The beginning of SHAM 69 was in 1976 when Hersham (South London) born Jimmy Pursey, working at the Wimbledon Greyhound stadium(among 40 odd jobs he claims to have had), got together with Neil Harris (lead guitar), Johnny Goodfornothing (guitar), Albie Slider (bass) and Billy Bostik (drums). The name came from some graffiti sprayed on a local wall; It originally proclaimed Hersham 69 but the Her had long since worn away. Like the SWANKERS and various members of the LONDON SS, the Small Faces were proclaimed as an early influence. Although at first SHAM 69 were nothing more than Bay City Roller and Gary Glitter imitators, by November 1976, with Punk rumbling through the suburbs, they had become a high voltage dole queue rock n roll band.
     
      Unlike some of the other art-school politco rockers, Pursey and Sham 69 were strictly working class. Julie Burchill summed them up in their first ever review (in N.M.E.) when she said, Sham 69 play rock n roll in the manner that American negroes fight, not for hun but for existence. However by June 1977 Pursey, who was also managing t... (More SHAM 69 Biography)