James Fearnley (born 9 October 1954, in

Worsley Worsley () is a village in the City of Salford, Greater Manchester, England, which in 2014 had a population of 10,090. It lies along Worsley Brook, west of Manchester. Within the boundaries of the Historic counties of England, historic county ...

) is an English musician. He plays

accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German language, German ', from '—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a Reed (mou ...

the Pogues The Pogues are an English Celtic punk band founded in King's Cross, London, in 1982, by Shane MacGowan, Spider Stacy and Jem Finer. Originally named Pogue Mahone—an anglicisation of the Irish language, Irish phrase :wikt:póg mo thóin, ''p� ...

Life and career

As a child he was a choir treble before his voice changed at the age of sixteen. He took

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

lessons but did not enjoy them, so he chose to learn the

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

instead. He played with the singer Nik Wade and later with The Mixers, a band based in Teddington. Fearnley became the guitarist in the last iteration of Shane MacGowan's band

The Nipple Erectors The Nips are an English punk rock band formed in London in 1976 as the Nipple Erectors by punk artist Shanne Bradley. They were Shane MacGowan's first musical group. History Initially consisting of vocalist/songwriter Shane MacGowan (known a ...

. The group then consisted of Shane MacGowan on vocals,

Shanne Bradley Shanne Bradley (born 1957) is an English punk musician, songwriter, and artist. She founded a punk band, The Nipple Erectors (The Nips), in 1976 playing bass guitar with Shane MacGowan on vocals, and co-founded The Men They Couldn't Hang in 198 ...

on bass and

Jon Moss 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, the Damned and Adam and the Ants. Early life ...

on drums. When The Nips disbanded at the end of 1980, Fearnley joined the

soul The soul is the purported Mind–body dualism, immaterial aspect or essence of a Outline of life forms, living being. It is typically believed to be Immortality, immortal and to exist apart from the material world. The three main theories that ...

band The Giants. Fearnley was asked by Moss if he wanted to become a permanent member of a band in which he sometimes played,

Culture Club Culture Club are an English new wave music, new wave band formed in London in 1981. The band comprises Boy George (lead vocals), Roy Hay (musician), Roy Hay (guitar and keyboards), and Mikey Craig (bass guitar), and formerly included Jon Moss ( ...

. Due to a misunderstanding, Fearnley never joined Culture Club, and shortly after this the band went on to fame. Fearnley sold his guitar and spent a year writing a novel. In 1982, MacGowan and

Jem Finer Jeremy Max Finer (born 25 July 1955) is an English musician, artist and composer. He is one of the founding members of the Pogues. Early life Finer was born in Stoke-on-Trent, England, the son of political scientist Samuel Finer, and the nephew ...

were seeking an accordion player for their latest project,

The Pogues The Pogues are an English Celtic punk band founded in King's Cross, London, in 1982, by Shane MacGowan, Spider Stacy and Jem Finer. Originally named Pogue Mahone—an anglicisation of the Irish language, Irish phrase :wikt:póg mo thóin, ''p� ...

. MacGowan knew that Fearnley had taken piano lessons and believed that he might be able to play the accordion too. Finer turned up at Fearnley's flat with an accordion in a laundry bag and persuaded him to give it a try. Fearnley was

nickname A nickname, in some circumstances also known as a sobriquet, or informally a "moniker", is an informal substitute for the proper name of a person, place, or thing, used to express affection, playfulness, contempt, or a particular character trait ...

d 'maestro' because he could tune the instruments. Thus, he joined

, with whom he played for many years. In 1989, he married actress Danielle von Zerneck and moved to

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. He and Danielle have two daughters, Martha and Irene. Fearnley left The Pogues in 1994 due to the band's heavy touring schedule, and to spend more time with his family. He rejoined the band following its reunion in 2001. He was a founding member of The Low And Sweet Orchestra, who released their debut album of

Spaghetti Western The spaghetti Western is a broad subgenre of Western films produced in Europe. It emerged in the mid-1960s in the wake of Sergio Leone's filmmaking style and international box-office success. The term was used by foreign critics because most o ...

-styled ballads, ''Goodbye To All That,'' in 1996. This group consisted of former Thelonious Monster vocalist Mike Martt,

Circle Jerks Circle Jerks (stylized as Ciʀcle JƎʀᴋs) are an American hardcore punk band, formed in 1979 in Los Angeles, California. The group was founded by former Black Flag (band), Black Flag vocalist Keith Morris and Redd Kross guitarist Greg Hetso ...

Zander Schloss Zander Schloss (born August 7, 1961) is an American musician, actor and composer. He is known as bass player for the Circle Jerks, the Weirdos, his many collaborations with Joe Strummer musically and in film and for his contributions to indepen ...

(guitar), the brothers Kieran and

Dermot Mulroney Dermot Patrick Mulroney (born October 31, 1963) is an American actor and musician. He is known for his roles in a wide variety of genres, including romantic comedy, western, and drama films. After making his film debut in ''Sunset'' (1988), Mulro ...

