“All I Ever Wanted To Do Was Write Songs” How Mickey Jupp Found Contentment In The Lake District Words & Photography by Alan Bambrough
If you have been brave enough to take on the challenge of driving England’s steepest road, Hardknott Pass, then as the elevation and blood pressure gradually drops to safer levels, you will find yourself in the tiny village of Boot.
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op into The Boot Inn for a wee something to settle the nerves and with luck, you can catch sight of the figure of an old man, quietly sipping on his pint of Dizzy Blonde. This might be Mickey Jupp. Born in Sussex during the last months of World War Two, Mickey Jupp started his musical journey in the early 60’s around Southend-On-Sea and was a hugely influential figure in the UK R&B and Pub Rock scene in the 70’s. His British R&B outfit, Legend, recorded three albums for Bell Records & Vertigo, including the famous Red Boot album, which inspired future legends such as Paul Weller, Dr Feelgood, the Kursaal Flyers and pioneered the whole pub rock movement. Legend split up in 1972, just a handful of months before the pub rock scene really gained momentum in the London venues and music media. This same pub rock scene that was the incubator for the punk movement that was to explode into being in 1976, nurturing musicians such as Joe Strummer and Ian Dury.
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As Jupp is occasionally heard to mutter, “That’s the story of my life”. Ever the reluctant pop star, Mickey Jupp then spent a few happy years well away from the world of music, contentedly working in a builders’ merchant, before being persuaded to form a band again by Lee Brilleaux, of the then hugely successful Dr Feelgood. A solo career followed for Mickey, with albums released on big record companies such as A&M, Chrysalis & Stiff, as label after label tried to introduce Mickey Jupp’s incredible ability as a songwriter and singer to the masses. Sales success never really materialised, despite working with producers such as Nick Lowe, Mike Vernon (Fleetwood Mac), Godley & Crème (10CC), Tony Visconti (David Bowie) and Francis Rossi (Status Quo). Critically acclaimed albums released with little chart impact.
from Dr Feelgood, Elkie Brooks, Ricky Nelson, The Judds, Gary Brooker, Chris Farlowe, Dave Edmunds and Nick Lowe. In 1983 his brother offered Mickey the chance to live in a little cottage in Eskdale. The young Jupp boys spent many a happy holiday staying with their Grandmother in the Lake District, so he moved to Boot and never looked back. At that time, in the music industry, you were supposed to ‘stay close to London’, but once more, Mickey turned his back on show-business. Nestled in the beautiful valley of Eskdale, Boot has less than 20 permanent residents and is the perfect place for a man who has never actually wanted to be famous.
“A star who, for some reason known only to God and the fates, has been passed over while lesser men achieve fame” - NME Despite being described by the iconic guitarist and some time Game of Thrones executioner, Wilko Johnson as “… the best white singer I’ve ever heard”, it is as a songwriter that Mickey has found greater success. Over the years, Mickey Jupp songs have been recorded by artists ranging
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