Albert Hammond Jr

Albert Hammond Jr biography

Albert Louis Hammond, Jr. (born April 9, 1980) is an American musician and member of the garage rock band The Strokes, in which he primarily plays guitar, but also plays keyboards live. He is also a solo musician. His father, Albert Hammond, whose career was primarily in the 1960s and 1970s, had even greater success on the singles charts as a songwriter and occasional singer. He released his debut album Yours To Keep in 2006 and followed up with ¿Cómo Te Llama? in 2008. The Beach Boys, Buddy Holly, Frank Black, Guided By Voices, John Lennon, Matthew Sweet and The Velvet Underground are often cited as his major influences.

Life and career

Hammond was born in Los Angeles, California, the son of British-Gibraltarian singer/songwriter/musician Albert Hammond and Argentine former model and beauty pageant winner Claudia Fernández. Hammond Jr. was sent to the elite boarding school Institut Le Rosey in Switzerland at the age of 13. While there, he met Julian Casablancas, who would go on to be a fellow band member.

In 1998, Hammond met up with Casablancas in New York City and together they formed The Strokes with Casablancas' former schoolmates Nikolai Fraiture, Nick Valensi, and Fabrizio Moretti.

His trademark is wearing formal three-piece suits, and has been said by bandmate Julian Casablancas to be the most influential on the band's style. Hammond is usually seen playing a 1985 '70s reissue Olympic White Fender Stratocaster or Gibson Les Paul Jr. that is sometimes used by bandmate Nick Valensi. On the majority of The Strokes' songs he plays rhythm guitar, and solos are played by Valensi. The songs in which Hammond does play solos are "Last Nite", "Trying Your Luck", "Take It or Leave It", "Under Control", "The End Has No End", "Ize of the World", and "Vision of Division". His solos tend to focus largely on more emotional, "bluesy"-type melodical work, and the guitar tends to have a cleaner, softer tone in comparison to Valensi's (with a notable exception found in "Vision of Division"). He often holds his guitar in a high horizontal position, similar to Buddy Holly, which he says is so that he can dance better.

Hammond is set to release his own line of men's suits which he will co-design along with stylist Ilaria Urbinati. The suits will at first only be available at the soon-to-open Confederacy store in Los Angeles which Urbinati co-owns with actor/DJ Danny Masterson. Speaking about the designing endeavor Hammond, Jr. told New York magazine, "I want to make suits that I'm going to have for myself. They're for the person who needs his one suit for a wedding. He'd rather get something like this than go to Men's Wearhouse, pay the same amount, and look like an out-of-date parent." Prices for his line start at $1,250 for the Urbinati-designed trench coat and the $2,000+ price range for his suits. Hammond told NME that the suits will be available in three styles with a new design every season and that he's aiming to keep the line classic.

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