His recorded output has mainly relied on musical backing from the Invisible Girls, which featured Martin Hannett, Steve Hopkins, Pete Shelley, Bill Nelson, and Paul Burgess.

[1] He lived in the Higher Broughton area of the city and became interested in poetry after being inspired by his English teacher, John Malone,[2] whom he described as "a real outdoor guy, an Ernest Hemingway type, red blooded, literary bloke".

He toured with Bill Nelson's band Be-Bop Deluxe in 1978 and was signed by Epic Records, who issued the studio album Disguise In Love, produced by Hannett, in 1978.

Her run of success on the British TV show Opportunity Knocks led both Clarke and his mother to believe that he could make a living at poetry.

[1][9] He toured with Linton Kwesi Johnson, and performed on the same bill as bands such as the Sex Pistols, the Fall, Joy Division, Buzzcocks, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Elvis Costello, Rockpile and New Order (including at their May 1984 Music for Miners benefit concert at London's Royal Festival Hall).

[13] The film featured live performances of mainstream artists (the Police, the Go-Go's, XTC, Devo) as well as more obscure bands (Pere Ubu, Invisible Girls, the Alley Cats, Athletico Spizz '80, Chelsea) using concert footage from around the world.

He also starred in another 1982 film titled John Cooper Clarke – Ten Years in an Open Necked Shirt produced for the Arts Council of Great Britain and Channel 4.

"[17] In 1987, he performed live (on crutches owing to a broken ankle) at the Albany Empire in London with Suns of Arqa, recorded two tracks ("Libera Me" and "The Truth Lies Therein") for their album Seven, and featured in the music video for the latter.

[citation needed] After 20 years of performing the same material, Clarke re-established contact with guitarist Rick Goldstraw, who had founded Blue Orchids and played with The Fall and Nico.

Clarke's recording of "Evidently Chickentown" from his album Snap, Crackle & Bop was also featured prominently in the closing scene of The Sopranos episode "Stage 5".

[20] In July 2013 Clarke was awarded an honorary doctorate of arts by the University of Salford in "acknowledgement of a career which has spanned five decades, bringing poetry to non-traditional audiences and influencing musicians and comedians."

[22] On their 2020 eponymous debut album, English band Working Men’s Club pays homage to the poet in the track John Cooper Clarke, referencing his poem "Attack of the Fifty Foot Woman" and book The Luckiest Guy Alive.

[29] In January 2018 Clarke appeared as a contestant on an academic version of BBC One's Pointless Celebrities partnered with historian Suzannah Lipscomb; they reached the head-to-head round.

His book choice was Against Nature by Joris-Karl Huysmans, his luxury item was a boulder of opium twice the size of his head and his favourite track was "How Great Thou Art" by Elvis Presley.