Strummer's flat gets a plaque + rarity CD to follow

The legendary frontman of The Clash, who died suddenly in December 2002, learned to play guitar and penned his first songs in a lowly bedsit flat at 12 Pentonville, Newport, in 1974. Three years later, his band released their first records and toured with The Sex Pistols.

Richard Frame, Corporate Director of Newport single homeless project Solas (a member of the Seren Group), lived with the young Joe - then known to locals as 'Woody' - in the flat in Pentonville in 1974.

"We used to hang out in the Murenger pub in town. Joe used to spend lots of time with the local art college students and in no time he was fronting local band The Vultures. This is where he started in music and he used had talk about his time in Newport a lot. He'd pop back into town for a drink whenever he was in the area - and one of his last ever gigs was at Newport TJs".

The circular plaque reads "Joe Strummer lived here in 1974". It will be unveiled by Joe's widow, Lucinda Mellor, and it is hoped that some of Joe's old friends and colleagues from the music business will be in Newport for the ceremony.

A CD containing a previously unheard demo of Joe's band, recorded in the Newport bedsit in 1974, is to be released on CD by Solas later in the year.