The Legend Joe Strummer

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I've create this tribute page, cause JOE is very legend.
John Graham Mellor (August 21, 1952 – December 22, 2002) better known as Joe Strummer, was the co-founder, lyricist, rhythm guitarist and lead singer of the English punk rock band The Clash, The Mescaleros and (temporarily) The Pogues.
The early years 1952-1976
Joe Strummer was born as John Mellor in Ankara, Turkey on August 21, 1952. His mother, a crofter's daughter and one of nine children born and raised in the Scottish Highlands, was a nurse. His father was a British foreign-service diplomat who had been born in Lucknow, India. The family spent much time moving from place to place, and Strummer spent his childhood in a variety of countries. At the age of 9, Strummer and his older brother David, 10, began boarding at the City of London Freemen's School in Surrey. Strummer rarely saw his parents during this time. He developed a love of rock music, listening to records by Little Richard and Eric Clapton as well as American folk-singer Woody Guthrie (Strummer would even go by the name "Woody" for a few years, until changing his name to "Joe Strummer" a year and a half before the Clash was formed). While Strummer and his brother often had conflicting values, David's suicide in July 1970 significantly changed Joe's outlook on life. After finishing his time at Epsom College boarding school in 1970 Strummer moved on to London's Central School of Art & Design, where he briefly flirted with the idea of becoming a professional cartoonist. During this time, Strummer shared a flat in the north London suburb of Palmers Green with friends Clive Timperley and Tymon Dogg. In 1973 Strummer moved to Newport, Wales to attend the Newport College of Art, but soon dropped out. While there, he joined up with some friends to form a band called The Vultures. For the next year he was the band's part-time singer and rhythm guitarist. During this time Strummer also worked as a gravedigger. In 1974, the band fell apart and he moved back to London where he met up again with Tymon Dogg. He busked on the streets for a while and then decided to form another band with his West London roommates. The band was called The 101'ers, named for the address of their squat (101 Walterton Road, in Maida Hill). The band played many gigs in London pubs, playing covers of popular American R&B and blues songs. In 1975 he changed his name from "Woody" Mellor to Joe Strummer, and insisted that his friends call him by that name. The name "Strummer" apparently refers to his role as rhythm guitarist, in a rather self-deprecating way. Though left-handed, he was taught to play right-handed by his friend Tymon Dogg; this hampered his abilities somewhat and confined him to strumming chords. Strummer was the lead singer of the 101'ers and began to write original songs for the group. One song he wrote was inspired by his girlfriend at the time, Slits drummer Palmolive. The group liked the song "Keys to Your Heart", and picked it as their first single.
The Clash 1976-1985
On April 3, 1976, a then-unknown band called the Sex Pistols opened for The 101'ers at a venue called "The Nashville Rooms" in London, and Strummer was impressed by them. Sometime after this show, Strummer was approached by Bernie Rhodes and Mick Jones. Jones was from the band London SS and wanted Strummer to join as lead singer. Strummer agreed to join just as the group was breaking up, but he formed a new band with Jones, bassist Paul Simonon, drummer Terry Chimes and guitarist Keith Levene. The band was named The Clash by Simonon and made their debut on July 4, 1976, opening for the Sex Pistols at The Black Swan (a.k.a. The Mucky Duck, now known as the Boardwalk Sheffield, England) . On January 25, 1977 the band signed with CBS Records and was now a three-piece after Levene was fired from the band and Chimes quit. Drummer Topper Headon later became the band's full-time drummer.The Clash was the most musically diverse and overtly political of the original English punk bands. Their songs tackled social decay, unemployment, racism, police brutality, political and social repression, militarism and, occasionally, sex. Strummer was involved with the Anti-Nazi League and Rock Against Racism campaigns. He later also gave his support to the Rock Against the Rich series of concerts organised by the anarchist organisation Class War. The Clash's London Calling album was voted best album of the 1980s by Rolling Stone magazine (although it was released in late 1979 in the UK it was released in 1980 in the USA). The Clash's influence can be clearly felt in countless subsequent rock bands.During his time with The Clash, Strummer, along with his bandmates, became notorious for getting in trouble with the law. On June 10, 1977, he and Topper were arrested for spray-painting "The Clash" on a wall in a hotel, and in the early '80s he was arrested for hitting a violent member of the audience with his guitar during a show in Hamburg, Germany. Before the album Combat Rock was released in 1982, Strummer disappeared from the group and "dicked around" in France for a short while because of poor ticket sales for their upcoming international tours. During this time band members began to argue a lot, and with tensions high, the group began to fall apart. In September 1983, Strummer issued the infamous "Clash Communique", and fired Mick Jones. Topper Headon had earlier been kicked out of the band because of his heroin addiction, which now left the band with only two of its original members. Strummer decided to carry on and added new members. "The Clash Mark Two" released the album Cut The Crap in 1985. The album was panned by fans and critics alike and Strummer disbanded The Clash.
