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Test yourself on mankind. It is something that makes the doubter doubt, the believer believe. Franz Kafka |
Jon Moss (born Jonathan Aubrey Moss) is an English drummer best known as a member of the 1980s pop group Culture Club. He has also played with other bands, including London, The Nips and The Damned.
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Moss was born in "Clapham Jewish Boys Home" at Wandsworth, South London, and was adopted when six months old by an upper-middle-class Jewish family that owned a clothing shop called Alkit.Jon grew up in Hampstead and attended excellent schools, including Arnold House from 1962 to 1970 and Highgate from 1970 to 1975.
Music was an important hobby in his childhood; he used to play well known pop songs on the family piano. When he was 13 years old, he started playing drums; his brother David had a Wayward drum, which he borrowed.
In Highgate School, he developed a fascination for sports, especially boxing, but he did not wish to play professionally. It was also at Highgate that he formed his first band, Pig Williams, along with his friend Nick Feldman (Feldman would later become a member of Wang Chung, which had two top-ten hits in the U.S.) Together they performed at several school events. After finishing high school, Jon held various jobs, including working at his father's clothing store, as a cake salesman and as a sound engineer in the Marquee Studios. He regarded going to university as a waste of time, although he briefly considered the idea of studying Greek at the University of Cambridge.
Soon after he formed his own punk band London with his friend Riff Regan, he had the honor of going on tour with the established punk band The Stranglers, and they got a record deal. They released a single entitled "Everyone."
Soon afterward, Moss decided to drumming in another punk band, The Damned. He replaced Rat Scabies, who had quit the band. He made the final decision to join The Damned after he was injured in a car crash on 1977 New Year's Eve, suffering fractures in his face, resulting in a broken nose and had his injuries required 250 stitches and a week's hospital stay.
Years later, Jon was advised by a friend that Boy George was looking for a drummer for his band, originally called Praise of Lemmings. Moss suggested changing the name of the group to Culture Club in reference to the various ethnic backgrounds of the members.
In 1985, he produced some tracks for the band, Woyeyeh.
Following Culture Club, he released a single with the group Heartbeat UK, entitled "Jump To It", which he also produced.
In 1989, under the name Rubberman, he released one white label of an acid house instrumental track. Boy George used that backing track to create his own song "After The Love", which was released as a single on the Jesus Loves You. He was also involved later in another group, Promised Land, circa 1991–92 with Nick Feldman of the pop group Wang Chung. They released some singles ("Something In The Air" and "Circle In The Square") and a self-titled album.
Moss was a part of the Culture Club reformation between 1998–2002.
He was also in a punk band called Fassbender from 2003-05. Moss is currently a member of the bands DanMingo and Dirth. He has also performed and recorded with the London based singer and songwriter, Anca.
In July 2005, Moss played drums on the charity single, "People I Don't Know Are Trying to Kill Me", written by journalist Neil McCormick, to help the families of the victims of the terrorist bombings in London.
Moss was interviewed in the Hampstead Village Voice about his early life and career in 2009.
Jon Moss is currently involved with the reunion of the Culture Club, which includes a new album and a world tour. According to Boy George on his twitter page, the band will begin recording the album in December 2011 and the tour will begin in the spring or summer of 2012.
Moss was in a romantic relationship with Boy George during the height of the band's popularity, He was married to Barbara (Babs) until they separated in 2010. The couple have a son, Clyde (b. 1997), a daughter, Julia 'Gigi' (b. 2000) and another son, Leon (b. 2003).
Jon Moss
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