Joe Jackson

Biography

Joe Jackson (born David Ian Jackson; 11 August 1954) is a British musician, singer and songwriter. Having spent years studying music and playing clubs, he found success as part of the late 1970s new wave scene with hit singles "Is She Really Going Out with Him?×Is She Really Going Out With Him?September 1978 · SingleSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracksAIs She Really Going Out With Him?3:34BYou Got the Fever3:34" from his first album Look Sharp!×Look Sharp!January 1979 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 11 tracksA1One More Time3:17A2Sunday Papers4:19A3Is She Really Going Out With Him?3:35A4Happy Loving Couples3:08A5Throw It Away2:51B1Baby Stick Around2:37B2Look Sharp!3:22B3Fools in Love4:23B4(Do the) Instant Mash3:12B5Pretty Girls2:54B6Got the Time2:52 (1979) and "It's Different for Girls" from second album I'm the Man (1979). In the 1980s, he moved to a more jazz-pop style, and achieved further hits including "Steppin' Out" from the album Night and Day×Night and DayJune 1982 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 9 tracks1Another World3:532Chinatown4:073T.V. Age3:474Target3:485Steppin’ Out4:246Breaking Us in Two4:537Cancer6:048Real Men4:049A Slow Song7:01 (1982) and "You Can't Get What You Want (Till You Know What You Want)" from the album Body and Soul×Body and Soul1 January 1984 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 9 tracks1The Verdict5:332Cha Cha Loco4:473Not Here, Not Now5:304You Can’t Get What You Want (Till You Know What You Want)4:545Go for It4:186Loisaida5:367Happy Ending3:398Be My Number Two4:229Heart of Ice6:56 (1984). During this period, Jackson became associated with the 1980s Second British Invasion of the US.
He has also composed classical music and has received five Grammy Award nominations.

Early life, family and education

Born David Ian Jackson in Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, England, he spent his first year in nearby Swadlincote, Derbyshire. He was raised in the Paulsgrove area of Portsmouth, where he attended Portsmouth Technical High School. At age 11, he began learning to play the violin, but after a couple of years he switched to the piano, and convinced his father to purchase one for their Paulsgrove council house. Jackson and his parents moved to nearby Gosport when he was a teenager. Jackson began playing piano in bars when he was 16. He won a scholarship at age 18 to study musical composition at London's Royal Academy of Music, where his composition teacher was Richard Stoker.

Career

Jackson's first band, Edward Bear, later renamed Arms and Legs, released two unsuccessful singles, then dissolved in 1976. Still known as David Jackson during his time with the band, he picked up the nickname "Joe" based on his perceived resemblance to the British television puppet character Joe 90, a genius child spy. Jackson then spent some time performing on the cabaret circuit to make money to record a demo.

Joe Jackson Band

In 1978, a record producer heard Jackson's demo tape and signed him to A&M Records. The next year, the newly formed Joe Jackson Band released their debut album, Look Sharp!×Look Sharp!January 1979 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 11 tracksA1One More Time3:17A2Sunday Papers4:19A3Is She Really Going Out With Him?3:35A4Happy Loving Couples3:08A5Throw It Away2:51B1Baby Stick Around2:37B2Look Sharp!3:22B3Fools in Love4:23B4(Do the) Instant Mash3:12B5Pretty Girls2:54B6Got the Time2:52. The band consisted of Jackson, Gary Sanford on guitar, Graham Maby on bass, and David Houghton on drums. A mix of rock, melodic jazz, and new wave, it mined a vein similar to contemporaries Elvis Costello and Graham Parker. The album enjoyed wide critical success: in 2013, Rolling Stone magazine named Look Sharp! No. 98 in a list of the 100 best debut albums of all time. Some commercial success also followed, as the debut single "Is She Really Going Out with Him?×Is She Really Going Out With Him?September 1978 · SingleSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracksAIs She Really Going Out With Him?3:34BYou Got the Fever3:34" reached the top 40 in five countries, and No. 9 in Canada.
The Joe Jackson Band released I'm the Man in 1979. The album followed a similar musical pattern; further, it received good, though not as strong, reviews. It did produce the single "It's Different for Girls", which became Jackson's highest charting UK single, peaking at No. 5. Beat Crazy followed in 1980. That same year, Jackson on keyboards backed Lincoln Thompson in a reggae crossover album titled Natural Wild, with Jackson and his band billed as the Rasses, playing behind Thompson's vocals.
The Joe Jackson Band toured extensively until it broke up at the end of 1980; Houghton, weary of touring and fame, left the band that year. Although Maby continued to work with Jackson in the following decades, the full band would not reunite until 2004's Volume 4.

