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What did Canvey Island give to the music world?

Canvey island is 7 square miles of land in the Thames Estuary near Southend.

It was reclaimed by the Dutch in the early 17th century but most of it is still below sea level. That鈥檚 part of what gives Canvey its character.

The western end of the island is dominated by oil refineries and industrial sites and the combination of gritty landscape and neighbouring swamps inspired the country鈥檚 biggest pub rock bands.

Wilko Johnson, Lee Brilleaux, John B Sparkes, John Martin and Chris Fenwick all grew up on Canvey Island. In the early 1970s they formed Dr Feelgood with Chris Fenwick as manager. They were proud of their Essex identity and even though they made their reputation playing in London, they wanted to be known as a band from Canvey. With Wilko Johnson鈥檚 guitar style and the intensity of Lee Brilleaux鈥檚 vocals Dr Feelgood are regarded as a big influence of Punk Music.

The band had their own name for the island 鈥� Oil City; they played rhythm and blues and their heroes were blues musicians from the Mississippi Delta. It takes some imagination to see that same atmosphere in Canvey island, but Dr Feelgood have that gift.

Their first album was called Down By The Jetty, referring to a jetty that was built for oil tankers to unload for a new refinery. But the refinery was never built and the jetty remains a part of the strange landscape that influenced Wilko Johnson鈥檚 song writing, as he explains: 鈥淚 certainly love the Thames Estuary, any opportunity to look out across the estuary I take it because there鈥檚 something about it, some spirit or something that tugs at me, and there right plonked in it is Canvey Island, like a precious stone set in a muddy sea鈥�.

Canvey attracts visitors from all over the world 鈥� Feelgood fans who come every year to celebrate singer Lee Brilleaux and the music of the band. Lee died in 1994 from cancer, every May a memorial weekend is held to remember him, starting with a pilgrimage round the places that influenced the band. Together, the fans speak of a feeling of 鈥楩eelgoodness鈥�.

Chris Fenwick believes Canvey gave the band the stability to cope with stardom.

Dr Feelgood are still going, though not with the original line-up, they tour around the world. But for one night a year, the three remaining original members get together and play the same stage as the new Dr Feelgood members. The money raised goes to the nursing team from the hospice that looked after Lee when he died.

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