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Itch
Itch at Vans Warped Tour 2013
Itch at Vans Warped Tour 2013
Background information
Birth nameJonathan Fox
BornSouth London, England
OccupationRapper
Instrument(s)Vocals, ukulele
Years active2004–12; 2015–present: with the band The King Blues
2012–15: solo singer-songwriter
LabelsRed Bull Records
Websiteitchsmixes.com

Jonathan "Jonny" Fox,[1][2] better known simply by his stage name Itch, is an English rapper. Fox is the lead vocalist of The King Blues, previously performing briefly as a solo musician during the band's absence.

Early life

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Jonathan Fox was born and grew up in South London, England. His mother is from Malaysia.[3] At the age of 13, he was homeless and sold copies of The Big Issue to make some money.[4][5]

Music career

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2004–12: The King Blues

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Main article: The King Blues

In 2004, Fox released a solo EP under the name The King Blues. However, he began recording with a number of different musicians before settling on a permanent lineup. They initially played in squats around London.[5]

In 2010, Fox collaborated with UK band Faithless on their song "Crazy Bal'heads" for their album The Dance.

In April 2012, the band announced that they would split, with their final album, Long Live the Struggle, to be released months later in July 2012.[6]

2012–2015: Solo career

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Soon after The King Blues' breakup, Itch flew to Los Angeles to begin working on solo material with collaborator John Feldmann of Goldfinger. His first solo full-length, The Deep End, released in March 2014 by Red Bull Records,[7] featured guest appearances by Adam Lazzara of Taking Back Sunday, Matisyahu, and Patrick Stump of Fall Out Boy.[8] He began touring extensively, including performances at the Reading and Leeds Festivals and UK dates with Scroobius Pip.[9] Itch fractured his heel during a show at London's Jazz Café in June 2013, and subsequently spent the rest of the summer on Vans Warped Tour in a wheelchair.[8] Itch also played a number of dates on The Kevin Says Tour for Warped Tour UK.[10] Itch, Fruitbag and Jamie Jazz all reunited in May 2014 for a three-song one-off encore after Itch's set at the 100 Club in London.[11] Itch had massive success in Australia where his single "Another Man" was certified double platinum and remained in the top 50 for 14 weeks.[12]

2015–present: Reunion of The King Blues

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On 25 November 2015, The King Blues announced their return, as well as announcing tour dates for Enter Shikari, for whom they would appear as special guests on their Mindsweep Tour the following year.[13]

In 2016, the band released "Off with Their Heads" on rapper Scroobius Pip's Speech Development record label.

In 2017, the band signed to Cooking Vinyl Records and released their fifth full-length album The Gospel Truth.

Itch wrote a poem called "Manchester" after the Manchester bombings which was used by ITN News in their report.[citation needed]

Itch released his first book 101 Haikus which was crowd-funded and reached its goal within hours of being announced. The book went on to become an Amazon Best Seller.[citation needed]

In 2019, Itch wrote "38 Minutes" a musical based on a false alert in Hawaii. The live show was sold out months in advance and the soundtrack made the UK iTunes Top 40.

Itch also released his second book "Tall Stories", a collection of fictional short stories.

Controversy

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In June 2016, during their performance at the Glastonwick festival (where The King Blues were also playing), The Tuts referred to sexual assault and domestic violence allegations published in a blog by a former romantic partner of Itch. Immediately after the festival they uploaded a now-deleted video to their YouTube channel, along with the full text of their speech.[14]

Following the statement from The Tuts, Itch released his own statement on The King Blues Facebook page in 2017 addressing some of the allegations, calling it an "organised smear campaign" and denying the accusations made against him.[15] In the statement he refers to being "hit", "scratched", and "bitten" by one of the women who made the allegations during their relationship.

He addressed the allegations again in an interview, where he speaks about his experience with one of the accusers in detail, and spoke out about false accusations and their impact on victims of domestic violence[16]

Following a legal hearing in May 2019[17] it was publicly announced that Itch was pursuing legal action to sue the band and his former partner over the allegations as defamation and harassment.[18] The defendants launched a fundraiser for legal fees under the banner Solidarity Not Silence.[19] On August 3rd 2021, it was confirmed that the libel case had been settled out of court on mutually acceptable terms without any admissions of liability.[17][20][21] Default judgement was awarded towards Itch for one of the defamation cases he had initiated and was published on BAILII, citing that the defendant failed to respond to his claim.

