Biography
Rock & roll has long attracted eccentric outsiders whose distinctive personalities drew intense devotion from followers, yet few such figures matched the peculiar appeal and cult status achieved by Ian Dury. Leading the overlooked and short-lived pub rock outfit Kilburn & the High Roads, he cut a memorable presence on stage, overcoming the lasting effects of childhood polio while delivering energetic performances that blended music hall material with rock songs delivered in his pronounced Cockney voice. Already 28 when he started Kilburn, Dury faced the common view that his age would block any path to pop success, though that assumption rarely shaped his path. In 1978 he joined the new independent label Stiff and crafted an unconventional blend of music hall, punk, and disco that turned him into a star throughout Britain. Powered by offbeat humor and driving rhythms, tracks such as “Hit Me with Your Rhythm Stick,” “Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll,” and “Reasons to Be Cheerful, Pt. 3” reached the U.K. Top Ten, even as his sharp wit, playful language, Cockney delivery, and love of music hall kept wider international recognition at bay. After his second album his approach grew predictable, leading him to step back from music in the early 1980s and pursue acting instead.
Polio struck Dury at age seven. He spent two years in hospital before moving to a school for physically disabled students, then later studied at the Royal College of Art and taught painting at Canterbury Art College following graduation. In 1970, at 28, he started his first group, Kilburn & the High Roads. The Kilburns performed straightforward 1950s rock & roll with occasional jazz excursions and built a steady presence on the English pub rock scene over the next three years. Their growing audience allowed Dury to leave teaching by 1973. Several U.K. critics became strong supporters, among them Charlie Gillett, who took on management duties. Gillett arranged a deal with the Warner subsidiary Raft, and the band cut an album for the label in 1974. Warner declined to issue it; after further difficulties the Kilburns left Raft and moved to the Pye subsidiary Dawn in 1975. Dawn put out Handsome that year, yet by then pub rock had begun to fade and the record went unnoticed. Kilburn & the High Roads split by the close of 1975.
After the Kilburns ended, Dury kept collaborating with the group’s pianist and guitarist Chaz Jankel. By 1977 he had obtained a Stiff Records contract and made his first album with Jankel, several pub rock regulars including former Kilburn member Davey Payne, and additional session players. Stiff placed him on the 1977 Live Stiffs package tour to promote New Boots and Panties!!, prompting Dury and Jankel to form the Blockheads by adding guitarist John Turnbull, pianist Mickey Gallagher, bassist Norman Watt Roy, and drummer Charley Charles. Dury & the Blockheads quickly gained popularity after the tour, and New Boots and Panties!! became a major success, remaining on the British charts for nearly two years and eventually selling more than a million copies worldwide. Its opening single “What a Waste” reached the U.K. Top Ten, while the later standalone single “Hit Me with Your Rhythm Stick” advanced to number one.
Dury had suddenly risen to superstar level in Britain, drawing fresh attention from American labels. Arista secured U.S. distribution rights for his Stiff releases, but despite strong critical praise New Boots and Panties!! failed to chart in America and the company dropped him at once. Even with limited Stateside sales he remained prominent at home, where his second album Do It Yourself entered the U.K. charts on its 1979 summer release. He backed the well-received record, which explored disco more extensively, with a long tour that concluded with the single “Reasons to Be Cheerful, Pt. 3,” peaking at number three. Once the tour finished, Jankel departed and Dury brought in Wilko Johnson, the ex-Dr. Feelgood guitarist. Together with Johnson he issued his final Stiff album Laughter, which drew mixed notices yet sold steadily after its 1980 appearance. The next year he moved to Polydor and rejoined Jankel; the pair traveled to the Bahamas to record with reggae figures Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare. The resulting Lord Upminster appeared in 1981 to mixed reviews and weak sales, though it included the single “Spasticus Autisticus,” a track Dury created for the United Nations Year of the Disabled that the organization turned down.
After Lord Upminster underperformed, Dury gradually withdrew from recording and focused on acting. His 1984 album 4000 Weeks Holiday, made with his new group the Music Students, marked his last substantial release of the decade. He took roles in various stage productions and television programs as well as Peter Greenaway’s The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover and Roman Polanski’s Pirates, while also composing advertising jingles for British commercials. In 1989 he created the musical Apples with Mickey Gallagher and performed in its stage version. Dury resumed recording in 1992 with The Bus Driver’s Prayer and Other Stories.
