MALCOLM McLAREN DIES AT 64

The former manager of the Sex Pistols and one of the seminal figures of the punk rock era, Malcolm McLaren, died Thursday, his son said. He was 64.

McLaren, 64, died of cancer, Thursday, April 8, 2010, in New York according to his agent, Les Molloy.

"He was the original punk rocker and revolutionized the world," his son Corre told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. "He's somebody I'm incredibly proud of. He's a real beacon of a man for people to look up to."

McLaren is best known for his work with the Pistols, whose violence, swearing, and antiestablishment antics shocked Britain and revolutionized the music scene. The band's chaotic career owed much to their manager's talent for self-promotion.

"Without Malcolm McLaren there would not have been any British punk," said music journalist Jon Savage, who wrote "England's Dreaming" — which chronicles the history of the group.

But McLaren, an art school dropout, was first known for his fashion, and the infamous clothes shop he opened on London's King's Road with his girlfriend Vivienne Westwood in 1971.

The shop changed its name and focus several times, operating as "SEX" and "World's End" and "Seditionaries" before Westwood and McLaren split, but its offbeat brand of clothing — alternating between Teddy Boy-style clothes and bondage gear — gave him a window on to the emergent punk music scene.

It was McLaren who gave the name Sex Pistols to the group of young men hanging out at his store and helped pick out front man John Lydon (soon known as "Johnny Rotten.") McLaren signed the group with EMI, and their first single, "Anarchy in the UK" came out in 1976.

The group would aggressively court controversy, becoming a household name after an expletive-packed appearance in a British television interview which drew a ban on the group's live performances in the U.K.

After being dropped by EMI for bad behavior, the group later signed with Virgin. Their second single, "God Save The Queen," whose title lyrics are rhymed with "fascist regime," was released during Elizabeth II's Silver Jubilee celebrations — was an auditory assault on the monarchy which sparked widespread outrage and saw members of the band attacked in the street.