Madness star Lee Thompson: My dad hijacked lorries but I joined a far better gang - we earned more from Our House than all our songs put together!

Lee Thompson is a founder member of Madness, formed in 1976, whose hits include One Step Beyond, My Girl and Our House. In 1986 they split up but six years later reformed, and have been touring ever since, performing on the roof of Buckingham Palace at the Queen's Diamond Jubilee concert in 2012. Lee has become known for his live airborne saxophone routine in Baggy Trousers.The 69-year-old father of three, grandfather of three and great grandfather of two, lives with his wife Deborah in north London Great fun: Lee Thompson, right, is a founder member of MadnessWhat did your parents teach you about money?My dad Fred was a gambler and a member of a north London gang that used gelignite to break into warehouses and hijack the odd lorry for their contents – so he was in and out of prison like a yo-yo.My childhood with my sister was consequently up and down though we weren't destitute. If he won big on the poker it would be steak for tea, if he lost, a Vesta powdered beef curry.Every now and then he'd leave a wedge of £1 notes under my pillow if he was on a winning streak.One time he borrowed £4,000 to put on a horse that was supposedly 'a dead cert' and lost the lot.Sadly he died in Norwich Prison after a heart attack, aged 57.In contrast, my mum Lillian, who lived to 84, was careful with money and when Madness found success, warned me not to blow my cash and get into drugs. It was good advice but I'm too tight to blow my cash on Class A drugs anyway.Have you ever struggled to make ends meet?I was sent to a reform school for 18 months after indulging in petty crime in my teens: nicking mopeds and that kind of thing.But meeting the lads in the band and getting into music changed my life. When we started out I drove waste trucks and worked as a gardener to make ends meet.I've never been tempted to follow in my dad's footsteps even though he once advised me: 'If you're going to break into a warehouse, Lee, do it at night and do it alone!' Thanks Dad!, I thought.After Madness broke up in 1986 I formed the Nutty Boys with fellow Madness star Chris Foreman and that kept us off the streets.Thankfully I've never had to sit on a street corner, cap in hand. I've always come by money somehow.Have you ever been paid silly money?We got paid quite well to make a series of Honda TV adverts that were screened in Japan in the early 1980s – we thought it would help our career.We also advertised crisps in Australia, and an Egyptian bakery used our song Nightboat To Cairo to plug its bread. And we got paid around £40,000 to appear in adverts to plug a keyboard brand. One of the band members joked: 'If the ads keep rolling in we'll never need to tour again!'But our biggest single earner has been the publishing royalties from Our House, which has been used in loads of licensing and TV ads around the world. 'It's generated more than the rest of our songs put together. Sax of money: Lee Thompson playing this summer in BerlinWhat was the best year of your financial life?The 1980S were good years for Madness – I can still remember the first £1,000 royalties cheque I got from Stiff Records in 1979 or 1980.Our accountants and management advised us at one point to become tax exiles to save money. But I'm a London boy and I've never wanted to live outside the M25. The 1990s weren't bad either.We got a percentage on every burger and hotdog sold at the first Madstock festival in 1992 – after those two sold-out shows we each got envelopes with around £3,000.The most expensive thing you bought for fun?I love cycling and bought an e-bike recently for around £3,000 – I get stressed behind the wheel of a car nowadays, effing and blinding to myself and all. I also spent an extortionate amount – £2,500 – on a hi-fi in the 1980s. I'm thinking of buying a paraglider next for £5,000. I'll just have to make sure I don't hit a pylon.What is your biggest money mistake?I remortgaged my house to open a bicycle shop in London's Notting Hill in the late 1980s.But by the time I'd paid business rates, wages and VAT I was in the red, and the bank threatened to repossess my home – I feared I might have to move into a tent.I ended up losing around £100,000 but thankfully the first Madstock in 1992 enabled me to put my finances back on a sound footing.Best money decision you have made?Buying my first saxophone for £100 in 1977. It became integral to Madness's sound and I've now got six, each costing £600 to £1,200. Whenever I fly with my mouthpiece in my pocket though, airport security staff think it's a silencer for a gun.Also reforming Madness with the lads in the early 1990s. We've made ten times as much as we did in the 1980s. That's allowed me to put down deposits on my children's homes.We've just turned down a 30-date tour of America, though the money was good. Touring the States just doesn't look so attractive at this point in life.Will you pass your money down or spend it all?I'm going to be the richest man in the graveyard! No, seriously, I've already started passing it on to my family – I'd rather they got it than for it to vanish in death duties. I'll also leave money to the NSPCC and youth mental health charities.Do you have a pension?Yes, I've been paying into a private pension since Madness first found success. But in terms of retirement, I asked Suggs about this recently and joked: 'You do not bloody retire while we still put bums on seats!'Besides, me and the lads still get on great, enjoy what we do and look after each other. We're family.Do you own any property?I sold my old family home in High Barnet, north London, two years ago and downsized to our current £600,000 property, which dates back to the 1970s. It looks out on to London on one side and the countryside on the other so we've got the best of both worlds. I also have use of a place on the Algarve, which is owned by my wider family.If you were Chancellor what would you do?I'd be happy for the Government to put up the top tax bracket for people like me, who've grown wealthy – if the money was spent on things like improving NHS mental health care provision. Spread it around a bit! I've never begrudged paying my taxes.What is your number one financial priority?To get in touch with Elon Musk and book a place on one of his space ships so I can get the f*** out of here!The restored Madness film, Take It Or Leave It, is in cinemas and on BFI Blu-ray/DVD. Madness are playing at Rock n Roll Circus, Gunnersbury Park, London, on 24 July. rocknrollcircus.co.uk/london