Johnny Hates Jazz

Johnny Hates Jazz

Johnny Hates Jazz is a British new wave, pop and sophisti-pop group formed in 1986. The group is associated with Clark Datchler, Mike Nocito, Calvin Hayes and Phil Thornalley, and is active from 1986 to the present.

Formation and early background

Clark Datchler and Mike Nocito both come from musical families. Datchler’s father, Fred Datchler, is linked with two chart-topping 1950s bands; The Stargazers are noted as the first British band to reach number one on the UK Singles Chart, and Fred Datchler also sang with the Polkadots alongside acts including The Beatles, Frank Sinatra and Petula Clark. Nocito comes from an American family based in Europe through the United States armed forces, and his mother sings in the close-harmony group The Cactus Kids, who perform for troops across Northern Europe.

Datchler plays singer, songwriter, keyboards and had already worked in several bands as a teenager. He releases his first single on Bluebird Records at 17, with backing from members of Aswad, then works with Rusty Egan of Visage, combining electronic music and soul in London clubs. He is later signed to Warner Brothers Music as a songwriter and moves to Los Angeles. Nocito plays guitar in school bands, grows up alongside Phil Thornalley and members of Katrina and the Waves, then becomes a recording engineer and works with Pink Floyd, The Police, The Cure, Duran Duran and the Thompson Twins.

Original line-up and breakthrough

Datchler and Nocito meet in 1982 at RAK Studios in London. Datchler has just become lead singer in Hot Club with Calvin Hayes, Glen Matlock and James Stevenson. Hot Club releases a single on RAK Records in 1983 and plays the Marquee Club, which leads to Datchler being signed by Mickie Most as a solo artist. Most suggests that Datchler work with Nocito, who is engineering at RAK at the time, and the pair collaborate on Datchler’s solo recordings over the next four years.

In 1986, Datchler, Nocito and Hayes release the first Johnny Hates Jazz single, “Me and My Foolish Heart,” on RAK Records. It does not sell strongly but receives extensive airplay and is named Sounds magazine’s record of the week. The band then performs a showcase at Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club and signs to Virgin Records. “Shattered Dreams,” released in 1987, becomes an international hit, reaching the top five across mainland Europe and Asia and number two in Japan. It later reaches number two in the US Billboard Hot 100, number one on the US Adult Contemporary chart and number four in Canada. Other worldwide hits follow, including “I Don’t Want to Be a Hero,” “Turn Back the Clock,” which features backing vocals from Kim Wilde, and “Heart of Gold.”

Albums and personnel changes

The debut album, Turn Back The Clock, reaches number one in the UK album chart and goes double platinum. It is later described as having sold four million copies. At the end of 1987, the band makes two videos with director David Fincher for the US releases of “Shattered Dreams” and “Heart of Gold.” Datchler leaves at the end of 1988, and Hayes and Nocito continue with Phil Thornalley, who has been a bass player in The Cure and is a Grammy Award-nominated engineer and record producer. This line-up releases Tall Stories in 1991, but the album does not succeed and the group dissolves the following year.

Solo work and later activity

After the split, Datchler moves to Amsterdam and records the solo albums Raindance and Fishing for Souls. He later returns to the UK and works at Peter Gabriel’s Real World Studios near Bath through the 1990s, then moves to the US in 2000 and builds a solar-powered home and studio, where he records much of Tomorrow. During this period he studies indigenous philosophy and becomes environmentally active. In 2008 he receives a GreenTec Award in Berlin. In 2010 he also receives a BMI award for “Shattered Dreams” for more than 3.2 million broadcast performances in the US.

Nocito settles in Cambridge, England, after the split and produces Katrina and the Waves’ “Love Shine a Light,” the Eurovision Song Contest winner and a European top-10 hit in 1997. He also writes and produces for Hepburn, Gina G and Orson, and continues working with Katrina and the Waves. Datchler and Nocito meet again in 2009 after Datchler writes “Magnetized,” which they decide to record as a Johnny Hates Jazz album. Datchler moves back to the UK and writes the rest of the material. Hayes appears with the original trio at live shows in various international festivals, but leaves before recording begins.

Magnetized and recent work

The album Magnetized is recorded during 2011 and 2012 at Real World Studios near Bath, Hamp Sound near Cambridge and Angel Recording Studios in London. Datchler handles songwriting, vocals and keyboards, while Nocito produces and engineers. The album also features string arrangements and additional keyboards from Anne Dudley of The Art of Noise, who had arranged the strings on Turn Back The Clock, along with drummer Alex Reeves, guitarists David Rhodes and Marcus Bonfanti, synthesizer player Pete Watson and mix engineer Stephen W. Tayler. Its lead single, “Magnetized,” receives substantial airplay and is A-listed for several weeks on BBC Radio 2, and also receives radio support in Germany.

After Datchler’s cancer diagnosis shortly after the album period, promotion stops and the group focuses on live work. They then perform extensively in the UK, Germany and Asia. In 2017 they release a remixed version of “Magnetized” in China and continue to perform live. They also begin writing and recording material for another album. Datchler later co-writes eight songs with Mike Rutherford for Mike + the Mechanics’ Let Me Fly. In 2020, Johnny Hates Jazz releases the single “Spirit Of Love” and announces Wide Awake.