Richard Strange
British writer, actor, musician, curator and teacher
Richard "Kid" Strange (born in January 1951) is an English actor, writer, musician, and curator, who was the founder and front man of mid-1970s protopunk art rock band Doctors of Madness.
Music
1975–1990s
Richard Strange's first band Doctors of Madness, formed in 1975, releasing three albums. The band was supported by the Sex Pistols, the Jam and Joy Division. He disbanded the band in 1978, after Dave Vanian of the Damned briefly joined him on vocals. He subsequently recorded as a solo artist, releasing two albums The Live Rise of Richard Strange (Ze Records 1981) and The Phenomenal Rise of Richard Strange (Virgin Records 1981) before further releases with the Engine Room up to the early 1990s.
Strange has collaborated on recordings by International Noise Orchestra, Anni Hogan and Jolie Holland. He has produced records by Way of the West ("Don't Say That's Just for White Boys"), Tom Robinson ("Martin's Gone") and the Nightingales album Pigs on Purpose.
2000s–present
Richard Strange toured Japan in 2005 and 2007 with multi-instrumentalist David Coulter and the Japanese band Sister Paul, playing a selection of Doctors of Madness songs. In 2007, he was part of Jarvis Cocker's Meltdown Festival, at the Royal Festival Hall, in an evening of songs from Walt Disney films; performed with the producer/arranger Hal Wilner in Brooklyn; and performed at the Barbican, alongside David Byrne, Tim Robbins, Steve Buscemi, Shane MacGowan and Suzanne Vega.
In 2009, Strange performed at the Glastonbury Festival, performing his 1981 concept album The Phenomenal Rise of Richard Strange live, in its entirety.
The public source identifies “Richard Strange” as british writer, actor, musician, curator and teacher. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Richard, Strange and British.
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Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Nov 19, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q1261093. VIAF identifies the subject as 262057551. The Library of Congress control number is nr2003007135. 3 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1951, 1975, 1978 and 1981.
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This entry incorporates text from “Richard Strange” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.