Kevin Ayers, who has been found dead at the age of 68, was one of the great almost-stars of British rock. A founding member of Soft Machine, he was a key figure in the birth of British pastoral psychedelia, and then went on to enjoy cult status as a singer-songwriter in the late 1960s and early 70s. Among his champions were the late John Peel and the influential British rock journalist Nick Kent, who later wrote: "Kevin Ayers and Syd Barrett were the two most important people in British pop music. Everything that came after came from them."
The most dazzlingly talented musician, whose first two albums (Lewis Taylor and Lewis II) are just stunning pieces of work.
He was the muso’s muso. Basically what you’d get if you put Marvin Gaye, Syd Barrett, Brian Wilson, Radiohead, a bit of Barry Gibb and sone Hendrix with his wahwah into a blender. I remember Elton John raving about him in a TV interview, D’Angelo flying him to the US to collaborate, MDing Gnarls Barkley, him doing a cracking 18 with a Bullet with Carleen Anderson for Lock Stock. But he basically hated the business of music.
So he vanished, and removed every last shred of himself and his stuff from the internet, and changed his name. Still on Spotify but I guess only reluctantly.
@JVL - I thought this answer was the best of the lot, and while I don't really listen to Taylor's style of music, I did add him to a couple of playlists off the back of this post. And you are absolutely spot on about him. Especially the blender description.
I just read that he's recording a new album after having been a background player for a few different acts over the last few years. Good news, because he really is talented.
Amy- was in Camden last week and still tourist's taking pics of her statue and her hangouts. Such a sad waste of talent. I met her 3 times when I done door work and she was all over the place on all occasions and her eel like dad told us he'd get us all sacked if we didn't let her in sharpish. Cunt of a man that I regret not pulling up.
Until the advent of Twitter, and my seeing of his love-in with Dave Grohl and co., I would have said Rick Astley (because he always had a voice that was so much better than most of his material and the styles that commercial pressures made him churn out).
And I now realise that he has hitherto unrecognised reservoirs of cool.
Then again, I think that Lisa Stanfield could have made much more of her amazing vocal talent than she did....
However, mostly for reasons that I'm not prepared to admit to, Vanessa Paradis.
Kevin Ayers, who has been found dead at the age of 68, was one of the great almost-stars of British rock. A founding member of Soft Machine, he was a key figure in the birth of British pastoral psychedelia, and then went on to enjoy cult status as a singer-songwriter in the late 1960s and early 70s. Among his champions were the late John Peel and the influential British rock journalist Nick Kent, who later wrote: "Kevin Ayers and Syd Barrett were the two most important people in British pop music. Everything that came after came from them."
Agree with this...From a Guardian oblatory.
Kevin died 8 years ago. I know one of his daughters quite well. A wonderful spirit was Kevin.
Michael Grant, was the lead singer and lead guitarist of Enderverafter. Their sole album is a masterpiece, since then he's played guitar in about the 80th version of LA Guns and now he is trying to get a new band (Michael Grant and the Assassins) going, they are OK but that's all.
Probably most well-known for doing Jeff Hardy's theme music in WWE.
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Kevin Ayers, who has been found dead at the age of 68, was one of the great almost-stars of British rock. A founding member of Soft Machine, he was a key figure in the birth of British pastoral psychedelia, and then went on to enjoy cult status as a singer-songwriter in the late 1960s and early 70s. Among his champions were the late John Peel and the influential British rock journalist Nick Kent, who later wrote: "Kevin Ayers and Syd Barrett were the two most important people in British pop music. Everything that came after came from them."
Agree with this...From a Guardian oblatory.
I just read that he's recording a new album after having been a background player for a few different acts over the last few years. Good news, because he really is talented.
I met her 3 times when I done door work and she was all over the place on all occasions and her eel like dad told us he'd get us all sacked if we didn't let her in sharpish. Cunt of a man that I regret not pulling up.
And I now realise that he has hitherto unrecognised reservoirs of cool.
Then again, I think that Lisa Stanfield could have made much more of her amazing vocal talent than she did....
However, mostly for reasons that I'm not prepared to admit to, Vanessa Paradis.
A wonderful spirit was Kevin.
Not so much a wasted talent, just one that should have got greater recognition IMHO.