Jean-Jacques Burnel
Jean-Jacques "JJ" Burnel (born 21 February 1952, London), is a Franco-English musician, producer and songwriter, best known as the bass guitarist with the British rock band The Stranglers.
Life and career
Jean-Jacques Burnel was born in Notting Hill, London, to French parents. He moved with his parents to Godalming, Surrey, when he was about 12 and attended the Royal Grammar School, Guildford, subsequently reading history at the University of Bradford and Huddersfield Polytechnic. Burnel originally trained as a classical guitarist, but adopted the bass guitar as his instrument within The Stranglers. He has also sung lead vocals on about a third of the band's songs.
Burnel has been with The Stranglers since the group's inception in 1974, but has also made two solo albums; Euroman Cometh in 1979, and Un Jour Parfait in 1988, as well as a collaborative album with fellow Stranglers member Dave Greenfield, Fire and Water (Ecoutez Vos Murs) in 1983.
Burnel has also produced and appeared as a guest musician for a number of artists, such as Lizard and ARB from Japan, Polyphonic Size (from Belgium) and Taxi Girl's album, Seppuku, in 1981, as well as Laurent Sinclair's "Devant le Miroir" maxi single. Burnel also formed a rhythm and blues covers band, The Purple Helmets, who played a number of concerts and released two albums in the late 1980s.