Change in style

In 1981, Jackson produced an album for the British power pop group the Keys. The Keys Album was the group's only LP.
After the Joe Jackson Band disbanded, Jackson recorded Jumpin' Jive, an album of old-style swing and blues tunes. It included songs by Cab Calloway, Lester Young, Glenn Miller, and Louis Jordan. The album and associated single release were credited to "Joe Jackson's Jumpin' Jive".
Jackson's 1982 album, Night and Day×Night and DayJune 1982 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 9 tracks1Another World3:532Chinatown4:073T.V. Age3:474Target3:485Steppin’ Out4:246Breaking Us in Two4:537Cancer6:048Real Men4:049A Slow Song7:01, was his only studio album to chart in the UK and US Top 10, peaking at No. 3 (UK) and at No. 4 (US). Two singles released from the album, "Steppin' Out" and "Breaking Us in Two×Breaking Us in Two1982 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracksABreaking Us in Two4:35BEl Blanco4:02", were US top 20 hits. The tracks "Real Men×Real Men1982 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracksAReal Men4:03BChinatown4:26" and "A Slow Song" referred obliquely to New York City's early 1980s gay culture, critiquing its exclusiveness and asking for a slow song in the disco respectively. "Real Men" also became a top 10 hit in Australia.
By 1984, New York had become Jackson's home base. He recorded Body and Soul there, an album he later said was "from the point of view of a relative newcomer". Heavily influenced by pop, jazz standards and salsa, it had the US No. 15 hit single "You Can't Get What You Want (Till You Know What You Want)".
In 1985, Jackson played piano on Joan Armatrading's album Secret Secrets, including the single "Love by You", and in 1986 he collaborated with Suzanne Vega on the single "Left of Center" from Pretty in Pink's soundtrack. Jackson's next album was Big World×Big WorldMarch 1986 · Album · LiveSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 15 tracks1Wild West4:372Right and Wrong4:353(It's a) Big World4:444Precious Time3:235Tonight and Forever2:356Shanghai Sky5:127Fifty Dollar Love Affair3:398We Can't Live Together5:259Forty Years4:3010Survival2:1911Soul Kiss4:4412The Jet Set3:5013Tango Atlantico2:5814Home Town3:1315Man in the Street5:05, with all-new songs recorded live in front of an audience instructed to remain silent while music was playing. Released in 1986, it was a three-sided double record; the fourth side consisted of a single centering groove and a label stating "there is no music on this side".
The instrumental album Will Power×Will PowerApril 1987 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 5 tracks1No Pasarán (instrumental)6:072Solitude9:373Will Power (instrumental)5:534Nocturne (instrumental)4:275Symphony in One Movement (instrumental)16:15 (1987), with heavy classical and jazz influences, set the stage for things to come later, but before Jackson left pop behind, he released two more albums, Blaze of Glory×Blaze of Glory18 April 1989 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 12 tracks1Tomorrow's World4:302Me and You (Against the World)4:143Down to London4:144Sentimental Thing6:095Acropolis Now4:216Blaze of Glory6:087Rant and Rave4:458Nineteen Forever5:499The Best I Can Do3:1010Evil Empire3:4511Discipline5:0212The Human Touch5:11 (which he performed in its entirety during the subsequent tour) and Laughter & Lust. He composed, produced, and performed the music for the 1992 film I'm Your Man, touted as the first interactive movie; audiences would vote on the direction the movie would follow at select points. Explaining why he became interested in the project, Jackson said, "I think whenever you get an opportunity to be involved in something new, you might as well be in on it, even if it sort of goes the way of 3-D glasses and Odorama, or whatever." In 1995, Jackson contributed his version of "Statue of Liberty" on A Testimonial Dinner: The Songs of XTC, a tribute album for the English band XTC.

