Jon Moss

Jon Moss
Moss joined to Bob Weston by 'Spring Heeled Jack' for a blues night jamming session .
Background information
Born	(1957-09-11) 11 September 1957 Wandsworth, London
Genres	Punk rock New Romantic New Wave Pop rock
Occupations	Drummer
Instruments	Drums, percussion
Years active	1976–present
Associated acts	Culture Club
Website	culture-club.co.uk

Jonathan Aubrey Moss (born 11 September 1957) is an English drummer, best known as a member of the 1980s pop group Culture Club. He has also played with other bands, including London, The Nips,^[1] The Damned and Adam and the Ants.

Early life

Moss was born in Clapham Jewish Boys Home at Wandsworth, South London, and was adopted when six months old by Rosetta Audrey Moss (née Goldsmith, b. 1929) and Lionel Joseph Moss (b. 1927, d. 1999),^[2] an upper-middle-class couple from Jewish ancestry. His father owned a clothing store called Alkit, located at Cambridge Circus.^[3][4] Jon grew up in Hampstead, attended Arnold House School (1962-1970) and Highgate (1970-1975).

Music was an important hobby in his childhood; he used to play well known pop songs on the family piano. His elder brother David was drummer in a band at school and had a Wayward drumkit, which Jon borrowed to start to play when he was thirteen years old.^[5]

In Highgate School, he developed a fascination for sports, especially boxing, but he did not want a professional sporting career. It was also at Highgate that he formed his first band, Pig Williams, along with his friend Nick Feldman (who would later become a member of Wang Chung, which had two top-ten hits in the U.S.) Together they performed at several school events. After finishing high school, Jon held various jobs, including working at his father's clothing store, as a cake salesman and as a sound engineer at Marquee Studios. He regarded going to university as a waste of time, although he briefly considered the idea of studying Greek at the University of Cambridge.^[6]

Musical career

Jon (second from right) with London

Beginning (1976–1980)

Alongside his friend Riff Regan, Moss joined the punk band London in 1976,^[7][8][9] after being tried out as a drummer with The Clash, Jon later said "the mix of personalities didn't work; their attitudes were too different to mine".^[9] They released a single entitled "Everyone's a Winner" and were managed by Simon Napier-Bell and eventually recorded two singles, a 4 track EP and an album for MCA Records in 1977.^[10] Following, he had the honour of going on tour with the established punk band The Stranglers and they got a record deal.

Soon afterward, Moss began drumming for another punk band, The Damned. He replaced Rat Scabies, who had quit the band. He made the final decision to join The Damned after he was injured in a car crash on 1977 New Year's Eve, suffering fractures in his face, resulting in a broken nose and had his injuries required 250 stitches and a week's hospital stay.^[5][11]

Moss briefly played with Adam and the Ants, just before their commercial success, on their third single "Cartrouble" and the b-side "Kick".

Culture Club - Early times (1981–1986)

Years later, Jon was advised by a friend that Boy George was looking for a drummer for his band, originally called In Praise of Lemmings. Moss suggested changing the name of the group to Culture Club in reference to the various ethnic backgrounds of the members.

In 1985, he produced some tracks for the band, Woyeyeh.^[12]

Moss at Move Away Culture Club 7" vinyl

Other works and Culture Club reunion (1987–2002)

Following Culture Club, he released a single with the group Heartbeat UK, entitled "Jump To It", which he also produced.

In 1989, under the name Rubberman, he released one white label of an acid house instrumental track. Boy George used that backing track to create his own song "After The Love", which was released as a single by Jesus Loves You.

During 1991–92, Moss was also involved in another group, Promised Land with Nick Feldman of the pop group Wang Chung. They released some singles ("Something In The Air" and "Circle In The Square") and a self-titled album.

In 1995 he met Sebastian Wocker, lead singer of the indie pop band, "Yeah", and joined his band afterwards. The group held several concerts on Londoner circuit for two years, made various television appearances and filmed a video Engerland in 1997 at the former home of Hendon F.C.. Yeah's last concert was at The Underworld in Camden Town in 1998.

Moss was a part of the Culture Club reformation between 1998 and 2002.

Charities, b-side projects (2003–2010)

He was also in a punk band called Fassbender from 2003-05. Moss is currently a member of the bands DanMingo and Dirth. He has also performed and recorded with the London based singer and songwriter, Anca.

In July 2005, Moss played drums on the charity single, "People I Don't Know Are Trying to Kill Me", written by journalist Neil McCormick, to help the families of the victims of the terrorist bombings in London.^[13]

In 2006, Moss, Mikey Craig and Phil Pickett, tried to launch Culture Club on a new tour with another lead singer, as George and Roy Hay had declined to tour.^[14] A tour was announced for December 2006 in the UK, but was postponed to give the new line-up time to finish recording their album. Without official press statements, in 2007, band manager Tony Gordon, said that the project was "on hold", while Jon Moss stated that the project was shelved.^[15]

Moss was interviewed in the Hampstead Village Voice about his early life and career in May 2009.^[16]

In 2010 Moss also played a few gigs with the band Plastic Heroes.

Culture Club - Reunion (2011–present)

Moss was said to be involved with the reunion of Culture Club, which was rumoured to include a new album and a world tour. Culture Club performed concerts in Dubai on 29 December and in Sydney on 31 December 2011. However, Moss did not appear due to a back injury which required surgery.^[17] Despite rumours that the reunion project has been shelved, Boy George did say in an interview with Danny Baker on BBC Radio 5 which aired on March 2012, that their new album would be released in 2013, although he did not mention any date for a tour.^[18]

Besides Culture Club, Jon had been drumming with Mad Dog Bites alongside Martin French (vocals), Godfrey Old (harmonica), Peter Noone (bass) and Conrad Blakemore (guitar).^[19] Bob Weston was also a member of the group until his death in January 2012.

Moss joined and sung with The Rock Choir in the Red Nose Day '13 at Whiteleys, helping them to fundraise for Comic Relief.^[20]

Personal life

Before his involvement with Boy George during the height of Culture Club's popularity, Moss had a fiancée, Caroline.^[21][22] Their affair which came to an end in 1986, have been recently portrayed on "Worried About the Boy", a drama film shown at BBC Two.^[23]

Jon Moss has three children:^[21][24] Clyde (born July 1997, Westminster),^[25][26] Julia (born March 2000, Westminster)^[27][28] and Leon (born June 2003, Westminster)^[29][30] by his then-wife Barbara (Babs). The couple separated in 2010. ^{[citation needed]}

References

External links

• Fan page with pictures and interviews
• Site of DanMingo's lead singer
• Dirth's official site – info and downloadable music
• Jon Moss at the Internet Movie Database