One of the originals of the Southend rock scene, Mickey started out in the Orioles in 1963 which, with lots of line-up changes, lasted until 1965 when he vanished from the Southend scene for some three years. He popped up again in 1968, during the 'blues boom' in Legend (he had apparently been in Bath during the missing years) who started off as a sort of country-blues band then moved into Orioles-style rock and roll before finally succumbing to the early 1970, heavy rock format. The famous Red Boot Album is the only record from this era worth looking out for and tracks from it and the album Moonshine make up the bulk of the songs on Legend (GET 2).
After the demise of Legend in 1972, Mickey took another holiday from playing before returning to the fray with the Mickey Jupp Band in 1975, a ten-piece outfit who played a fine blend of R and B, rock 'n' roll, Jupp originals and pop hits. The budding generation of Southend rockers (Kursaal Flyers, Dr Feelgood etc) all mentioned Mickey's name as the main man on the scene. He was briefly signed to Arista before moving to Stiff, but left very quickly after the Train tour and the Juppanese album, returning briefly in a one-off deal in 1981. He has since recorded albums for Chrysalis and more recently A & M (Some People Can't Dance) and nearly had a hit when Joggin' was adopted as the theme tune for the London marathon.
Additional reading:
'Southend Scene Family Tree', Zigzag, #56 — this was subsequently used as a Stiff press release
Bert Muirhead’s book is still available from The Turkey Zone and Amazon UK