Discography

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See also: The King Blues discography

Extended plays

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  • Manifesto Part 1: How to Fucking Rule at Life[2] (2012)
  • Manifesto Part 2: We’re All in the Gutter[2] (2013)

Studio albums

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Title Details Peak chart positions Certifications
(sales threshold)
AUS
[22] 		AUT
[23] 		CAN
[24] 		DEN GER
[25] 		IRE
[26] 		NL
[27] 		NZ US
[24]
The Deep End
  • Released: 28 March 2014
  • Label: Red Bull
  • Formats: CD, Digital download
 12 — — — — — — — —

Singles

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Year Single Peak positions Album
UK
 AUS
[28]
2013 "Best Shot" — —
2014 "Another Man"
(featuring Megan Joy) 		— 12

References

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  1. ^ Partridge, Kenneth (22 February 2013). "Win U.K. Alternative Rapper, spoken word and old style hip hop artist Itch's 10 Favorite Albums by Warped Tour Alumni". Diffuser. Retrieved 3 April 2016.
  2. ^ a b c Todd, Bella (2 August 2013). "Something for the weekend: Itch". Red Bull Records. Retrieved 3 April 2016.
  3. ^ Sadia, Halima (29 April 2010). "Interview with Jonny "Itch" Fox, lead singer of ska-punk outfit The King Blues by Myself". I Rule Hyrule. Retrieved 3 April 2016.
  4. ^ Lindvall, Helienne (6 February 2009). "Behind the music: Tackling the big issues". The Guardian. Retrieved 3 September 2014.
  5. ^ a b Burton, Ilona (6 April 2011). ""Activists first, Musicians second" – The King Blues Interview". The Independent. Archived from the original on 18 April 2012. Retrieved 3 September 2014.
  6. ^ Collett-White, Mike. "UK protest punk band The King Blues announces split". Reuters. Retrieved 28 March 2014.
  7. ^ Bielby, Emily (March 2014). "From the Gutter to the Stars". Big Cheese.
  8. ^ a b Young, Simon (March 2014). "What the F*ck Happened to Itch". Kerrang!.
  9. ^ "ITCH Confirmed for the 'Thank You For Flying' Tour with Air Dubai". Concert Blogger. Archived from the original on 12 May 2014. Retrieved 28 March 2014.
  10. ^ "Warped Tour UK Announces The Kevin Says Tour Featuring Itch And". Rock Sound T. Retrieved 28 March 2014.
  11. ^ "Itch Live Review From London's 100 Club May 2014". Rock Sins. 6 May 2014. Retrieved 4 April 2016.
  12. ^ "australian-charts.com - Itch feat. Megan Joy - Another Man". Australian-charts.com. Retrieved 21 May 2020.
  13. ^ James (25 November 2015). "The King Blues Announce Their Reunion". Karrang!. Retrieved 3 April 2016.
  14. ^ The Tuts (4 June 2016), The Tuts discuss abuse and Itch from the King Blues | Glastonwick 2016, retrieved 18 October 2017[dead link‍]
  15. ^ "King Blues front man speaks out against allegations". Roobla. Retrieved 12 October 2023.
  16. ^ Pattinson, David. "dpaf Interview with Jonny "The Itch" Fox". Youtube. Youtube.
  17. ^ a b "Fox v Wiggins & Ors [2019] EWHC 2713 (QB) (16 October 2019)". www.bailii.org. Retrieved 17 November 2022.
  18. ^ "King Blues singer Jonny Fox suing five women over 'sexual predator' allegations". Retrieved 14 June 2022.
  19. ^ Wheaton, Oliver (18 October 2017). "Group who reported musician's 'treatment of women' facing defamation case". Metro. Retrieved 5 October 2023.
  20. ^ @itchsspeeches (5 August 2021). "Update on my libel case-" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  21. ^ "Solidarity Not Silence".
  22. ^ "Itch – The Deep End". australian-charts.com. Hung Medien. Retrieved 3 September 2014.
  23. ^ "Discographie Itch" [Itch Discography]. austriancharts.at. Retrieved 3 April 2016.
  24. ^ a b "Itch | Album Discography". AllMusic. Retrieved 3 April 2016.
  25. ^ "Itch – Biografie, Steckbrief, Diskografie, Chartverfolgung, Tourdates, Tickets, Fotos, Galerie, Links, Noten und Songtexte" [Itch – Biography profile, discography, chart tracking, tour dates, tickets, photo gallery, links, notes and lyrics]. musicline.de. Retrieved 3 April 2016.
  26. ^ "Discography Itch". irishcharts.com. Retrieved 3 April 2016.
  27. ^ "Discografie Itch" [Itch Discography]. dutchcharts.nl. Retrieved 3 April 2016.
  28. ^ "Discography Itch". australian-charts.com. Hung Medien. Retrieved 18 December 2014.
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