Vivian Stanshall

Vivian Stanshall (March 21 1943 – March 5 1995) was an English musician, writer, wit, and raconteur, probably best known for his work with the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, but also known for his surreal exploration of the British upper classes in Sir Henry at Rawlinson End.

The Bonzo years

The name of the band came from a word game involving cutting up sentences and juxtaposing the fragments to form new ones. One of the combinations that came out of this exercise was "Bonzo Dog/Dada". The band initially performed under this name but soon grew tired of explaining what "Dada" meant to audience members with no knowledge of art history. Thus they became the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band — later abbreviated to "The Bonzo Dog Band", or just "The Bonzos".

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In these early days they were a very loose assemblage, consisting of the core members mentioned above, plus just about anyone else who felt like joining in. At times there were as many as thirty of them, with gigs often featuring more people on stage than in the audience. Their act at this time consisted of anarchic re-workings of old British novelty songs, found on 78 records bought from flea-markets, spiced with a great deal of larking about and (from Roger Ruskin Spear) at least one deafening explosion per gig.

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The Bonzos might have continued this way, too, and probably disappeared into obscurity, had it not been for a nasty shock: the 1966 chart success of a winsomely arch number called Winchester Cathedral by The New Vaudeville Band — a rival outfit (formed by an ex-Bonzo member) whose musical and visual style bore an uncanny similarity to their own. The Bonzos realised that if they were to make a mark for themselves, they would have to forge a new path. From here on, they started writing their own material and dropping it into the act alongside the old novelty numbers. With Stanshall now liberated from his original role as tuba player and firmly established as the front man, the act became more sophisticated, too: daring and satirical. Quite aside from the adventurous music and lyrics, it was quite a performance: Stanshall sang, played a variety of instruments and on a good night would also perform a prolonged and hilarious fully-clothed strip mime, culminating in some spectacular tit-juggling. His very non-PC Jesus joke was also a highlight of the act. In 1967 they even appeared in The Beatles' Magical Mystery Tour television special playing Death Cab For Cutie during the strip dancer scene.

Related Topics:
The New Vaudeville Band - The Beatles - Magical Mystery Tour

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For a while they existed as a semi-pro outfit playing the college circuit, but it wasn't long before they went full time. Over the next half-decade the band toured incessantly and recorded several albums, which led to a tour of the US. This was so successful that they were booked for another US tour soon after. Between the two, however, something brought about a crippling change in Vivian's personality. None of his fellow Bonzos claims to know just what caused it, but by the start of the second tour he was on very large doses of tranquilizers prescribed by a private doctor, ostensibly to treat stage-fright. Nevertheless, the workload never let up. The band had a punishing schedule, often playing more than one gig per evening. In 1970, after six years of it, they decided to call it a day — as much from sheer tiredness as anything else.

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Vivian went on to form various short-lived groups including "The Sean Head Band", "Bonzo Dog Freaks" (featuring the guitar talents of the rotund Bubs White) and "BiG GrunT". At one point, he even went into teaching art and drama at a boy's secondary modern school in Surrey. By now, his life was dogged by depression and a drinking problem, and would remain so. He had several spells in hospitals in attempts to stop or control his drinking, but they never worked (this was before modern-day notions of rehab). He was also still being prescribed large doses of Valium, which — he later reported — made things worse by simply adding another addiction.

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In 1974 he collaborated with Steve Winwood to produce his first solo album, Men Opening Umbrellas Ahead. A complex, rambling affair, its lyrics filled with acutely personal insights and references, it has a jazz-rock flavour, rich with African percussion.

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