Jeremy Cunningham

Jeremy Cunningham
Jeremy Cunningham with The Levellers at Olgas Rock in 2015
Background information
Birth name Jeremy Cunningham
Born (1965-06-02) June 2, 1965
Cuckfield, West Sussex, England
Origin Brighton, Sussex, U.K
Genres
Occupation(s)
  • Musician
  • artist
Instruments
  • Bass guitar
Labels
Associated acts The Levellers
Website www.levellers.co.uk

Jeremy "Jez" Cunningham is an English musician and artist, best known as the bassist and co-founder of the British band The Levellers, once considered the most popular Indie band in Britain, with their popularity culminating in their record breaking headlining act at Glastonbury Festival in 1994.[1]

The band was formed after a chance meeting between Cunningham and Mark Chadwick in The Eagle pub in Brighton, Cunningham had been attempting to sell his bass guitar. However upon discovering that they had a fair bit in common, including a left wing view of politics, they decided to form a band. They soon added Charlie Heather on drums and Jon Sevink on fiddle and, after a short while, Alan Miles to play harmonica, guitar and the mandolin.

The Levellers line-up of Mark Chadwick, Jeremy Cunningham, Jon Sevink, Simon Friend and Charlie Heather continues to this day (with Matt Savage later joining on keyboards). The Levellers were discovered by Derek Green in 1990(the man responsible for signing the Sex Pistols) and signed to independent label China Records.[2]

The following year, they released Levelling The Land which was a massive success, entering the charts at number 14 and eventually going platinum. The single One Way, despite not bothering the Top 40, became a live favourite for years to come. Levelling The Land is often cited as an all time classic amongst people who were students or travellers in the early 1990s.[3]

Cunningham is also an accomplished artist and designs the artwork on the majority of the band's album covers.

Height

At the height of their popularity in 1994, The Levellers headlined Glastonbury Festival, they are believed to have performed to Glastonbury's biggest-ever crowd when they headlined the Pyramid on the Friday night in 1994. With no steel fence yet having been erected to keep out gatecrashers, as many as 300,000 people are thought to have seen the show.[4]

In 1995 The Levellers's most commercially successful album Zeitgeist was released and reached #1 in the UK album charts. Two singles were released from the album – "Hope St.", which reached #12 in the UK single charts, and "Fantasy", which reached 16. The third single released from this album took the Levellers to their first Top of the Pops appearance, playing the tongue-in-cheek drinking anthem "Just the One" whilst dressed in tuxedos. "Just the One" was specially re-recorded for the single release, with The Clash's frontman and long-time Levellers hero Joe Strummer guesting on honky tonk piano. It reached No. 12 in the UK.

Among their most successful singles are "What a Beautiful Day", which became the first single release from Mouth to Mouth and reached No. 13 on the UK chart, and "This Garden", which reached No. 12 on the UK Singles Chart

Festival

Growing weary of the existing UK festival scene The Levellers decided to put on a festival of their own. This would be a return - as far as UK legislation would allow - to the earlier festivals that the young Levellers had enjoyed, such as Elephant Fayre. Green Blade Fayre was the title of the first attempt, and was to be held at Bicton Park, East Devon, England in August 2002. Despite the backing of the necessary authorities, an organised local population managed to persuade the East Devon council to reject the licence application.

Nonetheless, in 2003 the Levellers created their own Beautiful Days Festival. The festival is now an annual event, taking place each August at Escot Park, near Fairmile in Devon, England.

Politics

As with the rest of the band, Cunningham is self-described as having a left wing view of politics.[5]

Albums

The Levellers

Studio albums

References

  1. ↑ Michael Hann (2018-01-31). "The Levellers: 'I'll rag our Brexiteer fans till they cry – or never come back'". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 2018-03-31. Retrieved 2018-03-31.
  2. ↑ Levellers official website. "TOGETHER ALL THE WAY". The Levellers. Retrieved 31 March 2018.
  3. ↑ Levellers official website. "TOGETHER ALL THE WAY". The Levellers. Retrieved 31 March 2018.
  4. ↑ Jon Kelly BBC. "How do you headline Glastonbury?". BBC. Retrieved 31 March 2018.
  5. ↑ Hann, Michael (31 January 2018). "The Levellers: 'I'll rag our Brexiteer fans till they cry – or never come back'". theguardian.com. Retrieved 31 January 2018.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.