"[2] He became known for his eccentric behaviour at local rock gigs during the late 1970s, including those of acts such as Joy Division and The Fall.
[3] After a handful of solo performances, he was joined by local musicians, forming a band and becoming a regular supporting act.
When a special concert was held to mark the last night of Manchester's Electric Circus venue (captured on the Virgin Records album Short Circuit: Live at the Electric Circus), with a bill that included Joy Division, The Fall, Steel Pulse, and John Cooper Clarke, he closed the proceedings by performing "Louie Louie" backed by Buzzcocks.
He was introduced by Pete Shelley: "That's it from us, but the favourite of all Manchester, the one guy who never appears on the bill but is always there – Jon the Postman".
The first featured an extended version of "Louie Louie," which was described by Stewart Home in his book Cranked Up Really High: Genre Theory and Punk Rock as taking, "the amateurism of the Kingsmen to its logical conclusion with grossly incompetent musicianship and a drummer who seems to be experiencing extreme difficulty simply keeping time,"[4] while the second included a similar treatment of Van Morrison's "Gloria".
[9] After he lost his job with the GPO, Jon travelled around Europe and spent five years living in San Francisco, before returning to Manchester.
Mick Middles described how Chris Helme became a member of The Seahorses after regularly mounting the stage in a similar fashion to Jon at performances by a band which included future Seahorses drummer Andy Watts and bass guitarist Stuart Fletcher,[12] where he would, "lurch from the crowd, clutching a bottle in the manner of Manchester punk legend, Jon the Postman, and launch into impromptu vocals.