Kris Dollimore (born 2 January 1966) is an English rock guitarist, who is best known for being a founding member of the Godfathers as well as a member of the Damned and

Del Amitri Del Amitri is a Scottish alternative rock band formed in Glasgow in 1980. They are best known for their 1990 single "Nothing Ever Happens" which reached No. 11 in the UK, and their 1995 hit "Roll to Me", which charted in the top 10 in both Can ...

. He also performs and records as a solo artist.

Biography

Kris Dollimore was born on the

Isle of Sheppey The Isle of Sheppey is an island off the northern coast of Kent, England, neighbouring the Thames Estuary, centred from central London. It has an area of . The island forms part of the districts of England, local government district of Borough ...

in northern

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

, where he lived until the age of 19 when he moved to London. His first appearance on a recording was in 1984 as guitarist and lead vocalist on the sole album by the pub rock-ish Major Setback Band, which also included his older brother Ian on bass. The following year, at age 19, he co-formed

alternative rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...

band the Godfathers, with whom he recorded three albums. After leaving the Godfathers in 1990, Dollimore participated in a demo recording session for

Stiv Bators Steven John Bator (October 22, 1949 – June 4, 1990), known professionally as Stiv Bator and later as Stiv Bators, was an American punk rock vocalist and guitarist from Youngstown, Ohio. He is best remembered for his bands Dead Boys and the L ...

(

Dead Boys The Dead Boys are an American punk rock band from Cleveland, Ohio. The band was among the first wave of punk, and regarded by many as one of the rowdiest and most violent groups of the era. They were formed by vocalist Stiv Bators, rhythm gui ...

the Lords of the New Church The Lords of the New Church were a British-American rock music, rock band. A Supergroup (music), supergroup, the line-up originally consisted of four musicians from 1970s punk rock, punk bands. This line-up comprised vocalist Stiv Bators (ex-th ...

). The demo tracks were released in 1996 on Bator's posthumously released ''Last Race'' album. Also in 1990, Dollimore formed

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a heavier subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and Distortion (music), distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the Garage rock, garage, Psychedelic rock, psychedelic and blues ...

band the Brotherland with bassist Nick Chown ( the Bolshoi) and drummer Steve "Vom" Ritchie ( Doctor and the Medics), with Dollimore handling guitar and vocal duties. They released one album in 1991. In 1993, Dollimore was asked to join the Damned, with whom he toured for about two years and recorded the album '' Not of This Earth'' in 1995. Also in 1995, he toured with

Adam Ant Stuart Leslie Goddard (born 3 November 1954), known professionally as Adam Ant, is an English singer, musician, and actor. He gained popularity as the lead singer of new wave group Adam and the Ants and later as a solo artist, scoring 10 UK ...

, supporting the '' Wonderful'' album. He joined Scottish

band

in 1997 for their '' Some Other Sucker's Parade'' tour and participated in the recording of their 2002 album '' Can You Do Me Good?'' With fellow Del Amitri guitarist Iain Harvie, Dollimore served as musician and producer on American singer-songwriter Eileen Rose's ''Party Dress'' EP and ''Long Shot Novena'' album, released in 2001 and 2002, respectively. Both releases were recorded at Dollimore and Harvie's Troy Town Studios in Rochester, England. Del Amitri went on hiatus in 2002, after which Dollimore formed the short-lived the Germans in 2003. The band, which included former Damned drummer

Rat Scabies Christopher John Millar (born 30 July 1955), known by his stage name Rat Scabies, is a musician best known as the drummer for English punk rock band the Damned. Career Millar was born in Kingston upon Thames, Surrey. He played drums with Tor ...

and Godfathers vocalist Peter Coyne, played a few gigs and recorded a demo before disbanding a year later. In the 2000s, Dollimore began performing as a solo artist playing

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

. He released his first solo album ''02/01/1978'' in 2007. The date in the title represents the day he received his first guitar on his twelfth birthday. Dollimore has cited blues artists such as

Robert Johnson Robert Leroy Johnson (May 8, 1911August 16, 1938) was an American blues musician and songwriter. His singing, guitar playing and songwriting on his landmark 1936 and 1937 recordings have influenced later generations of musicians. Although his r ...

and

John Lee Hooker John Lee Hooker (August 22, 1912 or 1917 – June 21, 2001) was an American blues singer, songwriter, and guitarist. The son of a sharecropper, he rose to prominence performing an electric guitar-style adaptation of Delta blues that he develo ...

as well as

fingerstyle guitar Fingerstyle guitar is the technique of guitar picking, playing the guitar or bass guitar by plucking the strings directly with the fingertips, fingernails, or picks attached to fingers, as opposed to flatpicking (plucking individual notes with ...

ist John Fahey as inspiration. His mainly self-penned and acoustic material is recorded, and usually performed, without a band. All his solo albums are released through his own label Sun Pier Recordings. In 2008, Dollimore joined a reformed the Godfathers for a reunion tour but left again in 2009. Del Amitri, including Dollimore, reformed for tours in 2014 and 2018, and in 2021 released their first album in 19 years, '' Fatal Mistakes''.

Discography

;Solo *''02/01/1978'' (2007) *''Now Was the Time'' (2009) *''No Ghosts in This House'' (2011) *''All Grown Up'' (2015) ;With the Major Setback Band * ''Crashing Out!'' (1984), Black Sheep ;With the Godfathers * '' Hit by Hit'' (1986) * '' Birth, School, Work, Death'' (1988) * '' More Songs About Love and Hate'' (1989) ;With the Brotherland * ''Nightmares and Dreams'' (1991) ;With the Damned * '' Not of This Earth'' (1995) ;With Del Amitri * '' Can You Do Me Good?'' (2002) * ''Into the Mirror: Del Amitri Live in Concert'' (2014) * '' Fatal Mistakes'' (2021)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dollimore, Kris 1966 births Living people English rock guitarists English blues guitarists People from the Isle of Sheppey The Damned (band) members Del Amitri members