Joe Jackson

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.