The wilderness years 1985-1999
A year later, Strummer worked on several songs for the film Sid and Nancy, including 'Love Kills' and 'Dum Dum Club'. Strummer would also later work with Mick Jones and his band Big Audio Dynamite, contributing to the band's second album by co-writing most of the songs. In 1987 he starred in the film Walker, directed by Alex Cox, as a character named "Faucet" and wrote and performed on the film's soundtrack. He would star in another Cox film that same year called Straight to Hell, as the character Simms. In 1989 Strummer would act in a small role in Jim Jarmusch's film Mystery Train, as a man called Elvis with a drunken temper. He also made a brief appearance in Aki Kaurismäki's 1990 film I hired a contract killer as a guitarist in a pub, singing two songs (burning lights, afro-Cuban be-bop). These were released as a promotional 7" single limited to a few hundred copies, credited to "Joe Strummer & the Astro Physicians". During this time Strummer continued to act, write and produce soundtracks for various films, most notably the soundtrack for Grosse Pointe Blank.In 1989 Strummer began producing solo records with a band called The Latino Rockabilly War. The album Earthquake Weather was a critical and commercial flop, and resulted in the loss of his contract with Sony Records. He also did the soundtrack to the movie Permanent Record with this band. In 1991 he replaced Shane MacGowan as singer of The Pogues for a tour after MacGowan's departure from the band. Strummer also produced the Pogues album Hell's Ditch. On April 16, 1994, Strummer joined Czech-American band Dirty Pictures on stage in Prague at “Rock for Refugees”, a benefit concert for people left displaced by the war in Yugoslavia. Backed up by the Pictures, Strummer played a blistering set of Clash songs that he said he had not played in more than ten years. Although the set appeared impromptu, Joe and the band had spent the days leading up to the event rehearsing and “hanging out” in Prague. After these self-described "wilderness years," Strummer began working with other bands; he played piano on the 1995 UK hit of The Levellers, "Just the One" and appeared on the Black Grape single "England's Irie" in 1996. In 1997 while in New York City, he had worked with noted producer and engineers Lee Perry & Marty Munsch[1] on a significant amount of remixed Clash and 101'ers reissue dub material.Also during this time, Strummer was in dispute with The Clash's record label, Sony Records. The disagreement lasted nearly eight years and ended with the label agreeing to let him record solo records on his own with another label. If The Clash were to reunite though, they would have to record for Sony.Also during the nineties Strummer was a DJ on the BBC World Service with his half-hour programme London Calling.
The Mescaleros and legacy 1999-2002
Finally, in the mid-to-late 1990s, Strummer gathered top-flight musicians into a backing band he called The Mescaleros. Strummer and the band signed with Mercury Records, and issued their first album in 1999, which was co-written with Antony Genn, called Rock Art and the X-Ray Style. A tour of England and North America soon followed; sets included several Clash fan favourites. In 2001 the band signed with Californian punk label Hellcat Records and released their second album, "Global A Go-Go". The album was supported with a 21-date tour of North America, Britain, and Ireland. Once again, these concerts featured Clash material ("London's Burning", "Rudie Can't Fail", "White Man In Hammersmith Palais"), as well as classic covers of reggae and ska hits ("The Harder They Come", "A Message To You, Rudy") and the band regularly closed the show with a nod to the late Joey Ramone by playing The Ramones' "Blitzkrieg Bop".On November 15, 2002, Strummer and The Mescaleros played a benefit show for striking fire fighters in London, at the Acton Town Hall. Mick Jones was in the crowd, and surprisingly, joined the band on stage during the Clash's classic "Bankrobber." An encore followed with Jones playing guitar and singing on "White Riot" and "London's Burning". This performance marked the first time since 1983 that Strummer and Jones had performed together on stage. Jones later remarked that it was totally unplanned and that he felt compelled to join Strummer on stage.Strummer's final gig was at Liverpool Academy on November 22, 2002. Shortly before his death Strummer and U2's Bono co-wrote a song, "46664", for Nelson Mandela as part of a campaign against AIDS in Africa. Strummer had been scheduled to play at Mandela's SOS fundraising concert in February 2003 on Robben Island. Mick Jones later recorded a version of the song in studio, performing both the vocals and guitar work, that has yet to be formally released.The song Mondo Bongo recorded by Joe Strummer & the Mescaleros was used as part of the sound track to the movie, Mr. & Mrs. Smith, starring Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, during a dancing in the rain scene.
Walking for the music video "Redemption Song"
This clip is a tribute to the late great Joe Strummer who died December 22nd, 2002. It features Jim Jarmusch, Rancid, Steve Buscemi & a few others infront of the Joe Strummer mural located outside the East Village bar Niagara, Lower East Side Manhattan.
Strummer died on December 22, 2002 in his home at Broomfield in Somerset, the victim of an undiagnosed congenital heart defect. His untimely death at age 50 shocked and saddened a generation of fans to whom he had been an inspirational figure. It was later revealed that his estate on death was worth just under £1 million pounds, and that he had left all money to his wife Lucinda.