Ian Dury
Ian Dury (
May 12,
1942 –
March 27,
2000) was an
English rock and roll singer, songwriter, and bandleader. He is best known as founder and lead singer of the British band
Ian Dury and the Blockheads, though he began his musical career in
pub rock act Kilburn and the High Roads.
Dury, who was born in
Harrow (although he always claimed that he was born in
Upminster,
Havering), lived with the effects of
polio, which he contracted at the age of seven — very likely, he believed, from a swimming pool at
Southend on Sea during the
1949 Polio Epidemic. His 1981 song "Spasticus Autisticus," intended to mark the
International Year of the Disabled, was banned by the
BBC despite having been written by a disabled person. The lyrics were uncompromising:
So place your hard-earned peanuts in my tin:And thank the Creator you're not in the state I'm in:So long have I been languished on the shelf:I must give all proceedings to myself
The song's refrain, "I'm spasticus, autisticus" was inspired by the response of the rebellious Roman
gladiators in the film
Spartacus, who, when instructed to identify their leader, all answered, "I am
Spartacus," to protect him.
Dury left school at 16 to study at
Walthamstow Art College. In 1964 he won a place at the
Royal College of Art where he was taught by the eminent British artist
Peter Blake and, in 1967, Dury himself started teaching art at various colleges in the south of England. When asked why he did not pursue a career in art, he once said, "I got good enough [at art] to realise I wasn't going to be very good."
Dury married his first wife Betty Rathnell in 1967 and they had two children, Baxter and Jemima. They divorced in 1985 and Betty died of cancer in 1994. [
1]
Dury was inspired to form Kilburn and the High Roads (a pun on
the road in north London) in 1971 following the death of his hero
Gene Vincent (with whom he may have identified because he also had a leg disability). Dury was vocalist and lyricist, co-writing with pianist Russell Hardy and later enrolling into the group a number of the students he was teaching at
Canterbury School of Art, including guitarist Keith Lucas and bassist Humphrey Ocean. The Kilburns found favour on London's Pub Rock circuit and signed to Dawn Records in 1974, but despite favourable press coverage and a tour opening for
The Who, the group failed to rise above cult status. The group disbanded in 1975.
|
The original UK 45rpm single picture cover of Ian Dury and the Blockheads' â€" Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick |
Managed by
Andrew King, Ian Dury and The Blockheads had several hit
singles, including "What a Waste", "Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick" (which was a UK number one at the beginning of 1979, selling just short of a million copies), "Reasons to be Cheerful (Part Three)" (number three in the UK), and the
rock and roll anthem "
Sex and Drugs and Rock and Roll", often credited with introducing the phrase to the language.
Dury's lyrics were a unique combination of lyrical
poetry,
word play, observation of British everyday (working-class) life, acute character sketches and scatalogical humour:
Home improvement expert Harold Hill of
Harold Hill,:Of
do-it-yourself dexterity and
double glazing skill,:Came home to find
another gentleman's kippers in the grill.:So he sanded off his
winkle with a
Black & Decker drill...
:(from
This Is What We Find)
I had a love affair with Nina:In the back of my
Cortina:A
seasoned-up hyena:Could not have been more obscener:She took me to the cleaners:And other misdemeanours:But I got right up between her:
Rum and her
Ribena...
:(from
Billericay Dickie)
The Blockheads' eclectic sound meanwhile was drawn from their many musical influences which included
jazz, rock and roll,
funk and
reggae, not to mention Dury's love of
music hall.
The band were formed when Dury had a chance encounter with guitarist
Chaz Jankel. Jankel took Dury's lyrics, fashioned a number of songs, and they began recording with members of
Radio Caroline's Loving Awareness Band, drummer
Charley Charles, bassist
Norman Watt-Roy, keyboard player
Mickey Gallagher, guitarist
John Turnbull and the former Kilburns saxophonist
Davey Payne. An album was completed, but major record labels passed on the band. However, next door to Dury's manager's office was the newly formed
Stiff Records, a perfect home for Dury's maverick style. The classic single
Sex & Drugs & Rock and Roll marked Dury's Stiff debut and this was swiftly followed by the album
New Boots and Panties!, which was to eventually achieve platinum status.
