Joe Jackson + Band is coming to The Joy Theater on their Hope and Fury tour. Get details and tickets at thejoytheater.com.

Joe Jackson was born on August 11 1954 in Burton-on-Trent, England, but grew up in the South Coast naval port city of Portsmouth. At age 16 Joe played his first paying gig, as pianist in a pub next door to a glue factory just outside of Portsmouth. This was followed by other pub gigs (in which he was often trying to entertain crowds of drunken, bottle-throwing sailors) and accompanying a bouzouki player in a Greek restaurant. At age 18 Joe won a scholarship to study Composition, Piano, and Percussion at London's Royal Academy of Music.

By 1978 Joe was living in London and hawking an album-length demo, with his own band (Graham Maby, Bass; Dave Houghton, Drums; Gary Sanford, Guitar) standing by. That demo - already called Look Sharp - eventually found its way to American producer David Kershenbaum, who was in London in the capacity of talent scout for A&M Records. Joe was immediately signed and Look Sharp more professionally re-recorded in August '78. The Joe Jackson Band finally started to play regular gigs and the album was released in January 1979.

Joe Jackson's story up to this point is much more fully, fascinatingly, and hilariously recounted in his book A CURE FOR GRAVITY. From here on, though, it becomes more a matter of public record. Look Sharp was followed within a year by the very similar I'm The Man, and in 1980 by the darker, more reggae-influenced Beat Crazy. At the end of 1980, drummer Houghton decided to quit, and Joe decided to dissolve the band and try something new.