Joe Strummer was born  John Mellor in Ankara, Turkey  His father was a British foreign-service diplomat; his mother, a nurse, was a crofters's daughter from the Scottish Highlands. The family spent much time moving from place to place, and Strummer spent his childhood in a variety of countries. At the age of 9, Strummer began boarding at the City of London Freemen's School in Surrey. Strummer rarely saw his parents during this time. He developed a love of rock music, listening to records by The Beatles and The Beach Boys, as well as American folk-singer Woody Guthrie (Strummer would even go by the name "Woody" for a few years, until changing his name to "Joe Strummer" a year and a half before the Clash was formed). In 1973 Strummer moved to Newport, Wales to attend the Newport College of Art, but soon dropped out. While there, he joined up with some friends to form a band called The Vultures. On April 3, 1976, a then-unknown band called the Sex Pistols played "The Nashville Rooms" in London, and Strummer was impressed by them. Sometime after this show, Strummer was approached by Bernie Rhodes and Mick Jones. Jones was from the band London SS and wanted Strummer to join as lead singer. Strummer agreed to join just as the group was breaking up, but he formed a new band with Jones, bassist Paul Simonon, drummer Terry Chimes and guitarist Keith Levene. The band was named The Clash by Simonon and made their debut on July 4, 1976, opening for the Sex Pistols at The Black Swan in Sheffield, England. The Clash was the most musically diverse and overtly political of the original English punk bands. Their songs tackled social decay, unemployment, racism, police brutality, political and social repression, militarism and, occasionally, sex. Strummer was involved with the Anti-Nazi League and Rock Against Racism campaigns. During his time with The Clash, Strummer, along with his bandmates, became notorious for getting in trouble with the law. On June 10, 1977, he and Topper were arrested for spray-painting "The Clash" on a wall in a hotel, and in the early '80s he was arrested for hitting a violent member of the audience with his guitar during a show in Hamburg, Germany.  The group began to fall apart. In September 1983. Strummer died on December 22, 2002 in his home at Broomfield in Somerset, the victim of an undiagnosed congenital heart defect. His untimely death at age 50 shocked and saddened a generation of fans to whom he had been an inspirational figure.