| Ian Dury |
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| english songwriters | |
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| alumni of the royal college of art | |
| old wycombiensians | |
| people from upminster | |
| colorectal cancer deaths | |
| 1942 births | |
| 2000 deaths | |
Ian Dury ( May 12 , 1942 – March 27 , 2000 ) was an English Rock And Roll singer, songwriter, and bandleader who initially rose to fame during the late 1970s, during the Punk and New Wave era of rock music. 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. EARLY LIFE Ian Robin Dury was born at his parents' home at 43 Weald Rise, Harrow Weald, Harrow (although, probably because he felt that his true birthplace was not in keeping with his "cockney wide boy" public persona, he often claimed that he was born in Upminster , Havering ). He 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 Disabled Persons , 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 Gladiator s in the film '' Spartacus '', who, when instructed to identify their leader, all answered, "I am Spartacus ," to protect him. Dury left the Royal Grammar School, High Wycombe 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 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, Jemima and Baxter, who is now also a recording artist (he is the author of the ballad ''Cocaine Man''). They divorced in 1985 but remained on good terms until Betty died of cancer in 1994 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 . 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 (who later became the guitarist for 999 under the name Nick Cash) 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. THE BLOCKHEADS Managed by Andrew King , Ian Dury and The Blockheads had several hit Single s, 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 in 1979), 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 vivid, earthy humour:
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