He is a guitarist born John Wilkinson in CanveyIsland, Essex,
England.He studied English at the University
of Newcastle upon
Tyne, after
having played with various local groups, and when he finished his education
he returned to Essex to play with the Pigboy Charlie
Band.This became the group
known as Dr. Feelgood where he developed his own style of playing and saw success
when their album Stupidity
reached No. 1 in the UK
album charts.Prior to becoming
a member of Ian Dury and the Blockheads he formed the group Solid Senders
in 1977, essentially a backing band, and they released the album Solid Senders that same year.After releasing several LPs he
formed The Wilko Johnson Band in the mid 1980s and featured the
Blockhead's bass player Norman Watt-Ray and drummer Salvatore
Ramundo.They have toured
regularly since the 1990s and in 200 he recorded the album Live in Japan.
