Tony James

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For the footballer of the same name see Tony James (footballer)

Tony James on stage with Carbon/Silicon

Tony James (born on 12 April 1958) is a British musician, best known as a bassist of Generation X and Sigue Sigue Sputnik.

James was originally a member of the punk band London SS, along with Brian James, (later of The Damned), and Mick Jones plus Terry Chimes (both future members of The Clash).

Later James would join Chelsea, a short-lived band that was the precursor for Generation X and included Billy Idol (then William Broad) on the guitar, John Towe on drums and Gene October on vocals. Soon they left October to form Generation X (named after a 1960s paperback novel, by Jane Deverson, not to be confused with the 1990s book by the same title by novelist Douglas Coupland), one of the more popular British punk bands of the late 1970's.

Tony James, after penning "Russian Roulette" for Stiv Bators and Lords of the New Church, and producing a Sex Gang Children album, formed glam punk band Sigue Sigue Sputnik with fashion designer cum singer Martin Degville in the 1980s as his grand follow-up to GenX. His "space bass" became the "sput style" trademark.

In 1990 he became a member of The Sisters of Mercy, and played bass on their Vision Thing album, and the band's following live tours. But James wasn't happy in this role and left the Sisters the following year.

He still tours today, and has reformed Sigue Sigue Sputnik, crediting the internet for letting him see fans were still interested, and has teamed up with Mick Jones of The Clash to form Carbon/Silicon, now playing guitar.