TWELVE years ago - on Friday 13 - rude reggae singer Judge Dread collapsed and died while on stage at the Penny Theatre, Canterbury.

Next Saturday, the anniversary of his death, his backing band on that fateful night is staging a show in memory of Britain's most banned star.

Ska band Arthur Kay and the Originals from Herne Bay will be performing at Chislet Colliery Club in The Avenue, Hersden, near Canterbury, at 8pm. Tickets are £5.

Dread, real name Alex Hughes, had a string of hits from August 1972 starting with Big Six. It was based on the nursery rhyme Little Boy Blue but left little to the imagination.

The BBC banned all his songs although the lyrics were tame compared to today's explicit rap records.

After 20 years of recording and appearing live, Dread's career came to a dramatic end when he suffered a heart attack after just 15 minutes on stage. He was 52.

Some of the shocked audience thought it was part of his act.

Worse was to follow as the Friday 13 curse kicked in. An ambulance sent to take the 18-stone star to hospital broke down and had to be bump-started by desperate fans.

Police were called when residents thought the veteran punks and skinheads were trying to steal the ambulance.

Lead singer and bass-player Arthur Kitchener, 61, a retired cabbie from Canterbury who now lives in Windsor House, Whitstable, said: "We were all shocked when Alex keeled over and fell off the stage.

"He had just finished his third number. His last words were: 'Let's hear it for the band...'

"He was a great character. He had used us for his backing band a couple of times.

"I suspect we will start the set on Saturday with one of his numbers Message to Rudy.

"Sometime after his death I wrote a tribute to him called Boss of the Rudies. It would be good to try to rework it for Saturday. We might also try to cover Big Ten.

"But we have a DJ who will be playing Judge Dread records during the night so he won't be forgotten."

Arthur Kay and the Originals are celebrating their own 30th anniversary. Earlier this year they staged a sell-out concert at Whitstable's Horsebridge Centre.

* (blob) Arthur Kay and the Originals, Chislet Colliery Club, Hersden, Saturday March 13 at 8pm. Tickets £5.

The Dread Dynasty

JUDGE Dread was born Alexander Minto Hughes on May 2, 1945.

According to the Guinness Book of Records he was Britain's most banned man.

He was the first white singer to have a reggae hit in Jamaica.

His love of reggae began at 16 after lodging in a West African house in Brixton.

Early jobs included debt collecting for Trojan Records, a bouncer at a West End strip club, performing as professional wrestler The Masked Executioner and minding the Rolling Stones.

He ran a mobile disco and bought reggae records from the crew of the banana boat Jamaican Planter which docked at Sheerness once a month.

He lived in Snodland, Kent, where there is now a road named after him, Alex Hughes Close.

The saucy singer took the name Judge Dread from a Prince Buster song, famously explaining: "Well, a man my size couldn't call himself the Magical Cabbage, could he?"