Acting
Hugh Cornwell
Hugh Alan Cornwell (born 28 August 1949) is an English musician, singer-songwriter and writer, best known for being the lead vocalist and lead guitarist for the punk rock and new wave band the Stranglers from 1974 to 1990. Since leaving the Stranglers, Cornwell has recorded a further ten solo studio albums and continues to record and perform live.
Cornwell grew up in Tufnell Park and Kentish Town and attended William Ellis School in Highgate, where he played bass in a band with Richard Thompson, later a member of folk rock band Fairport Convention. In the late 1960s, after earning a bachelor's degree in biochemistry from the University of Bristol, he embarked on post-graduate research at Lund University in Sweden. Not long after his arrival he formed the band Johnny Sox.
Cornwell returned to the UK in 1974 with Johnny Sox (minus Hans Wärmling). Drummer Jet Black then joined the band. At one stage it was just Cornwell and Black, who were then joined by bassist Jean-Jacques Burnel. Guitarist, keyboardist and saxophonist Hans Wärmling, on holiday from Sweden, joined the line-up towards the end of 1974. The Johnny Sox name was dropped, with the band adopting the name the Guildford Stranglers before settling on the Stranglers.
Wärmling was soon replaced by Dave Greenfield, who joined in 1975 after answering an advertisement placed in the Melody Maker magazine. Cornwell was the lead guitarist in the group and he also sang the majority of songs, with Burnel handling lead vocals on about a third of the band's songs. Years later, Burnel recalled that he often sang lyrics written by Cornwell, and vice versa, depending on "who had the best voice for that particular song".
By 1977, the group had secured a recording contract with United Artists Records. They went on to become the most commercially successful band to emerge from the UK punk scene, with numerous hit singles and record albums. He recorded his first studio album away from the group, Nosferatu, in collaboration with the Captain Beefheart's Magic Band's drummer, Robert Williams, in 1979. Cornwell's first solo studio album, Wolf (1988) was produced by Ian Ritchie with additional production on two tracks by Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley, who had engineered the first three Stranglers albums and produced their fourth studio album, The Raven (1979).
Throughout his Stranglers career, Hugh used a Black Fender Telecaster all the way from 1974 until 1989 when he adopted a Gibson Melody Maker for the 10 Tour. Hugh also used a Hofner Razorwood for the La Folie Tour in 1981-82 for certain songs which required distinctive sounds. He also used a Bass guitar when performing Dead Loss Angeles on The Raven tour in 1979 and was instrumental in teaching Stranglers bassist Jean Jacques Burnel how to play bass guitar.
In 1990, due to growing tensions within the band and a constant clash with Jean Jacques Burnel, he decided that he could go no further artistically. He recorded the album 10 with the band before leaving them after 16 years. ...
Source: Article "Hugh Cornwell" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.
Filmography
Browse movies and TV shows featuring Hugh Cornwell
Never Mind the Buzzcocks
Never Mind the Buzzcocks is a comedy panel game show with a pop and rock music theme. The show is infamous for...
Through the Night with...
Durch die Nacht mit … is a German documentary film television series produced by ZDF for Franco-German televisi...
Rockpalast
Ambitions
Eat the Rich
Alex is a disgruntled waiter at a snobby exclusive restaurant who falls on hard times. Forced to deal with the...
Lucky Sunil
Young, handsome and alone in London at the start of a great career. But will Sunil's luck hold out against the...
My View: Clem Burke
An access all areas documentary with Clem Burke, a look back at 40 years on the road and performing with one of...
The Stranglers: Live at Alexandra Palace
On 11th August 1990, what began as just another Stranglers gig at Alexandra Palace became their final performan...
Blueprint
Blueprint is a film documenting the making of Hugh Cornwell's album Hooverdam. The film, which includes live st...
One For My Baby
A BAFTA award nominated drama.
No Nukes! muziekfestival
The Bleeding Star
An Englishman arrives in a remote French town near the coast to collect his broken-down car. What he sees there...
Stranglers in the Night
The French TV series Les Enfants du Rock produced a documentary on The Stranglers during the release of their e...
The Stranglers
BBC Choice documentary the story of The Stranglers, charting the band's rise to fame in the 1980s to present da...
The Stranglers - The Video Collection 1977-1982
A compilation of promos from The Stranglers, chronicling the five year period in which their sleazy pub rock la...
The Stranglers - Rockpalast
Broadcast live from Hamburg’s Markthalle, this electrifying set captures The Stranglers at their sleek, synth-d...
The Stranglers - Feline European Tour - Live in Hamburg
"The Journey", or The Memoirs of a Self-Confessed Surrealist
George Melly explores his lifelong relationship with surrealism in all its forms and prominent personalities.
The Stranglers: Never To Look Back - The Video Collection 1983-2012
Featuring twenty-two music videos from 1983 - 2012
The Colour Black
A documentary made for BBC West in 1982, written and presented by Hugh Cornwell and Jet Black of The Stranglers...
Hugh Cornwell: Anthology - Aberdeen Acoustic
Recorded at The Lemon Tree, Aberdeen in December 2013, and features a song from every Stranglers studio album u...
The Stranglers - Live '78, SF
The Stranglers playing live in San Francisco 1978.
Hugh Cornwell: Another Kind of Love
Svankmajer's music video for Hugh Cornwell's "Another Kind of Love."
Hugh Cornwell - Rockpalast (Crossroad Festival)
Hugh Cornwell's live performance on Rockpalast at the Harmonie March 23th 2007.
The Stranglers: The Raven Tour live in Paris
The Stranglers perform live at Théâtre de l’Empire in Paris 1979.
The Stranglers: Death + Night + Blood
Unrealised documentary about The Stranglers
Rockstage: The Stranglers
The Stranglers in concert at the Royal Theatre, Nottingham and broadcast via the ITV network
The Stranglers - Live in Madrid
The Stranglers’ live performance in Madrid on 18 November 1986, recorded at Estación de Perpignan during their...
Hugh Cornwell Songbook
Hugh talking about career and playing a handful of acoustic tracks.
Somewhere
A disturbing glimpse of the future of internet gaming and how far people will go for fame.
The Stranglers: Screentime
The Stranglers first ever VHS with music videos for European Female, Midnight Summer Dream, All Roads Lead to R...
Hugh Cornwell: Live in Paris at MCM Cafe
Hugh Cornwell performance in 1996 during the period of his album Guilty.