UNITED KINGDOM/ USA: BILLY IDOL AND JARVIS COCKER ARE IMMORTALISED IN WAX AT LONDON'S ROCK CIRCUS

Record ID: 386849

  • Title: UNITED KINGDOM/ USA: BILLY IDOL AND JARVIS COCKER ARE IMMORTALISED IN WAX AT LONDON'S ROCK CIRCUS
  • Date: 10th December 1996
  • Summary: LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM (RECENT) (RTV ) SCULPTOR STEWART WILLIAMSON WORKING ON MODEL
  • Embargoed: 25th December 1996 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM/ LOS ANGELES, UNITED STATES
  • Country: United Kingdom
  • Topics: Entertainment
  • Reuters ID: LVA4IHT31HVNF6PDYJD3SAP8SD68
  • Story Text: Billy Idol and Jarvis Cocker, unlikely figures from opposite polls of rock and pop, are to appear together -- in wax at London's Rock Circus.

    Idol -- famous in the eighties for hits "White Wedding" "Rebel Yell" and "Hot In The City" -- turned up to see his waxwork double unveiled at the music world's answer to Madam Tussaud's.

    Sporting Idol's famous curling upper lip, the 25,000 sterling (41,000 U.S. dollars) figure which took six months to make was on display as the rock star posed beside it.

    Idol has been in London appearng in Pete Townsend's stage version of the rock opera "Quadrophenia".

    Some six months earlier, a team of sculptors flew out to Los Angeles to measure up the raunchy singer, who was also photographed and filmed to ensure accuracy in every detail. Idol donated his trademark leathers for the figure.

    Sculptor Mark Richards said the pose Idol chose was the classic Billy Idol pose, right down to the famous sneer.

    Idol pipped Jarvis to the post -- sculptors are only just beginning work on his statue. The foppish Pulp star, famous for his velvet suits, skinny frame and eccentric style, admits to being flattered at the idea of being replicated for posterity.

    Sculptor Steward Williamson declared Cocker an ideal subject: "Jarvis came along with a small cardboard cutout, the expression goes with the stance, it's pre-ordained in this case," he said.

    Cocker formed Pulp when he was 16 but did not achieve any noticeable success until his early thirties.

    The darling of Britpop, he achieved heroic status among fans at this year's Brit Awards when he mounted a one-man protest against Michael Jackson's appropriation of Messaniac imagery by jumping up on stage and performing his own irreverent dance.

    Unfortunately for Cocker, he will now have to swallow his pride and take his place alongside his foe -- Jackson, needless to say, already stands in the Rock Circus.

    The exhibition is home to stars who are judged to have made a major contribution to the music industry -- such as Freddie Mercury, George Michael, the Beatles, The Rolling Stones among others.
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