Paul Weller Biography
Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Copyright Muze UK Ltd. 1989 - 2005

b. John William Weller, 25 May 1958, Woking, Surrey, England. The rise and fall from critical grace, and subsequent rise of vocalist and guitarist Paul Weller could occupy a small chapter in any book on UK rock music of the 70s, 80s and 90s. The recipient of almost universal acclaim and "spokesman for a generation" received accolades with the Jam. After the release of the Style Council's second album his relationship with the press became one of almost total antipathy, some might argue with good reason; the thread of soul-stirring passion that had always seen Weller at his most affecting had been squandered in a less earnest quest for dry musical sophistication. The fact that he was now married (to Style Council backing vocalist D.C. Lee) and a father of two children contributed to what he later admitted was a lack of thirst for music.

By 1990, he found himself without either a band or a recording contract for the first time in 13 years. This period saw him reacquaint himself with some of his old influences, the omnipresent Small Faces/Steve Marriott fixation, as well as discover new ones such as house and acid jazz, as well as Traffic, Spooky Tooth, Tim Hardin and Tim Buckley.

Inspired enough to write new material, despite his recent travails with the Style Council having drained him of confidence, he began to set up a new band in the autumn. Comprising Paul Francis (bass), Max Beesley (keyboards/vibraphone), Jacko Peake (saxophone/flute), Joe Becket (percussion), Damon Brown (trumpet/flügelhorn), Chris Lawrence (trombone) as well as Jam biographer and "best friend" Paulo Hewitt (DJ) and Style Council drummer Steve White, the band was christened the Paul Weller Movement. They made their live debut on UK tours in November and December, with a second spree in April 1991. These served to renew Weller's previously unimpeachable self-belief and test new songs like "Round And Round" and "Kosmos". The line-up now saw Henry Thomas (formerly of music education television programme Rock School) on bass, with the brass section reduced to Gerard Presencer (trumpet/flügelhorn), with Zeta Massiah and Lina Duggan on backing vocals.

Weller released his first solo single, "Into Tomorrow", on his own Freedom High label in May, before contributing seven compositions to D.C. Lee's Slam Slam project. However, he was still refining his muse and the vast majority of the Movement and the name itself were dispensed with, leaving a kernel of White and Peake with guests including Robert Howard (aka Dr. Robert of the Blow Monkeys), Marco Nelson of the Young Disciples, Style Council bass player Camille Hinds and singer Carleen Anderson. The debut album was delayed for almost a year while he searched for a suitable label. It was initially released on Pony Canyon in Japan, where Weller maintained a formidable personal popularity, six months before a UK issue on Go! Discs.

Paul Weller was strangely overlooked by the UK press, who at this stage seemed resistant to the artist's revival, despite the presence of fine songs in "Clues" and "Strange Museum". Further line-up changes accrued during the quiet early months of 1992, with Orange Juice drummer Zeke Manyika joining, as did former Style Council compatriot Helen Turner (organ). The subject of second single "Uh Huh, Oh Yeh" was Weller's Woking youth, and its Top 20 UK status kindled a prodigal-son welcome from the UK press.

Weller's renaissance was confirmed in 1993 with the release of "Sunflower", a breezy, Traffic-inspired folk rock enterprise, and Wild Wood, arguably the finest collection of songs Weller had written since the Jam's All Mod Cons. With a fresh, natural production from Brendan Lynch, and multitudinous musical accompaniment from White, Turner, Beesley and Howard plus Mick Talbot (Weller's former Style Council songwriting collaborator), D.C. Lee, Simon Fowler and Steve Cradock (Ocean Colour Scene), the set was nevertheless firmly located in the classic English singer-songwriter pantheon. Live favourites "The Weaver" and "Hung Up" again reached the charts as Weller was at last able to shake off the albatross of his previous musical ventures.

He was joined on tour in Japan by new bass player Yolanda Charles in October, while early 1994 saw him jamming on stage with Kenny Jones (Faces), James Taylor and Mother Earth for the filming of The History Of Acid Jazz. The summer of that year saw euphoric performances at the Glastonbury and Phoenix Festival stages, before a 1994 double live album drawn from four different sets between late 1993 and mid-1994.

