Music career Born on 12 July 1947 in
Canvey Island, Essex, Johnson went to
Westcliff High School for Boys and played in several local groups, before attending
Newcastle University to study for a BA in English Language and Literature. His undergraduate courses included
Anglo-Saxon and ancient
Icelandic sagas. After graduating, he travelled overland to India before returning to Essex to play with the Pigboy Charlie Band. The band evolved into
Dr. Feelgood – a mainstay of the 1970s
pub rock movement. It was then that he adopted the stage name Wilko Johnson, a close anagram of John Wilkinson. He later played a vintage 1962 Fender Telecaster with rosewood fingerboard which he bought in 1974, shortly after Dr. Feelgood signed their first record deal. Johnson developed his own image, coupling jerky movements on stage, his so-called "duck walk" (inherited from
Chuck Berry), with a choppy guitar style, occasionally raising his guitar to his shoulder like a gun, and a novel dress sense: he favoured a black suit and a
pudding bowl haircut. He achieved his playing style by not using a
pick but instead relying on
fingerstyle. This enabled him to play rhythm guitar and
riffs or
solos at the same time creating a highly percussive guitar sound. It evolved from a failed attempt to copy
Mick Green of
Johnny Kidd & the Pirates, a guitarist whom Johnson greatly admired. His
Bo Diddley-influenced style formed the essential driving force behind Dr. Feelgood during their initial years, including the band's first four albums,
Down by the Jetty,
Malpractice,
Stupidity, and ''
Sneakin' Suspicion'', all released between 1975 and 1977. The live album,
Stupidity, reached
number one in the
UK Albums Chart, but although Johnson played on Dr. Feelgood's first five single releases, including "
Roxette" and "
Back in the Night", the only single to chart during his membership of the band was "
Sneakin' Suspicion". He left the band in April 1977, following disagreements over the tracks to be included in the ''Sneakin' Suspicion'' album. The remaining band members claimed that Johnson had left voluntarily. The Wilko Johnson Band played at the 'Front Row Festival', a three-week event at the
Hope and Anchor, Islington in late November and early December 1977, featuring many early
punk rock acts. This resulted in the inclusion of two tracks by The Wilko Johnson Band ("Dr. Feelgood" and "Twenty Yards Behind"), on a
hit double album of
recordings from the
festival. The
Hope & Anchor Front Row Festival compilation album (March 1978) which reached number 28 in the
UK Albums Chart. In 1980, Johnson joined
Ian Dury's band,
the Blockheads. Around 1984 he then re-formed The Wilko Johnson Band, joined by Blockhead bassist
Norman Watt-Roy and Italian born drummer Salvatore Ramundo. 'Sav' Ramundo left the band in June 1999 and was replaced by Steve Monti (future
Curve and
the Jesus and Mary Chain drummer). Johnson's second album,
Ice on the Motorway, was released in 1981, and his EP "Bottle Up and Go!" with
Lew Lewis followed in 1983. Several albums were released on European labels over the next decade. In 1992, Johnson appeared at the
Eurockéennes music festival, and the following year at
GuilFest. The album
Going Back Home appeared on the
Chess label in 1998. He began to cut back on his concert appearances in 1999, and released the album ''Don't Let Your Daddy Know (Live in Japan 2000)'' the following year. Throughout 2005 and 2006 the band teamed up with
the Hamsters and
John Otway to take part in 'The Mad, the Bad & the Dangerous'
tour. Johnson appeared in the
Julien Temple-directed documentary film
Oil City Confidential (2009), where he related his memories of Canvey Island and Dr. Feelgood. The reviewer
Philip French described Johnson as "a wild man, off stage and on, funny, eloquent and charismatic", Reviewing the film for
The Guardian,
Peter Bradshaw called it "the best rockumentary yet" and said that "the most likeable thing about this very likeable film is the way it promotes Wilko Johnson as a 100–1 shot for the title of Greatest Living Englishman". On 2 October 2010, it was announced that Johnson was to support
the Stranglers on their 'Black & Blue' UK tour starting in March 2011. In April 2011, he played several sold-out shows as part of the
Kilkenny Rhythm & Roots Festival in Ireland. Johnson published his autobiography, co-authored with
Zoë Howe and titled
Looking Back at Me, at the end of May 2012. Johnson stated in early 2013 that he had terminal cancer, and announced he was going on a farewell tour. On 22 March 2013, he played what was announced as his final show guesting with
