To contact Tymon please us this email address: info (at) thinmanpress.com
Tymon Dogg (born Stephen John Murray) is an English singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. Dogg’s career started early with shows at the Cavern and Peppermint Lounge in Liverpool when he was just 15. As well as pursuing a solo career, he collaborated with many bands and musicians including The Clash, and was a member of Joe Strummer’s last band, The Mescaleros.
Tymon (then going by the name Timon) moved to London at 17; he signed to Pye records and recorded a single, “The Bitter Thoughts of Little Jane” featuring Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones (later of Led Zeppelin fame). Moving to Apple Records, tymon recorded tracks produced by Peter Asher and featuring Paul McCartney on piano and James Taylor on guitar. Tymon then toured with The Moody Blues and worked closely with Justin Hayward to produce many tracks, “Now She Says She’s Young” being released as single in 1970.
Tymon became disillusioned with the constraints of the commercial music industry and cut his ties with it to become part of London’s early 1970s underground scene.
Moving into a squatted property in Westbourne Grove, Tymon made a living gigging in folk clubs and busking with house mate ‘Woody’ aka Joe Strummer. Tymon regularly played at the Charlie Pig Dog Club with the 101ers and when Joe Strummer joined The Clash Tymon was invited to contribute tracks on Sandinista and Combat Rock.
Other notable housemates from that time included all female punk band The Slits, with whom Tymon shared a flat until 1978.
In 1978, Tymon spent six months in India, moving to the North East of England on his return in 1979 with artist Helen Cherry.
In 1980 Tymon moved to New York, meeting up with old friends Joe Strummer and Mick Jones who were recording at Electric Ladyland.
Tymon worked with Malcolm McLaren in 1982-3 while the latter was producing Duck Rock.
Tymon released two solo albums during the 1980s including Battle of Wills and Relentless, as well as New Age Songs, (1987) an album by the band he formed with Helen Cherry called the Frugivores.
In 1991, Tymon and Helen had a son who was born with learning disabilities. Much of the next decade was devoted to taking care of him.
In 2000, Tymon met up with old friend Joe Strummer again at the Poetry Olympics curated by Michael Horovitz. The two performed an impromptu set of songs together, with Lily Allen in her début stage performance as backing singer.
Shortly afterwards, Tymon joined Strummer’s band, The Mescaleros, and the two worked together until Strummer’s untimely death in 2002 producing hits such as “Mondo Bongo” (for which Tymon wrote the tune) and “Johnny Appleseed”.
Tymon has continued to write and record his music. In june 2015 he will release an album of new material, called Made of Light.
An EP, Guantanamo was released by Map Music in 2006; in 2010 Cherry Red released a compilation of songs from 1967 – 2009 called The Irrepressible Tymon Dogg and Thin Man Press produced a CD of Tymon’s soundscape settings of extracts from Louis Aragon’s A Wave of Dreams in 2012.Nichola Bruce created a video interpretation of the track Dreams, Dreams, Dreams which can be viewed here.
As a Producer Tymon produced Doctor Millar’s ‘The Bitter Lie’ which was recently named ‘one of the best Irish records of all time by Today FM and The Sunday Tribune’. In 2014 he produced, composed settings for and played on the album Forgive and Forget by brilliant singer-songwriter Susannah Austin which was released in September. You can listen to some of the tracks here.
Press Tymon has been reviewed and interviewed through the decades by a great many journalists in all media too numerous to mention – a google search will provide such info.
He has also appeared in numerous documentaries, films, books etc about his own music, life and times, and, of course about The Clash, The Slits and the whole punk scene.
To contact Tymon please use this email address: info (at) thinmanpress.com
Tymon Dogg 