Swatch Watches skateboard ramp commission/Wildstyle T shirts. Photo: Martin Jones.

In 1989 I was asked to organise a celebration of street culture (including the International Street Art Competition) on the sea front at the Humberside resort of Bridlington. One of the attractions was Neil Danns’ Swatch Watches skateboard team who performed on massive portable half-pipe ramps that they transported by lorry around the country.

Goldie was commissioned by Swatch’s agency Lynn Franks PR (who incidentally ‘Absolutely Fabulous’ was based on) to decorate Neil’s ramps with a range of his own designs. We drove up to Toxteth in Liverpool to Neil’s base, where Goldie sprayed the panels in front of a crowd of local graf and skateboard fans.

In this shot you can see Goldie’s Wildstyle T-shirt design. Whilst doing commercial commissions, he was also working for his friend Whitey’s T-shirt business, designing a range of Hip Hop and Acid House tie-dye shirts.

Martin Jones was Goldie’s manager and agent from 1984-89, initially covering the early period when Goldie was both a breakdancer and graffiti artist for the Wolverhampton B Boys, then in his career with Supreme Graffiti Team and later as the UK part of the New York/UK ‘Transatlantic Federation’ crew with Bristol’s 3D (later of Massive Attack). In the late 80s he secured several high profile art commissions and appearances on BBC and ITV for Goldie. Martin took thousands of shots of the UK Hip Hop scene in the 80s, which he is now cataloguing as part of a national UK Hip Hop Archive. Here are some examples from the archive – if you were around at the time and have any photos of the UK Hip Hop scene you think might be of interest, please contact Martin on mmjones29@blueyonder.co.uk

Goldie sprays a West Midlands Travel double decker bus for Bass M&B’s new cocktail drink, Pink Lady, West Midlands Travel Walsall spray booth, 1989. Image – Martin Jones

The Pink Lady bus was one of several commercial commissions and trade shows I obtained for Goldie between 1987 and 1989. Others included Swatch Watches skateboard ramps and British Telecom.

The commission was offered by top London advertising agency Bartle Bogle Hegarty. I think they intended to play on the irony of commissioning the hero of graffiti artists throughout the UK with an opportunity to cover an entire bus with graffiti – legally.

As I recall it was done over a weekend, because the spray booth was used for normal maintenance during the week. At the time Goldie was living in London so the agency put him up in a nearby hotel. It was one of two murals to promote Bass M&B’s new cocktail drink Pink Lady: the other was a live mural on a hoarding in Soho Road Handsworth, which was photographed and printed up onto large sheets for poster sites up and down the route of Handsworth carnival.

I was told by the agency that the bus did run, but it proved to be a magnet for fans who travelled from all parts of the country just to ride on Goldie’s bus. Eventually drivers refused to take the bus out because of the massive attention it attracted and it was withdrawn from service.

The 40’ foot long Goldie mural sprayed live for BBC Children in Need, November 1988 – image – Martin Jones

This was an attempt to establish a new category of record, specifically for spraycan mural painting. The occasion we chose was the annual BBC Children in Need telethon, based at BBC TV studios at Pebble Mill in Birmingham in November 1988.

The challenge was to execute a 40’ x 8’ mural, live and non-stop over 12 hours. The BBC themselves made and primed the mural panels and erected them on an outside wall of the Pebble Mill building. We received donations of paint from the UK distributor of Buntlack,paints and from Nicholls paints in Walsall who used to mix Goldie’s special colours. Viewers were invited to ring in and pledge money for the successful completion of the epic undertaking.

Goldie began the mural live at 12 noon, on the BBC Pebble Mill talk show, interviewed by Playschool’s former presenter Floella Benjamin. Over the next 12 hours, virtually non-stop, he sprayed this magical forest landscape, which was inspired by the Cheech Wizard cartoons of New York artist Vaughn Bode.

Cheech Wizard is seen reading a book of stories in the far left of the piece, and his apprentice, the Lizard called Razzberry, is seen sitting at a desk on the far right.

The mural was completed in the final part of the telethon, at 12 midnight. The Radio 2 deejay Simon Bates was the host for the completion, walking the entire length of the mural and congratulating Goldie for his supreme effort. Goldie was then invited on stage, waving goodbye alongside other celebs who had raised money that night.

Goldie at Sun Street factory studio, Wolverhampton in 1987, with his ‘TAT’ mural. Image – Martin Jones

Goldie created a range of canvases experimenting with different styles for the ‘Rockin’ the City’ show in 1987. In recognition of his outstanding work he was made an honorary member of New York’s TAT crew and invited to return to New York to work with them again.

In 1988 he went back, carrying out several late night pieces in the yards and lay-ups on the New York subway, teaming up with his friend Vulcan once more. He extended his stay to visit Florida, where he met his father again after many years’ separation, and worked in the Miami Flea Market doing airbrush t-shirts. It was during this time that he met a trader who cast gold grills that fit over teeth, whom he asked to teach him the trade.

When he returned to the UK, he began a small business in Walsall making custom grills and gold rings for the Hip Hop community as well as carrying out mural commissions I obtained for him with a range of commercial clients such as Swatch Watches, British Telecom and Bass Mitchell and Butlers. He also appeared live on BBC Pebble Mill at One, defending his art form in a debate with local police and the Birmingham council cleansing department, and created a mural for a debate on graffiti art on ITV’s Central Weekend Friday night current affairs discussion show.

Goldie mural, in the foyer of Hawthorne House, Chervil Rise, Heathtown, 1986.

Goldie had a flat in Hawthorne House, a high rise block in Heathtown, Wolverhampton, where he went to live after leaving care at the age of 18.

