- Born
- Birth nameStephen William Bragg
- Nickname
- The Bard of Barking
- Billy Bragg - the so-called 'Bard of Barking' - came to widespread attention as a sort of one-man Clash, busking around Britain, with a guitar and portable amp. Having briefly joined the Army, Bragg formed a punk band, Riff Raff, but it was not until he released his first mini-LP, "Life's a Riot" on the small Utility label, that he first troubled the UK charts with the protest EP, "Between the Wars". Further minor chart success followed (including an unlikely number 1 with a charity cover version of the Beatles' "She's Leaving Home" and a collaboration with members of REM) and critical acclaim was never far away. Bragg was a founder member of Red Wedge, the music coalition which supported the Labour Party in the 1987 election, and a supporter of many humanitarian and left-wing causes, but has since withdrawn overt support for New Labour. Settled down and with a small son, Jack, Bragg has completed the "William Bloke" LP and toured.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Stuart Douglas <sdouglas@zoocater.abel.co.uk>
- Estuary English Accent (that only just borders on Cockney)
- Unabashedly leftist views.
- Songs about troubled relationships and unrequited love.
- West Ham Football club supporter.
- One of his albums was produced primarily to pay a large bill to British tax authorities. The album was entitled, appropriately, "Talking With The Taxman About Poetry".
- A founding member and a director of the Featured Artists' Coalition, a lobby group launched in 2009 with the aim of giving music artists a greater voice in big decisions in the music industry, from digital deals to copyright law.
- Bragg publicly opposed Paul Simon's decision to record his album Graceland in Apartheid South Africa in the 1980s. When Simon played the first of six nights at London's Royal Albert Hall on April 7 1987, Bragg joined Paul Weller and Jerry Dammers in protesting outside and delivered a letter demanding that Simon give a "complete and heartfelt apology to the UN General Assembly".
- Winner of the 2007 Q Classic Songwriter Award.
- "Kiss me or would you rather live in a land where the soap won't lather" (lyric)
- The first lyrical poetry that moved me was the final verse of Mr Tambourine Man. That is such a great line of poetry.
- It is often the songs that have less meaning that people tend to attach their meaning to.
- One of the great things about the 1980s was that there was a return to lyrics. Bands like the Smiths were writing more literate pop. Sometimes too much emphasis is put on hook and melody. Some bands' songs are totally vacuous.
- Everything that was cool about British rock in the '60s, everything from The Beatles, The Stones (The Rolling Stones), The Who, The Small Faces, Led Zeppelin, all those guys learned to play music by playing skiffle. It was open to everyone, it was utterly democratic, it was three chords and the truth.
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