Billy Bragg

Driven by the social conscience and full throttle energy of The Clash and the songwriting tradition of the folk movement, the Bard of Barking, Billy Bragg became the political voice of 1980s pop; taking on Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, supporting the 1984 miners strike and campaigning for the Labour Party in the Red Wedge enterprise. After a short stint in the army, Bragg gigged with punk band Riff Raff, developing his trademark electric guitar thrash while bellowing acerbic lyrics in a distinctively strangulated Essex voice. His debut EP Life's A Riot With Spy vs. Spy (1983) featured the classic track A New England (later a hit for Kirsty MacColl), before the albums Brewing Up (1984), Talking With The Taxman About Poetry (1986) and Workers Playtime (1988) positioned him as one of the sharpest, wittiest songwriters of the era. Bragg's cover of She's Leaving Home gave him his only UK Number 1 (a charity double A-side with Wet Wet Wet's With A Little Help From My Friends) and the single Sexuality was a small hit in the US, though his most famous song remains socialist anthem Between The Wars. He was commissioned to set newly discovered Woody Guthrie lyrics to music, resulting in two albums (Mermaid Avenue 1 and 2) with Wilco. In the 2000s Bragg became part of the multi-cultural English folk project The Imagined Village with Martin Carthy and Paul Weller and also set up the Jail Guitar Doors initiative providing prisoners with musical instruments. A new generation of songwriters including Kate Nash, Jamie T and KT Tunstall cite him as an influence.