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William E. Drummond ('''Bill Drummond''') (born musician, music industry figure, writer and artist. He is best known as co-founder of The KLF , the avant-garde "pop group" of the late eighties, the K Foundation , its nineties "avant-art" media-manipulating successor, and for burning a million Pounds in 1994. He has also written several books, produced a variety of different Conceptual Art projects (collected under the Penkiln Burn label) and helped to set-up The Foundry , a thriving arts centre set within the aegis of a public house in Shoreditch , London . HISTORY Bill Drummond was born to Scottish parents in South Africa, where his father was a preacher for the Church Of Scotland . His family moved back to the United Kingdom when he was 18 months old, and he grew up in the town of Newton Stewart in Galloway, Scotland . Originally educated as an artist, Drummond's musical history began in 1977 with the Liverpool group Big In Japan , a band whose membership also included future luminaries Holly Johnson ( Frankie Goes To Hollywood ), Budgie later of The Slits , Siouxsie & The Banshees and The Creatures , Jayne Casey (of Pink Military, Pink Industry and now Chief Executive of The afoundation) as well as Ian Broudie ( The Lightning Seeds ). After the band's demise, Drummond and another member David Balfe started Zoo Records , their first release being Big In Japan 's posthumous EP , From Y To Z And Never Again . They went on to act as both producers and label managers releasing the debut singles by Echo & The Bunnymen and The Teardrop Explodes , both of whom Drummond would later manage somewhat idiosyncratically. The production team of Drummond and Balfe was christened The Chameleons, who also recorded the single "Touch" together with a female singer as Lori and the Chameleons. He later took a job in the mainstream music business as an A&R executive for the label WEA , working with Strawberry Switchblade , Zodiac Mindwarp And The Love Reaction , The Proclaimers and Brilliant . On his 33 and a third birthday he repented his corporate involvement and resigned his job, in typically ideosyncratic fashion, releasing a solo single with a B-side entitled ''The Manager's Speech''. In 1986, Drummond issued a solo album, '' The Man '', which was, rather uncharacteristically, a country/folk music recording, backed by Australian rock group '' The Triffids ''. The album was perhaps most notable for the sardonic "Julian Cope Is Dead", where he outlined his fantasy of shooting the Teardrop Explodes frontman in the head to ensure the band's early demise and subsequent legendary status. The song could be seen as a reply to the Cope song "Bill Drummond Said". On New Years Day 1987, Drummond then teamed up with Jimmy Cauty (whom he had signed to Food / WEA as a member of "Brilliant") to form The Justified Ancients Of Mu Mu , (aka ''The JAMs'', ''The Timelords'', ''The KLF'' and a host of other names), their idea of an "anti-band", a richly imaginative and ongoing cultural critique culled from their experiences in the music industry. Under such aegis, Drummond and Cauty enjoyed a long-running approval and reverence from the music press for their combination of wayward promotional tactics, depthful media critique, and humorous, innovative and influential dance music. '' Trouser Press '', for example, referred to Drummond as a "high-concept joker" Trouserpress.com - The KLF . Their final act as The KLF, deleting the back-catalogue that had made them rich, was only the first indication of their growing disgust with what they had themselves contributed to the popular culture. The ultimate act, that of Burning A Million Pounds of the profits they had made, came a few years later. In 1995, Drummond bought ''A Smell of Sulphur in the Wind'' by Richard Long , his favourite contemporary artist, for $20,000. In 2000, he attempted to sell the work by placing a series of placards around the country. When this failed to work, in 2001, he cut the photograph and text work into 20,000 pieces, to sell for $1 each. [http://www.penkiln-burn.com/jobs/job5elements.html Recently, Drummond has developed a reputation as a writer of wide-ranging experience and talents and his current projects can be seen at www.penkiln-burn.com REVIEWS AND ACCOLADES In 1993, , Drummond has always been a step ahead of human evolution, guiding us on. Manager of The Teardrop Explodes, co-inventor of ambient and trance house, number one pop star, situationist pagan, folk troubador, pan-dimensional zanarchist gentleman of leisure...and then, ladies and gentlemen, he THROWS IT ALL AWAY, machine-guns the audience and dumps a dead sheep on the doorstep of the Brit Awards and vanishes to build dry-stone walls. His new 'band' The K Foundation make records but say they won't release them at all until world peace is established. Deranged, inspired, intensely cool.""Cool like what?", ''Select'' Magazine , September 1993 ( link ) BIBLIOGRAPHY
DISCOGRAPHY (SOLO)
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