*Gordon Matthew Thomas Sumner was born on 2 October 1951, in Wallsend , Northumberland, England, [8] [9] the eldest of four children of Audrey (née Cowell), a hairdresser, and Ernest Matthew Sumner, a milkman and engineer. [10] He grew up near Wallsend's shipyards , which made an impression on him. At eight [11] or ten [12] years old, he was inspired by the Queen Mother waving at him from a Rolls-Royce to divert from the shipyard prospect towards a more glamorous life. [13] He helped his father deliver milk and by ten was "obsessed" with an old Spanish guitar left by an emigrating friend of his father. [14]

He attended St Cuthbert's Grammar School in Newcastle upon Tyne . He visited nightclubs such as Club A'Gogo to see Cream and Manfred Mann , who influenced his music. [15] After being a bus conductor, building labourer and tax officer, he attended Northern Counties College of Education (now Northumbria University ) from 1971 to 1974 and qualified as a teacher. [16] He taught at St Paul's First School in Cramlington for two years*

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