Joe Jackson's Biography

Joe Jackson was born David Ian Jackson on August 11, 1954, in Burton-on-Trent, England, although when he was just a baby his family moved to Portsmouth.

In his childhood, Joe Jackson played the violin and the piano, and, in 1971, he went to the Royal Academy of Music on a scholarship.

Whilst continuing with his studies, Joe Jackson also played in Edward Bear, and this is apparently where he picked up the name 'Joe', in a humorous reference to his likeness to the puppet Joe 90!

Joe Jackson also played in the National Youth Orchestra, but he soon veered back into the world of pop. From 1976 to 1977 Jackson played in Edward Bear's transmogrification, Arms and Legs, which released a few singles, but failed to make a commercial impression.

It was in January 1979 that Joe Jackson made his breakthrough with the acclaimed album, Look Sharp! released by A&M. The line-up included Graham Maby on bass who had been in Arms And Legs.

The album contained Jackson's first single which had been released earlier (in October 1978), Is She Really Going Out With Him?

Joe Jackson's success continued with Jumpin' Jive released in 1981.

For many this period, going from Look Sharp! (1979) to I'm The Man (1979) to Beat Crazy (1980) to Jumpin' Jive (1981) was Joe Jackson's golden era.

Then Jackson moved to New York. His releases included Night and Day (1982), Body and Soul (1984), Big World (1986) and Will Power (1987). All very diverse in style.

Joe Jackson also earned a Grammy nomination for the soundtrack to Francis Ford Coppola's film Tucker: The Man and His Dream.

Blaze of Glory, released in April 1989, was not a commercial success and Joe Jackson finally separated from A&M.

After a spell in the early nineties with Virgin, Jackson joined Sony Classical. They released his Symphony No. 1, which won the 2000 Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Album.

In 1999, Joe Jackson turned to writing and published A Cure For Gravity, which he describes as "a book about music thinly disguised as a memoir."

In 2000, came Night and Day II, the album Joe Jackson considers his best.

In 2003, Volume 4 was released, 25 years after Jackson's debut, Look Sharp, and it reunited Jackson his old band-mates from over 20 years before.