Neil Innes

Neil Innes

Neil Innes is an English writer, performer and singer-songwriter known for comic songs, with work that sits in comedy rock. He is born in Danbury, Essex, in 1944 and dies in 2019. He is associated with The Bonzo Dog Band, The World, GRIMMS, The Rutles and The Secret Police.

Early work and The Bonzo Dog Band

Innes studies drama at Goldsmiths College in London and forms a band there with other students. The group first uses the name The Bonzo Dog Dada Band, then becomes The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, and is later shortened to The Bonzo Dog Band. Innes meets Vivian Stanshall at the Central School of Art, where they both study drawing, and the two write most of the band’s songs together.

Among the songs they write are “The Urban Spaceman”, the band’s only hit, and “Death Cab for Cutie”, which appears in The Beatles’ film Magical Mystery Tour from 1967. The production credit on “The Urban Spaceman” uses the alias Apollo C. Vermouth for Paul McCartney. Innes receives an Ivor Novello Award for Best Novelty Song in 1968 for “I’m the Urban Spaceman”.

The World and later projects

After The Bonzo Dog Band breaks up, Innes joins former Bonzo Dog bassist Dennis Cowan, drummer Ian Wallace and guitarist Roger McKew in The World. The band aims for a more commercial sound while keeping some of the Doo-Dah style and humour. Its only album, Lucky Planet, is released in 1970, by which time the group has already broken up.

Innes then works with members of Monty Python and releases several solo albums during the 1970s. In 1978, he and Eric Idle create The Rutles, a Beatles spoof band, and make a mockumentary under the same name. From 1979 to 1981, he stars in the BBC television series The Innes Book of Records.

Later comedy music work

In late 2010, Innes takes part in forming The Idiot Bastard Band, a comedy musical collective with Adrian Edmondson, Phill Jupitus, Simon Brint and Rowland Rivron. The band begins with a performance at The Wilmington Arms in London in December 2010, playing comedy songs with very little rehearsal. In 2011, Jupitus is replaced by guest performers including Paul Whitehouse, Barry Cryer and Nigel Planer because of other commitments. After the death of Simon Brint in May 2011, the band continues with a further tour in 2012.