The famous Julian Keith Levene was an English musician who was a founding member of both The Clash and Public Image Ltd. While Levene was in PiL, their 1978 debut album Public Image: First Issue reached No 22 in the UK album charts, and its lead track “Public Image” broke the top 10 UK single chart.
Levene was born in Muswell Hill, London on 18 July 1957. His father was Jewish. He was an early fan of Ska, The Beatles, and progressive rock; at fifteen he worked as a roadie for Yes on their Close to the Edge tour, cleaning Alan White’s cymbals amongst other mundane duties.
He became a founding member of The Flowers of Romance and notably The Clash, when in 1976 and aged 16, he helped persuade Joe Strummer to leave the pub rock band the 101ers and join the Clash. Although he left the band before their first studio recordings, he co-wrote What’s My Name, which appeared on their first album.
Keith Levene dies: Cause of death revealed
In mid-1986, Levene was asked to produce demos for the album The Uplift Mofo Party Plan by the Red Hot Chili Peppers at Master Control in Burbank with engineers Steve Catania and Dan Nebenzal. Also in 1986, Levene worked with DJ Matt Dike, experimenting with sampling techniques and hip-hop for Ice T and Tone Loc on their early recordings for Delicious. In 1989, he released his first solo release, Violent Opposition, on which members of the Red Hot Chili Peppers performed.
He first listened to the Beatles a lot. He cited guitarist Steve Howe of Yes as one of his main influences and the greatest fucking guitarist in the world, and prog rock as a genre he particularly liked. According to reports, the guitarist died of liver cancer on Nov. 11. His good friend author Adam Hammon announced the news of Levene’s passing
