Mickey Jupp


Michael Graham 'Mickey' Jupp is an English musician and songwriter, mainly associated with the Southend music scene.

Career

Jupp played in several Southend bands after leaving art college in 1962 and was in the R&B group the Orioles, which included Mo Witham and Bob Clouter, but the band were never recorded.
After a break from music, Jupp formed Legend in 1968, who were signed to Bell Records. They released an eponymous album Legend, playing a mix of pop, rockabilly and blues rock styles using no electric instruments. The original band: Nigel Dunbar, Chris East and Steve Geere, who recorded this album with Jupp, split soon afterwards, so Jupp assembled a new line-up, with Mo Witham on guitar, John Bobin on bass and Bill Fifield on drums. A recording deal with Vertigo produced a second album, in 1970, using the same line-up. Confusingly, this album was also called Legend, but is usually referred to as the "Red Boot" album, after the cover picture. Fifield left to join T.Rex, and was replaced on drums by Bob Clouter who had played with Jupp in the Orioles. This line-up recorded the second Vertigo album Moonshine issued in 1972, after which the band broke up.
Returning to Southend, Jupp pursued a low-key existence until the pub-rock revolution created a fresh interest in rock and roll. He signed to Stiff Records in 1978, and they initially released a compilation album of the first three Legend albums, which was also called Legend, giving three albums with this title. This was followed by his first solo album, Juppanese, an album in two different styles. The first half was recorded with Rockpile and produced by Nick Lowe, and is in a simple raw style, whereas the second half, produced by Gary Brooker of Procol Harum, was slicker. The album had a cover photo of Jupp sitting at a table of oriental food, pulling at the corners of his eyes. Jupp had a long-standing connection with Procol Harum; Brooker, then with R&B group the Paramounts, was one of his early idols. When Procol's bassist David Knights went into management, Legend were his first act. He also produced their final album Moonshine. Robin Trower also produced Legend's second single "Georgia George Part 1" which was actually Jupp backed by Mo Witham and Procol's Matthew Fisher and B.J. Wilson.
The follow-up album Long Distance Romancer was produced by Godley and Creme, and has a slick, highly produced, sound, which was generally seen as less successful.
Jupp went on to release a further seven solo albums, some appearing on Swedish and German labels. His songs have been recorded by Rick Nelson, Elkie Brooks, the Judds, Chris Farlowe, Delbert McClinton, Nick Lowe, Dave Edmunds, Gary Brooker, the Hamsters, Dr. Feelgood, Roger Chapman, and the Searchers.
At one time the Mickey Jupp Band had Joy Sarney as its vocalist.
In February 2009 the early Legend line-up of Chris East, Mo Witham, John Bobin, Bob Clouter and Mickey Jupp self-released a new album, Never Too Old To Rock, featuring a selection of Jupp–East songs written over the previous twenty years.

Appreciation

On 6 February 2015, most of a two-hour edition of the Belgian radio show Dr Boogie on Classic 21 was dedicated to Jupp who was described as a 'hidden treasure of rock', a 'white Chuck Berry'. and a musician 'almost without ego'.
In August 2015, an authorised biography of Mickey Jupp, entitled Hole in my Pocket: the true legend of Mickey Jupp, the rock and roll genius who declined to be a star, written by Mike Wade, was published by Amazon/South Wing Books.

Recordings

With Legend

;1969
;1970
;1971
;1972
;1978
;2008
;2012
;1977
;1978
;1979
;1980
;1981
;1982
;1983
;1984
;1987
Oddities CD only, Line LICD-9.00464
;1988
;1991
;1992
;2004
;2005
;2009
;2010
;2011
;2012
;2013
;2014
;1971
;1978
;1979
;1981
;1982
;1983
;1984
;1985
;1986
;1987
;1988
;1991
;1992
;1993
;1994
;1996
Southend Rock 2 The Lunch Label 01702-001, CD compilation with "Standing At The Crossroads Again"
;1999
Some Sides Of Line: 20th Anniversary Line LMS-9.01356, CD compilation with "Poison Girls"
The Greatest Pop Ballads Repertoire Records RR-4763, 2CD compilation with "Pilot"
;2001
;2007
;2008
;2010
;2011