Ian Dury

Ian Robins Dury (12 May 1942 – 27 March 2000) was an English singer, songwriter and actor who rose to fame in the late 1970s, during the punk and new wave era of rock music. He was the lead singer and lyricist of Kilburn and the High Roads, the Kilburns, Ian Dury and the Blockheads and Ian Dury and the Music Students.

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Ian Dury
Dury performing at the Roundhouse, London, in 1978
Background information
Birth name	Ian Robins Dury
Born	(1942-05-12)12 May 1942[1] Harrow, Middlesex, England
Died	27 March 2000(2000-03-27) (aged 57) Hampstead, London, England
Genres	New wave[2] punk rock[3] post-punk[4] funk[5] disco[6] pub rock[7]
Occupation(s)	Singer, songwriter, actor
Years active	1970–2000
Labels	Dawn, Stiff, Polydor, Demon, Ronnie Harris
Formerly of	Kilburn and the High Roads, The Blockheads
Spouse(s)	Elizabeth Rathmell ​ ​ (m. 1967; div. 1985)​ Sophy Tilson ​ (m. 1998)​
Website	iandury.co.uk

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Ian Dury was born at 43 Weald Rise in Harrow, then in Middlesex.^[1] His early years were spent in Harrow Weald (although it's often misreported that he was born in Upminster, Essex, an impression he often encouraged himself) and in Mevagissey, Cornwall, during the Blitz.^[8] His father, William George Dury (born 23 September 1905 in Southborough, Kent, died 25 February 1968 in Victoria, London), was a former boxer, coach and bus driver, and chauffeur for Rolls-Royce. His mother, Margaret "Peggy" Cuthbertson Walker (born 17 April 1910, Rochdale, Lancashire, died 20 December 1994 in Hampstead, London),^[1] was a health visitor,^[9] a doctor's daughter and the granddaughter of an East Donegal Ulster Protestant landowner.^[10][11] Bill and Peggy married in 1939 and set up home in Belsize Park, London.^[9]

Bill Dury was absent for work for long periods, so Peggy often took Ian to stay with her parents in Mevagissey. After the Second World War, the family moved briefly to Switzerland, where Ian's father was chauffeuring for a millionaire and the Western European Union. In 1946, Peggy brought Ian back to England and they relocated to Cranham,^[12] near Upminster in Essex, to live with Peggy's sisters, Elisabeth and Mary Walker, and Ian's cousins, Martin and Lucy. Although he saw his father on visits, they were never to live together again.^[13] At age seven, Dury contracted polio, most likely, he believed, at Westcliff Swimming Pool in Southend-on-Sea during the 1949 polio epidemic. After six weeks of isolation in the Royal Cornwall Infirmary, Truro, Ian was moved by ambulance back to Essex, to Black Notley Hospital in Braintree, where he spent eighteen months regaining his strength and mobility. Polio caused paralysis on the left-hand side of his body which led to a permanent disability.

Ian attended Chailey Heritage Craft School, East Sussex, from 1951 till 1954. Chailey was a hospital school for disabled children that had an ethos of toughening up its students, often by leaving the less physically able to find their own way up off the floor. Arguably, this harsh approach contributed to the tough and determined person Dury became.^[14] Chailey taught trades such as cobbling and printing, but Dury's mother wanted him to focus on academic studies, so Aunt Moll (Mary Walker), a Buckinghamshire Education Officer, arranged for him to attend the Royal Grammar School, High Wycombe. Ian found this school a challenge and recounted being punished for misdemeanours by being forced by prefects to learn long tracts of poetry until a housemaster found him sobbing and put a stop to it:

I had to go into a box room where the suitcases were stored and learn 80 lines of Ode to Autumn by yer man Keats. If I got a word wrong I had to go back, they added that to the end of the sentence and after five nights of this my head had definitely gone.^[15]

He left school at 16, having achieved GCE 'O' levels in English Language, English Literature and Art to study art and design at Walthamstow College of Art,^[16] where he met lifelong friend, pop artist and teacher Peter Blake.^[17] In 1963 Ian began an MA in painting at the Royal College of Art, graduating in 1966.

