Garry Bushell
Garry was born and raised in South London and started his journalistic career on the rock weekly Sounds. He managed hit rock band The Cockney Rejects, discovered platinum-selling glam rock stars Twisted Sister and managed shock rockers The Blood. He also sang and played rhythm guitar with cult punk band The Gonads who topped the Indie Charts and reformed in 1997, recording the come-back single Nutter and the album Back And Barking. In 1984, Garry wrote the best selling biography of Iron Maiden, called Running Free, and a series of successful magazines, including Dance Craze: The 2-Tone Story, before making his Fleet Street debut in February 1985. Garry worked at the Daily Mirror and the London Evening Standard before landing a staff job on The Sun editing the showbiz column Bizarre. Here he conceived and organised the Number One single Let It Be by Ferry Aid in 1987 which raised over £1 million for the families of the Zeebrugge ferry disaster victims - with the help of Paul McCartney, Michael Jackson, Mark Knopfler and scores of top pop stars.
Garry has been TV Editor and Showbusiness Editor of The Sun and Assistant Editor of the Daily Star; but he is best known for his hard-hitting TV column Bushell On The Box which began in The Sun in July 1987. He published The Best Of Garry's Goofs and designed a Bushell On The Box boardgame, manufactured by Bill Roache's company MAMBI. He was TV critic on Virgin radio's Russ & Jono's Morning Experience for 18 months and has contributed to The Modern Review, Top Gear, Kerrang, Auto-Express and MENSA magazine.
He has hosted live comedy shows and variety shows and appeared in Southend's most successful pantomime ever. Throughout the summer of 1997, Garry was sole judge on Jonathan Ross's Big Big Talent show on ITV.
In January 1998, The Gonads headlined a successful tour of the USA. In April 1998, Garry fronted a hit one-off comedy special for ITV called GAGGING FOR IT. Since then he has been resident TV critic on The Big Breakfast (June 2001 - Feb 2002) and a regular talking head on many C4 list shows. In 2001 he switched newspapers to the Sunday People. In 2003 Garry appeared on ITV's Drop! The Celebrity and filmed a pilot of his own comedy programme The Garry Bushell Show. He also appeared on Howard Stern's talk show, Today With Des & Mel, This Morning, and a host of other prime time series. Garry is Vice President of the charity Dave Lee's Happy Holidays.