John The Postman

John the Postman (real name Jonathan Ormrod) was an English punk rock singer from Manchester. Among his various jobs, the best known was that of a postman, hence the nickname. Jon was a postman in Manchester in the 1970s and after many years travelling and in various other jobs he is once again working for the post office in Manchester. One of the attendees at the first Sex Pistols gig at the Lesser Free Trade Hall, he has been described as "a committed and omnipresent figure on the punk and post-punk scene in Manchester", and he became known for his eccentric behaviour at many local rock gigs during the late 1970s, including those of acts such as Joy Division and The Fall. He initially became known for waiting until headline bands had finished their set (sometimes before they had finished) before mounting the stage in a drunken state, grabbing the microphone, and performing his own versions of rock 'n' roll classics such as "Louie Louie". The first time he did this was at a Buzzcocks concert at the Band on the Wall venue on 2 May 1977.

He attracted a cult following and became a local celebrity in Manchester, playing his first official gig on 29 May 1977 in support of Warsaw (later renamed Joy Division). After a handful of solo performances, he was joined by local musicians, forming a band and becoming a regular support act, and when a special concert was held to mark the last night of Manchester's Electric Circus venue (captured on the Virgin Records album 'Short Circuit: Live at the Electric Circus'), with a bill that included Joy Division, The Fall, Steel Pulse, and John Cooper Clarke, he closed proceedings by performing "Louie Louie" backed by Buzzcocks, with an introduction from Pete Shelley. 

He released two albums, 'John the Postman's Puerile' (which was the first record to feature Mark E. Smith, who introduced "Louie Louie"; A version of the song by The Fall with John on vocals appears on The Fall's 'Live 1977' album) and 'John the Postman's Psychedelic Rock 'N' Roll 5 Skinners Steppin' Out of Holts' Brewery', both released on Dave Bentley's Bent Records. The first featured an extended version of "Louie Louie", which was described by Stewart Home in his book "Cranked Up Really High: Genre Theory and Punk Rock" as taking "the amateurism of the Kingsmen to its logical conclusion with grossly incompetent musicianship and a drummer who seems to be experiencing extreme difficulty simply keeping time," while the second included a similar treatment of Van Morrison's "Gloria". Both albums were reissued on a single CD by Overground Records in 1998. A further recording session known as 'John the Postman's Legendary Lost Session' was never released other than on a bootleg, although two songs turned up on a long-unavailable compilation LP entitled 'The Disparate Cognoscenti' released on The Fall's now-defunct Cog Sinister label, which John helped to run (along with The Fall's fanclub), while studying for a degree in Politics & History at Salford University. After he lost his job with the GPO, John travelled around Europe and spent five years living in San Francisco, before returning to Manchester. John's body was discovered at his home on 26 July 2015 - he had apparently been dead for 3 days - from a burst mitral valve caused by an infection. [SOURCE: WIKIPEDIA]