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Jean-Jacques Burnel

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Jean-Jacques Burnel

Jean-Jacques Burnel (born 21 February 1952 in London) also known as J J Burnel, is an Anglo-French musician and songwriter, best known as the bass guitarist with the British rock band, The Stranglers.

Life and career

Burnel was born in Notting Hill, London, to French parents on 21 February 1952. He moved with his parents to Godalming in Surrey when he was about twelve and attended the Royal Grammar School, Guildford and read history at the University of Bradford.[1] Burnel originally trained as a classical guitarist, but adopted the bass guitar as his instrument within the Stranglers.[2] He has also sung lead vocals on about a quarter of their songs.

Burnel has been with The Stranglers since their inception in 1974, but has also made two solo albums Euroman Cometh in 1979, and Un Jour Parfait in 1988, as well as a collaborative album with fellow Strangler Dave Greenfield, Fire and Water (Ecoutez Vos Murs) in 1983.[3]

Despite only having lived there for a short period, Burnel received his call-up papers for National service in France. He avoided this service due to the argument that his absence would indirectly damage the Stranglers as a band, and therefore the careers of the other members.

He has also composed and performed some music for the anime, Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo, including both the opening and ending themes, "We Were Lovers", and "You Won't See Me Coming" respectively.

Equipment and sound

Burnel is noted for his distinctive bass guitar sound and melodic basslines. These are particularly prominent on earlier Stranglers recordings produced by Martin Rushent, such as the hit singles "No More Heroes" and "Peaches". In the early days Burnel's distinctive aggressive sound was created using a Fender Precision Bass with RotoSound roundwound strings played with a plectrum very close to the bridge, through Hiwatt all valve amplification.[4] Later on he used a Wal pro bass, a Yamaha BB2000, a Steinberger 2L (headless), a Fender Jazz, a Fender Musicmaster, and a Kincade acoustic bass. He currently plays Shuker JJ Burnel signature basses custom built in England by Jon Shuker. He was one of the first bassists to use Trace Elliot amplification when the company began production in 1980. He now uses custom built amps designed by Mark Gooday of Ashdown Engineering. Recently he has toured with 2 500w heads with 2 4x10 cabs and 2 1x15 cabs. J J Burnel has been a RotoSound endorsee since the early 1980s, and has featured in their advertising.

Leisure

  • Burnel is a black belt 6th dan Karate expert and is head of Shidokan UK.[5]
  • He is also a motorcyclist, and has owned many Triumph motorcycles.[6] He currently rides a Triumph in his spare time.

Discography

Albums

Singles

  • "Freddie Laker (Concorde & Eurobus)" (1979)
  • "Girl From the Snow Country" (1981) recalled due to label dispute.
  • "They'll Never Know" (with Simon Gallup et al. as Fools Dance) (1987)

References

Notes

  1. ^ Buckley 1997, p.16.
  2. ^ Buckley 1997, p.17.
  3. ^ Buckley 1997, pp.136-137.
  4. ^ Buckley 1997, p.90.
  5. ^ Shidokan GB Retrieved: 16 July 2009
  6. ^ Buckley 1997, p.18.

Bibliography

  • Buckley, David. No Mercy-The Authorised and Uncensored Biography of The Stranglers. London. Hodder and Stoughton. 1997. ISBN 0-340-68062-8
  • Rice, Tim; Gambaccini, Paul; Rice, Jonathan (7 June 1996). British Hit Albums (7th Edition). Guinness World Records ltd. ISBN 0-85112-619-7.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

Further reading

  • Cornwell, Hugh, A Multitude of Sins. London. Harper Collins Publishers, 2004. ISBN 0-00-719082-4
  • Cornwell, Hugh and Drury, Jim. The Stranglers-Song by Song. London. Sanctuary Publishing Ltd. 2001 ISBN 1-86074-362-5
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