Albert Hammond Jr.

At 44 years old, Albert Hammond Jr. has this physical status:

Albert Hammond Jr. (né Hammond III, 1980) is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, and music arranger.

In the American rock band The Strokes, he is best known for his role as a rhythm and lead guitarist, as well as occasional keyboard player and backing vocalist.

Albert Hammond's uncle is a singer-songwriter.

Hammond Jr.'s debut album Yours To Keep in 2006 was released in 2006, but Cómo Te Llama followed it. In 2008, an EP, AHJ, was released in 2013, and Momentary Masters, a third album, was released in 2015.

On March 9, 2018, he released Francis Trouble, his fourth solo album, through Red Bull Records.

Early life

Hammond was born in Los Angeles, California. He is the son of British-Gibraltarian singer-songwriter Albert Hammond, best known for his 1972 hit song "It Never Rains in Southern California," and Claudia Fernández, a former model and beauty pageant champion. He has two older half-sisters. Hammond, a first-generation American, is of mixed Gibraltarian, Argentina, Austrian, and Peruvian descent; his first language was Spanish. Hammond began playing the guitar at the age of nine. As a child, he was a champion-winning roller skater.

Hammond Jr. was sent to Le Le Rosey, Switzerland's topboarding school at the age of 12. He made friends with former Strokes bandmate Julian Casablancas, who attended as a fellow American Hammond, while living in Los Angeles. Following graduation in 1998, Hammond moved from Los Angeles to New York City, where he deferred admission to New York University. At the New York Film Academy, he took a short-term filmmaking course. He continued to attend Tisch School of the Arts at New York University but left after a year and a half.

Personal life

Hammond Jr. has been married to Polish restaurateur Justyna Hammond Jr. (née Sroka) since December 23, 2013; she prominently uses the suffix Jr. in her surname. The two celebrities now reside in Los Angeles as of 2020. Holiday, the couple's one daughter, was born on March 7, 2021.

Hammond Jr. still lives or has previously lived in the Nolita neighborhood of Manhattan and the Catskill Mountains of New York; in the late 2000s, he built his recording studio near his home in Port Jervis and later moved to Eldred, New York; He had worked with British supermodel Agyness Deyn, as well as American musician Catherine Pierce of The Pierces, in the 2000s.

Hammond Jr., among other drugs, suffered with a severe heroin use in the 2000s. He went back to rehab in 2009 and has been sober ever since.

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Career

Hammond reunited with his long-time school friend Casablancas, who later invited him to join the Strokes in September 1998. Nikolai Fraiture, Nick Valensi, and Fabrizio Moretti were among Casablancas' most notable members of the band, and Hammond Jr. was the last person to join the band in 1999. The band performed and performed humbly for the next two years, all while Hammond Jr. was attending NYU and working at Kim's Video. The Strokes performed their first demo in January 2001, the first demonstration in the United States' history of a raging bidding war and years of critical acclaim. Hammond Jr., a member of the Strokes, has released two EPs and six full length albums, most recently The New Abnormal in 2020.

Hammond is most likely to be seen playing a 1985 reissue Olympic White Fender Stratocaster or Gibson Les Paul Jr., which is also used by bandmate Nick Valensi. Valensi plays rhythm guitar on the majority of the Strokes' songs, and solos are performed. "Last Nite," "Taking It or Leave It," "Under Pressure," "The End Has No End," "Ize of the World," "Vision of Division," and "Drag Queen" are among Hammond's solo performances. His solos tend to concentrate on more personal, "blue"-type melodic music, and the guitar has a cleaner, softer tone in comparison to Valensi's (with a notable exception found in "Vision of Division." He plays his guitar in a high horizontal position, much like Buddy Holly, which he claims is so he can dance better.

Despite the fact that singer Julian Casablancas is the primary songwriter in the Strokes, Hammond co-wrote the track "Automatic Stop" with Casablancas for the group's second album Room on Fire. For the band's 2001 tour video entitled In Transit, he has been credited with three main instrumental songs ("Swiss Beats," "Holland," and "By the Way" (the band's 2001 tour video titled In Transit). These songs were reworked for his later solo album and have different names ("Everyone Gets a Star") ("In Transit"). He wrote "Elephant Song" when he was asked to record a song for his Sound 101 class during his freshman year and used the school's recording equipment. The song was performed at a few shows before the Strokes' debut album was released. The song was later recorded as a special tribute to fan club members.

Hammond and Ben Kweller released a version of "Wait" on This Bird Has Flown in October 2005 – A 40th Anniversary Tribute to the Beatles' Rubber Soul.

