Ian Dury, singer, 57

["Deathwatch Central" <cdw@slick.org>]

Monday March 27 3:42 PM ET 

British punk poet Ian Dury dies of cancer at 57
By John O'Callaghan

LONDON (Reuters) - Ian Dury, the gravelly voiced British entertainer who
mixed punk rock attitudes with a thick streak of humor in such songs as
``Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick,'' died of cancer Monday at age 57, his
agent said.

Partially paralyzed by polio as a child, Dury became an unlikely star at
35 when his 1977 debut album ``New Boots and Panties'' propelled him and
his band, The Blockheads, to critical acclaim and a yearlong stay in the
British charts.

His wry Cockney wit and wink of the eye came through loud and clear in
songs like ``Clever Trevor'' and ``Sex and Drugs and Rock and Roll,'' his
lampoon of the music industry.

Dury's style made him a seminal influence on pop music ranging from the
ska sounds of Madness to the pop-punk of Blur.

``I'M Here To Be Alive''

Madness singer Suggs hailed Dury as ``more of a poet than a rock 'n' roll
artist'' and credited him with opening minds to ``all the possibilities
for people that didn't look like rock stars.''

After stints as an actor, screenwriter and television host, Dury returned
to the music scene last year with ``Mr. Love Pants,'' his first album with
The Blockheads in nearly two decades.

He familiar face was back on British TV this year, advertising the Times
newspaper.

As his health deteriorated after an earlier bout of colon cancer spread to
his liver, Dury refused to be down-hearted.

``I don't spend a lot of time shaking my fist at the moon,'' he told BBC
radio last year in a retrospective on his career. ``It doesn't make you
feel any better, I'm sure, plus 50 percent of any battle you're in is your
spirit.''

Born on May 12, 1942, in Upminster, east of London, Dury initially decided
on a career in art and taught the subject until he was 28 before getting
his musical start by playing in pubs and clubs around London.

He leaves his wife Sophy and two young sons, Albert and Billy, as well as
two older children from his first wife Betty, who also died of cancer.

``I don't care if I'm immediately forgotten,'' Dury told the BBC. ``I'm
not here to be remembered. I'm here to be alive.''

Reuters/Variety 





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