Hugh Cornwell

Hugh Cornwell is an English rock musician and songwriter from Tufnell Park, London. He grows up in Tufnell Park and Kentish Town, and attends William Ellis School in Highgate, where he is friends with Richard Thompson, later of Fairport Convention. He studies biochemistry at Bristol University and then begins postgraduate research at Lund University in southern Sweden, where he forms the band Johnny Sox before returning to the UK in 1974.

The Stranglers

Cornwell is best known as the vocalist, guitarist and original founder of The Stranglers, which he forms in 1974 with Jet Black, Hans Warmling and Jean Jacques Burnel. By 1977 the group signs to United Artists Records and becomes one of the most successful acts on the UK punk scene, with a run of hit singles and albums. He remains with the band for sixteen years, leaving after recording 10 and Saturday Night/Sunday Morning. His writing about the group describes long-running tensions within the band, especially between himself and Burnel.

Solo work and collaborations

Cornwell begins a solo career while still in The Stranglers and releases Nosferatu in 1979 with Robert Williams of Captain Beefheart’s Magic Band. His solo albums include Wolf, Wired, Guilty, Black Hair Black Eyes Black Suit, First Bus To Babylon, Hifi, Footprints In The Desert, Mayday, In The Dock, Beyond Elysian Fields and Dirty Dozen. He also records the collaborations CCW with Roger Cook and Andy West, and Sons Of Shiva with Sex W Johnston.

Writing and publications

In 2001 he publishes The Stranglers: Song by Song, a book about the band’s catalogue. In 2004 his autobiography A Multitude of Sins appears. He also releases the triple live album People Places Pieces, which spans material from his years with The Stranglers and his solo work.

Later releases and projects

Cornwell releases Hooverdam and the film Blueprint, both completed at Toerag Studios with producer Liam Watson. The album is made available as free download in high-quality MP3 format, and its CD edition includes a DVD of Blueprint. His website is presented in multiple languages, and the release is associated with live performances including a Glastonbury set.

Use of songs in film and advertising

The Stranglers’ song “Golden Brown” appears on the soundtrack to Snatch. “Peaches” is used in the opening sequence of Sexy Beast and also in a Nike television advert connected to the 2002 Football World Cup.