Legends mourn Dr Feelgood’s Wilko Johnson

THE Who’s Roger Daltrey and Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page last night paid tribute to ground-breaking Dr Feelgood guitarist Wilko Johnson, who has died at 75.

Johnson’s percussive playing style and intense stage presence paved the way for the punk movement before he enjoyed a successful solo career and found a new generation of fans by playing the mute executioner Ser Ilyn Payne in the hit TV series Game of Thrones.

A statement on Johnson’s Facebook page said he died at home on Monday evening.

Daltrey, who recorded an album with Johnson, pictured, in 2014 called Going Back Home, said: ‘More than anything, Wilko wanted to be a poet. I was lucky to have known him and have him as a friend.

‘His music lives on, but there’s no escaping the final curtain this time.’

Guitarist Page said he was ‘sad’ to hear the news, and recalled watching the Dr Feelgood star perform at Koko in Camden in 2013. ‘The atmosphere was electric,’ he tweeted.

Johnson formed Dr Feelgood in 1971 alongside Lee Brilleaux and John B Sparks, and the band’s 1976 live album, Stupidity, reached No 1 in the UK charts.