Tribute to Ian Dury from The Mirror (http://www.mirror.co.uk). There's
another tribute on there as well from Bob Geldof.
"WHAT A WASTE"
==============
Sex, Drugs & Rock 'n' Roll legend Ian Dury dies of cancer at just 57
TRIBUTES poured in to Ian Dury last night after the punk legend lost his
battle against cancer.
The much-loved musician died peacefully at his home in North West London
with his sculptor wife Sophy Tilson, 34, at his side.
Crippled by childhood polio, Dury, 57, had been suffering from cancer for
five years but only confessed he had the disease in 1998 when it spread to
his liver and became inoperable.
The irrepressible Essex geezer who wrote hits What A Waste, Reasons To Be
Cheerful and Sex and Drugs and Rock 'n' Roll for his band Ian Dury and the
Blockheads, said at the time: "You don't have cancer, it has you. The
"chemo" won't get rid of it.
"But it's another lease of - well, however long it is. You just don't know,
but it's better than being hit by a bus tomorrow; you have time to sort
yourself out."
Minister Mo Mowlam, who fought a brain tumour and became friends with Dury,
said: "Those who knew him as a performer and a friend know that the world
will be a duller place without him."
Dr Mowlam, who was spotted dancing at a Dury gig five weeks ago, added: "We
have all lost a wonderful man, a real human being." Robbie Williams, who
visited Sri Lanka with Dury for charity Unicef last year was too upset to
talk. His spokeswoman said: "He's distraught. They were very close."
Dury cut an odd figure as a pop star. He became a lecturer after leaving
art college and was already 35 when he formed The Blockheads in 1977.
Stricken by polio, he had a withered arm and leg and appeared on Top of the
Pops wearing a calliper and leaning on a cane.
But his witty pop lyrics won him fans and Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick
sold 900,000 copies.
His career seemed over in 1981 when radio stations refused to play his
controversial Spasticus Autisticus, released to mark International Year of
the Disabled.
He then went on to forge a career as an actor and broadcaster.
Dury worked on ITV arts shows Metro in the 1990s and appeared in films
including Peter Greenaway's The Cook, The Thief, His Wife And Her Lover. In
1998 he returned to music, reuniting The Blockheads for a new album Mr Love
Pants.
But his charity work remained paramount. Jo Bexley, of Unicef, said: "There
is only one word which describes him - awesome. He said there were three
things on his agenda: his music, Unicef and - cancer, the disease to which
he finally succumbed."
Close friend Madness frontman Suggs said: "The people's poet laureate, one
of the finest lyricists this country has produced, he was still giving it
his all to the end."
Dury leaves behind sons Albert, two, and Bill, five, plus Jemima, 29, and
Baxter, 26, by his first wife Betty, who died of cancer. [EMAIL PROTECTED]
==============
RIP Ian, and hit me with your rhythm stick.
-------------------------------------------
Iain Jones
Faculty of Science, University Of Liverpool
Email : [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Tel : 0151 794 6767 ext. 86693
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