Born in Barking in 1957, Billy Bragg is a musician, writer and campaigner. After an aborted stint training for the Royal Armoured Corps, he wrote his debut album, Life’s a Riot with Spy vs Spy. It launched his career as a grassroots activist, protest singer and author, a stance he has maintained throughout his 40-year career, most notably with his benefit gigs for the 1984 miners’ strikes and the formation of the leftwing music collective Red Wedge in 1985. The Roaring Forty – a box set celebrating his 12-album career – is out now, and he is on tour until 7 December. Bragg has a son called Jack with his partner, Juliet Wills.
I was schlepping from my flat in west London to the north of England with a guitar, an amp and a bag when this photograph was taken. My first album had been released, John Peel had played one of my sessions, and I was starting to build a fanbase. It was a hit-and-run type of tour where I’d play and then get straight on a train to the next place, opening for the Icicle Works and New Model Army, and occasionally doing a solo show. I couldn’t carry much stuff and wasn’t thinking about my clothes; I’m a content over style type of geezer, so I only needed my DMs, jeans and a jacket.