In May 1998 Dury revealed he had received a colon cancer diagnosis in 1995 that had spread to his liver. He chose to share the news around his 56th birthday in hopes of encouraging others facing the illness. Over the following year he continued treatment while maintaining visibility, including his induction into Q magazine’s songwriting hall of fame in fall 1999 and his attendance at the ceremony. That proved his final public appearance. Dury died of cancer on March 27, 2000, leaving behind a singular and highly personal catalog of work.
Polio struck Dury at age seven. He spent two years in hospital before moving to a school for physically disabled students, then later studied at the Royal College of Art and taught painting at Canterbury Art College following graduation. In 1970, at 28, he started his first group, Kilburn & the High Roads. The Kilburns performed straightforward 1950s rock & roll with occasional jazz excursions and built a steady presence on the English pub rock scene over the next three years. Their growing audience allowed Dury to leave teaching by 1973. Several U.K. critics became strong supporters, among them Charlie Gillett, who took on management duties. Gillett arranged a deal with the Warner subsidiary Raft, and the band cut an album for the label in 1974. Warner declined to issue it; after further difficulties the Kilburns left Raft and moved to the Pye subsidiary Dawn in 1975. Dawn put out Handsome that year, yet by then pub rock had begun to fade and the record went unnoticed. Kilburn & the High Roads split by the close of 1975.
After the Kilburns ended, Dury kept collaborating with the group’s pianist and guitarist Chaz Jankel. By 1977 he had obtained a Stiff Records contract and made his first album with Jankel, several pub rock regulars including former Kilburn member Davey Payne, and additional session players. Stiff placed him on the 1977 Live Stiffs package tour to promote New Boots and Panties!!, prompting Dury and Jankel to form the Blockheads by adding guitarist John Turnbull, pianist Mickey Gallagher, bassist Norman Watt Roy, and drummer Charley Charles. Dury & the Blockheads quickly gained popularity after the tour, and New Boots and Panties!! became a major success, remaining on the British charts for nearly two years and eventually selling more than a million copies worldwide. Its opening single “What a Waste” reached the U.K. Top Ten, while the later standalone single “Hit Me with Your Rhythm Stick” advanced to number one.
Dury had suddenly risen to superstar level in Britain, drawing fresh attention from American labels. Arista secured U.S. distribution rights for his Stiff releases, but despite strong critical praise New Boots and Panties!! failed to chart in America and the company dropped him at once. Even with limited Stateside sales he remained prominent at home, where his second album Do It Yourself entered the U.K. charts on its 1979 summer release. He backed the well-received record, which explored disco more extensively, with a long tour that concluded with the single “Reasons to Be Cheerful, Pt. 3,” peaking at number three. Once the tour finished, Jankel departed and Dury brought in Wilko Johnson, the ex-Dr. Feelgood guitarist. Together with Johnson he issued his final Stiff album Laughter, which drew mixed notices yet sold steadily after its 1980 appearance. The next year he moved to Polydor and rejoined Jankel; the pair traveled to the Bahamas to record with reggae figures Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare. The resulting Lord Upminster appeared in 1981 to mixed reviews and weak sales, though it included the single “Spasticus Autisticus,” a track Dury created for the United Nations Year of the Disabled that the organization turned down.
After Lord Upminster underperformed, Dury gradually withdrew from recording and focused on acting. His 1984 album 4000 Weeks Holiday, made with his new group the Music Students, marked his last substantial release of the decade. He took roles in various stage productions and television programs as well as Peter Greenaway’s The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover and Roman Polanski’s Pirates, while also composing advertising jingles for British commercials. In 1989 he created the musical Apples with Mickey Gallagher and performed in its stage version. Dury resumed recording in 1992 with The Bus Driver’s Prayer and Other Stories.
In May 1998 Dury revealed he had received a colon cancer diagnosis in 1995 that had spread to his liver. He chose to share the news around his 56th birthday in hopes of encouraging others facing the illness. Over the following year he continued treatment while maintaining visibility, including his induction into Q magazine’s songwriting hall of fame in fall 1999 and his attendance at the ceremony. That proved his final public appearance. Dury died of cancer on March 27, 2000, leaving behind a singular and highly personal catalog of work.
Albums
The Bus Driver's Prayer & Other Stories
1992
Apples
1989
4000 Weeks’ Holiday
1984
Lord Upminster
1981
New Boots and Panties!! (Deluxe Edition)
1977
New Boots and Panties!!
1977
Live
