The original unit broke up in 1979, with frontman Jimmy Pursey moving on to pursue a solo career.

[3] The 12 November 1976 issue of NME noted that Sham 69 was rehearsing in 1976, although only Pursey would remain from this early line-up twelve months later.

Sham 69 did not have the art school background of many English punk bands of the time, and brought in football chant backup vocals and an implicit political populism.

Their major label debut was "Borstal Breakout" in January 1978, followed by UK Singles Chart success with "Angels with Dirty Faces" (reaching No.

[11] For his third solo album, Revenge Is Not the Password, Pursey paid for the recording out of his own pocket in order to maintain artistic freedom.

Tregunna and Bators later recruited Nick Turner of the Barracudas and Brian James of the Damned to form the Lords of the New Church.

In 1987 Pursey and Parsons resurrected Sham 69 with new members; Ian Whitewood on drums, Andy Prince on bass, Tony Hardie-Bick ("Tony Bic") on keyboards and Linda Paganelli on saxophone, releasing the album Volunteer and the singles "Rip and Tear" and "Outside the Warehouse".

Andy Prince went on to join the Magic Mushroom Band, and Whitewood was replaced on drums by Sonny Boy Williamson, who played on the Soapy Water and Mister Marmalade album and the singles "Uptown", "Action Time & Vision" and "Girlfriend".

On 26 January 2007, BBC News announced that Sham 69 had split because of a bitter fallout between Pursey and Parsons.

[12] NME reported that a statement released by Parsons included the message: "Sham 69 have left Jimmy Pursey on the eve of their 30th anniversary.

The band had become increasingly fed up with Jimmy's lack of interest in playing live and continually letting down both promoters and fans by pulling out of gigs at the last moment".

[14] This line-up performed tours of the United States, played at many punk festivals across Europe, and released the album, Hollywood Hero, in August 2007.

[15] Bassist Rob Jefferson left Parsons' Sham 69 and was replaced by the former U.K. Subs member Alan Campbell.

Western Culture (UK / Europe)) Source: [9] "Borstal Breakout" Performed by Sham 69; recorded live at Roundhouse Studios (1981)