Stephen William Bragg (born 20 December 1957) is an English singer, songwriter, musician, author and political activist. His music blends elements of folk music, punk rock and protest songs, with lyrics that mostly span political or romantic themes. His activism is centred on social change and left-wing political causes.
Early life
Bragg was born in 1957 in Barking, Essex,[2] to Dennis Frederick Austin Bragg, an assistant sales manager to a Barking cap maker and milliner, and his wife Marie Victoria D'Urso, who was of Italian descent through her father.[3] Bragg's father died of lung cancer in 1976,[4] and his mother died in 2011.[5]
Bragg was educated at Northbury Junior School and Park Modern Secondary School (now part of Barking Abbey Secondary School) in Barking. He failed his eleven-plus exam. He developed an interest in poetry at age twelve, when his English teacher chose him to read a poem he had written for a homework assignment on a local radio station.[6] He focused on learning and practising the guitar with his next-door neighbour, Philip Wigg (Wiggy). Some of their influences were the Faces, Small Faces and the Rolling Stones. He was also exposed to folk and folk-rock music during his teenage years, citing Simon & Garfunkel and Bob Dylan as early influences on his songwriting.[6]
During the rise of punk rock and new wave in the late 1970s, Elvis Costello also served as an inspiration for Bragg.[7] He was particularly influenced by the Jam,[8] as well as the Clash, whom he had seen play live in London in May 1977 on their White Riot Tour, and again at a Rock Against Racism carnival in April 1978, which he admits was the first time he really stepped into the world of music as it is used for political activism.[9] The experience of the gig and preceding march helped shape Bragg's left-wing politics, a change from his having previously "turned a blind eye" to casual racism.[9]
Career
Early career
In 1977, Bragg formed the punk rock/pub rock band Riff Raff with Wiggy. The band decamped to rural Oundle in Northamptonshire in 1978 to record a series of singles (the first on independent Chiswick Records), which did not receive wide exposure. After a period of gigging in Northamptonshire and London, they returned to Barking and split in 1980. Taking a series of odd jobs including working at Guy Norris' record shop in Barking high street, Bragg became disillusioned with his stalled music career and in May 1981 joined the British Army as a recruit destined for the Queen's Royal Irish Hussars of the Royal Armoured Corps. After completing three months' basic training, he bought himself out for £175 and returned home.
Bragg peroxided his hair to mark a new phase in his life and began performing frequent concerts and busking around London, playing solo with an electric guitar under the name Spy vs Spy (after the strip in Mad magazine).
His demo tape initially got no response from the record industry, but by pretending to be a television repair man, he got into the office of Charisma Records
Politics and activism
For all of Bragg's 30-year-plus recording career, he has been involved with grassroots, broadly leftist, political movements, and this is often reflected in his lyrics. He has also recorded and performed cover versions of socialist anthems such as "The Internationale" and "The Red Flag". Bragg said in an interview: "I don't mind being labelled a political songwriter. The thing that troubles me is being dismissed as a political songwriter".[58] Bragg has cited the Clash as a strong influence on his politically themed material and activism:"It wasn't so much their lyrics as what they stood for and the actions they took. That became really important to me. Phil Collins might write a song about the homeless, but if he doesn't have the action to go with it he's just exploiting that for a subject. I got that from the Clash, and I try to remain true to that tradition as best I can.[59]"
From 1983 to 1997
Bragg's politics were focused by the Conservative Party's 144-seat majority landslide at the 1983 general election. He told his biographer, "By 1983, the scales had fallen from my eyes". His record label boss Andy Macdonald observed that "his presence onstage took on more of the avenging angel". Bragg was at the forefront of music's influence on the
Personal life
With his partner Juliet, Bragg has an adult son, singer-songwriter Jack Valero.[98][99]
Bragg supports West Ham United F.C.[100]
Bibliography
Discography
- Life's a Riot with Spy vs Spy (1983)
- Brewing Up with Billy Bragg (1984)
- Talking with the Taxman About Poetry (1986)
- Workers Playtime (1988)
- The Internationale (1990)
- Don't Try This at Home (1991)
- William Bloke (1996)
- England, Half-English (2002) (with the Blokes)
- Mr Love & Justice (2008)
- Tooth & Nail (2013)
- Bridges Not Walls (2017)
- The Million Things That Never Happened (2021)
Further reading
External links
- Billy Bragg collection at the Internet Archive's live music archive
References
- Billy Bragg Songs, Albums, Reviews, Bio & More... AllMusic, retrieved 14 June 2024^
- Deborah Ross. Billy Bragg: Rebel with a cause The Independent, 11 November 2002, retrieved 9 January 2010^
- Nick Barratt. Family Detective: Billy Bragg