Iggy Rose was one of Syd Barrett's girlfriends in 1969.
She is most famous for being the model on the Syd Barrett album: 'The Madcap Laughs'.
Nicknamed Iggy the Eskimo, it was rumoured she was part Inuit.
One day, in 1969, she disappeared out of Syd's life and was not heard of ever since.
Almost four decades later, the Holy Church of Iggy the Inuit started to mess with things.
Its five years mission: to find Iggy and bring her back to the spotlights.
And guess what, with some invaluable help from many, many friends... we did...
Beginning 2017 Iggy Rose decided to leave social media. She died peacefully on the 13th of December 2017,
just before her seventieth birthday. Wishing you good luck, Iggy, wherever you are.
Damn, when my old brother-in-crime, Uncle Alex, posted that Warren
Dosanjh passed away, I suddenly felt pretty old.
Younger Pink
Floyd and Syd
Barrettaficionados will look up from their smartphones for a
quarter of a second and mumble, Who? Even at the best Syd Barrett
Facebook group, Birdie
Hop, Alex’s message is received with an avalanche of silence.
And the chance that young guns will stumble upon this entry is
minimalistic, to say the least.
Not that this is such a surprise. Warren isn’t mentioned in most of the
Floydian (and Syd Barrett) biographies. I checked several of them, and I
can only find him in Julian Palacios’ Dark Globe.
Nonetheless, he played a small but crucial role in the history of
proto-Floyd.
Those Without ad.
The Sixties
Warren and Syd were pupils at the County (Cambridgeshire High School for
Boys), where they would hang around. Roger Waters was also at the same
school, by the way.
Hollerin’ Blues was a 1962/1963 rhythm & blues band
consisting of Alan ‘Barney’ Barnes (piano, harmonica, vocals), Alan
Sizer (guitar), Pete Glass (harmonica), and Stephen Pyle (drums).
Roger Furnell remembers a gig at the Dolphin pub in Coronation
Street with Rado Klose and Syd Barrett in Hollerin’ Blues.
Matthew Scurfield: "I didn’t even know he [Syd] was a musician
until I went to see The Hollerin’ Blues somewhere like the Dorothy
Ballroom, and there was Syd on guitar."
The I
Spy In Cambridge website, curated by Dosanjh, however, has a
different opinion: “Contrary to pieces written in the past, we can
categorically deny that Roger 'Syd' Barrett was ever in the 'Hollerin'
Blues'!”
Hollerin’ Blues sort of broke up and immediately reformed with a new
manager, grammar school dropout Warren Dosanjh. That choice was probably
not based upon Warren’s capabilities for being a manager but because his
girlfriend’s father (!) had a VW bus big enough to transport the
equipment.
At a meeting (where some pretend Syd Barrett was present), Stephen Pyle
suggested Pink Floyd as the new name, but this seemed too silly. In the
end, the band members settled for Those Without.
Over the next two years, Warren secured an incredible number of
bookings. They played village halls, private functions, and RAF camps.
They could be seen at local venues such as 'The Victoria,' 'The
Dorothy,' and 'The Guildhall.'.
In the beginning, the lineup of the band was somewhat hit-and-miss.
Apart from Barney Barnes, Steve Pyle, and Alan Sizer (all ex-Hollerin'
Blues), the rest of the band was whoever showed up for the night. Their
first gig, without Barrett, was at 'The Victoria Road Congregational
Church Youth Club' on June 16, 1963.
In July 1964, Syd Barrett was asked to join the band. Syd could only
play during the holidays from his course at Camberwell Art College. He
played bass guitar and sang at the 'Blue Horizon Club' in the Guildhall,
Cambridge. The gig was pretty bad, and Those Without was replaced with Joker's
Wild (with David Gilmour) a few days later.
In December 1964, Those Without played at the 'Union Cellars' in Round
Church Street. Syd had returned home for the holidays and was keen to
play. A certain Jenny Spires was in the audience. It was the
night they first met.
On January 2nd 1965, Stephen's sister Annie married Charles
Stewart on what was also her 21st birthday. The reception was held
at her parent's home. The picture underneath was taken by Charles and
has, L to R, Syd, Robert ‘Smudge’ Smith and Stephen.
Those Without, 2 January 1965. Picture: Charles Stewart
On the 15th of July, Syd returned to Cambridge and played the 'Victoria'
with Those Without. As a member of The Pink Floyd Sound, he had a white
Fender and a white Vox amplifier.
On Saturday, 7th August 1965, Syd did his last gig with Those Without at
the 'Gardiner Memorial Hall' in Burwell. In December 1965 the band
imploded as the members all started to have ‘serious’ careers.
The I Spy In Cambridge website further adds that Syd only played one
single gig before joining Those Without. On March 10th, 1962, Syd played
at 'The Free Church Hall' for Geoff Mott & the Mottoes.
This was a one-gig band put together to raise funds for the local branch
of CND.
The Two Thousands
Most of the above has been taken from the I
Spy In Cambridge website, maintained by Warren. Dosanjh also hosted
Pink Floyd walking tours in Cambridge, and two were specifically
organised for Birdie Hop members.
Warren Dosanjh, Syd Barrett's first manager (interview)
In 2011 Warren Dosanjh gave an interview for the Spanish Solo
en las Nubes website. Blogger Antonio Jesús Reyes
allowed the Holy Church to publish this interview in English. That
interview is packed with anecdotes you have never read before. One could
say it is obligatory reading for those interested in proto-Floyd history.
As an author, Warren was behind the awarded ‘The Music Scene of
Cambridge’ booklet that can be freely downloaded.
This 76-page booklet contains a Cambridge city map and has descriptions
of the different venues and many unknown Cambridge bands of the Sixties.
Researched and compiled by Warren Dosanjh. Edited and laid out by
Floyd’s worst enemy: Mick Brown.
High Hopes.
High Hopes
In 2020 Dosanjh, with Pink Floyd expert Glenn Povey, wrote an
‘early’ David Gilmour biography. It’s filled with pictures and anecdotes
about the Floydian frontman, and the only thing we regret is that it was
only issued in a very limited release of 500 copies.
We managed to pinch the author’s bio from that book and will paste it at
the bottom of this obituary.
If there is something of an afterlife, the big bear will be reunited
with the curry inspector. A jeux de mots only insiders will
comprehend, but who gives a fuck. Pink Floyd has to eternally thank
those friends and acquantances who made the machine start, all those
years ago.
Warren Dosanjh Bio, taken from the High Hopes book.
Many thanks: Antonio Jesús Reyes, Alex Hoffmann, Mick Brown and of
course: Warren Dosanjh.
Sources (other than the above mentioned links): Blake, Mark: Pigs
Might Fly, Aurum Press Limited, London, 2013, p. 34. Dosanjh,
Warren & Povey, Glenn: High Hopes, David Gilmour, Mind Head
Publishing, 2020, p. 122. Dosanjh, Warren: The Music Scene of
1960s Cambridge, Cambridge, 2015, p. 5, 56. Palacios, Julian: Dark
Globe, Plexus, London, 2010, p. 29.
