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Quick Facts
- NAME: Paul Simonon
- OCCUPATION: Painter, Bassist
- BIRTH DATE: December 15, 1955 (Age: 57)
- PLACE OF BIRTH: London, United Kingdom
- Full Name: Paul Gustave Simonon
- ZODIAC SIGN: Sagittarius
Best Known For
English musician Paul Simonon was bass player for the punk rock band The Clash.
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Play NowPaul Simonon. (2013). The Biography Channel website. Retrieved 02:58, Jun 18, 2013, from http://www.biography.com/people/paul-simonon-20881913.
Paul Simonon. [Internet]. 2013. The Biography Channel website. Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/paul-simonon-20881913 [Accessed 18 Jun 2013].
"Paul Simonon." 2013. The Biography Channel website. Jun 18 2013, 02:58 http://www.biography.com/people/paul-simonon-20881913.
"Paul Simonon," The Biography Channel website, 2013, http://www.biography.com/people/paul-simonon-20881913 [accessed Jun 18, 2013].
"Paul Simonon," The Biography Channel website, http://www.biography.com/people/paul-simonon-20881913 (accessed Jun 18, 2013).
Paul Simonon [Internet]. The Biography Channel website; 2013 [cited 2013 Jun 18] Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/paul-simonon-20881913.
Paul Simonon, http://www.biography.com/people/paul-simonon-20881913 (last visited Jun 18, 2013).
Paul Simonon. The Biography Channel website. 2013. Available at: http://www.biography.com/people/paul-simonon-20881913. Accessed Jun 18, 2013.
But stardom and the wear and tear of maintaining the band's energy and commitment to its craft took its toll on The Clash. Tensions mounted between Jones and Strummer, leading to the former's departure. Added to the complications was an increasingly rocky relationship with CBS Records. After six albums and many hit singles, The Clash officially broke up in 1986.
But the group's music never really faded into the background. Nine years after the band's final album was released,
Contents
one of its singles, "Should I Stay or Should I Go," was re-released in England and shot to the top of the charts, giving The Clash its only number one hit. In 2003, the group was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Later Career
Following the demise of The Clash, Simonon continued to maintain a heavy involvement in the music scene. He started a new group called Havana 3am, which put out just one album before breaking up. Later, he stepped into the recording studio with Bob Dylan for what became Dylan's album Down in the Groove (1988). He also came on board as the bass player for Jones' post-Clash band, Big Audio Dynamite.
For years, rumors swirled about a possible reunion of The Clash. That speculation came to a tragic end with the death of Strummer in 2002.In 2010, Simonon and Jones started work on a new biopic based on the album London Calling.
The years since The Clash's end have also seen Simonon return to his earlier artistic roots as a painter. His work is regularly exhibited.
Simonon has also remained politically active. In early 2011 he was arrested while working as a cook on board a Greenpeace ship that was part of a contingent protesting an oil rig off the coast of Greenland.
"We stormed the oil rig," Simonon recounted. "They said if you don't get off...we're going to phone the authorities in Greenland and say you've hijacked the oil rig, and the police will come and arrest you. And that's pretty much what happened."
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London Punk- Cultural Icons: 1970s
View groupFollowing the "Swinging London" era of the 1960s, a new group of cultural icons arose. The 1970s saw the emergence of the punk rock movement, built upon the wave of psychedelic and folk rock music introduced in the '60s. In the post-hippie era of the early '70s, rock 'n' roll had a new glam image, pioneered by outrageously dressed rockers like David Bowie and Marc Bolan. Soon other acts followed, most notably young performers like Siouxsie Sioux and groups like T.Rex and The Clash. The music of the '70s inspired fashion as well, in particular designer Vivienne Westwood, whose punk designs for the Sex Pistols helped define the decade's London style. Biography.com looks at the various icons who defined London in the '70s.
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