Hugh Cornwell

Hugh Alan Cornwell ( born August 28, 1949 in London ) is a British musician. He became known as a singer and guitarist of the Stranglers, whose member he was until 1990.

  • 5.1 with the Stranglers
  • 5.2 Solo

Life

School and education

Cornwell grew up as the third of four siblings in the London district of Tufnell Park.

He went to the Burghley Road Primary School in Kentish Town primary school and attended from 1961 the William Ellis School in Highgate, where he played with the later Fairport Convention guitarist Richard Thompson to 1965 in a school band.

Cornwell went after reaching the college entrance on the school. Before beginning his studies he worked in the spring and summer of 1968, initially as an assistant at the medical laboratory of the St. Bartholomew's Hospital in the City of London and the Medical Laboratory of the University Hospital of Lund in Sweden.

In September 1968 Cornwell then began a three-year studies in biochemistry at the University of Bristol, where he graduated in 1971 with a third class honors degree. For further studies, he returned to the Biochemical Institute of the University of Lund, to make his doctoral thesis Kai Lindstrand. This he broke in late 1973, however, inconclusive from and returned to London.

Johnny Sox ( 1972-1974 )

In the fall of 1972 Cornwell founded in Lund his first band Johnny Sox ( Gyrth Godwin - Vocal / Hans Wärmling - Lead Guitar / Hugh Cornwell - rhythm guitar / Janne Knuda - Bass / Chicago Mike - drums). After several concerts in and around Lund Cornwell decided to become a professional musician and moved to London with the band ( with the exception Wärmlings ) in late 1973. Johnny Sox moved into a squat in Maitland Park Road in Camden in January 1974 and gave several concerts in London pubs. The drummer Chicago Mike was then replaced by the 35 -year-old Jet Black and the band moved to Guildford in the country. A demo tape was rejected on 8 May 1974 by Iceland Records, an argument arose and Godwin and Knuda left the band.

The Stranglers ( 1974-1990 )

Cornwell and Jet Black replacement found in the 22 -year-old Jean -Jacques Burnel ( bass), who first rehearsed on 30 May 1974 with the two, and took Hans Wärmling back as lead guitarist. The new band released after intensive rehearsals in the summer of 1974, the first concerts in Guildford and the surrounding area, first under the name The Guildford Stranglers. On 11 September 1974 the band finally settled register under the shop name The Stranglers.

From late 1974 to early 1976 moved the band a house in nearby Chiddingfold, at that time worked Cornwell as a substitute teacher of biology at St Mary's Tutorial College in Guildford, an experience which he processed later in the Stranglers song " School Mam ". When the Stranglers were slowly pulled Cornwell known early 1976, back to London.

On 6 December 1976, the band finally completed for an advance of £ 40,000 a recording contract with United Artists Records. Hugh Cornwell's first record release was followed on January 28, 1977 in the form of the Stranglers debut single " (Get a) Grip ( on Yourself ) ", a song had to Cornwell wrote alone.

1990 rose Cornwell surprisingly left the band. The day after a concert recording at Alexandra Palace in London (August 11 1990) he shared his decision by telephone with the other band members that resolve his anger instead of the band went on with a new singer.

Solo Things to Do ( 1978 )

Already 1978/79 took Cornwell with the help of Captain Beefheart drummer Robert Williams, a first solo album "Nosferatu " on, in which Devo (on " Rhythmic Itch " ) and incognito Clash members (background vocals on " Puppets" ) and Ian Dury (vocals participated on " Wrong way round" ).

1988 was followed by a second solo album "Wolf".

After Cornwell 1990 left the Stranglers he took a break. Since 1992, he re-released at regular intervals material, but without commercial success as in the times of the Stranglers.

Stays in prison (1980 )

On January 6, 1980, sentenced to eight weeks in prison and an additional fine of £ 300 for drug possession Hugh Cornwell from the West London Magistrates' Court. Cornwell made ​​an unsuccessful appeal and had to serve the prison sentence of 21 March to 25 April 1980 at Pentonville Prison in Islington.

On June 21, 1980 Cornwell was arrested in France for public incitement to crime. In a Stranglers concert in the University of Nice it came on the eve of riots and property damage. Cornwell was for some days in the Maison d' arrêt de Nice, the detention center of Nice, transferred and released on bail on 27 June 1980 again. On January 13, 1981, he was sentenced in absentia to a prison term and an additional fine of the equivalent of £ 2,000.

Writer

After his release from prison Cornwell described his experiences in prison Pentonville in the brochure " Inside Information " that could be purchased through the fan club Stranglers Information Service as of October 1980.

By 1990, Cornwell published regular articles and cartoons in the Stranglers fan club magazine Strangled.

In November 2001, the book " The Stranglers Song By Song", an interview book, in which Cornwell detail about all the Stranglers song was officially released information appeared.

In October 2004, appeared Cornwell's autobiography "A Multitude Of Sins ", which also contained the text of the " Inside Information " brochure from the year 1980.

Actor

Cornwell played a few small roles in movies such as L' Etiole de sang (1986) and Eat the Rich ( 1987) and TV movies like Lucky Sunil (1988 ) and Being Dom Joly ( 2001).

Others

Cornwell lives in London and Wiltshire.

Discography

With the Stranglers

  • Rattus norvegicus (EMI / UA ), 1977
  • No More Heroes ( EMI / UA ), 1977
  • X Cert Live ( live album, EMI / UA ), 1978
  • Black & White (EMI / UA ), 1978
  • The Raven (EMI / UA ), 1979
  • Men in Black (EMI / UA ), 1981
  • La Folie (EMI / UA ), 1981
  • Feline (CBS ), 1982
  • Aural Sculpture (CBS ), 1984
  • Dreamtime (CBS ), 1986
  • All Live And All Of The Day (CBS ), 1988
  • 10 (CBS ), 1990

Solo

  • Nosferatu ( with Robert Williams ), 1979
  • Wolf, Virgin, 1988
  • CCW ( with Roger Cook and Andy West ), 1992
  • Wired, transmission, 1993
  • Guilty, snapper 1996 (1997)
  • Black Hair, Black Eyes, Black Suit, Velvel, 1999
  • First Bus to Babylon, Velvel, 1999
  • Songs of Shiva ( Internet version ), 1999
  • HiFi, Canada, 2001 (2003)
  • Mayday, Rough Trade, 2005 ( Internet Only)
  • In the Dock, Rough Trade, 2005
  • Footprints in the Desert, Rough Trade, 2005
  • Beyond Elysian Fields, Rough Trade, 2006
  • Dirty Dozen, Invisible Hands, 2006
  • People - Places - Pieces, 2006
  • Hooverdam, 2008
  • New Songs for King Kong, 2010
  • Totem & Taboo, 2012
  • Hugh Cornwell - A Multitude of Sins, ( The Autobiography ), Hugh Cornwell, Harper Collins Entertainment, London 2004, 304 pages, ISBN 0-00-719082-4
Richard Thompson (musician) Island Records The Clash Rough Trade Records Integrated Authority File
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