[1] In his youth he was a regular attender at the local disco, the Walton Hop at the Playhouse Theatre, where he met the record producer Jonathan King.

[2] He began performing in public after taking the stage as a drunk fourteen-year-old at the disco, miming to Bay City Rollers and Rolling Stones songs.

[3][4] In 1976 while working at Wimbledon Greyhound Stadium with Albie Slider, Billy Bostik and Neil Harris, having been inspired by the music of The Ramones, Pursey formed a punk rock band called 'Jimmy and the Ferrets', which went on to become 'Sham 69'.

Sham 69 went on to release four long-players via Polydor Records, and had six UK top 50 singles before it broke up in 1980, with the violence that regularly marred its gigs having taken a toll on the band.

[6] Pursey then moved to Epic Records for three further singles releases, including "Animals Have More Fun" (1981), co-written with Peter Gabriel,[3] and a second solo LP entitled Alien Orphan (1981).

[13] In 2002, Pursey received a police caution for indecent assault, after admitting to forcibly kissing a teenage girl in Weybridge, Surrey.