

In 1977, he was a founding member of Solid Senders, with keyboardist John Potter, bassist Steve Lewins, and drummer Alan Platt. But Johnson subsequently insisted: "I didn't leave, they threw me out and then told the newspapers that I'd left." The remaining band members claimed that Johnson had left voluntarily. He left the band in April 1977, following disagreements over the tracks to be included in the Sneakin' Suspicion album. 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". The live album, Stupidity, reached number one in the UK Albums Chart, but although Johnson played on 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 19. His Bo Diddley-influenced style formed the essential driving force behind Dr. It evolved from a failed attempt to copy Mick Green of Johnny Kidd & the Pirates, a guitarist whom Johnson greatly admired. This enabled him to play rhythm guitar and riffs or solos at the same time creating a highly percussive guitar sound. He achieved his playing style by not using a pick but instead relying on fingerstyle. Johnson developed his own image, coupling jerky movements on stage, his so-called "duck walk", 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 later played a vintage 1962 Fender Telecaster with rosewood fingerboard which he bought in 1974, shortly after Dr. In 1965 Johnson bought his first Fender Telecaster guitar from a shop in Southend, Essex, for £90 (equivalent to £1,854 in 2021). It was then that he adopted the stage name Wilko Johnson, a close anagram of John Wilkinson. After returning from Goa, he worked in 1972 as an English teacher. Feelgood – a mainstay of the 1970s pub rock movement. Īfter graduating, he travelled overland to India before returning to Essex to play with the Pigboy Charlie Band. His undergraduate courses included Anglo-Saxon and ancient Icelandic sagas.

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In 20 he appeared in the HBO fantasy series Game of Thrones, as the mute executioner Ser Ilyn Payne.īorn 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. And there are a lot of people who'll say the same. Paul Weller said of Johnson: "Wilko may not be as famous as some other guitarists, but he's right up there. Feelgood were an influence on the English punk movement.


Johnson was known for his distinctive guitar playing style which he achieved by not using a guitar pick but playing fingerstyle. He was a member of the pub rock/ rhythm and blues band Dr. John Andrew Wilkinson (12 July 1947 – 21 November 2022), better known by the stage name Wilko Johnson, was an English guitarist, singer, songwriter and occasional actor.
