PAUL WELLER

Immediately after the breakup of The Jam, Weller formed the Style Council with Mick Talbot, a member of the Jam-inspired mod revival band the Merton Parkas.Mick had a relaxed demeanour, which helped to create a new environment at poloar opposites to the deadly serious atmosphere which had surronded The Jam.Mick had a great sense of homour, he was laid back.With Mick Paul had some-one he could lean on, which he never had with The Jam.Life became much lighter and easier and a lot of that was down Mick as a personality.Mick and Paul shared a lot in common they were the same age and both had been both skinheads and suedeheads and both agreed to bring in the organ sound to their music.Mick role in The Style Council was in valuable, besides his laid back temperament he also contributed to the bands music, collaborating on the occasional song with paul and writing several tracks (mainly instrumentals) himself.It shoukld be stressed that while Paul patently led the band, The Style Council was far from being a solo project, but the public never took Mick seriously as an equal partner.It was assumed that he was there because he would not argue with Paul.Paul and Mick went to France to do a photo shoot for the release of their new record, 'Speak like a child'.The record was a great success reaching N0 4 in the charts.Paul decided that he wanted to add a backing singer to the band and at this time Paul was friendly with George Michael from Wham and George told Paul of a great singer he had just used on his latest song Young Guns singing backing vocals alongside pepsi and Shirley, her name was Dee C Lee.The Style Council's next record was to be 'Money Go Round' so it was agreed that Dee C would be great to sing backing vocals on this new song.

To Dee C.Lee, a confirmed soul girl 'Money Go Round was just another gig, Paul Weller at that point meant nothing to her.Legend has it that when Paul showed her round Solid Bond, she spotted some gold discs on the wall and asked, ''Who's The Jam to which Paul replied ''some shit group that recorded here''.Needless to say 'Money Go Round' was a great success.In June 1983 The Style Council visited Paris- the continuation of a love affair with France which had started earlier that year in Boulogne.The trip resulted in a new single 'Long Hot Summer'as well as reels of photo's of Paul And Mick posing in brightly coloured woollens in front of various Parisian landmarks, as well the picture of Pauls shoe with the Eiffel Tower in the background, out of focus, with his hand and an ID bracelet.Next the band travelled to Cambridge to make the video,capturing the mood while the sun was still shining the video showed Paul and Mick punting down a Cambridge river, but the video had to be edited as Paul bearing his chest had caused offence because if its suppossed homosexual undertones.The Style Council also released 'Solid Bond In Your Heart' and INTRODUCING THE STYLE COUNCIL (EP), 1983 was a important year for Weller, which he put some serious ground between himself and his past.Although the spectre of The Jam continued haunt him throughout The Style Council's career, it might easily have crushed him in those early months.But instead Paul entered 1984 with every-thing to play for.

The year started off well.In Febuary, The Style Council issued what stands as one of Paul's strongest songs and most eloquent lyrics, the sprightly 'My Ever Changing Moods'.The title implied some admission on Wellers part of his own temperament,but the mood swing in question had as much to do with Paul's observations of the changes in public attitudes and social policy under Thatcherism as his own personality.With 'My Ever Changing Moods',Weller also created what might be described as The Style Council's new sound, in 1983 Weller had dabbled and experimented with different ideas,finding his feet and exploring new possibilities, but their Fifth single forged a more distintive approach.When The Style Council's debut album, Cafe Bleu, followed in March, it proved to be the culmination of Wellers's widening horizons.In one fell swoop,he expressed his love of a whole range of musical genres which he'd felt hadn't possible in The Jam.For all it's strenghs, the album sounds positively schizophrenic today. Cafe Bleu recieved a mixed reaction being slated by the rock based music paper'Sounds' as ''dispensable dross'',but it narrowly missed out on the No.1 spot and spent eight months in the charts, a longer period than any of The Jam's albums.The Style Coucil wasn't Paul Wellers plaything, as some critics had thought.They had already proved themselves to be one of the most vital and and creative forces within the british pop scene of the eighties.

In May The Style Coucil released 'You're The Best Thing' which got to N0.5 in the charts,followed by 'Shout To The Top' and ending 1984 with 'Soul Deep' in december.Despite regrets about what Weller regarded as the worsening political climate, 1984 ended on a high note for the group.Amoung an assortment of future plans, The Style Coucil was voted 'best new band ' by college radio stations in their New Music Awards, and 'Shout To The Top' was chosen for the film soundtrack of Vision Quest and Cafe Bleu stayed in the Australian charts for Thirty weeks despite the band never setting foot in the Country.The band went on to have a number of top ten hits including 'Walls Come Tumbling Down' hitting No.6 in the charts and 'Our Favorite Shop'was No.1 in the charts for a week. Weller made some major changes in 1986, including closing down Respond Records. He also married a former singing partner, Dee C. Lee, in December; their son John was born two years later in June. The Style Council remained a productive band until 1990; they recorded several more albums and many more hit singles along the way, although they didn't perform live after 1988. By 1990, however, Weller would decide that he needed to catalyze another change in his music career: he dissolved the Style Council at the beginning of the year and by the fall of 1990.