For the first time in a decade Weller had cultivated a new set of fans, rather than dragging existing followers with him, and this fact drew evident satisfaction. Stanley Road was titled after the street in which Weller grew up, and featured Oasis' Noel Gallagher on a cover version of Dr. John's "I Walk On Gilded Splinters". Of more enduring interest were the Weller originals, however, which spanned a wide range of musical styles unified by the "live" approach to recording.

The follow-up Heavy Soul showed Weller to be at the peak of his musical powers and still retaining the support of the majority of the music press.

Weller's fans were forced to wait another three years for the follow-up, Heliocentric, and although much was promised, the album lacked the punch and sparkle of previous efforts. Much more gutsy and electric was 2002's Illumination. On this album Weller sang with renewed conviction, in particular his duet with the Stereophonics' Kelly Jones on the fabulous "Call Me No. 5". Fly On The Wall, released in 2003, was a 3-CD box set of b-sides and rarities, featuring some excellent cover versions including Neil Young's "Ohio" and Traffic's "Feelin' Alright", and a number of credible Beatles' interpretations. Weller continued in covers mode on the following year's Studio 150, tackling an eclectic range of material including Rose Royce's "Wishing On A Star", Gil Scott-Heron's "The Bottle", Gordon Lightfoot's "Early Morning Rain", and Neil Young's "Birds".

Paul Weller, The Jam, A Mods Story. Billy McLellan, 2005

When the Jam hit London in 1977 they could hardly have been more at odds with the times. Fashionable, razor-sharp in their suits and short hair, a cut above the rest, and Weller with his incredible attitude and style. The year 1979 - I was fourteen years of age, just heard the single - “When You’re Young”. I was hooked, I had just joined that very exclusive club of “MODS” - there was no way out - once a MOD, always a MOD (as the great man once said). Middle partings and white socks. Lonsdale shirts and bowling shoes. At first sight these youths look like an undifferentiated mass, but nothing could be further from the truth. If you knew what to look for, you could see that they were engaged in a kind of style war, the like of which has not been seen since the original Mod era of the ‘60s’.

That’s when I discovered that Northern Soul, Ska, Skinhead and Rude-Boy were all an extension of Mod. (Cousins). I was a Mod, we were different from the rest; carried ourselves differently, attention to detail that’s what mattered, and it stays with you for the rest of your life... It’s a mod thing.

A Jam concert was more than a live event, it was almost spiritual. The relationship between band and audience was so strong you could touch it, see it and most certainly hear it. Paul Weller now plays solo but I still hanker back to the days of The Jam. What it meant to me as a teenage Mod was more than just music, it was an attitude of life, The Jam were one of those bands whose music remains with you over the years, merged with your history and identity.

I saw them for the first time in 1981 at The Glasgow Apollo. I was dazzled not only by their formidable energy but also by a peculiar tenderness.

Throughout the 1980s and 90s The Jam’s musical legacy has been seen as an influence on hundreds of bands, some as successful as Oasis, Blur and Ocean Colour Scene. Paul Weller can also boast a songbook to rival any of his peers - some of his cleverest lyrics and most enduring tunes have been buried away on albums and b-sides. The sheer scope of his musical adventurism is impressive.

As he enters a new phase of his career with a fresh collection of songs written in 2005, we see Weller going back to his Jam roots. For influence - “As Is Now” is complex, passionate, soulful, in both texture and tempo - another quantum leap for the great man.

Evidence of Paul Weller's continued popularity was provided by a poll run by British national radio station Virgin Radio in December 2002 to find the Top 100 British Artists of all time. More than 25,000 listeners voted, and in the final results revealed on 31st December, The Style Council came in at No. 97, Weller as a solo artist at No. 21 and The Jam at No. 5 - ahead of such acts as The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, The Clash and Weller's own heroes such as The Who and The Kinks.