John William Cann (2 June 1946 – 21 September 2011), later known by his stage name John Du Cann, was an English

guitarist A guitarist (or a guitar player) is a person who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of guitar family instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themsel ...

primarily known through his work in the 1970s band

Atomic Rooster Atomic Rooster are a British rock band originally formed by members of The Crazy World of Arthur Brown, organist Vincent Crane and drummer Carl Palmer. Throughout their history, keyboardist Vincent Crane was the only constant member and wro ...

Life and career

His early bands included the

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...

-based The Sonics (not to be confused with the 1960s US band of the same name) and London-based The Attack, which released "

Hi Ho Silver Lining "Hi Ho Silver Lining" is a rock song, written by American songwriters Scott English and Larry Weiss and first released as a single in March 1967 by English band The Attack, then a few days later by Jeff Beck. The Attack's version failed to cha ...

" a few days prior to

Jeff Beck Geoffrey Arnold Beck (born 24 June 1944) is an English rock guitarist. He rose to prominence with the Yardbirds and after fronted the Jeff Beck Group and Beck, Bogert & Appice. In 1975, he switched to a mainly instrumental style, with a fo ...

. He went on to lead a

psychedelic Psychedelics are a subclass of hallucinogenic drugs whose primary effect is to trigger non-ordinary states of consciousness (known as psychedelic experiences or "trips").Pollan, Michael (2018). ''How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science o ...

, progressive, hard rock band called Andromeda, before being asked to join

, when bass player and vocalist Nick Graham left the band. Cann overdubbed guitar parts and replaced Graham's vocals on three tracks of their 1970 self-titled debut album, and a second pressing featuring the overdubbed tracks was soon issued, though without crediting him on the sleeve. Cann wrote or co-wrote four songs on the album '' Death Walks Behind You'' (1970) and two for '' In Hearing of Atomic Rooster'' (1971), along with Atomic Rooster's biggest hit single, "Devil's Answer", which reached No. 4 in the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

in July 1971, just before Cann left the band. Upon departing Atomic Rooster he formed Daemon, later renamed Bullet, then Hard Stuff, after discovering that the previous name had already been used by an American band, releasing two albums on

Purple Records Purple Records was a record label established in 1971 by Deep Purple's management. Their releases were distributed by EMI and now by Universal Music Group after the EMI acquisition. The label was run until 1979. Until 1974 the label was used ...

, based more heavily on aggressive guitar work. In 1974, he was a temporary guitarist in

Thin Lizzy Thin Lizzy are an Irish hard rock band formed in Dublin in 1969. Their music reflects a wide range of influences, including blues, soul music, psychedelic rock and traditional Irish folk music, but is generally classified as hard rock or som ...

for a tour of Germany. Sometime following this, his

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activitie ...

suggested a name change for him from John Cann to John Du Cann. As a result of being signed to the same management company, 1977 saw the pairing of Du Cann with

Francis Rossi Francis Dominic Nicholas Michael Rossi, (born 29 May 1949) is an English musician, singer and songwriter. He is the co-founder, lead singer, lead guitarist and the sole continuous member of the rock band Status Quo. Early life Rossi was born o ...

of the British rock band

Status Quo is a Latin phrase meaning the existing state of affairs, particularly with regard to social, political, religious or military issues. In the sociological sense, the ''status quo'' refers to the current state of social structure and/or values. ...

. Rossi was invited to produce Du Cann's proposed new album, ''

The World's Not Big Enough ''The World's Not Big Enough'' is the only solo album by John Du Cann, who was best known as guitarist and vocalist with Atomic Rooster and Hard Stuff in the 1970s. The album was recorded in 1977, but remained unreleased until 1992, and was re ...