(

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

cello The violoncello ( , ), commonly abbreviated as cello ( ), is a middle pitched bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), tuned i ...

dobro Dobro () is an American brand of resonator guitars owned by Gibson and manufactured by its subsidiary Epiphone. The term "dobro" is also used as a generic term for any wood-bodied, single-cone resonator guitar. The Dobro was originally a gui ...

), Tom Barta (bass) and Will Hughes (drums). Fearnley has appeared as a guest musician on albums with

Talking Heads Talking Heads were an American Rock music, rock band formed in New York City in 1975.Talking Heads

(''

Naked Nudity is the state of being in which a human is without clothing. While estimates vary, for the first 90,000 years of pre-history, anatomically modern humans were naked, having lost their body hair, living in hospitable climates, and not ...

''),

David Byrne David Byrne (; born May 14, 1952) is an American musician, writer, visual artist, and filmmaker. He was a founding member, principal songwriter, lead singer, and guitarist of the American New wave music, new wave band Talking Heads. Byrne has ...

Julia Fordham Julia Fordham (born 10 August 1962) is an English singer. Her professional career started in the early 1980s, under the name "Jules Fordham", as a backing singer for Mari Wilson and Kim Wilde, before signing a recording contract of her own lat ...

Steve Earle Stephen Fain Earle (; born January 17, 1955) is an American country, rock, and folk singer-songwriter. He began his career as a songwriter in Nashville and released his first EP in 1982. Earle's breakthrough album was his 1986 debut album '' ...

Dylan Walshe Dylan Robert Walshe () is an Irish folk music singer-songwriter. Born and raised in southeast Dublin, he is based in Black Mountain, North Carolina. He has toured with Flogging Molly, Avatar, The White Buffalo, The Mahones and recorded with ...

and

Melissa Etheridge Melissa Lou Etheridge (born May 29, 1961) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and guitarist. Her Melissa Etheridge (album), eponymous debut album was released in 1988 and became an underground success. It peaked at No. 22 on the Billbo ...

('' Yes I Am''), among others. In 1995, he wrote the score for the film ''God's Lonely Man'', which was released in January 1996. Fearnley plays accordion, guitar, foot-operated snare drum and sings with Cranky George, 'a band of one-man-bands', with Dermot Mulroney (cello, guitar, mandolin, foot-operated cymbal and hi-hat, and vocals), Kieran Mulroney (violin, ukuleles, guitars, foot-operated cowbell), Brad Wood (bass, hat-box bass-drum and vocals) and Sebastian Sheehan (percussion). On 12 January 2012, he released his first single, "Hey Ho". It was recorded with John King of

Dust Brothers The Dust Brothers are a pair of songwriters and producers consisting of E.Z. Mike ( Michael Simpson) and King Gizmo ( John King). They are famous for the sample-based music they produced in the 1980s and 1990s, and specifically for their work ...

. The first volume of his memoirs, ''Here Comes Everybody: The Story of the Pogues,'' was published by

Faber and Faber Faber and Faber Limited, commonly known as Faber & Faber or simply Faber, is an independent publishing house in London. Published authors and poets include T. S. Eliot (an early Faber editor and director), W. H. Auden, C. S. Lewis, Margaret S ...

on 19 April 2012 in the UK. In June 2019 Fearnley, alongside

Flogging Molly Flogging Molly is an Irish-American seven-piece Celtic punk band formed in Los Angeles in 1997, led by Irish vocalist Dave King, formerly of the hard rock band Fastway. They are signed to their own record label, Borstal Beat Records. Histor ...

Ted Hutt Ted Hutt is a British record producer, musician, and songwriter, residing in Los Angeles, California, United States. He was the original guitar player and one of the founding members for The Promise, The Great Unwashed, Gods Hotel, Reacharound, a ...

and

Marc Orrell Marc John Orrell (born November 7, 1982) is an American guitarist known for being a former member of the Boston Celtic punk band the Dropkick Murphys. Nicknamed "The Kid", Orrell joined the band in 2000 when he was 17 years old. He first appear ...

Dropkick Murphys Dropkick Murphys are an American Celtic punk band formed in Quincy, Massachusetts in 1996. The current lineup consists of co-lead vocalist and bassist Ken Casey, drummer Matt Kelly, co-lead vocalist Al Barr (on hiatus from the band since 202 ...

, announced the formation of a new supergroup, The Walker Roaders. Their debut record was released on 23 August 2019.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fearnley, James Brother of Nick Fearnley 1954 births 20th-century English male musicians 21st-century English male musicians 20th-century British guitarists 21st-century British guitarists 20th-century accordionists 21st-century British accordionists British accordionists 21st-century English memoirists People from Worsley Musicians from Salford People educated at Ackworth School English folk musicians English punk rock musicians Living people The Pogues members The Nipple Erectors members