Albert Hammond Jr.

Albert Hammond Jr. (né Hammond III; born April 9, 1980) is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter and music producer. He is most famous for his role as rhythm and lead guitarist, as well as occasional keyboard player and backing vocalist, in the American rock band The Strokes. He is the son of singer-songwriter Albert Hammond. Hammond Jr. released his debut album Yours To Keep in 2006 and followed up with ¿Cómo Te Llama? in 2008, an EP, AHJ, in 2013, and a third album, Momentary Masters, released in 2015. He released his fourth solo album, Francis Trouble, through Red Bull Records on March 9, 2018.\n', ' Hammond was born in Los Angeles, California. He is the son of British-Gibraltarian singer-songwriter Albert Hammond, best known for his 1972 hit single "It Never Rains in Southern California", and Argentine former model and beauty pageant winner Claudia Fernández. Hammond was a championship-winning roller skater as a child. At the age of 13, Hammond Jr. was sent to boarding school Institut Le Rosey in Switzerland. While there, he met Julian Casablancas, who would go on to be a fellow band member. Hammond moved back to Los Angeles where he completed his high school education at the Buckley School.\n', ' In 1998, Hammond moved from Los Angeles to New York City to study filmmaking at the Tisch School of the Arts and met up with Casablancas. He joined The Strokes as the last member with Casablancas\' former schoolmates Nikolai Fraiture, Nick Valensi, and Fabrizio Moretti. Hammond is usually seen playing a 1985 \'70s reissue Olympic White Fender Stratocaster or Gibson Les Paul Jr. that is sometimes used by bandmate Nick Valensi. On the majority of The Strokes\' songs he plays rhythm guitar, and solos are played by Valensi. The songs in which Hammond does play solos are "Last Nite", "Trying Your Luck", "Take It or Leave It", "Under Control", "The End Has No End", "Ize of the World", "Threat of Joy", "Vision of Division", and "Drag Queen". His solos tend to focus largely on more emotional, "bluesy"-type melodical work, and the guitar tends to have a cleaner, softer tone in comparison to Valensi\'s (with a notable exception found in "Vision of Division"). He often holds his guitar in a high horizontal position, similar to Buddy Holly, which he says is so that he can dance better.\n', '