Madness on the television programme
Madness Live: Goodbye Television Centre which was broadcast on
BBC Four. Afterwards he stated that he would not be able to perform his two final homecoming shows at Canvey Island due to ill health and would not be performing again. However, on 13 July 2013, he performed an unannounced hour-long live set with Norman Watt-Roy and
Dylan Howe at the Village Green Festival in his home town of
Westcliff-on-Sea. In addition, he occasionally performed informal unannounced sets at his local pub, the Railway Hotel in Southend. In July 2013, the pub replaced their sign with a portrait of him painted by local artist Jack Melville, in honour of his long-term support of the south-east Essex music scene. Johnson also played a set on the final night at
Wickham Festival in Hampshire on Sunday 4 August 2013, where he was invited by the Blockheads on stage to play a song. Johnson announced a further tour with Howe and Watt-Roy during the spring of 2014. In March and April 2014, Wilko, together with Watt-Roy and Howe, appeared on several UK dates as support to the "Frantic Four" (the classic line-up of
Status Quo on what was billed as their last ever tour). In September 2014, after a meeting in Southend-on-Sea with
Alan McGee, who described Wilko as "one of his all time heroes, and a national treasure", Wilko signed to
Creation Management. He performed "All Through the City" and "Going Back Home", with his classic duckwalk, at
Jools Holland's annual
Hootenanny for New Year, 2014–15.
Later career, cancer and death Johnson was forced to cancel a show in November 2012 when he was rushed to hospital with an undisclosed ailment. He was diagnosed in January 2013 with late stage
pancreatic cancer, and elected not to receive any
chemotherapy. On 25 January 2013, he gave an interview to
John Wilson on the
BBC Radio 4 arts programme
Front Row. He discussed his cancer and said doctors had told him he had nine or ten months to live. He also talked about his "farewell tour" of the UK set for March and how his diagnosis had made him feel "vividly alive". After the tour was over, he announced he would spend his final days recording a farewell album with
The Who's lead singer
Roger Daltrey. The album,
Going Back Home, was released in March 2014. "I thought that was going to be the last thing I ever did", he later told BBC News entertainment correspondent
Colin Paterson in October 2014. According to
Variety, "The album, rather shockingly, proved the most commercially successful recording for either collaborator in more than 30 years." Johnson underwent radical surgery to treat his illness, and the doctors were hopeful that his prognosis would be good. At the
Q Awards on 22 October 2014, Johnson accepted the "Icon Award" and announced that he was "cancer-free" having undergone "removal of his pancreas, spleen, part of his stomach, small and large intestines and the removal and reconstruction of blood vessels relating to the liver". Johnson said: "It was an 11-hour operation… This tumour weighed 3kg – that's the size of a baby! Anyway, they got it all. They cured me. It's so weird and so strange that it's kind of hard to come to terms with it in my mind. Now, I'm spending my time gradually coming to terms with the idea that my death is not imminent, that I am going to live on". He added that he was still recovering from the operation and when asked what he would do next replied: "I don't know really". In 2016 he received an Honorary Doctor of Arts award at
Anglia Ruskin University in a ceremony at
Cambridge Corn Exchange. Johnson died on 21 November 2022, at his home in Westcliff-on-Sea, at the age of 75. Following the announcement of Johnson's death,
Billy Bragg said, "His guitar playing was angry and angular, but his presence – twitchy, confrontational, out of control – was something we'd never beheld before in UK pop.
Rotten,
Strummer and
Weller learned a lot from his edgy demeanour."
Alex Kapranos, lead singer of
Franz Ferdinand said, "His unique, wired playing & stage presence thrilled & inspired many guitarists, myself included." Broadcaster
Bob Harris said "Wilko was absolutely unique. His energy and spirit were incredible." after the producers had seen him in
Oil City Confidential. He related that "'They said they wanted somebody really sinister who went around looking daggers at people before killing them. That made it easy. Looking daggers at people is what I do all the time, it's like second nature to me'." He appeared in four episodes. ==Personal life==