John Cooper Clarke
In Cardiff, March 1979
Born	(1949-01-25) 25 January 1949 (age 69) Salford, Lancashire, England
Occupation	Poet
Website
www.johncooperclarke.com

At Bedford's Rhythm Festival, 2006

John Cooper Clarke (born 25 January 1949) is an English performance poet who first became famous during the punk rock era of the late 1970s when he became known as a "punk poet".^[1] He released several albums in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and continues to perform regularly.

His recorded output has mainly centred on musical backing from the Invisible Girls, which featured Martin Hannett, Steve Hopkins, Pete Shelley, Bill Nelson, and Paul Burgess.

Early life[edit]

Clarke was born in Salford, Lancashire, in 1949.^[2] He lived in the Higher Broughton area of the city and became interested in poetry after being inspired by his English teacher, John Malone,^[3] whom he described as "a real outdoor guy, an Ernest Hemingway type, red blooded, literary bloke".^[4] Recollecting his childhood, Clarke said:

I used to think trees were dirty, because when I was a kid in Salford you'd climb them and come off filthy, it was like you'd been up a chimney... and even if you got a stretch of park you just had to scrape the grass and there were, like, cinders underneath... it was horrible...^[5]

His first job was a laboratory technician at Salford Tech.^[6] He began his performance career in Manchester folk clubs, where he began working with Rick Goldstraw and his band the Ferrets.^[2] His first releases were on Tosh Ryan and Martin Hannett's independent label Rabid,^[7] starting with the EP Innocents in October 1977.^[2] Rabid also released his debut LP Où est la maison de fromage'? (catalogue number NOZE 1), which was a collection of live recordings, demos and rehearsals. This was reissued by Revolver Records in 1989 (RRLP 10) also making it his last album to date. He toured with Bill Nelson's band Be-Bop Deluxe in 1978 and was signed by Epic Records, who issued the Martin Hannett produced studio album Disguise In Love in 1978.^[2]

Clarke has attributed his early success in part to the influence of the English poet Pam Ayres. Her run of success on the British TV show Opportunity Knocks led both Clarke and his mother to believe that he could make a living at poetry.^[8] It has come to light, however, that JCC was actually published in the first issue (Spring 1971) of the eclectic Manchester-based "little [literary] magazine" SKYLIGHT, edited by Peter Baker (who met in the CanCan night club his fellow poet, who was gripping scrawled-upon sheets of Izal bogroll declaring that as he wrote shite this was right), where he appeared alongside such luminaries as Elaine Feinstein, Andrew Crozier, John James, David Chaloner, Barry MacSweeney, Glyn Hughes, et al...[See: Miller and Price: British Poetry Magazines 1914-2000, The British Library, 2006.]

Career[edit]

Solo success[edit]

In 1979 he had his only UK top 40 hit with "Gimmix! (Play Loud)".^[2][9] Clarke toured with Linton Kwesi Johnson, and has performed on the same bill as bands such as the Sex Pistols, the Fall, Joy Division, the Buzzcocks, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Elvis Costello, Rockpile and New Order (including at their May 1984 Music for Miners benefit concert at London's Royal Festival Hall). His set is characterised by lively, rapid-fire renditions of his poems, usually performed a cappella. Often referred to as "the bard of Salford",^[9] he usually refers to himself on stage as "Johnny Clarke, the name behind the hairstyle".

Performing in Cardiff, 1979

Clarke appeared in a 1982 music documentary compilation Urgh! A Music War, in which he performed his poem "Health Fanatic".^[10] The film featured live performances of mainstream artists (the Police, the Go-Go's, XTC, Devo) as well as more obscure bands (Pere Ubu, Invisible Girls, the Alley Cats, Athletico Spizz '80, Chelsea) using concert footage from around the world. He also starred in another 1982 film titled John Cooper Clarke - Ten Years in an Open Necked Shirt directed by Nick May and produced for the Arts Council of Great Britain and Channel 4. Somewhere between a narrative film, a series of music videos and a documentary, the film features interviews and performances by Clarke and Linton Kwesi Johnson among others.^[11]

Clarke released Zip Style Method in 1982, but thereafter performed his live act less frequently, spending much of the 1980s mired in heroin addiction, living in a "domestic partnership" with singer and fellow addict Nico.^[12][13] He described this period of his life: "It was a feral existence. I was on drugs. It was hand to mouth."^[14] In 1987 he performed live (on crutches owing to a broken ankle) at the Albany Empire in London with Suns of Arqa, recorded two tracks ("Libera Me" and "The Truth Lies Therein") for their album Seven, and featured in the music video for the latter. In 1988 he made an appearance in two UK adverts for Sugar Puffs, taking second billing to the Honey Monster.^[2] He returned to live performance in the 1990s, appearing again with Suns of Arqa in 1992 at The Witchwood in Ashton-under-Lyne. His vocals from both of his Suns of Arqa tracks have been used on numerous remixes by the band ever since.

