Tymon Dogg (born Stephen John Murray) is an English singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. Dogg's career started early with shows at the

Cavern A cave or cavern is a natural void in the ground, specifically a space large enough for a human to enter. Caves often form by the weathering of rock and often extend deep underground. The word ''cave'' can refer to smaller openings such as sea ...

and Peppermint Lounge in Liverpool when he was 15. As well as pursuing a solo career, he collaborated with many bands and musicians including The Clash, and was a member of Joe Strummer's last band,

The Mescaleros The Mescaleros were the British backing band for British singer, musician and songwriter Joe Strummer, formed in 1999, which issued three albums prior to Strummer's death in 2002. Many of the band members were multi-instrumentalists. The origin ...

Career

Dogg moved to London at 17, signed to

Pye Records Pye Records was a British record label. Its best known artists were Lonnie Donegan (1956–1969), Petula Clark (1957–1971), the Searchers (1963–1967), the Kinks (1964–1971), Sandie Shaw (1964–1971), Status Quo (1968–1971) and Brotherho ...

(under the name ''Timon'') and recorded a single, "The Bitter Thoughts of Little Jane" featuring then- session musicians Jimmy Page and

John Paul Jones John Paul Jones (born John Paul; July 6, 1747 July 18, 1792) was a Scottish-American naval captain who was the United States' first well-known naval commander in the American Revolutionary War. He made many friends among U.S political elites ( ...

. Moving to

Apple Records Apple Records is a record label founded by the Beatles in 1968 as a division of Apple Corps Ltd. It was initially intended as a creative outlet for the Beatles, both as a group and individually, plus a selection of other artists including Ma ...

, Dogg recorded tracks produced by

Peter Asher Peter Asher, (born 22 June 1944) is an English guitarist, singer, manager and record producer. He came to prominence in the 1960s as a member of the pop music vocal duo Peter and Gordon before going on to a successful career as a manager and r ...

featuring

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. One ...

on piano and James Taylor on guitar. Dogg then toured with

The Moody Blues The Moody Blues were an English rock music, rock band formed in Birmingham in 1964, initially consisting of keyboardist Mike Pinder, multi-instrumentalist Ray Thomas, guitarist Denny Laine, drummer Graeme Edge and bassist Clint Warwick. The g ...

and worked closely with

Justin Hayward David Justin Hayward (born 14 October 1946) is an English musician best known as the lead singer, songwriter and guitarist of the rock band the Moody Blues. Hayward became the group's principal lead guitarist and vocalist over the 1967–1974 ...

to produce many tracks, "Now She Says She's Young" being released as a single in 1970. Dogg became part of London's early 1970s underground scene. Moving into a squatted property in Westbourne Grove, Dogg made a living playing in folk clubs and busking with house mate Joe Strummer. Dogg regularly played at the Charlie Pig Dog Club with

the 101ers The 101ers were a pub rock band from the 1970s playing mostly in a rockabilly style, notable as being the band that Joe Strummer left to join The Clash. Formed in London in May 1974, the 101ers made their performing debut on 7 September at the ...

and when Joe Strummer joined The Clash, Dogg was invited to contribute tracks on '' Sandinista!'' and '' Combat Rock''. Other notable housemates from that time included all female punk band The Slits. In 1978, Dogg moved to the North East of England with artist Helen Cherry. Dogg released ''Battle of Wills'' during the 1980s. In 2000, Dogg met up with Joe Strummer again at the Poetry Olympics curated by

Michael Horovitz Michael Yechiel Ha-Levi Horovitz (4 April 1935 – 7 July 2021) was a German-born British poet, editor, visual artist and translator who was a leading part of the Beat Poetry scene in the UK. In 1959, while still a student, he founded the "tr ...

. The two performed an impromptu set of songs together, with

Lily Allen Lily Rose Beatrice Allen (born 2 May 1985) is an English singer-songwriter and actress. She is the daughter of actor Keith Allen and film producer Alison Owen. Her music career began in 2005 when she made some of her vocal recordings public ...

in her début stage performance as backing singer. Shortly afterwards, Dogg joined Strummer's band, The Mescaleros, and the two worked together until Strummer's death in 2002 producing songs such as "Mondo Bongo" and "Johnny Appleseed". Dogg has continued to write and record his music. In 2010

Rev-Ola Records Rev-Ola Records is a British independent record label formed in 1990 that specializes in reissues, as well as select new releases. The label is headed by Joe Foster, a former child actor and musician/producer. He, along with Alan McGee and ...

released a compilation of songs from 1967 to 2009 called ''The Irrepressible Tymon Dogg'' and Thin Man Press produced a CD of Dogg's soundscape settings of extracts from Louis Aragon's ''A Wave of Dreams'' in 2012.

Discography

Solo recordings

With Joe Strummer and The Mescaleros

Guest appearances

References

External links

Tymon Dogg – The Godfather of Anti-Folk fan siteTymon Dogg & The Quikening's Myspace pageRateYourMusic page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dogg, Tymon English multi-instrumentalists Living people 1950 births People from Formby Squatters The Mescaleros members The 101ers members