Biography

Ian Dury, singer, songwriter, musician, artist and actor, was known for his inventive lyrics, ingenious turns of phrase, wit, humour and captivating onstage presence.

He was born Ian Robins Dury on 12 May 1942 in Harrow, London. When his health visitor mother, Margaret ‘Peggy’ Walker, and bus driver and Rolls-Royce chauffeur father, William ‘Bill’ Dury, separated soon after WWII, Peggy and Ian relocated to Cranham in Essex. In their cultured post-war home with Peggy’s sisters, Mary and Elisabeth, and Ian’s cousins Lucy and Martin, Ian’s creativity and intellect flourished.

During the summer of 1949, Ian became unwell and was diagnosed with poliomyelitis. He spent six weeks in quarantine and isolation at the Royal Cornwall Infirmary in Truro, and another eighteen months at Black Notley Hospital in Braintree, before returning home. Despite the tough years of rehabilitation that followed, the effect of polio, most likely caught at a Southend swimming pool, left Ian with a permanent disability.

Ian attended Chailey Heritage Craft School for disabled children (1951-1954) and the Royal Grammar School, High Wycombe (1954-1959), before attending Walthamstow School of Art (1959-1963), where he met other talented, music-loving art students and pop artist, teacher and mentor, Peter Blake. Like many of Ian’s Walthamstow peers, Ian transferred to the Royal College of Art (1963-1966), and afterwards he worked as an illustrator and art teacher. At the RCA, Ian met his first wife, painter Elizabeth ‘Betty’ Rathmell, and they welcomed two children, Jemima and Baxter, in 1969 and 1971.

Inspired by Gene Vincent’s death and encouraged by his musician friend Ed Speight, Ian formed his first band, Kilburn and the High Roads, in 1971. As vocalist and lyricist, Ian co-wrote the band’s early material with keyboard players Russell Hardy and Rod Melvin. Kilburn and the High Roads (and later, the Kilburns) achieved notoriety on the London pub rock scene. They signed to Dawn Records in 1974, but even with favourable press, an album, Handsome (1975), and a tour supporting The Who, the group didn’t transcend their cult status and disbanded in 1975.

Ian began writing new lyrics after meeting musician and composer Chaz Jankel, and they formed a writing partnership. Ian signed to Stiff Records in 1977, and released the debut single, ‘Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll’ (B-side ‘Razzle in My Pocket’). As well as ‘Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll,’ Ian and Chaz collaborated on many notable songs including ‘Hit Me with Your Rhythm Stick’ (released December 1978, No. 1 in the charts January 1979) and ‘Reasons to Be Cheerful, Part Three’ (released July 1979, No. 3 in the charts August 1979). When Stiff Records released the platinum-selling album New Boots and Panties!! in September 1977, Ian and Chaz formed a band, The Blockheads, to promote the album. The Blockheads included drummer Charlie Charles, bassist Norman Watt-Roy, guitarist John Turnbull, keyboard player Mick Gallagher and the Kilburns’ saxophonist Davey Payne.

New Boots and Panties!! stayed in the British music charts for 90 weeks, during which the Blockheads produced a follow-up album, Do It Yourself (June 1979). Barney Bubbles, originator of the Blockhead logo, designed the Do It Yourself album sleeve using more than thirty variations of Crown Wallpaper samples. The album was followed by ‘Reasons to Be Cheerful, Part Three,’ another Top 10 hit. Chaz left The Blockheads in 1980 to concentrate on a solo career and was replaced by former Dr Feelgood guitarist Wilko Johnson. He contributed to their next album, Laughter (1980), and its two minor hit singles ‘I Want to Be Straight’ and ‘Sueperman’s Big Sister.’

Ian and the Blockheads disbanded in 1981, and Ian parted ways with Stiff Records and signed to Polydor. Polydor released the album Lord Upminster (1981), which included the single ‘Spasticus (Autisticus)’, Ian’s critical response to the United Nations International Year of Disabled Persons. The writing and recording of Lord Upminster with legendary rhythm section and producers Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare, at Compass Point Studios in the Bahamas, reunited Chaz and Ian. A second album for Polydor, 4000 Weeks’ Holiday (1984), was toured with a new band, Ian Dury and the Music Students.

Ian downscaled his musical output during the mid-eighties to concentrate on film and stage acting. His featured roles include in the films Rocinante (with John Hurt), Pirates (dir. Roman Polanski), The Raggedy Rawney (dir. Bob Hoskins), Judge Dredd (as Geiger, with Sylvester Stallone), Bearskin (with Tom Waits) and Hearts of Fire (with Bob Dylan), and he performed onstage in A Dogg’s Troupe 15-Minute Hamlet (by Tom Stoppard, with Vanessa Redgrave), Road (by Jim Cartwright) and Talk of the Devil (with Annette Crosby and TP McKenna). He was the voice of a Toshiba ad, with the oft-quoted ‘Hello Tosh, got a Toshiba?’ and Ian, Chaz and Mick Gallagher wrote original songs for several stage plays, notably Caryl Churchill’s Serious Money, Sue Townsend’s The Queen and I, the RSC’s A Jovial Crew and The Country Wife, and Ian’s own stage musical, Apples, for the Royal Court Theatre (1989), under the guidance of artistic director Max Stafford Clark.

In 1990, Ian and The Blockheads reformed to support their critically ill drummer, Charlie Charles, with a series of benefit concerts, but sadly Charlie didn’t live to see the shows. Ian and the Blockheads, with Steve Monti on drums, produced the live album Warts ‘n’ Audience (recorded December 1990 and released in 1991) for Demon Records. Throughout the early nineties, Ian and the band played regular gigs, often in mainland Europe. A second album was recorded for Demon Music, The Bus Driver’s Prayer & Other Stories (1992). In 1995 and 1997, Ian welcomed two sons, Bill and Albert, with sculptor Sophy Tilson. They married in 1998.

In 1995, Ian returned home feeling unwell after filming in Los Angeles, and in 1996 he was diagnosed with colorectal cancer. He underwent surgery, recovered well, and began writing new material with The Blockheads. He became a UNICEF Ambassador and worked continuously throughout the following months; however, he was re-diagnosed with cancer in 1998. Despite this huge setback, Ian released his first studio album with The Blockheads in seventeen years, Mr Love Pants (1998), and they made a guest appearance supporting Paul Weller in Victoria Park, London, followed by a sell-out UK tour.

Ian continued to support UNICEF, travelling to Sri Lanka in October 1998 with Robbie Williams to promote an extensive polio vaccination programme, and joined forces with Cancer BACUP to launch a new helpline. In April 1999, Ian and the Blockheads played three London gigs and other shows across the country. The band returned to the studio later in the year to record tracks for a new album, Ten More Turnips from the Tip, but Ian was too ill to finish the recording sessions. On 6 February 2000, Ian summoned the strength to appear onstage for what would be his final performance, in a gig entitled ‘New Boots and Panto’ at the London Palladium. Six weeks later, he died peacefully at home in Hampstead, surrounded by his family, on 27 March 2000. Ten More Turnips from the Tip was released posthumously in 2002 with guest vocalists Chaz and Robbie Williams.

Ian Dury,  rock and roll vaudeville vagabond, with the wit and brilliance of Noël Coward and Oscar Wilde, was a fighter and a gifted originator who left an impressive and entertaining legacy. His presence onstage was formidable and memorable. His dexterity as a wordsmith gave the world ‘sex and drugs and rock and roll’ and ‘reasons to be cheerful,’ two of the best-known phrases in the English lexicon.