Paul Weller

Paul Weller launched his musical path as a rebellious adolescent punk drawn to vintage vinyl. Across decades he flourished at the intersection of history and innovation, shaping forward-looking sounds anchored in tradition. Fronting the Jam, the era’s dominant British rock act, he channeled admiration for the Beatles, the Kinks, and the Who into urgent punk anthems that ignited the late-1970s mod revival. As the Jam wound down he discovered Motown and soul, prompting him to launch the sophisti-pop outfit the Style Council in 1983. Over time his growing obsession with jazz and house music steered the group toward pop’s outer edges by the early 1990s.

Going solo shortly afterward, he fused classic soul with Traffic’s hippie prog rock while adding subtle electronica accents. His artistic resurgence aligned with Britpop’s ascent, a scene populated by musicians who regarded him as a foundational influence. The 1995 album Stanley Road became a multi-platinum smash that sustained his commercial momentum for another ten years, until another creative surge arrived with the 2008 double album 22 Dreams. That release inaugurated a run of exploratory records mixing rock, soul, and electronics—sometimes drifting into the atmospheric realms heard on 2020’s On Sunset, sometimes pulsing with the energy of 2021’s Fat Pop, Vol. 1, and sometimes turning inward on 66, his 2024 album.

Reaching the upper reaches of the charts again as a solo performer proved difficult. After Polydor rejected the Style Council’s house-infused fifth album in 1989, Weller disbanded the group and forfeited both his recording and publishing contracts. He spent the next two years secluded, overhauling his approach. In 1991 he assembled the Paul Weller Movement and issued “Into Tomorrow” on his own Freedom High Records imprint. The gritty, soulful neo-psychedelic track signaled a decisive departure from the Style Council; it entered the U.K. Top 40 that spring. An international tour followed, allowing him to refine the songs that formed his self-titled 1992 solo debut. Produced by Brendan Lynch and featuring members of the Young Disciples, ex-Blow Monkey Dr. Robert, and then-wife Dee C. Lee, Paul Weller arrived as a jubilant, soul-drenched statement that debuted at number eight on the U.K. charts and earned warm notices.

His second solo outing, Wild Wood, proved the debut’s success was no accident. Recorded with Ocean Colour Scene guitarist Steve Cradock, the album expanded in scope and ambition, earning glowing reviews and entering the charts at number two upon its autumn 1993 release. The following year it received the Ivor Novello Award for Outstanding Contemporary Song Collection. An extensive tour kept Cradock in the spotlight, exposure that later helped relaunch Ocean Colour Scene in 1995. Weller capped the run with the live album Live Wood late in 1994. Bolstered by the single “The Changingman,” which became his 17th Top Ten hit, 1995’s Stanley Road entered at number one and eventually approached a million copies sold in the U.K.

At that juncture Weller abandoned further attempts to conquer the American market and scrapped his North American dates. Domestic success rendered such efforts unnecessary. Although Stanley Road drew mixed notices, the press anointed him the spiritual father of Britpop, with figures such as Oasis’s Noel Gallagher publicly celebrating his influence. Even without new releases from either artist in 1996, the U.K. scene echoed their shared affinity for 1960s sounds as Ocean Colour Scene, Cast, and Kula Shaker dominated the charts.

Weller resurfaced in summer 1997 with Heavy Soul; Modern Classics: Greatest Hits appeared a year later. Heliocentric, which he described at the time as his last studio record, surfaced in spring 2000. The live album Days of Speed followed in 2001, and Illumination arrived in 2002. A covers collection, Studio 150, came out in 2004, succeeded by the all-original As Is Now in October 2005 on Yep Roc. Catch-Flame! Live at the Alexandra Palace appeared in 2006, followed by the expansive Hit Parade box set. In 2008 he issued 22 Dreams, a two-disc studio work encompassing his wide-ranging influences. Wake Up the Nation, his tenth solo album, emerged in 2010 and earned a Mercury Music Prize nomination.

Sonik Kicks reached number one in the U.K. upon its spring 2012 arrival and later achieved silver certification. More Modern Classics, a second hits collection spanning post-Heavy Soul singles, arrived in summer 2014. The following spring brought his twelfth solo album, the atmospheric Saturn’s Pattern, which peaked at number two and also went silver. In 2017 he composed his first film score, for the low-budget drama Jawbone, a biopic of former British youth boxing champion Jimmy McCabe. Soon afterward came his thirteenth album, the soul-infused A Kind Revolution, featuring guest appearances by Robert Wyatt and Boy George.

True Meanings, an orchestrated acoustic set, followed quickly and appeared in September 2018. Orchestral concerts at Royal Festival Hall documented on the 2019 live album Other Aspects promoted the record. Early 2020 brought the experimental four-song EP In Another Room on Ghost Box, after which Weller returned to Polydor for On Sunset, a soul-electronic hybrid reuniting him with co-producer Jan Kybert from Saturn’s Pattern. He finished the eclectic Fat Pop, Vol. 1, featuring his daughter Leah, in time for its May 2021 release. Around the same period he presented an orchestral concert of career-spanning songs arranged by Jules Buckley with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and longtime guitarist Steve Cradock; the BBC broadcast later became the December album An Orchestrated Songbook.

Following the 2022 rarities set Will of the People, Weller completed his next album in collaboration with Noel Gallagher, Richard Hawley, Suggs, and Bobby Gillespie. Released just before his 66th birthday, 66 was co-produced by Christophe Vaillant and White Label.