Lu Edmonds

Robert David "Lu" Edmonds (born 9 September 1957) is an English rock and folk musician. He is currently a vocalist and saz player in the Mekons and the lead guitarist for Public Image Limited. Growing up abroad in Poland, South America, Russia and Cyprus, Edmonds was educated in local schools and at Ampleforth College. Edmonds first came to prominence as a member of the Damned, playing guitar on their second album, 1977's Music For Pleasure. It was the rest of the band that nicknamed him "Lu"—short for "Lunatic". Billed simply as "Lu" while with the Damned, subsequent bands billed him as Lu Edmonds (or occasionally "Lu Knee"). He has played in Public Image Ltd, the Spizzles, the Mekons, Shriekback, as a Bloke in Billy Bragg & the Blokes as well as on tracks by the Waterboys and Kirsty MacColl. He also co-wrote songs with MacColl for her first album and played lead guitar on her first single "They Don't Know" (and also on the cover of that song by comedian Tracey Ullman). He has played various instruments in "world music" pioneers 3 Mustaphas 3 under the pseudonym Uncle Patrel Mustapha Bin Mustapha. Edmonds reportedly plays guitar, bass guitar, keyboards, bouzouki, saz, cümbüs, oud and drums, among other instruments.In 2009, together with fellow-pickers Justin Adams and Ben Mandelson, Edmonds formed the band Les Triaboliques, and released their debut album Rivermudtwilight. Edmonds was guitarist/vocalist in new-wave band "the Edge" in 1979. This band also featured drummer Jon Moss, (whom Edmonds met in the Damned, and who went on to become the drummer in Culture Club), bassist Glyn Havard who played in proto neo-age prog-rock gods Jade Warrior and keyboardist Gavin Povey who now plays with UK virtuoso guitarist Albert Lee in Hogans Heroes. In 2010, Edmonds appeared on Poets and Lighthouses, the latest album by Albert Kuvezin of the Tuvan ethnic-rock fusion group Yat Kha.