Lydon leads tributes to punk mogul McClaren

Sex Pistol John Lydon paid tribute to the band’s former manager Malcolm McLaren, who has died aged 64.

The punk rock pioneer died yesterday in a Swiss hospital after a battle with cancer.

Frontman Lydon, who fell out with McLaren in a rift over royalties, issued a tribute signed Johnny Rotten, the name he used while in the Sex Pistols.

Lydon, who is in the US where he is due to start a tour with his band PiL, said: “For me Malc was always entertaining, and I hope you remember that. Above all else he was an entertainer and I will miss him, and so should you.”

Young Kim, McLaren’s partner of 12 years, Joe Corre, his son with the designer Vivienne Westwood, and his stepson Ben Westwood were at his side when he died of mesothelioma yesterday morning.

Westwood said McLaren was “a very charismatic, special and talented person”.

“When we were young and I fell in love with Malcolm, I thought he was beautiful and I still do,” she told the Daily Mail. “The thought of him dead is really something very sad.”

She said they had not been in touch for a long time.

Mr Corre described his father as “the original punk rocker” and said he “revolutionised the world”.

“He’s somebody I’m incredibly proud of. He’s a real beacon of man for people to look up to.”

Mr Corre, who founded the lingerie brand Agent Provocateur, said funeral arrangements were not yet made but his father wanted to be buried in Highgate Cemetery, north London.

Ms Kim, 38, said McLaren’s family were “devastated” by his death and he would be “sorely missed”.

In a statement, she said: “He was a great artist who changed the world. He changed the world so much that we take for granted all that he wrought.

“All his lifelong activities – whether the shop on the King’s Road, punk rock, the fashion he created, the bands he created and managed, his solo musical career, the films, his foray into politics (running for Mayor of London) and, of course, his recent work in art films – were all expressions of his art.

“In the 20th century, we can say that after Marcel Duchamp and Andy Warhol, there was Malcolm McLaren.”

Film-maker Julien Temple, who directed the Sex Pistols movie 'The Great Rock’n’Roll Swindle', told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “Malcolm was an incredible catalyst. At that time to be in the room with him was just to be bombarded with energy.

“He was an amazing teacher. Teachers are lucky to inspire one or two people in their class, but Malcolm really inspired generations across the world.

“He was a phenomenal force to be reckoned with in the late ’70s and early ’80s.”

Music journalist Jon Savage, who wrote England’s Dreaming, the award-winning history of the Sex Pistols and punk, said: “Without Malcolm McLaren there would not have been any British punk.

“He’s one of the rare individuals who had a huge impact on the cultural and social life of this nation.”

Mr Savage said McLaren, who grew up in Stoke Newington, north London, had an enormous influence on British culture through the King’s Road shop he opened with Westwood and also through the Sex Pistols.

“I hope he’ll be remembered with fondness,” he said.

“He was a complex character, a contradictory character. He could be very charming, he could be very cruel, but he mattered and he put something together that was extraordinary. What he did with fashion and music was extraordinary. He was a revolutionary.”

Savage said McLaren was “extremely evasive” when he tried to get information for England’s Dreaming.

“It was a bit like a game really but I was extremely persistent,” he said.

Eventually McLaren did give what Savage described as an “extremely good interview” about his early life which, despite his tendency to mythologise, “told some kind of truth”.

Musician Jah Wobble, the original bass player in Lydon’s next band Public Image Ltd (PiL), said he was “shocked” by the news.

Wobble, real name John Wardle, knew McLaren from the 1970s punk scene which he said would not have happened without McLaren and others.

“You can’t deny he was very important,” he said.

“He was a very interesting character,” Wobble added. “He was a likeable rogue, not without faults, but we all have our faults. But the faults made him better.

“The fact that he wasn’t actually a very good businessman made it more fun. He had a great sense of fun. His sense of humour was a great redeeming factor.”

Wobble said McLaren made himself into something approaching a caricature and had fun doing so.

“I think he saw the funny side of that,” he said. “He’ll be remembered.”

Sylvain Sylvain, founder member of New York Dolls, said he met McLaren in New York in 1971 at a trade show for the clothing industry.

He remembered McLaren was looking “so cool” in a long baby blue coat with a black velvet trim and winklepicker shoes.

Sylvain said he introduced McLaren to the rest of the band and they became “pals”.

In 1975 he bumped into McLaren in New York, he said, and told him the Dolls were on the verge of breaking up.

“He took us on. He found us a loft where we could rehearse.”

The band split up in Florida later that year and Sylvain said he and McLaren went to New Orleans for a few weeks before driving back to New York together.

“He was always telling me ’I could always put a band together for you’. I never did and I could kick myself for it.”

Sylvain said McLaren “was the star himself” and “the most important band member in the Sex Pistols.

“He really was a piece of sugar. I know a lot of people saw him in a different light but he brought out so much.”

Sylvain said McLaren’s 1980s band Bow Wow Wow were “great” and their hit I Want Candy was still played on radio in the US.

McLaren would be remembered as a “cool guy”, said Sylvain, who added: “He always brought me up when I was down.”

The New York Dolls start a European tour this month and will dedicate the song 'Jet Boy' to McLaren when they play their only UK gig at Koko, in London, on April 19.