'', which remained unreleased until 1992. The session musicians for this album included Rossi on guitar,

Andy Bown Andrew Steven Bown (born 27 March 1946) is an English musician, who has specialised in keyboards and bass guitar. He is a member of the rock band Status Quo. Career Bown's first major band was The Herd, along with Peter Frampton. After The H ...

on keyboards, future Quo drummer

Pete Kircher Peter Derek Kircher (born 21 January 1945, Folkestone, Kent) is a retired English rock/pop drummer. Between 1982 and 1985 he was a member of Status Quo, performing with the band at Live Aid and on the albums '' Live at the N.E.C.'' and '' Back ...

and bassist John McCoy. The album, mostly made up of breakneck-speed

garage rock Garage rock (sometimes called garage punk or 60s punk) is a raw and energetic style of rock and roll that flourished in the mid-1960s, most notably in the United States and Canada, and has experienced a series of subsequent revivals. The sty ...

and manic

proto-punk Proto-punk (or protopunk) is rock music played mostly by garage bands from the 1960s to mid-1970s that foreshadowed the punk rock movement. The phrase is a retrospective label; the musicians involved were generally not originally associated w ...

, was described in ''

Record Collector ''Record Collector'' is a British monthly music magazine. It was founded in 1980 and distributes worldwide. History The early years The first standalone issue of ''Record Collector'' was published in March 1980, though its history stretches ba ...

magazine A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combinatio ...

at the time as sounding like "Quo mixed with the

Sex Pistols The Sex Pistols were an English punk rock band formed in London in 1975. Although their initial career lasted just two and a half years, they were one of the most groundbreaking acts in the history of popular music. They were responsible for ...

". In September 1979, Du Cann had a hit on the UK Singles Chart with "Don't Be A Dummy", an unreleased version of which (featuring vocals by

Gary Numan Gary Anthony James Webb (born 8 March 1958), known professionally as Gary Numan, is an English musician. He entered the music industry as frontman of the new wave band Tubeway Army. After releasing two albums with the band, he released his d ...

) had featured in a

Lee Cooper Lee Cooper is an English-American clothing and footwear manufacturing company, based in London, that specialises in denim products. As well as its own production, the company licences the sale of many Lee Cooper-branded items worldwide. Fou ...

Jeans

television advertisement A television advertisement (also called a television commercial, TV commercial, commercial, spot, television spot, TV spot, advert, television advert, TV advert, television ad, TV ad or simply an ad) is a span of television programming produce ...

in 1978. The single reached number 33 in the UK Singles Chart. In 1979, Du Cann and Crane re-formed Atomic Rooster with Preston Heyman on drums (with whom they recorded their 1980 self-titled album). Following this, after a brief spell with former Cream drummer

Ginger Baker Peter Edward "Ginger" Baker (19 August 1939 – 6 October 2019) was an English drummer. His work in the 1960s and 1970s earned him the reputation of "rock's first superstar drummer", for a style that melded jazz and African rhythms and pi ...

(who was released after only three weeks), Paul Hammond returned to his place on the drums, and the band released two more singles on Polydor with minimal success. In 1981, the band were booked at the last minute at the Reading Festival, but Du Cann was unable to make it, and Mick Hawksworth sat in with the band on bass guitar, while Crane took over on lead vocals. In late 1982, Du Cann had had enough of the non-success of the band, and left for the final time. In the late 1990s, he was introduced to the Angel Air record label by John McCoy. He was later active cataloguing and remastering his personal tape archive and compiling reissues for the label, for which he received full credit and royalties. John Du Cann's last ever studio recording was made in 2000, at Green Hills Studio in Norwich. It was owned by Chris Phillips, who also wrote the sleeve notes for three of the Atomic Rooster CDs released on Angel Air. Du Cann overdubbed guitar and vocals on an unused backing track that was recorded in 1980, titled "Broken Window". The track was originally added to the '' Rarities'' CD on the Angel Air label (SJPCD069), released in 2000, and later on '' The First 10 Explosive Years Volume 2'' (SJPCD086) released in 2001. Du Cann died at his home in Norwich on 21 September 2011 after a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which ma ...

. His personal collection of 75 guitars, 30 amplifiers, records and CDs was auctioned in January 2012. An original copy of the ''Andromeda'' LP made £800, whilst his well used 1963 Fender Strat sold for £6500. His mother was the only beneficiary of his estate. He is buried at Greenacres Burial Ground at Colney, near Norwich. His gravestone is inscribed with the first line of "Devil's Answer".

References

External links

Atomic Rooster: John (Du) CannLicensing
{{DEFAULTSORT:Du Cann, John 1946 births 2011 deaths English rock guitarists People from Leicester Atomic Rooster members