The Tragic Real-Life Story Of Joe Strummer |

April 2024 · 1 minute read

In late 1978, Joe Strummer met the woman who would become his partner of many years and the mother of his children: Gaby Salter, a friend of a woman dating Clash drummer Topper Headon. At the time, Salter was 17 years old; Strummer was 26. In 1984, Salter gave birth to the couple's first child, a daughter named Jazz. Two years later, while Strummer was away in Spain, vacationing with friends for a few months, Salter delivered another daughter — Lola Maybelline Mellor.

Ten days after Lola's birth on January 14, 1986, the family suffered a tragic death. Salter's brother, Nicky Salter, was a diagnosed paranoid schizophrenia patient. "I had this foreboding. I knew something was going to happen," Gaby Salter said in "Redemption Song: The Ballad of Joe Strummer." On January 24, 1986, Nicky Salter took his own life. "It tore the family apart," his sister said.

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