It wasn't until October 1977 that Dury and his band started to go out as Ian Dury and the Blockheads, when the band signed up for the Stiff "Live Stiffs Tour" alongside
Elvis Costello And The Attractions,
Nick Lowe,
Wreckless Eric and
Larry Wallis. The tour was a success and Stiff launched a concerted Ian Dury marketing campaign, resulting in the Top Ten hit
What a Waste and the classic UK number one
Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick. The band toured to great acclaim throughout Europe.
The band's second album
Do It Yourself was released in June 1979 in a
Barney Bubbles-designed sleeve of which there were over a dozen variations, all based on samples from the
Crown wallpaper catalogue. Another top ten single,
Reasons to be Cheerful, kept Dury in the public eye.
In 1980 Jankel left The Blockheads to concentrate on a solo career and was replaced by former
Dr Feelgood guitarist
Wilko Johnson, who also contributed to the next album
Laughter and its two minor hit singles. In 1980-81 Dury and Jankel teamed up again with
Sly and Robbie to record
Lord Upminster.
Ian Dury And The Blockheads disbanded in 1981 after Dury secured a new recording deal with
Polydor Records through A&R man Frank Neilson, choosing to work with a group of young musicians which he named The Music Students and recorded the album
Four Thousand Weeks' Holiday. This album marked a departure from his usual style and was not as well received by fans for its American jazz influence. In 1998, following Dury's diagnosis with cancer, he reunited with the Blockheads to record the well-received album
Mr Love-Pants and play a number of live dates.
The Blockheads have continued after Dury's death. They have released one solo album, Where's The Party, and are currently recording a second. They still tour and are now comprised of Jankel, Watt-Roy, Gallagher, Turnbull, Dylan Howe on Drums, Gilad Atzmon and Dave Lewis on Sax, Derek The Draw (who was Dury's best friend and minder) is now writing songs with Jankel as well as singing. They are aided and abetted by London guitarist
Lee Harris who is their 'aide de camp'. For more information visit
their website.
Dury had small parts in several films, probably the most well-known of which was
Peter Greenaway's
The Cook the Thief His Wife & Her Lover, as well as
cameo appearances in
Roman Polanski's
Pirates and the
Sylvester Stallone science fiction film
Judge Dredd. He also wrote a
musical,
Apples, staged in London's
Royal Court Theatre. He had a small supporting role in
The Crow: City of Angels, directed by
Tim Pope, who had helmed a few of Dury's
music videos. He also appeared alongside fellow cult songwriters
Bob Dylan and
Tom Waits, respectively, in the movies
Hearts of Fire (1987) and
Bearskin: An Urban Fairytale (1989).
Dury wrote and performed the theme song
Profoundly in Love with Pandora for the television series
The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13 3/4 (1985), based on the book of the same name by
Sue Townsend, as well as its follow-up
The Growing Pains of Adrian Mole (1987).
When
AIDS first came to prominence in the mid-1980s, Dury was among celebrities who appeared on UK television to promote
safe sex, demonstrating how to put on a
condom using a model of an erect penis. While Dury undertook the task with the seriousness it deserved, it was difficult for viewers not to find some humour in the pairing of a man whose surname was often subject to the playground pun "Ian
Durex" with a radio
DJ called
Janice Long.
In the 1990s, he became an
ambassador for
UNICEF, recruiting stars such as
Robbie Williams to publicise the cause. The two visited
Sri Lanka in this capacity to promote polio
vaccination. He was also involved with the charity
Cancer Bacup.
It was known for some time before his death that Dury had
cancer. In 1998, his death was
incorrectly announced on
XFM radio by
Bob Geldof, possibly due to hoax information from a listener. Upon hearing of his illness Dury took the opportunity to marry his girlfriend,
sculptor Sophie Tilson, with whom he had two young children, Billy and Albert.
In 1999, Dury collaborated with
Madness on thier first original album in 14 years on the track 'Drip Fed Fred'.
