Malcolm McLaren dies aged 64
Malcolm McLaren, the former manager of The Sex Pistols and the man who claimed to have invented punk, has died aged 64.
McLaren died in New York this morning after a long battle with cancer.
His spokesman, Les Molloy, said the impresario had been suffering from cancer for some time and he expected his body would be returned to the UK shortly.
An unashamed self-publicist, McLaren gained notoriety as manager of the Sex Pistols who were propelled to No 1 in the charts with God Save The Queen in 1977.
In 1983 McLaren released Duck Rock, an album which mixed up influences from Africa and the Americas, including hip-hop. The album proved to be highly influential in bringing hip-hop to a wider audience in the UK. Two of the singles from the album (Buffalo Gals and Double Dutch) became top-10 hits in the UK.
In 1998 McLaren released Buffalo Gals Back 2 Skool, an album featuring hip hop artists like Rakim, KRS-One, De La Soul and producer Henri Scars Struck revisiting tracks from the original Duck Rock album.
This interview with Interview from 1983 is a decent insight into his connection to early hip-hop culture.
