Musician with Dr Feelgood whose stark chords and pin-sharp riffs made him one of the most distinctive of British rock guitarists
The film-maker Julien Temple described the musician Wilko Johnson, who has died aged 75, as “one of the great English eccentrics, a great national treasure waiting to be discovered”. It was thanks partly to Temple’s 2009 documentary, Oil City Confidential, which traced the history of the Canvey Island band Dr Feelgood and Johnson’s role in it, that he enjoyed renewed acclaim towards the end of his life.
Not that fans of Dr Feelgood in the band’s mid-1970s heyday needed reminding of Johnson’s accomplishments. He was never a guitar virtuoso in the vein of Jeff Beck or Eric Clapton, but he was one of the most distinctive British players in the history of rock’n’roll, having perfected a hair-trigger style that combined stark, percussive chords with pin-sharp riffs. To that, Johnson added an intimidating stage presence. Invariably clad in a black suit, eyes staring out across the audience like searchlights, he roved around the stage with robotic remorselessness.
