Council.

Weller brought in Steve White to play drums, as well as singer Dee C. Lee, who later became Weller's girlfriend and then wife.

She also had previously been a backing singer with Wham!

Free of the limited musical styles he felt imposed by the Jam, under the collective of the Style Council Weller was able to experiment with a wide range of music, from pop and jazz to soul/R&B, house, and folk-styled ballads.

The band was at the vanguard of a jazz/pop revival that would continue with the emergence of bands like Matt Bianco, Sade, and Everything but the Girl, whose members Tracey Thorn and Ben Watt contributed vocals and guitar to the 1984 Style Council song "Paris Match".

Many of the Style Council's early singles performed well in the UK charts, and Weller would also experience his first success in North America, when "My Ever Changing Moods" and "You're the Best Thing" entered the US Billboard Hot 100.

He has been a committed mod ever since, declaring in a 1991 interview that, "I'll always be a mod. You can bury me a mod".

The Jam emerged at the same time as punk rock bands such as the Clash, the Damned, and Sex Pistols.

He has received four Brit Awards, including Best British Male three times, and the 2006 Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music.