The Stranglers is a British rock band from Guildford, Surrey, England. Appeared shortly before the first punk wave with which he was associated, he was originally trained in Jet Black (drums), Jean-Jacques "JJ" Burnel (bass) , vocals), Hugh Cornwell (guitar, vocals) and Dave Greenfield (keyboards, vocals).
The group existed in this configuration for sixteen years before the departure of one of its founding members, Hugh Cornwell. As a guitarist, he was replaced twice: in 1990, by John Ellis and in 2000, by Baz Warne. A singer, Paul Roberts, joined the band between 1990 and 2006, taking over vocals shared previously by Hugh Cornwell, Jean-Jacques Burnel and Dave Greenfield. Since 2006, the group has returned to its original form of quartet.
Difficult to assimilate to a musical style, the Stranglers evolved from album to album, passing by rock, post-punk, electronic rock, new wave and pop rock with incursions in jazz, reggae, soul or the rhythm and blues. Their sound is characterized by both JJ Burnel's melodic and aggressive bass and Dave Greenfield's fast arpeggios, played indiscriminately on Hammond organ, synthesizer, piano or harpsichord.
On stage and in the studio, the Stranglers, or at least their first training until 1990, were also distinguished by provocative humor and not always very well understood. A very popular band in Britain, they managed to place twenty-three singles and eighteen albums in the British top 40. In France, it is JJ Burnel, born in London of French parents, who made and continues to make the link with the public.
