Albert Hammond Jr.

He is the son of British-Gibraltarian singer-songwriter Albert Hammond, a prolific songwriter best known for his 1972 hit single "It Never Rains in Southern California", and Argentine Claudia Fernández, a former model and beauty pageant winner.

He has two older half-sisters.

A first generation American, Hammond is of mixed Gibraltarian, Argentine, Austrian, and Peruvian descent; his first language was Spanish.

Hammond began playing the guitar at age nine.

He was a championship-winning roller skater as a child.

At the age of 12, Hammond Jr. was sent to boarding school Institut Le Rosey in Switzerland.

While there, he became friends with future Strokes bandmate Julian Casablancas, a grade above him, whom he connected with as a fellow American Hammond moved back to Los Angeles where he completed his high school education at the Buckley School.

Albert Louis Hammond Jr. (born Hammond III; April 9, 1980) is an American musician who is a member of the rock band The Strokes.

He is best known for his role as rhythm and lead guitarist, as well as occasionally a keyboard player and backing vocalist for the band.

Hammond Jr. has released extensive solo work, including five solo albums.

Born in Los Angeles, Hammond Jr. is a first-generation American, his father the songwriter Albert Hammond being of British-Gibraltarian descent, and his mother being of Argentine descent.

He attended the same Swiss boarding school as his bandmate Julian Casablancas, where the two became friends.

Hammond was born on April 9, 1980 in Los Angeles, California.

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 melodic 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.

Although vocalist 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.

He would move to New York City in 1998 and attended New York University for a year and a half.

Following graduation in 1998, Hammond moved from Los Angeles to New York City and, having deferred admittance to New York University, took a short-term filmmaking course at the New York Film Academy.

He later attended NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, but left after a year and a half.

After moving to New York City in September 1998, Hammond reconnected with his former school friend Casablancas, who later invited him to join the Strokes.

Casablancas invited Hammond Jr. to join the Strokes in 1999, being the last member to join the band.

He plays rhythm guitar on most songs, and has some songwriting credits on the more instrumental pieces.

Hammond Jr. is passionate about fashion and is known for wearing a three-piece suit on tour.

Casablancas credits him for influencing the band's style.

Made up of Casablancas' other schoolmates Nikolai Fraiture, Nick Valensi, and Fabrizio Moretti, Hammond Jr. was the last person to join the band in 1999.

In the following two years, the band practiced and performed tirelessly, all while Hammond Jr. was also attending NYU and working at Kim's Video.

The Strokes released their first demo in January 2001, beginning a record label bidding war and years of critical acclaim.

Since 2001, Hammond Jr., as part of the Strokes, has released two EPs and six full-length albums, most recently The New Abnormal in 2020.

He has been credited with writing three mostly instrumental songs ("Swiss Beats", "Holland", and "By the Way") for the band's 2001 tour video titled In Transit.

These songs were reworked for his later solo album and have different titles ("Everyone Gets a Star", "Bright Young Thing", "In Transit").

He wrote "Elephant Song" when he was required to record a song for his Sound 101 class during his freshman year and used the school's recording equipment.

The song was played at a few shows before the release of the Strokes' debut album.

They later re-recorded the song as a special giveaway for fan club members.

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

In 2006, Hammond Jr. released his debut solo album Yours to Keep. and followed up with ¿Cómo Te Llama? in 2008.

In 2009, he released a line of men's suits.

Since then, he has released the 2013 EP AHJ, and the albums Momentary Masters and Francis Trouble in 2015 and 2018, respectively.