Rusty Egan

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title: "Rusty Egan" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1957-births", "living-people", "english-rock-drummers", "english-djs", "english-new-wave-musicians", "english-record-producers", "skids-(band)-members", "rich-kids-members", "visage-(band)-members", "musicians-from-london", "english-people-of-irish-descent"] topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rusty_Egan" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::data[format=table title="Infobox musical artist|"]

FieldValue
nameRusty Egan
backgroundnon_performing_personnel
birth_date
originLondon
genre
years_active1977–present
labelEMI
::

| name = Rusty Egan | image = | caption = | image_size = | background = non_performing_personnel | alias = | birth_date = | | origin = London | genre = | years_active = 1977–present | label = EMI

Rusty Egan (born 19 September 1957 in London) is a British-Irish musician and DJ.

Egan was the drummer of British new wave band Rich Kids, from its inception in March 1977, until its disbandment in December 1978, along with former Sex Pistols bassist Glen Matlock (bass and vocals), Steve New (guitar and vocals), and Midge Ure (guitar, vocals, and keyboards).

Egan continued working with Ure, and later collaborated with The Misfits, Skids and Shock, and well as being a founding member of Visage. He played drums on a remixed version of Phil Lynott's song "Yellow Pearl", which the BBC used as the Top of the Pops theme tune from 1981 to 1986.

Career

Egan was the DJ at Blitz, the influential New Romantic nightclub in London, where he worked with Steve Strange from 1979 until 1981. During this period, he played electronic music and synthpop by acts such as Kraftwerk, Yellow Magic Orchestra, Eno, Ultravox, and Landscape for the British club scene, helping to establish the musical style of the scene. Egan also owned The Cage, a New Romantic-era record store on London's King's Road. As the club grew in popularity, Egan began to be recognised as a central figure in London's nightlife. In 1981, Egan was also a DJ at Croc's, in Rayleigh, Essex, where he was instrumental in getting the electronic synth-pop band Depeche Mode a regular gig on Thursday nights at the club.

In 1982, he, Strange and Kevin Millins opened up the Camden Palace nightclub in London, where he continued to spread and influence the development of electronica in the UK. For a time, he switched to producing records for many of the bands he used to DJ, including Spear of Destiny, Shock, Visage and The Senate.

On 13 June 2008, Egan appeared DJing at the 'Big Top' as part of the Isle of Wight Festival.

Egan appeared alongside former Visage bandmate Steve Strange on makeover show Pop Goes the Band in early 2009 on Living TV.

Egan won the category for lifetime achievement at the 2009 Viagra Awards.

In January 2011, Egan and Strange hosted Return to the Blitz on the site of the original Blitz Club with performances from Roman Kemp's band Paradise Point and electro punk artist Quilla Constance plus DJ sets from Egan himself.

2017 saw the release of Egan's first solo album, 'Welcome to the Dancefloor'. It featured appearances from Midge Ure, Tony Hadley, Peter Hook and Erik Stein of Cult With No Name. The album was subsequently released in remix form as 'Welcome to the Remix' and 'Welcome to the Beach'.

On Friday 18 October 2019, Rusty performed a DJ set overlaid with a commentary of the post punk music scene at the London Palladium, followed by a performance of a number of Visage hits with Midge Ure.

In 2025, 'Rusty Egan: The Autobiography' was published by McNidder Grace. Cold War Night Life described the book as "Chaotic, disorganised, narcissistic, hard to follow, but occasionally capable of raising a laugh." Louder Than War said that the book "adds a valuable missing piece to the story of British music."

Personal life

Egan married freelance dancer Miranda Davis in July 1986.

References

References

  1. Lazell, Barry. (14 September 1985). "Memory Bank". Spotlight Publications.
  2. . (19 September 1990). ["Birthdays"](https://www.newspapers.com/image/936919178/). *Evening Telegraph*.
  3. Ware, Martyn. (April 2021). "Episode 23: Rusty Egan".
  4. {{AllMusic. Ankeny. Jason
  5. "Nfo.net/calendar". Nfo.net.
  6. Kelly, Ryan. (1 November 1979). "The Fine Art of Compromising".
  7. {{AllMusic
  8. Byrne, Alan. (2012). "Philip Lynott: Renegade of Thin Lizzy". Mentor Books.
  9. (2013). "Top of the Pops 50th Anniversary". McNidder & Grace.
  10. Butler, Robert. (9 January 1988). "Ace of Clubs". [[The Daily Telegraph]].
  11. Rimmer, Dave. (1985). "Like Punk Never Happened: Culture Club and the New Pop". Faber & Faber.
  12. "Youth guilty of mugging Strange for Kylie bangle", 17 January 2003, ''Western Mail''
  13. Bevan, Nathan. "Stranger than fiction", 26 March 2006, ''Wales on Sunday''
  14. "[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1456851/John-McGeoch.html John McGeoch]", 14 March 2004, ''[[Daily Telegraph]]''.
  15. Hodgkinson, Will. "[https://www.theguardian.com/Archive/Article/0,4273,4212222,00.html Home entertainment]", 29 June 2001, ''[[The Guardian]]''
  16. [https://shapersofthe80s.com/revolution/three-wizards-who-changed-the-80s/ "Three wizards who changed the course of the 80s"]. ''Shapersofthe80s'', 5 October 2009.
  17. Stokes, Ali. "The '80s...", 14 December 2002, ''[[South Wales Echo]]''
  18. Duncan, Alistair. "The night shift", 25 August 2005, ''[[Evening Standard]]''
  19. Nicholls, Mike. (1 August 1981). "Angels with Shining Faces".
  20. Barrow, John. ''How Not to Make It in the Pop World'' (2003), Trafford Publishing. p.182. {{ISBN. 1-4120-1413-1
  21. (31 March 2011). "Safeconcerts.com". [[Safeconcerts]].
  22. Caffell, Paul. (2 June 2009). "The London Club & Bar Awards 2009". Fluid London.
  23. [https://shapersofthe80s.com/2011/01/08/2011-%e2%9e%a4-strange-and-egan-return-to-the-blitz-to-kick-off-the-20-tweens/ "Strange and Egan return to the Blitz"]. ''Shapersofthe80s'', 8 January 2011.
  24. (2016-11-26). "RUSTY EGAN PRESENTS Welcome to the Dancefloor". The Electricity Club.
  25. (2025-12-01). "Rusty Egan: The Poser and the Glory". Cold War Night Life.
  26. (2025-12-11). "Rusty Egan: The Autobiography - Book Review". Louder Than War.
  27. . (14 July 1986). ["Star Guests at Minster Wedding"](https://www.newspapers.com/image/901664555/). *Lincolnshire Echo*.

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1957-birthsliving-peopleenglish-rock-drummersenglish-djsenglish-new-wave-musiciansenglish-record-producersskids-(band)-membersrich-kids-membersvisage-(band)-membersmusicians-from-londonenglish-people-of-irish-descent