PAUL FOXGuitarist Paul Fox died on 21 October, 2007.Taking over where The Clash had left off, his band The Ruts arrived on the British punk scene in the late 1970s with the tried-and-tested fusion of dirty rock riffs and ska beats, coupled with politically-aggressi ve lyrics, and became one of the best bands of punk's second wave.Fox was born on 11 April, 1951, in Bermondsey, where his parents owned a pub. During his childhood they moved to Hayes in Middlesex. In the 1970s he formed his first band, a prog rock outfit called Aslan who lived in a hippy commune in Wales. In 1975 the commune disbanded and he returned to London, joining funk band Hit & Run with future Ruts drummer Dave Ruffy.1977, the year of punk, saved Fox and Ruffy along with lead singer Malcolm Owen (who later confessed to being a jazz fan in the pre-punk days) and bassist John "Segs" Jennings.After a year of performing, they released the single In a Rut under the People Unite banner before being signed by Virgin.In 1979 they released their first album, The Crack, which would become a cult classic, and scored a surprise top 10 hit with the apocalyptic single Babylon's Burning, in part thanks to John Peel's support.Fox was the driving force behind The Ruts' musical style and it was his love of Jamaican music that inspired the rocksteady dub and anti-racism messages of tracks such as Jah War and Love in Vain.Tragedy struck The Ruts when Malcolm Owen died of a heroin overdose in 1980 midway through the making of their second album. After much soul-searching, The Ruts decided to continue as Ruts D.C. with Fox taking over most of the vocal duties. Their next album Animal Now (1981) missed Owen’s charismatic presence, but the band's final offering, Rhythm Collision (1982) was a showcase for Fox's talents at playing reggae.After the band split, Fox played with Dirty Strangers (who he described as"sort of budget priced Rolling Stones") and then formed Choir Malitia before retiring from music.However, in 2006 Buster Bloodvessel convinced him to revive his old band as Foxy's Ruts for his Badfest festival. They later toured with Bad Manners. In addition to Foxy's Ruts, he had most recently been involved with the reggae outfit DubCats.He was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer in the summer of 2007 and died aged 56.
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