PUNK prince Billy Idol crossed from the underground music scene to chart mainstream by taking a chance in America.

Born in 1955 in north London, William Michael Albert Broad made his name fronting Generation X from 1976 until 1981 before the end of the band forced his career to take a solo turn.

Armed with his trademark sneer he headed for New York where his future was far from certain.

In a passage from his new autobiography, Dancing With Myself, Idol describes his arrival in the Big Apple.

He said: “I came to New York in the spring of 1981, my Country Gentleman guitar in one hand, a suitcase in the other, the trunk with my pink Elvis ’50s-style jacket and the sum of my effects on my back.

“Surely this city, with its skyscrapers reaching into the ozone, touching hitherto unknown heights, might welcome yet another stranger in a strange land, one more explorer doing his damndest to act unafraid in the face of his exceedingly uncertain future.

“The heavens blazed my coming to America that first night with shooting stars and a strange halo effect that may well have been the man in the moon laughing at my audacity.”

He joined forces with guitarist Steve Stevens and they went on to create hits including White Wedding and Rebel Yell which put Billy Idol on the road to fame and rock and roll excess.

Three decades later Idol has again teamed up with Stevens for a world tour to promote his latest album, Kings & Queens Of The Underground, which was a collaboration with legendary producer Trevor Horn.

The album, Idol’s first for nearly ten years is due out in October and promises to be as insightful as his book.

Bill Idol said: “It’s my life put into words, It’s got quite confessional lyrics. ‘I sold all my vinyl, it went up my arm.’ That was heavy in those days, when you’d sell your record collection for drugs.”

Billy Idol will be live on stage at Birmingham’s O2 Academy on Wednesday November 5.