Ian Dury

Few British artists are remembered with more affection than Ian Dury, whose original, highly individual and characteristically informal style lit up the pop scene through the three decades before his death in 2000. Born in Harrow, London, Dury was the son of a bus driver and former boxer, but his upbringing was blighted by polio, which struck him at the age of seven and left him seriously disabled. He studied at the Royal College of Art under Peter Blake - who designed the sleeve of the Beatles' Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Inspired by disabled rock star Gene Vincent, Dury became lead singer and lyricist for Kilburn & the High Roads with pianist Russell Hardy and art students Keith Lucas (guitar) and Humphrey Ocean (bass). Managed by Charlie Gillett, they were signed to Dawn Records and won a big following on a tour supporting The Who. After they split in 1975, Dury formed The Blockheads with guitarist Chaz Jankel, and they went on to have a series of witty, idiosyncratic hits, notably What A Waste, Reasons To Be Cheerful Part 3, Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll, Sweet Gene Vincent and Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick, a UK Number 1 in 1979. Dury also had huge success with the albums New Boots And Panties (1977) and Do It Yourself (1979) and remained a provocative figure through his forthright songs such as Spasticus Autisticus - which attacked society's patronising attitude towards the disabled. He went on to do some acting, wrote a musical Apples and continued to be a major live attraction after being diagnosed with cancer in 1996. Dury was 57 when he died in 2000 and in 2010 was the subject of a biopic film, Sex And Drugs And Rock And Roll.