#WILKO JOHNSON T SHIRT FREE#

The book opens with his performance at Fuji Rock Festival in Japan in 2013, his guitar perched on top of his protruding stomach because of the giant tumour inside. 'I don't know whether I succeeded, but I gave it a good go.'

'When I was getting into an emotional experience, I just tried the best I could to get into those feelings,' he says. He details in a brilliantly off-the-record rant exactly what he thinks of Glastonbury Festival, and then moments later, describes fantastically the feeling of walking around with a terminal diagnosis. Sitting with him for an hour or so, this is almost exactly how he talks. While Johnson says his dreams of becoming a poet were shattered after realising he was no good, there are great passages of his book that suggest he may have been wrong, while at other times, his writing is blunt to an almost artful degree. Not long after, he formed Dr Feelgood, hugely influential pub-rock pioneers who paved the way for punk. He graduated from Newcastle University before travelling around India, then returned to Essex to work as an English teacher. He says he didn't have a particular approach, other than to 'get stuck in and see what happened' - which, having read the book, sounds very much like Johnson's approach to life in general.īorn on Canvey Island in Essex in 1947, he had a tough childhood (he recalls in his book how, aged 16, he was elated to come home from school one day to find his dad had died), but found joy in literature.Īfter realising he was never going to cut it as a poet, he discovered music, eventually getting his first proper guitar when his beloved Irene (his late wife who died in 2004 after suffering from cancer) emptied her savings account to buy the Fender Telecaster he'd set his heart on. 'It had occurred to me once or twice during the cancer that it would make for a good book, but I would never have done it without pushing from the publisher. The remarkable details, along with other amazing tales from his life and career, can be found in his recent autobiography, Don't You Leave Me Here. The operation took 11 hours - but 68-year-old Johnson is now fit, healthy, and cancer-free.

#WILKO JOHNSON T SHIRT FREE#

Receive today's headlines directly to your inbox every morning and evening, with our free daily newsletter.Įnter email address This field is required Sign Up Other experts were consulted, and it transpired Johnson didn't have the most common type of pancreatic tumour after all, but a rarer, less deadly, kind.Ī little while later, a team of surgeons set about removing said tumour - which weighed a massive 3kg - along with Johnson's pancreas, spleen, parts of his stomach and intestines, and some blood vessels from around his liver.ĭaily Headlines & Evening Telegraph Newsletter After taking photos of Johnson at the Cornbury Festival in 2013, Chan met the guitarist and explained his theory of misdiagnosis. The turnaround is largely down to Charlie Chan, a passionate music photographer and fan of Johnson's music, who also happened to be one of the country's leading surgeons. There was an emotional farewell tour, an album recorded with The Who's Roger Daltrey, and visits to friends around the world to say goodbye. That was extended to 12 months with chemotherapy, but after weighing it up, he opted to go without, and face death head on. It's not that the former Dr Feelgood guitarist and songwriter is barred or anything - it's that he shouldn't really be anywhere.īack in 2013, he was diagnosed with late-stage pancreatic cancer - Johnson was given just 10 months to live. Wilko Johnson talks to Andy Welch about survival, putting pen to paper and about the split from Dr Feelgood. And then imagine being told actually, that's not the case. Imagine being told you have got less than a year to live.

Wilko johnson t shirt