Post-pop

In the late 1990s, Jackson expanded into classical music; he signed with Sony Classical in 1997 and released Symphony No. 1 in 1999, for which he received a Grammy for Best Pop Instrumental Album in 2001. In 2000, he released a follow-up album, Night and Day II×Night and Day II24 October 2000 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 10 tracks1Prelude1:572Hell of a Town3:183Stranger Than You4:174Why3:545Glamour and Pain5:596Dear Mom4:137Love Got Lost6:598Just Because4:459Happyland5:1210Stay5:47. The album featured contributions by Graham Maby (bass), Sue Hadjopoulos (percussion), the string quartet Ethel, and three guest vocalists: Sussan Deyhim, Dale De Vere and Marianne Faithfull.
In 2003, he reunited his original quartet for the album Volume 4, and a lengthy tour. In 2004, he contributed vocals to a cover of Pulp's "Common People" with William Shatner for Shatner's album Has Been (produced by Ben Folds). In 2005, he teamed up with Todd Rundgren and the string quartet Ethel for a tour of the US and Europe. A dedicated smoker, he gave up his New York apartment in 2006 partly in protest over the ascendancy of smoking bans, and made the Berlin neighbourhood Kreuzberg his new home. It was there that he recorded, with longtime collaborators Graham Maby and Dave Houghton, his eighteenth studio album, Rain (Rykodisc, January 2008); the album was followed by a five-month tour.
In 2015, Jackson announced the completion of his follow-up to 2012's The Duke via his official website. The album's title, Fast Forward×Fast Forward2 October 2015 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 16 tracks1Fast Forward6:032If It Wasn’t For You3:393See No Evil4:084Kings of the City5:235A Little Smile4:006Far Away4:037So You Say2:528Poor Thing3:329Junkie Diva5:3910If I Could See Your Face4:2011The Blue Time5:3212Good Bye Jonny5:4213Neon Rain3:3514Satellite4:2415Keep On Dreaming4:1816Ode to Joy4:17, and track list were confirmed in addition to North American tour dates. The titular first single was released for streaming via his official SoundCloud page. The entire record was briefly posted before being taken down a day later.
On 18 January 2019, Jackson released the album Fool. Jackson said about the album on his website: "One of my inspirations for this album was the band I've been touring with on and off for the last 3 years. I've had many different line-ups but this one is special." Jackson and the band performed "Fabulously Absolute×Fabulously Absolute9 October 2018 · SingleSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 1 track1Fabulously Absolute4:14" on The Tonight Show on 21 January 2019. Fool debuted in the top 20 album charts in Holland, Belgium, Germany and Switzerland. In the US, it debuted at No. 25 on Billboard's Top Album Sales Chart. In the UK, it entered the Indie Albums Chart at No. 13.
What a Racket!, also known as Mr. Joe Jackson Presents Max Champion in 'What a Racket!×What a Racket!24 November 2023 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 11 tracks1(Overture): Why Why Why?4:362The Sporting Life4:033Dear Old Mum – A London‐Irish Lament4:284Monty Mundy (Is Maltese)!3:015The Shades of Night5:126What a Racket!2:297The Bishop and the Actress2:368Think of the Show! – A Thespian’s Lament2:449Never So Nice in the Morning5:0810Health & Safety3:4511Worse Things Happen at Sea3:50' was released by earMUSIC on 24 November 2023; it is his 21st studio album. The shows supporting the album featured Joe solo in the first set and the full Max album in the second, with Joe accompanied by a large band.
In April 2026, Jackson released his first new rock album in seven years, Hope and Fury×Hope and Fury10 April 2026 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 9 tracks1Welcome to Burning‐by‐Sea3:572I’m Not Sorry2:543Made God Laugh3:364Do Do Do2:215Fabulous People4:026After All This Time4:227The Face4:358End of the Pier5:319See You in September3:25. It was preceded by the singles "Welcome To Burning-by-Sea", "Fabulous People×Fabulous People4 February 2026 · SingleSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracks1Fabulous People4:022Welcome to Burning‐by‐Sea3:57" and "After All This Time". A lengthy tour was planned for 2026, starting in May. His website noted: "Though often depicted as a chameleonic artist who constantly 'changes his style,' Jackson insists that most of his albums are in 'his own mainstream' — collections of sophisticated pop songs, using different kinds of rhythms and combinations of instruments." Hope And Fury "...might strike a fan as a cross between 2019's Fool, 1991's Laughter and Lust, and 1982's Night and Day." For the recording Jackson "assembled his on-and-off band since 2016 — 'bassist for life' Graham Maby, guitarist Teddy Kumpel, and drummer Doug Yowell — augmented by the Latin percussion of Peruvian native Paulo Stagnaro."

