Ian Dury by Will Birch

Author:Will Birch [Will Birch]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780283071249
Publisher: Pan Macmillan

Ian permitted himself a knowing little laugh delivering the ‘institution’ line, as if reminded of his time at Chailey Heritage Craft School for disabled children. After such a harrowing start in life, to have achieved a hit record with one of his own songs was little short of a miracle, a testament to his dogged determination. Coming on top of New Boot and Panties!!, the success of ‘What a Waste’ assured Ian that Aunt Molly’s guru had been right all along – he had always been destined for fame.

It was inevitable that, after years of public indifference, stardom would provide Ian with a licence to go bonkers. Dave Robinson notes: ‘He always wanted to have girls and when he had hits there were lots of girls, and that was one of his fantasies, world domination. He was a very good-looking guy and knew the power he had.’ Denise Roudette noticed a change in his personality. ‘Up until then he was quite open and trusting, but when he became famous, it was a scary business. His eyes went black and he lost it.’ Denise had prepared herself for the emotional fallout, and, although she and Ian were no longer together, their lives were still intertwined.

While Ian had been on the road for several months, living out of a suitcase, Denise had stayed on at Oval Mansions, but Ian was now packing his bags for good. Homeless but cash-rich, he checked into London’s Montcalm Hotel near Marble Arch, planning an indefinite stay. The appeal of the Montcalm was its excellent location; its elevators and twenty-four-hour room-service. Anyone requiring an audience with Britain’s hot new star would be summoned to the hotel, where Spider was on hand to keep order. Ian’s managers tried to dissuade him from indulging in such extravagance, but Ian was determined to apply his ‘if you’ve got it, spend it’ philosophy.

Now footloose and free, he opened the window of his suite and surveyed the 180-degree view. On a clear night he could see the lights of Edgware Road, running north to his Middlesex birthplace; Kensington in the west, where he’d studied at the Royal College of Art; Victoria to the south, reminding him of his dad’s undignified death from cancer. Silently reflecting on his childhood at Chailey, coming to terms with polio and his beatings at the hands of the Royal Grammar School prefects, he also remembered those who had mocked his attempts to get a foothold in the music business. But they would not laugh now. It was time to get even.

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