Reported by Carolina Galli

Malcolm McLaren passed away this morning in New York. The artist had had cancer for some time and his condition suddenly got worse. His body is expected to be brought home to be buried in Highgate cemetery, north London.

“He had been suffering from cancer for some time, but recently had been full of health, which then rapidly deteroriated. He died in New York this morning. We are expecting his body to be brought back to London and buried in Highgate Cemetery”, Les Molloy, his spokesman told The Independent.

Born in London, in 1946, he was raised by his grandmother in Stoke Newington when he father Pete McLaren left him at the age of 2. He left home in his teens, being expelled from several art colleges before leaving education altogether when he was 25 years old.

With Vivienne Westwood, in 1971, he opened Let It Rock, a clothes store on King’s Road. They used to sell Teddy Boy-style clothes, until McLaren started to disagree with shop’s patrons actions. His son, Joseph Corre, then found the world renowned lingerie brand Agent Provocateur.

On 1975, Let It Rock was renamed to SEX and it’s now selling S&M clothes. At the same time, he started to manage punk rock band The Strand. His assistant brought in Bernie Rhodes and later John Lydon, a green-haired kid wearing a Pink Floyd tee with the words I Hate painted across it. Lydon became Johnny Rotten and The Sex Pistols were born.

Always controversial, during the week of Queen’s silver jubilee in May 1977, the band was to perform their iconic single “God Save The Queen” outside the Houses of Parliament. However, the police raided the boat and McLaren was arrested.
Things were getting worst by the time. The band soon went on a US tour and would return on separate flights. The Sex Pistols split up accusing McLaren of mismanaging them and withholding money. Ouch!

He kicked off a solo career, scoring 2 top 10 hits off his 1983 album titled “Duck Rock”. McLaren is often named as an influential artist, taking hip-hop to a wider audience across the UK. His songs have been sampled by several artists, including Mariah Carey and Eminem.

Posted in: News | Posted on April 8, 2010 by Beatsmedia