Hole in my pocket: The true legend of Mickey Jupp: the rock and roll genius who refused to be a star

by Mike Wade

He inspired Dr Feelgood and the pub rock scene; his records were produced by Tony Visconti, 10cc, Francis Rossi of Status Quo, Gary Brooker of Procol Harum, Nick Lowe and Mike Vernon; he was signed to the Bell, Vertigo, Arista, Chrysalis, A&M and Stiff labels; he was championed by seminal DJs John Peel, Bob Harris and Charlie Gillet.His songs have been covered by artists as diverse as Ricky Nelson, The Judds, Dave Edmunds, Chris Farlowe, Dr Feelgood, The Searchers, Elkie Brooks, The Kursaal Flyers, Nick Lowe, The Swinging Blue Jeans and many, many more – records that have sold in their millions.
Yet he remains an the ‘nearly man’ of rock and roll. Here, for the first time, is the true tale of Mickey Jupp's epic journey, as told by the man himself and those with whom he shared it.

457 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 23, 2016

About the author

Long, tolerably successful career in Advertising and Marketing.
Early borderline career in Music, briefly big in Japan.
Now a writer and photographer (euphemism for retired) and occasional freelance strategist (further euphemism for retired)

Reviews

[Mike Wade · Rating 5 out of 5]

Clearly I shouldn't be reviewing my own book, let alone giving it five stars. But there are fifteen reviews of it on that other big book site, the one named after the river, and all of them are five star, so I have taken a liberty and gone ahead. To give you an insight, here are some extracts:

The best music bio I've ever read, couldn't put it down

Very enjoyable book, it gave a really good insight into the whole process from writing to distribution of an album

Brilliant biography of a brilliant songwriter! Recommended!

Excellent book. And it is very, very readable, one of those "can't put it down books"

If you are a rock music fan who enjoys insider anecdotes about the music business, or wants to understand what makes a musical genius tick, then you should buy this book, you will love it.

"Hole in my pocket" is a terrific book. Buy it now and buy another copy for a friend, who may never have heard of Mickey Jupp

Author Mike Wade has put together a fantastic and detailed history lesson on the Southend music scene with Mickey as the central character. Mr Jupp’s career, output and mind-set are forensically examined with humour, rumour, affection and objectivity. Mike has cleverly brought together every strand of relevant information he has gleaned, to paint the perfect picture of his subject

Fantastic book!

An essential book. The really impressive thing about this book is that you don't have to know the artist to enjoy it! This really should be lecture 101 for all potential or budding songwriters as it will help them decide if they want a career based on fame/happiness/sold soul/product etc

The book is written in a friendly, approachable and amusing style which really does make it hard to put down

[Si Chadwick · Rating 2 out of 5]

For his influence, his musicianship, his songwriting and his curmudgeonly character it's a given that Mickey Jupp deserves a biography. Unfortunately he deserves better than this. If he weren't such an interesting talent then I would not have been able to complete this book, given that it is poorly written, badly proof-read and printed in a bizarre fashion where words are sometimes spaced out so that a line may only contain three words.

I realise that it was written by a drummer rather than a writer and that drummers are used to repetition as a bedrock of all that they do but the repetition of the phrases "as we shall see" and, "but more of that later" became a real annoyance even by the end of chapter two. My other gripe centres on the author's choice to critique each composition from each album. As a Jupp fan I am familiar with his work or else why would I be reading about the man? I'm grateful for the information on the muse, the personnel and the actual recording processes but as for describing the finished product? I have ears. Much the same as I have no use for football commentators and pundits in describing to me something I am watching with my own eyes, I find it banal and repetitive to hear someone describing sounds and rhythms that I can hear for myself. And for those songs I cannot hear because they haven't been recorded or are not generally available? No amount of description will compensate.

I admire the work and the dedication from Mr Wade in getting Mickey's story out there but his ability as a writer doesn't do the story justice.