Wilko Johnson helped give Dr. Feelgood a dangerous edge with his choppy, relentless guitar style and thousand-yard glare. The look was terrifying enough to earn him a role as silent executioner Ser Ilyn Payne on “Game of Thrones.”
LONDON, ENGLAND - OCTOBER 18: Wilko Johnson performs during Planet Rock's Rocktober event at O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire on October 18, 2022 in London, England. Wilko Johnson, the guitarist with British blues-rock band Dr. Feelgood who had an unexpected career renaissance after being diagnosed with terminal cancer, has died. He was 75.
Born John Wilkinson in 1947, Johnson was raised on Canvey Island, a marshy, industrial oil town in England’s River Thames estuary. He studied Anglo-Saxon literature at Newcastle University and worked as a schoolteacher before forming Dr. Feelgood with other local friends. The anarchic outfit inspired bands who would soon drive the U.K. punk explosion, and teetered on the edge of global fame, scoring a U.K. No. 1 album, tours of the U.S. and a deal with CBS records. Then in 1977 Johnson walked out amid friction with charismatic lead singer Lee Brilleaux, who died in 1994.Johnson later said that if the band had been able to follow its managers’ instructions to behave, "I’m pretty sure we’d be multimillionaires. But we didn’t.
In 2012, Johnson was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and was told it was terminal. The prospect of death unexpectedly revived his creative energies. He declined chemotherapy, decided to go on one last tour, and recorded a "final" album, "Going Back Home," with Roger Daltrey of The Who.
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