In 1967 Dury took part in a group exhibition, "Fantasy and Figuration", alongside Elizabeth Rathmell, Pat Douthwaite, Herbert Kitchen and Stass Paraskos at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London.^[17]

Between 1966 and 1973 he was an art teacher at Luton College of Technology and at Canterbury College of Art.^[18][19] He also painted commercial illustrations for The Sunday Times in the early 1970s.^[20]

Dury's self-styling and chief musical influence was his hero since childhood, American rock and roll and rockabilly artist Gene Vincent. After hearing Vincent's hit single "Be-Bop-a-Lula" in the 1956 musical comedy film The Girl Can't Help It, he idolised him. Vincent also wore a leg brace, although Dury said he did not know this until later. Vincent is mentioned in one of Dury's earliest songs, "Upminster Kid"^[31] (on the 1975 Kilburn and the High Roads album Handsome^[32]),^[33] with the words "Well Gene Vincent Craddock remembered the love of an Upminster rock 'n' roll teen". Vincent had died four years earlier.^[31]

More well-known is the single "Sweet Gene Vincent" from his first solo album, New Boots and Panties!! in 1977. He wrote the lyrics after spending six weeks of research on Vincent, which included reading two biographies. His songwriting partner Chas Jankel had to trim it considerably, after Dury's original version, Jankel joked, "would have taken around 15 minutes to perform". The opening lyrics to the song were:^[31]

Blue Gene baby / Skinny white sailor, the chances were slender / The beauties were brief / Shall I mourn your decline with some Thunderbird wine / And a black handkerchief? / I miss your sad Virginia whisper / I miss the voice that called my heart.

Dury was a lover of music hall, another of his heroes being Max Wall. Dury developed a unique style that mixed music hall with punk and rock and roll, and crafted an on-stage persona that entertained his audiences.^[34]

Dury's lyrics are a combination of lyrical poetry, word play, observation of British everyday life, character sketches, and sexual humour: "This is what we find ... 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 his Black & Decker drill".^{[citation needed]} The song "Billericay Dickie" rhymes "I had a love affair with Nina, In the back of my Cortina" with "A seasoned-up hyena Could not have been more obscener".^[34]

Dury's confident and unusual demeanour caught the eyes of producers and directors of drama. His first important and extensive role was in Farrukh Dhondy's mini-series for the BBC King of the Ghetto (1986), a drama set in London's multi-racial Brick Lane area with a cast led by a young Tim Roth.^{[citation needed]}

Dury had small parts in several films, probably the best known of which was Peter Greenaway's The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover (1989), as well as a cameo appearance in Roman Polanski's Pirates (1986). He also appeared in the Eduardo Guedes film Rocinante (1986), the German comedy (lead) Brennende Betten (Burning Beds) (1988), Alejandro Jodorowsky's The Rainbow Thief (1990), and the Sylvester Stallone science fiction film Judge Dredd (1995). His other film appearances included roles in Number One (1985) starring Bob Geldof, the Bob Hoskins film The Raggedy Rawney (1988), and Split Second (1992) starring Rutger Hauer and Kim Cattrall. He also appeared alongside fellow lyricists Bob Dylan and Tom Waits, respectively, in the movies Hearts of Fire (1987) and Bearskin: An Urban Fairytale (1990), also by Eduardo Guedes.^[35] His later films included the comedy Different for Girls (1996), and The Crow: City of Angels (1996), directed by Tim Pope, who had directed a few of Dury's music videos.^{[citation needed]}

Dury also wrote a musical, Apples, staged in London's Royal Court Theatre. In 1987 he appeared as the narrator (Scullery) in Road, also at the Royal Court. Among the cast was actress and singer Jane Horrocks, who cohabited with Dury until late in 1988, although the relationship was kept discreet.^[36]

Dury wrote and performed the theme song "Profoundly in Love with Pandora" for the television series The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13¾ (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 (from which Richard Stilgoe reportedly earned millions). The reason, said Dury, "I can't stand his music."^[37]

... I said no straight off. I hate Andrew Lloyd Webber. He's a wanker, isn't he? ... [E]very time I hear 'Don't Cry for Me Argentina' I feel sick, it's so bad. He got Richard Stilgoe 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!^[38]

When HIV/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. 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. Dury appeared with Curve on the Peace Together concert and CD (1993), performing "What a Waste", with benefits to the Youth of Northern Ireland. He also supported the charity Cancer BACUP.^{[citation needed]}

Dury appeared in the Classic Albums episode that focused on Steely Dan's album Aja. Dury commented that the album was one of the most "upful" he had ever heard, and that the album "lifted [his] spirits up" whenever he played it.^[39]

Dury also appeared at the end of the Carter USM track "Skywest & Crooked" narrating from the musical Man of La Mancha.^[40]

Dury was diagnosed with colorectal cancer in 1996 and underwent surgery, but tumours were later found in his liver, and he was told that his condition was terminal.^[41]