Suggs and the band cite Ian as a great influence. It was to be one of Ian's last recordings.
Ian Dury & The Blockheads' last performance was a
charity concert in aid of Cancer Bacup on
February 6,
2000 at The
London Palladium. Dury was noticeably ill and had to be helped on and off stage. He could not stand unaided for most of the evening but delivered a powerful and uncompromised performance. The Blockheads have continued performing without Dury since his death.
Dury died of
colorectal cancer in 2000. One of his obituaries read: "one of few true originals of the English music scene" (
The Guardian). Meanwhile, he was described by
Suggs, the singer with
Madness as "possibly the finest lyricist we've seen."
The Ian Dury website opened an online
book of condolence shortly after his death, which was signed by hundreds of fans, and the 250 mourners at his funeral included fellow musicians Suggs and
Jools Holland as well as "celebrity fans" such as
Mo Mowlam.
Dury's son,
Baxter Dury, is also a singer. He sang a few of his father's songs at the wake after the funeral, and has released his own albums,
Len Parrot's Memorial Lift and
Floor Show.
In 2002, a musical bench was placed in Poet's Corner, near Pembroke Lodge, within
Richmond Park, South-West
London, being a favoured viewing spot of Dury's. This
solar-powered seat was intended to allow visitors to plug in and listen to eight of his songs as well as an interview, but has been subjected to repeated
vandalism.
Singles
*
Rough Kids / Billy Bentley (1974)
*
Crippled With Nerves / Huffety Puff (1975)
*
Sex and Drugs and Rock & Roll / Razzle In My Pocket (1977) #?
*
Sweet Gene Vincent / You're More Than Fair (1977) #?
*
Sex and Drugs and Rock & Roll / Two Stiff Steep Hills / England's Glory (1977) - NME Give-a-way
*
What A Waste / Wake Up And Make Love With Me (1978) UK #9
*
Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick / There Ain't Half Been Some Clever Bastards (1978) UK #1
*
Billy Bentley / Pam's Moods (1978)
*
Reasons To Be Cheerful (PT .3) / Common As Muck (1979) UK #3
*
I Want To Be Straight / That's Not All (1980) UK #22
*
Superman's Big Sister / You'll See Glimpses (1980) UK #51
*
Spasticus Autisticus / (Instrumental) (1981) UK #?
*
Really Glad You Came / (You're My) Inspiration) (1983) UK #?
*
Very Personal / Ban The Bomb (1984) UK #?
*
Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick (re-mix) / Sex And Drugs And Rock And Roll / Reasons To Be Cheerful, Part 3 / Wake Up And Make Love With Me (1985) UK #55
*
Profoundly In Love With Pandora / Eugenius (You're A Genius) (1989) UK #43
*
Apples / Byline Brown (1989) #?
Albums
*
Hansome (1975)
*
New Boots and Panties! (1977)
*
Wottabunch! (1978)
*
Do It Yourself (1979)
*
Laughter (1980)
*
Lord Upminster (1981)
*
The Best Of Kilburn & The Highroads (EP, 1983)
*
4000 Weeks Holiday (1984)
*
Hold On To Your Structure (VHS- Live Video, 1985)
* Apples
(1989)
* Live! Warts 'n' Audience (live album, 1990)
*
The Bus Driver's Prayer and Other Short Stories (1992)
*
Mr Love Pants (1997)
*
Straight From The Desk (Live At Ilford Odeon, 2001)
*
Ten More Turnips from the Tip (Posthumous release, 2002)
The Blockheads Solo Albums
*
Straight From The Desk - 2 (Live At Patti Pavillion, 2003)
*
Where's The Party? (2004)
Guinness Book of British Hit Singles 7th Edition
The Blockheads' Discography*
Barney Bubbles*
Stiff Records*
Bus Driver's Prayer*
Ian Dury's Website*
The Blockheads' Biography*
Guardian obituary for Ian Dury*
Jools Holland biography of Ian Dury (archived 2003)*
BBC News website report on Dury's funeral*
BBC Music artist biography * http://www.rockabilly.net/articles/iandury4.shtml
