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Guitarist+singer & songwriter Paul Weller was born in 1958 and raised
in Woking, Surrey ENGLAND; he formed The Jam when he was just 14 years
old, his first band stormed the British charts during the second half
of the '70s, but in late 1982 he shocked fans and critics alike by announcing
that the band were to disband at the end of the year. Weller later moved
on to form a Soul-Pop Jazz outfit called The Style Council with keyboardist
Mick Talbot and continued to score successes for the better part of the
'80s; the duo recorded an un-issued House-influenced album in 1989 and
they finally decided to call it quits.
In 1991, Paul Weller resurfaced as a solo artist with the U.K. top 40
hit single "Into Tomorrow" and in October of 1992 he put out
his eponymous debut which smashed into the top 10 of the British Albums
chart; the second single off of the CD, "Uh-Huh Oh Yeh", climbed
into the top 20 in the U.K. and peaked at #10 on Billboard Magazine's
Modern Rock Tracks chart.
One year later, the artist released his second solo effort, "Wild
Wood"; the record soared to the #2 slot on the U.K. Albums chart
spawning a couple of top 20 hit singles in "Sunflower" and the
title-track; "Wild Wood" also charted in America cracking the
top 20 of the Billboard's Heatseekers list.
After an EP and the live set "Live Wood", Weller delivered his
next studio album, "Stanley Road", in May 1995; preceded by
the top 10 single "The Changingman", the full-length peaked
at #1 in Britain becoming his best-selling album and generated three more
U.K. top 20 hits: "You Do Something To Me", "Broken Stones"
and "Out Of The Sinking". That same year he appeared as a guest
guitarist and backing vocalist on Oasis'
"(What's The Story) Morning Glory?".
He followed it up with his fourth solo album, "Heavy Soul",
in mid-1997, falling just one spot short of the top of the U.K. Pop chart;
the album's first single, "Peacock Suit", hit the top 5 and
its follow-up, "Brushed", reached the #14 position on the National
U.K. Singles list.
A year later Weller assembled a 16-song compilation titled "Modern
Classics The Greatest Hits", choosing three tracks from his solo
debut album, four tracks from each of the rest and adding one new song,
"Brand New Start", which hit #16 on the British Singles chart.
Released in mid-2000, his fifth album of all-new-material, "Heliocentric",
shot to #2 in Britain; "Illumination" followed one and a half
year later reaching the top of the U.K. chart and hit #20 on the American
Top Independent Albums list; the record included "It's Written In
The Stars" which climbed to #7 on the U.K. Singles chart.
September 2004 saw the release of "Studio 150" an album of covers
which debuted at #2 in U.K. spawning no less than three top 20 singles:
"The Bottle", "Wishing On A Star" and "Thinking
Of You".
In October 2005 Paul Weller released his seven album of original material,
"As Is Now"; it climbed into the top 5 in Britain while the
strong self-penned single, "From The Floorboards Up" reached
the top 10.
Buoyed by a stellar Britpop cast including former Blur
guitarist Graham Coxon and Oasis
members Noel Gallagher and Gem Archer, the follow-up album, "22 Dreams",
arrived in June 2008 going straight to #1 on the British chart and yielded
a top 20 hit single with the blue-eyed soul "Have You Made Up Your
Mind".
Paul Weller biography is an exclusive of 100xr.com
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