In Ian Dury you would not find a more unlikely star. But as an artist turned rock and roller, you would consider Dury an unmitigated success.As production begins on a Dury biopic in the UK his story as stakeholder in the burgeoning punk movement and victim of polio. Dury, who died of cancer in 2000, was seven years old in the years after World War II when he was struck by polio.
Years in hospital and special schools for the disabled did not deter the young Dury who displayed a special artistic gift that was recognized and earned his placement in an arts focused school as teen before landing a slot at the Royal College of Art.
He would graduate to become a teacher, but it was music, specifically that of American rockabilly pioneer Gene Vincent, that ignited Dury's passion.
His first band- Kilburn and the High Roads in 1970- would plant the seed for his style on stage and lyrically that would reach their pinnacle several years later.
It was that onstage swaggering persona of a man, in his 30s, cane and polio victim that Dury tackled with relish.
He noted once in an interview, "I am charismatic and I'm not ashamed by my physical appearance.Even good-looking people have got a weakness. My weakness is so obvious that there's no point in worrying about it."
Dury as performer is best seen and heard.
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