It became the centre of operations for a vast campaign by Goldie and his night time crew ‘The Wild Criminals’ to cover the estate in over 70 graffiti pieces, in stairwells, underground car parks, on garage doors, walkways and walls. Whilst technically illegal, the murals received a lot of support from Heathtown residents who identified with the social messages they conveyed about crime, poverty, alienation and the broken society.

The council eventually recognised his talent by commissioning him to carry out a large commission on the approach walkway to Long Ley school, which was featured in Henry Chalfant’s book alongside his gallery mural ‘Future World Machines’.

Writers travelled to Heathtown from all over the country to see Goldie’s murals to the extent that they became an informal tourist attraction. Later he formed a ‘United Graffiti Federation’ for his fans, complete with membership cards.

Birdie and Goldie run past their ground breaking ‘Future World Machines’ mural which was produced live as a showcase work for the public, at ‘Night Writers’, the Supreme Graffiti Team’s first gallery show, Wolverhampton Art Gallery, August 1986. Photo: Martin Jones.

Goldie’s Future World Machines was undoubtedly the finest mural to come from the Supreme Graffiti Team’s first ever art gallery show. The show marked a significant departure because the work was sprayed onto boards and canvases for the first time rather than walls.

It was the result of months of experimentation in sketch books and on walls throughout Heathtown in Wolverhampton, where Goldie lived at the time. The half- man/ half-robot figure, glass bubble, vents and pipes were developed in close collaboration with Chris Harvey, who was the group’s illustrator/cartoonist. They drew much inspiration from the film Blade Runner, analysing the film on video, frame by frame.

The colours were specially developed by Goldie. We built a fruitful relationship with the manager of Nicholls, a car paint business in Walsall, who allowed Goldie into their workshops to supervise the custom mixing of colours to his own precise specifications. It enabled Goldie to produce just the right shades of red, pink and blue for the lettering, and the dull brown and grey for the panels. Another unique feature is how the panels change colour under the dome. Indeed the panelling became something of a trademark feature and was also used in ‘Global Destruction’, his entry for the Bridlington World Graffiti Competition in 1987.

Future World Machines was selected by Henry Chalfant to be one of those representing the UK, for his 1987 book ‘Spraycan Art’ about the best graffiti art around the world.

In June 1986 I took Goldie and Birdie (the Supreme Graffiti Team) to New York to meet some of the founders of the Hip Hop movement. Our itinerary was arranged by Henry Chalfant, who was highly influential in fostering early Hip Hop culture in New York. (He set up some of the Rock Steady Crew’s first public performances and later went on to achieve worldwide recognition for graffiti art through his books ‘Subway Art’ and ‘Spraycan Art’.)

At Henry’s suggestion, we stayed at the Hotel Chelsea on West 23rd Street, a famous place where rock stars stayed when visiting New York – and where Andy Warhol made his film ‘Chelsea Girls’. The weather was incredibly hot and most of all humid – you only had to step outside the air-conditioned hotel and you became soaked with sweat. I remember us drinking full litre bottles of Coke to remain hydrated – and eating lots of giant pizzas.

The visit could not have been more eventful, literally from day one. Henry arranged for Goldie and Birdie to dance in a commercial for Ford Cars in Grand Army Plaza. Later in the visit they met all-time graffiti great Seen at his airbrush T-shirt studio, Ken Swift of the Rock Steady Crew, ‘Wild Style’ film star and graf artist Lee Quinones, and were taken on a tour of the city’s graf sites by T-Kid of The Nasty Boys crew.

They also filmed the second part of Dick Fontaine’s Channel Four documentary (called Bombin’), showing Goldie and Birdie on the Staten Island ferry and meeting up with Brim and Bio of TAT crew and Hip Hop godfather Afrika Bambaataa at the Bronx River Projects housing estate.

The visit was highly significant in Goldie’s development. It expanded his horizons beyond the UK and brought him into contact with a range of highly influential contacts who have continued to inspire him in his subsequent career.

Image 1: Early days. Goldie joins the B Boys breakdance team from Wolverhampton.

Auditions for the Electro Rock UK breakdance film, held at Midlands Arts Centre, Cannon Hill Park, Birmingham, February 1985. Front row, left to right: Keith ‘Kiddo’ Anderson, Hanifa McQueen Hudson, Gary ‘Birdie’ Burns. Back row, left to right: Goldie, Mark ‘Freestyle’ Ansine, Cliff ‘Lewinski’ Malcolm. Photo: Martin Jones.

I first met Goldie in September 1984. He was one of four new dancers recruited to replace members of the original B Boys breakdance team who had left due to work commitments. By February 1985, the new B Boys had gelled into a well- choreographed professional unit under their manager, Violet Hudson – with Goldie in a dual role as a dancer/graffiti artist.

The first gig I arranged for them as an agent was a nationally televised battle against arch-rivals Future Shock from Coventry on ITV’s Saturday morning children’s show, ‘Saturday Starship’, hosted by Tommy Boyd and Bonnie Langford, for which Goldie provided a graffiti mural backdrop.

By late autumn 1984, there were rumours of a British breakdance film. I contacted James Street Productions in Covent Garden to offer help in selecting acts from the West Midlands – I set up a day of auditions at Midlands Arts Centre’s Studio Theatre in Birmingham attended by the producers, Robin Hogarth and Richard Gayer.

Eventually they selected the B Boys (Goldie was still a dancer at this point) and Birmingham’s Mr Riddles to attend the filming at Peter Stringfellow’s London Hippodrome, in March 1985. Several months later, around the time of the film’s release on Polygram Video, the B Boys promoted the film with sponsorship from Puma, dancing live on the BBC’s ‘Saturday Superstore’ (interviewed by Vicki Liquorish) and TV South’s ‘Freeze Frame’. By this time however, Goldie had gone on to a solo career as a graffiti artist and was replaced in the group by Ray ’Reano’ Robinson.