Buster Bloodvessel

Buster Bloodvessel (born Douglas Trendle, 6 September 1958, in Hackney, London) is an English singer and frontman of the ska revival band Bad Manners. His stage name was taken from the bus conductor played by Ivor Cutler in The Beatles' 1967 film "Magical Mystery Tour".

He founded Bad Manners with friends at Woodberry Down Comprehensive in North London in 1976, at an age when he regularly drank with former school chums in the Brownswood Park Tavern. Bad Manners were a popular live attraction in London, with their brand of ska making them comedians of the ska revival scene, with Buster often wagging his huge tongue at his audiences. Bad Manners earned nine Top 40 singles between 1980 and 1983, and the band have remained a popular live act throughout Britain and Europe ever since.

In 1988, he licensed the old Blue Beat Records name and logo, and ran the label from a barge that was stationed in his back garden at his home in Hackney. He released albums by Bad Manners, Napoleon Solo and Buster's Allstars. Blue Beat folded in 1990, and Buster began to concentrate more on his role in Bad Manners. In 1998, he secured a solo deal with the Virgin offshoot label Innocent Records and recorded an album. A single, "Stop Messin", was to be released that year, but the label did not issue the record or album.

He struggled with morbid obesity and underwent laparoscopic gastric bypass surgery in 2004. He lost a considerable amount of weight. Buster once owned a hotel in Margate called Fatty Towers, which specifically catered to larger customers, with features such as extra large beds and baths, as well as fatty meals. The hotel closed in 1998, and Buster moved back to London. He currently lives on a canal boat on the western outskirts of London with his partner, and still tours as Bad Manners with musicians who have worked with him since the mid 1990s. He often appears as a guest on various television shows, as well as in the tabloid newspapers, and he is currently recording a new album with Bad Manners in Sussex.

External links

* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/threecounties/content/articles/2005/05/03/badfest_buster_bloodvessel_interview_feature.shtml Buster Bloodvessel] BBC interview
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/1148784.stm Buster Bloodvessel seriously ill] BBC article