In 1998, his death was incorrectly announced on XFM radio by Bob Geldof, possibly due to hoax information from a listener.^[42] In 1999, Dury collaborated with Madness on their first original album in fourteen years on the track "Drip Fed Fred". It was one of his last recordings, though he also performed again with the Blockheads in mid-1999 at Ronnie Scott's in Soho. This was a special performance recorded for LWT's South Bank Show and the audience were invited fans and friends of the band and crew. His deteriorating condition was evident and he had to take rests between takes and be helped on and off stage.^{[citation needed]}

Ian Dury and the Blockheads' last public performance was a charity concert in aid of Cancer BACUP on 6 February 2000 at the London Palladium, supported by Kirsty MacColl and Phill Jupitus. Dury was noticeably ill and again had to be helped on and off stage.^{[citation needed]}

Dury died of metastatic colorectal cancer on 27 March 2000, aged 57, in Hampstead, London.^[9] He was cremated after a humanist funeral at Golders Green Crematorium with 250 mourners at the service, including fellow musicians Suggs and Jools Holland and other "celebrity fans" such as Member of Parliament (MP) Mo Mowlam.^[43] An obituary in The Guardian called him "one of few true originals of the English music scene".^[37] Suggs, the lead singer of Madness, called him "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.^[44]

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 six of his own albums, including It's a Pleasure (2014), Prince of Tears (2017) and The Night Chancers (2020).^[45]

In 2002, Jemima Dury organised a "musical bench" designed by Mil Stricevic to be placed in a favourite viewing spot of Dury's near Poets' Corner, in the gardens of Pembroke Lodge, in Richmond Park, south-west London.^[46] The back of the bench is inscribed with the words "Reasons to Be Cheerful", the title of one of Dury's songs.^[47] The QR codes on the arms of the bench allow visitors to listen to a track listing of his songs on one side and his appearance on Desert Island Discs on the other.^[48]

In 1999 the autobiographical documentary On My Life, directed by Mike Connolly, was released. The film, in which Dury recalled his life and career, intercut with concert footage, included contributions from painter Peter Blake, Jemima and Baxter Dury, and members of the Blockheads. The programme was first broadcast in 1999 and again in August 2009 on BBC Four.^[49][50]

Between 6 January and 14 February 2009 a musical about his life, entitled Hit Me! The Life & Rhymes of Ian Dury, was premiered and ran at the Leicester Square Theatre in London.^[51]

A biopic entitled Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll starring Andy Serkis as Dury was released on 8 January 2010, and was nominated for several awards. Ray Winstone and Naomie Harris also appeared. The title of the film is derived from Dury's 1977 7" single "Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll". Also in 2010 music journalist Will Birch published Ian Dury: The Definitive Biography^[52] which was well received.^[53]

A musical, Reasons to be Cheerful, was produced by the Graeae Theatre Company in association with Theatre Royal Stratford East and New Wolsey Theatre. Set in 1979 the musical featured Dury classics in a "riotous coming-of-age tale". The 2010 production was supported by the Blockheads, while Sir Peter Blake donated a limited edition print of the "Reasons to be Cheerful" artwork.^[54]

Interviewed by the Evening Standard in 2010, son Baxter said his father "was like a "Polaris missile"... "He would seek out someone's weakness in seconds, and then lock onto it. That's how he controlled his environment. It was very funny, in a gruesome kind of way ... if it wasn't you he was picking on. But it was a strange obsession, too. Like, why do you want to be like that? He was never really physically violent – he was a small disabled guy – but there was a lot of mental violence."^[55]

Speaking to BBC Radio 2 in February 2021, English pop star Robbie Williams cited Dury as his biggest inspiration as a lyricist.^[56] Williams sings on the final track of the posthumously released album Ten More Turnips from the Tip.^[57]

Dury married Elizabeth "Betty" Rathmell on 3 June 1967 in Barnstaple, Devon, and they had two children, Jemima and Baxter, in 1969 and 1971. In 1973 Dury left the family, who were living at the time in a Buckinghamshire village, and moved back to London to pursue his music career.^[19]

He lived with his partner Denise Roudette^[19] for six years after he moved back to London, renting 40 Oval Mansions in Kennington, which The Guardian referred to as "one of London's most notorious squatted buildings" and Dury himself dubbed "Catshit Mansions".^[58]

Dury and Rathmell divorced in 1985 but remained close. He had a year-long relationship (1986–87) with actor Jane Horrocks, whom he met while they both performed in Jim Cartright's play Road and they remained friends until his death.^[59]

Dury married sculptor Sophy Tilson in 1998, with whom he had two children, Bill and Albert, in 1995 and 1997.^[41]