Hammond's solo album entitled Yours to Keep in the United Kingdom was released on October 9, 2006 and in North America under New Line Records/Scratchie Records on March 6, 2007. The album was produced by Thin Lizard Dawn vocalist Lattimer and recorded at the Electric Lady Studios in New York City, including Sean Lennon, Ben Kweller, The Strokes' boss Ryan Gentles, Jody Porter of Fountains of Wayne, Chris Feinstein, Mikki James, Sammy James Jr. (The Mooney Suzuki) and Strokes' lead singer Casablancas. Josh Lattanzi and drummer Matt Romano lead the backing band, with Hammond on guitar and vocals. On September 4, 2006, the first single taken from the album, "101," was only available on iTunes. "101" was the sequel to "Everybody Gets a Star." In March 2007, the music video first appeared online. Unlike "Everybody Gets A Star" which was only available through the UK iTunes Music Store, it was going to be available in general music stores. It was announced on November 27, 2006. Joaquin Phoenix produced "In Transit"'s music video.

Hammond has said he has been "waiting to make a record like this for years." Early support from his bandmates on the track "Scared" was only apparent after Casablancas' appearance on bass and back-up vocals, although all of the participants (with the exception of Nick Valensi, who was busy taking care of his newborn children) attended his shows in and around New York.

Hammond performed a 12-song set on March 16, 2007, including covers of Frank Black's "Old Black Dawning" and "Guided By Voices' "Postal Blowfish." In live broadcasts, Hammond also covered "Don't Cha Stop" by the Cars. On their world tour, he supported Bloc Party before making stops at the Metropolis and Kool Haus in Montreal and Toronto. Hammond also ran two North American tours as a result of this tour. The Mooney Suzuki, the Mooney Suzuki, appeared on the North American tour. Hammond was announced in November 2006 that he would be joining Incubus on tour for their new album Light Grenades.

Hammond revealed on MySpace on August 29, 2007, that he would return to the studio to record his second album in October 2007.

Hammond revealed the name of his second album, 'Cómo Te Llama,' on March 20, 2008. It was reported that it contained 13 songs with a total length of 46 minutes and 30 seconds, according to He. He said he wanted to be touring with the new album until the end of 2008. Hammond's first single off Cómo Te Llama? appeared on iTunes in the United States on May 27, 2008. On his 2007 tour, the song was performed often live. "So It Goes" was released on B-side as a B-side on the single as well as a single. On July 7, 2008, the album was first released.

Hammond was Myspace's top artist on May 29, 2008, and the only one on his new album, titled Cómo Te Llama, was released on May 29, 2008. On his official Myspace page, he's posted all the album's tracks. With a small show at the Virgin Megastore in New York City on July 8, he celebrated the introduction of his album. Josh Latzanni, a recording bassist, was a notable departure from Hammond's band. Longwave's Steve Schiltz, who appeared on his first album with Hammond, was also missing. Despite the fact that Hammond was supposed to perform just two or three songs, he ended up playing nearly ten songs, many of which featured both new and old tracks. This performance kicked off his worldwide tour in favor of Cómo Te Llama. With the upcoming performance at the historic venue Spaceland in Los Angeles's Silver Lake neighborhood, the next show will be sold out. This was his first appearance on the West Coast. Hammond's website announced that Hammond would be the support act for the British band Coldplay on their European Tour, which began in Strasbourg, France, on September 1st.

Hammond revealed that he had recorded a five-song EP with the help of Julian Casablancas' Cult Records in an interview with Har Mar Superstar in July 2013. It was named AHJ, which was released on October 8, 2013. Hammond said in an interview promoting the EP on December 5, 2013 that he would be interested in playing solo as an opening act: "I would definitely ask the guys if I could open for them." That would be amazing."

On June 22, 2014, a photograph of himself in a room with other musicians was posted on Hammond's official Facebook page, with the caption "the start of something new; LP 3." implying that he is working on his third full-length album. Hammond debuted his third LP Momentary Masters in the United States on July 31, 2015. Vagrant Records is a distributor for LP Momentary Masters. "Born Slippy" is the first single to be released on YouTube and iTunes respectively. Both AHJ and Momentary Masters were created by Hammond Jr.'s close collaborator Gus Oberg.

As part of Amazon's annual music collection titled Indie for the Holidays, Hammond Jr. covered "The Little Boy That Santa Claus Forgot" by Vera Lynn mixed with George Harrison's "My Sweet Lord" chorus. On December 1, 2017, the album was released.

On March 9, 2018, Hammond Jr.'s fourth solo album Francis Trouble was released via Red Bull Records. On February 2, 2018, the first single "Muted Beatings" was released, followed by a second song, "Fast Times," later that month, ahead of a brief Western USA tour. He released the single "More to Life" in May. Albert appeared on the rock band the Struts' album "Another Hit of Showmanship" later this year.

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