Since 2000[edit]

After 20 years of performing the same material, Clarke re-established contact with guitarist Ricky Goldshaw, who had founded Blue Orchids and played with the Fall and Nico. Goldshaw began handling Clarke's affairs and the two toured with the Mescaleros and several times supporting the Fall.^[4] He also duetted with Reverend Jon McClure at a Reverend and the Makers concert at London's Spread Eagle, performing the poem "Last Resort", which would later be released as the b-side for the band's single "Heavyweight Champion of the World". Clarke also recorded a song with the band entitled "Dead Man's Shoes". Clarke's recording of "Evidently Chickentown" from his album Snap, Crackle & Bop was also featured prominently in the closing scene of The Sopranos episode Stage 5. A live performance of the same poem appears in the film Control with Clarke portraying himself in a re-creation of a 1977 concert in which he supported Joy Division, despite being 30 years older than the events depicted in the film. "Evidently Chickentown" (recited by Christopher Eccleston) is featured in the made-for-television film Strumpet.

Clarke receives an honorary doctorate from the University of Salford, 2013.

Clarke's poem "Out of Control Fairground" was printed inside the Arctic Monkeys' 2007 single "Fluorescent Adolescent" CD. The poem is also the inspiration behind the single's video in which clowns brawl. Alex Turner of the Arctic Monkeys has said he is very fond of Clarke's work and takes inspiration for lyrics from his poems.^[15][16]

Clarke was the subject of a BBC Four documentary, Evidently... John Cooper Clarke, in May 2012, screened as part of the BBC's Punk Britannia season.^[14]

In July 2013, Clarke was awarded an honorary doctorate of arts in "acknowledgement of a career which has spanned five decades, bringing poetry to non-traditional audiences and influencing musicians and comedians" by the University of Salford. Upon receipt, Clarke commented: "Now I'm a doctor, finally my dream of opening a cosmetic surgery business can become a reality."^[17] His poem "I Wanna Be Yours" was adapted by Arctic Monkeys and frontman Alex Turner for the band's fifth album, AM, released on 9 September 2013.^[18]

On 13 January 2018 Cooper-Clarke appeared as a contestant on an academic version of BBC One's Pointless Celebrities partnered with historian Suzannah Lipscomb; they reached the head-to-head round.^[19]

Personal life[edit]

Clarke has lived, for nearly 20 years, in Colchester, Essex, with his second wife, Evie, who is French. They have one daughter, Stella.^[14][20]

Discography[edit]

Albums[edit]

• 
  Où est la maison de fromage? (1978), Rabid


• 
  Disguise in Love (1978), Epic
  


• 
  Walking Back to Happiness (1979), Epic (Live album)


• 
  Snap, Crackle & Bop (1980), Epic - UK No. 26^[2]


• 
  Zip Style Method (1982), Epic - UK No. 97^[2]


• 
  This Time It's Personal with Hugh Cornwell (2016), Sony - UK No. 34

Compilations[edit]

• 
  Me and My Big Mouth (1981), Epic


• 
  Word of Mouth: The Very Best of John Cooper Clarke (2002), Sony


• 
  Anthologia (2015), Sony

Singles, EPs[edit]

• 
  Innocents EP (1977), Rabid


• "Post-War Glamour Girl" (1978), CBS ^[21]


• "Gimmix! (Play Loud)" (1978), Epic - UK No. 39^[2]


• "Splat"/"Twat" (1979), Epic


• "The It Man" (1980), Epic


• "The Day My Pad Went Mad" (1982), Epic


• "Night People" (1982), Epic


• "Pity the Plight" (2012 Ill manors album - Plan B)

DVDs, Videos[edit]

• 
  Ten Years in an Open-Necked Shirt (1981) Channel 4/British Arts Council (re-released 2015)^[22]


• 
  Evidently, John Cooper Clarke (2012), Click Films/BBC


• 
  South of the Border - Live (2013), Click Films/Safecracker Pictures

Compilation appearances[edit]

• 
  Short Circuit - Live At The Electric Circus^[23] (1978), Virgin (various artists, features Clarke performing "(You Never See a Nipple In The) Daily Express" and "I Married a Monster From Outer Space"


• 
  Urgh! A Music War (1981), Warners - "Health Fanatic"


• 
  The Old Grey Whistle Test Volume 3 (2004), 2 Entertain - "I Don't Want to Be Nice"


• 
  Poets, Punks, Beatniks and Counter Culture Heroes (2010), Ozit - includes rare JCC film footage from the 1980s


• 
  Ten Years In An Open-Necked Video (2016) Ozit

Bibliography[edit]

Poetry collections[edit]

• 
  Ten Years in an Open Necked Shirt (2012), Arena


• 
  The Luckiest Guy Alive (2018), Picador

References[edit]

External links[edit]

Wikiquote has quotations related to: John Cooper Clarke

• Official website


• 
  John Cooper Clarke on IMDb


• 
  John Cooper Clarke performs Beasley Street at Hammersmith Palais on YouTube
  


• John Cooper Clarke Interview 2012