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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Bruce Douglas Foxton |
| Born | 1 September 1955 |
| Origin | Woking, Surrey, England |
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| Occupation(s) | Bass player |
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| Associated acts |
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| Website | www.brucefoxton.com |
| Notable instruments | |
| Rickenbacker 4001 Fender Precision Bass Epiphone Rivoli |
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With Paul Weller and Rick Buckler he gained worldwide fame as a member of The Jam. His backing vocals and basslines feature on the band’s songs, including the hits “Down in the Tube Station at Midnight”, “The Eton Rifles”, “Going Underground” and “Town Called Malice”. He occasionally performed the lead vocals, such as on the songs “News of the World”, “David Watts”, and “Smithers-Jones”. After the band’s break-up, he pursued a brief moderately successful solo career releasing one album, Touch Sensitive, in 1984, and later joined the band Stiff Little Fingers in 1990.
Bruce Foxton was born in Woking, Surrey on 1 September 1955 to parents Henry and Helen. He grew up on Albert Drive, Sheerwater and was the youngest of three boys He attended Sheerwater Junior and Secondary where he showed great skill in football and technical drawing. In 1972, he left school to work with his brother Derek at a printing firm. While there, he formed a band with his colleagues at work but he abandoned the project out of frustration due to lack of progress and instead chose to join The Jam, although at the beginning he had doubts about the group’s frequent covers of old hits.
After The Jam split in 1982, Foxton pursued a brief solo career, and released the album Touch Sensitive (UK No. 68). He had minor UK hits in 1983 and 1984 with the singles “Freak”, “This Is The Way” and “It Makes Me Wonder”, and played in several less well-known groups, including Sharp, until he joined Stiff Little Fingers.
He stayed with Stiff Little Fingers for fifteen years, during which time they recorded five albums, namely, Flags and Emblems, Get a Life, Tinderbox, Hope Street and Guitar and Drum. During his time with the band, he wrote and co-wrote several tracks and, along with lead singer Jake Burns, managed the group for a while after Russel Emmanuel relinquished the role.
On 5 May 2009, Foxton attended the funeral of Paul Weller’s father John, who was instrumental in The Jam’s success. Foxton played bass and contributed backing vocals on the songs “Fast Car/Slow Traffic” and “She Speaks” included on Weller’s Wake Up the Nation album, released in April 2010. On 25 May 2010, at the Royal Albert Hall, Foxton joined Weller onstage for the first time in twenty-eight years, to perform three songs, “Fast Car/Slow Traffic“, “Eton Rifles” and “The Butterfly Collector“.
On 1 October 2012, Foxton released Back in the Room, his first album in 30 years. It was funded by fans through PledgeMusic and released on Absolute via Universal. Co-written with From The Jam singer Russell Hastings and featuring drummer Mark Brzezicki, guest musicians included Paul Weller. The so-called Modfather performed on three tracks, the single “Number Six“, “Window Shopping” and “Coming On Strong“.
Bass Stuff 