Ten unreleased songs recorded by the late Ian Dury prior to his death from cancer have surface and may be released next year.
Dury died following a long battle against cancer on March 27 this year. Prior to his death he had been working on new songs with long-time collaborator Chas Jankel, as well as Mickey Gallagher from his band The Blockheads.
Track names cited for the new material inculde ‘You’re The Why’, ‘Cowboys’, ‘Grape and Grain’, ‘Amerind’ and ‘Dance Little Rude Boy’. Dury is said to provide vocals on all the new material.
Speaking in yesterday’s Sunday Times, Andrew King, Dury‘s manager, describes the material as: “very up, funny and full of life even though he knew he was near death…it mainly had to do with the happiness and the pleasure he had with his wife Sophy and his two young children”.
Some of the tracks are said by King to have been “virtually finished” before his death, while others are yet to reach the mixing stage.
A spokesperson for the late Ian Dury told nme.com that it was still undecided when the tracks would be released, as that decision remains with Dury‘s family. However, other sources claim that the album could be released at the start of next year.
Ian Dury will be remembered at a tribute concert on Friday (June 16) at London Brixton Academy. On the bill are Robbie Williams, Madness, former Sex Pistol Glen Matlock, Republica singer Saffron and comedians Mark Lamarr, Keith Allen and Phill Jupitus. Proceeds from the event, which is now sold out, will go to the charity Cancer Bacup, for whom Dury was a spokesperson