Tribute to a legend: When Wilko Johnson of Dr Feelgood talked to the Harrogate Advertiser as he battled through cancer

Legendary Dr Feelgood guitarist Wilko Johnson pictured in full flight on the sleeve of a classic Dr Feelgood single.

Ex-Dr Feelgood legend Wilko Johnson was meant to be dead four years ago, writes Graham Chalmers

Since then he’s not only survived but positively flourished. This plain-speaking but livewire son of Canvey Island in Essex has even got a message for his Harrogate fans coming to his forthcoming UK tour.

“I know Harrogate. I’ve been once or twice. It’s nice. I like posh.”

Dynamic and energetic to the end - Legendary Dr Feelgood guitarist Wilko Johnson as he looked at the time the Harrogate Advertiser interviewed him.

In rock n roll, it’s said that death is a great career move, but Wilko has prospered by continuing to live.

His recent album with The Who’s Roger Daltrey, Going Back Home, was his biggest success since guitarist Wilko and the late lead singer Lee Brilleaux led the original line-up of Dr Feelgood to number one with live album Stupidity in 1976 - not forgetting bassist John B. Sparks and drummer The Big Figure.Wilko, now aged 69, laughs down the line.

“I didn’t do it deliberately. Getting terminal cancer didn’t look like a good career move at the time.

“When I set off on my farewell tour in 2013 I was told I only had a few months to live.

“Someone with the money to do it paid for me to see one of the top surgeons. I was in hospital a long time.

“I still have to go every six months for a scan but I got the all-clear and I’m in remission.

“As it happens, interest in my music has already been building up since, Oil City Confidential, Julian Temple’s documentary on Dr Feelgood came out in 2009. I was already big in Japan!”

With a new, career-spanning compilation just out and talks on-going currently, he reveals, with Universal Records as we speak about a new solo album, Wilko Johnson is in the pink, as happy and energised as the man who wrote r’n’b classics such as Roxette, She Does It Right and Back in the Night and more.

Fans who manage to catch him at the Barbican in York on April 22 will a man reborn in terms of health and career.

Wilko is even happy to talk about his days of sharp suits and event sharper riffs in Dr Feelgood and what really happened when he, er, left the band.

Wilko said: “When I did my book last year Don’t Leave Me Here, I thought my publishers Little Brown wanted me to write about my cancer experience.

“But they said they wanted me to explain what happened in the bust-up with Dr Feelgood.

“I’d never wanted any bitterness but it made me look back. The band did throw me out.

“I realised those bastards definitely did me wrong.”

Please note, this article originally appeared on the Harrogate Advertiser website on Sunday, March 26, 2017.

Wilko Johnson: July 12, 1947 – 21 November 21, 2022

Born John Peter Wilkinson, Wilko Johnson was a key member of pub rock band Dr Feelgood in the 1970s.

The band’s high energy, stripped back form of rhythm and blues and sharp 60s dress sense are credited with paving the way for punk rock.