About Ian Dury & The Blockheads

The pop history books reveal that Ian Dury And The Blockheads enjoyed five hit singles and two Top Ten albums between 1978 and 1980, but this undoubtedly worthy achievement is no measure of the affection in which Ian Dury is held by music lovers around the world. The roots of Dury's creativity can be traced back to the cultural wastelands of post-war Essex and the various schools Dury attended in the 1950's. Incapacitated by polio, Dury fought hard to gain respect and found sublimation in drawing and painting and the wild rock'n'roll sounds of Gene Vincent And The Bluecaps. On leaving school at 16, Dury studied at Walthamstow Art College, where a love of jazz and a taste for East End street humour helped him to sail through his studies. In 1964 Dury won a place at the Royal College of Art where he was taught by the eminent artist Peter Blake and, in 1967, Dury himself started teaching art at various colleges in the south of England. The death of Gene Vincent in 1971 inspired Dury to form Kilburn and the High Roads, in which he was vocalist and lyricist, co-writing with pianist Russell Hardy. A year later Dury enrolled 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, as they were affectionately known, found favour on London's Pub Rock circuit and signed to Dawn Records in 1974, but despite acres of favourable press coverage and a tour opening for The Who, the group never rose above cult status. In 1975 the Kilburns disbanded and Dury kept his head down for the next year, writing new material and considering his options. A chance encounter in a musical instrument hire shop with former Byzantium guitarist Chaz Jankel led to a new songwriting partnership. Jankel, armed with reams of Dury's lyrics, fashioned a number of songs, including the classic SEX AND DRUGS AND ROCK AND ROLL Jankel's treatment of this material was precisely what Dury had been searching for and soon they were recording, assisted by drummer Charley Charles, bassist Norman Watt-Roy and the former Kilburns saxophonist Davey Payne. An album was completed, but major record labels passed on Ian Dury, whom they may have seen as a Pub Rock no-hoper. However, next door to Dury's manager's office was the newly formed Stiff Records, a perfect home for his oddball genius. The now legendary single SEX AND DRUGS AND ROCK AND ROLL c/w RAZZLE IN MY POCKET marked Dury's Stiff debut and this was swiftly followed by the album NEW BOOTS AND PANTIES which was to eventually achieve platinum status. In October 1977, Ian Dury signed up for the Stiff Live Stiffs Tour, alongside Elvis Costello And The Attractions, Nick Lowe, Wreckless Eric and Larry Wallis. Dury's new combo, now augmented by guitarist John Turnbull and pianist Mickey Gallagher, was christened Ian Dury And The Blockheads and the group became the surprise hit of the tour. To capitalise on this, Stiff Records launched a concerted Ian Dury marketing campaign, resulting in the Top Ten hit WHAT A WASTE. NEW BOOTS AND PANTIES continued to sell in greater quantities and in November of that year, Dury released the memorable HIT ME WITH YOUR RHYTHM STICK, a UK Number One. Dury was now a bona fide pop star and, with The Blockheads, toured to great acclaim, conquering a number of European territories. Whilst NEW BOOTS AND PANTIES headed towards its remarkable 90 week chart run, the group commenced work on the follow up, to be entitled DO IT YOURSELF. Another Top Ten single, REASONS TO BE CHEERFUL, kept Dury in the public eye during this arduous period of recording. The album was eventually 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. In 1980 Chaz Jankel departed The Blockheads to concentrate on a solo career, signing with A&M Records. Jankel was replaced by former Dr Feelgood guitarist Wilko Johnson, who further enlivened the group's stage act and contributed to the next album LAUGHTER and its two minor hit singles I WANNA BE STRAIGHT and SUPERMAN'S BIG SISTER. In 1981 Ian Dury And The Blockheads disbanded. Dury quit Stiff and signed to Polydor, who released the LP LORD UPMINSTER, featuring the controversial single SPASTICUS AUTISTICUS. For this record, Dury was re-united with Chaz Jankel and they recorded in the Bahamas with the legendary rhythm section of Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare. A second Polydor album, 4000 WEEKS HOLIDAY (credited to Ian Dury And The Music Students), was released in 1984. In the late eighties Dury scaled down his musical output to concentrate on stage and film work. His theatrical CV includes the writing of the musical APPLES, staged at the Royal Court Theatre in 1992, songs co- written with Jankel and Gallagher for Carol Churchill's SERIOUS MONEY. Film work includes Roman Polanski's Pirates, Bob Hoskins' The Raggedy Rawny and Hearts of Fire with Bob Dylan, plus a voice-over for the fondly remembered TV commercial..'Hello Tosh...Gotta Toshiba'. In 1990, Blockheads drummer Charley Charles became ill with cancer. The group decided to help with a series of benefit concerts, but sadly Charley did not live to see these shows. The re-united Blockheads, with new drummer Stephen Monti, produced the album WARTS 'N' AUDIENCE, released on Demon Records. Throughout the early nineties, the group played gigs on a regular basis, often in mainland Europe. A second album for Demon, BUS DRIVER'S PRAYER, was released in 1992. In June 1998, Ian Dury and the Blockheads released their first album for seventeen years, MR LOVE PANTS. It was greeted with rapturous acclaim, many critics opining that it was his/their best since the epochal NEW BOOTS ....... a mere twenty-one years later. It was followed up with a special guest slot with Paul Weller at an open-air gig in London, and a sell-out UK tour with a reception to rival the Second Coming! Ian Dury has recently performed charity work for UNICEF, involving visits to Africa and Sri Lanka, the latter accompanied by Robbie Williams, in October 1998. Ian is a goodwill ambassador for mass innoculation programmes helping to prevent the spread of polio. Since then, Ian has been named (alongside veteran journalist Lord Bill Deedes) as a Special Representative to the UK Committee for UNICEF. This is the highest award the UK committee can bestow upon its celebrity suppporters - other Special Representatives include Vanessa Redgrave, Roger Moore and John Fashanu. Despite being diagnosed as suffering from colorectal cancer, Ian's work rate hasn't slowed; that is unlikely to change going on through 1999. Already Ian's profile has remained high, be it seen by most of the pop world when presenting a Brit award to Robbie Williams, or through UK cinemas in an inventive and amusing commercial for the Sunday Times. On March 1st 1999, Ian was involved in a special 'Night at the Dogs' at Walthamstow Greyhound Stadium in aid of the CancerBACUP charity. Speaking at the launch of the charity's new helpline number, he said: " being told that you've got cancer is hard to deal with, but there are people - like CancerBACUP - who can help you through it". In April 1999, Ian & the band played 3 sell-out London shows followed by a string of shows around the country. In September BBC2 screened an hour long documentary on Ian entitled 'Ian Dury - On My Life' . September also saw the release of 'Reasons To Be Cheerful' -the Very Best of Ian Dury and the Blockheads. An 18 track collection of the many high points of the career of one of British rock and roll's best-loved characters. Rounding off another succesful year with 'Classic Songwriter Award' presented to Ian and Chaz at the Q magazine awards, a vocal contribution on the new Madness album plus a cinema and TV commercial for The Sunday Times. If this was not enough, the band return to the studio to start laying down tracks for a new album. With the dawn of a new millenium the year kicks off with 'New Boots And Panto' a one off special evening at The London Palladium on February 6th with kirsty MacColl As special guest support. IAN DURY DIED ON MARCH 27TH 2000.