Other activities

Jackson has actively campaigned against smoking bans in both the UK and the US, publishing a 2005 pamphlet, The Smoking Issue, and a 2007 essay, Smoke, Lies and the Nanny State. He also recorded a satirical song ("In 20-0-3×In 20-0-31 March 2004 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 1 track1In 20-0-33:37") on the subject.
Jackson's 1999 autobiography, A Cure for Gravity, was described by him as a "book about music, thinly disguised as a memoir". It traces his working-class upbringing in Portsmouth and charts his musical life from childhood until his 24th birthday. According to Jackson, life as a pop star was hardly worth writing about.
Jackson has appeared in one film, a cameo in 2005's The Greatest Game Ever Played, where Jackson is briefly shown and heard performing the song "Hello! Hello! Who's Your Lady Friend?" in a raucous early 1900s English pub. Jackson initially had been contacted to compose the film's score, but the studio instead hired Brian Tyler. However, one track in the film — "Angel," performed by soprano Dawn Upshaw — is still credited to Jackson.

Legacy

In 2004 the first-ever tribute album to Jackson, Different for Girls: Women Artists and Female-Fronted Bands Cover Joe Jackson, was released. Among the female artists covering Jackson was Joy Askew, whose album credits include Jackson's Big World×Big WorldMarch 1986 · Album · LiveSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 15 tracks1Wild West4:372Right and Wrong4:353(It's a) Big World4:444Precious Time3:235Tonight and Forever2:356Shanghai Sky5:127Fifty Dollar Love Affair3:398We Can't Live Together5:259Forty Years4:3010Survival2:1911Soul Kiss4:4412The Jet Set3:5013Tango Atlantico2:5814Home Town3:1315Man in the Street5:05, Live 1980/86, Blaze of Glory×Blaze of Glory18 April 1989 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 12 tracks1Tomorrow's World4:302Me and You (Against the World)4:143Down to London4:144Sentimental Thing6:095Acropolis Now4:216Blaze of Glory6:087Rant and Rave4:458Nineteen Forever5:499The Best I Can Do3:1010Evil Empire3:4511Discipline5:0212The Human Touch5:11, Laughter & Lust and Heaven & Hell. A brief presentation of the album indicated: "Mr. Jackson himself has said: "I LOVE the idea of an all-female tribute album! Let them know I can't wait to hear it."

Personal life

Jackson legally changed his first name to Joe at age 20.
Jackson spent several years living in New York City, which served as inspiration for his 1982 song "Steppin' Out". In a 2018 interview, Jackson said "I don't like New York much these days. It's as if the city and I had a hot love affair and now we're just friends, but we still have to see each other to remain friends. Today I live in Berlin. The New York I knew in late '81 and '82 is gone." Jackson resides in Berlin but also owns homes in New York and Portsmouth.
Jackson and his wife Ruth divorced after two years; he later called the marriage a "disaster". Jackson discussed his bisexuality in his memoir, A Cure for Gravity, writing: "Sex seemed to me, and to a great extent still seems, an ocean of mysteries. In that ocean, I was a plankton that could have as easily been straight or gay, male or female, animal, vegetable, or mineral." His questioning of potential homosexuality and same-sex attraction is explored in the 1982 single "Real Men×Real Men1982 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracksAReal Men4:03BChinatown4:26". In a 2001 interview with a journalist also named Joe Jackson, the Irish Independent, Jackson said he was in a relationship with a male partner.

With original band

Look Sharp! (1979)
I'm the Man (1979)
Beat Crazy (1980)
Volume 4 (2003)
Afterlife (2004)