Ian Dury

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Ian Dury, in a look combining Gene Vincent with a Cockney pearly king.

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.

1 Early life
2 Kilburn and the High Roads
3 The Blockheads
4 Acting and other activities
5 Illness
6 Discography
7 Audio sample
8 References
9 See also
10 External links

[edit] Early life

Dury, who was born Ian Robin Dury, at 43 Weald Rise, Harrow Weald, 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 Rathmell in 1967 and they had two children, Baxter, now a recording artist in his own right (he is the author of the ballad "Cocaine Man", and Jemima. They divorced in 1985 and Betty died of cancer in 1994. [1]

[edit] Kilburn and the High Roads

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. Managed by Charlie Gillett and Gordon Nelki, 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.

[edit] The Blockheads

The original UK 45rpm single picture cover of Ian Dury and the Blockheads' — 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.

[edit] Acting and other activities

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).

Dury turned down an offer from Andrew Lloyd-Webber to write the libretto for Cats (a gig which reportedly earned Richard Stilgoe millions). The reason, said Dury, "I can't stand his music."^[1] "... I said no straight off. I hate Andrew Lloyd Webber. He's a wanker, isn't he?" "Every time I hear `Don't Cry For Me Argentina' I feel sick, it's so bad. He got Richard Stillgoe to do the lyrics in the end, who's not as good as me. He made millions out of it. He's crap, but he did ask the top man first!"^[2]

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.

[edit] Illness

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 their 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.

[edit] Discography

[edit] 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
Sueperman'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) #?

[edit] Albums

Handsome - Kilburn and the High Roads (1975)
Wottabunch! - Ian Dury & The Kilburns (1977)
New Boots and Panties! - Ian Dury (1977)
Do It Yourself - Ian Dury & The Blockheads (1979)
Laughter - Ian Dury & The Blockheads (1980)
Lord Upminster - Ian Dury & The Blockheads (1981)
The Best Of Kilburn & The Highroads - Kilburn and the High Roads (EP, 1983)
4000 Weeks Holiday - Ian Dury & The Music Students (1984)
Hold On To Your Structure - Ian Dury & The Blockheads (VHS- Live Video, 1985)
Apples - Ian Dury (1989)
Live! Warts 'n' Audience - Ian Dury & The Blockheads (live album, 1990)
The Bus Driver's Prayer and Other Short Stories - Ian Dury (1992)
Mr Love Pants - Ian Dury & The Blockheads (1997)
Straight From The Desk - Ian Dury and The Blockheads (Live At Ilford Odeon, 2001)
Ten More Turnips from the Tip - Ian Dury & The Blockheads (Posthumous release, 2002)

[edit] The Blockheads Solo Albums and DVD's

Straight From The Desk - 2 (Live At Patti Pavillion, 2003)
Where's The Party? (2004)
Live In Colchester DVD (soundtrack is exclusively available via iTunes) (2006)