Legendary pre punk gov'nor Ian Dury is one the most loved charters in English music history. The history books reveal that Ian Dury And The Blockheads enjoyed five hit singles and two Top Ten albums between 1978 and 1980, but this undoubtedly worthy achievement is no measure of the affection in which Ian Dury is held by music lovers around the world.

The roots of Dury's creativity can be traced back to the cultural wastelands of post-war Essex and the various schools Ian Dury attended in the 1950's. Incapacitated by polio, Dury fought hard to gain respect and found sublimation in drawing and painting and the wild rock'n'roll sounds of Gene Vincent And The Bluecaps. On leaving school at 16, Dury studied at Walthamstow Art College, where a love of jazz and a taste for East End street humour helped him to sail through his studies.

In 1964 Dury won a place at the Royal College of Art where he was taught by the eminent artist Peter Blake and, in 1967, Dury himself started teaching art at various colleges in the south of England. The death of Gene Vincent in 1971 inspired Dury to form Kilburn and the High Roads, in which he was vocalist and lyricist, co-writing with pianist Russell Hardy. A year later Dury enrolled into the group a number of the students he was teaching at Canterbury School of Art, including guitarist Keith Lucas and bassist Humphrey Ocean. The Kilburns, as they were affectionately known, found favour on London's Pub Rock circuit and signed to Dawn Records in 1974, but despite acres of favourable press coverage and a tour opening for The Who, the group never rose above cult status.

In 1975 the Kilburns disbanded and Dury kept his head down for the next year, writing new material and considering his options. A chance encounter in a musical instrument hire shop with former Byzantium guitarist Chaz Jankel led to a new songwriting partnership. Jankel, armed with reams of Dury's lyrics, fashioned a number of songs, including the classic SEX AND DRUGS AND ROCK AND ROLL Jankel's treatment of this material was precisely what Ian Dury had been searching for and soon they were recording, assisted by drummer Charley Charles, bassist Norman Watt-Roy and the former Kilburns saxophonist Davey Payne. An album was completed, but major record labels passed on Ian Dury, whom they may have seen as a Pub Rock no-hoper. However, next door to Dury's manager's office was the newly formed Stiff Records, a perfect home for his oddball genius.

The now legendary single SEX AND DRUGS AND ROCK AND ROLL c/w RAZZLE IN MY POCKET marked Ian Dury's Stiff debut and this was swiftly followed by the album NEW BOOTS AND PANTIES which was to eventually achieve platinum status.In October 1977, Ian Dury signed up for the Stiff Live Stiffs Tour, alongside Elvis Costello And The Attractions, Nick Lowe, Wreckless Eric and Larry Wallis. Dury's new combo, now augmented by guitarist John Turnbull and pianist Mickey Gallagher, was christened Ian Dury And The Blockheads and the group became the surprise hit of the tour.