Yet another death this week.
Deacon Blue guitarist dies at 47
The Very Best of Deacon Blue was released in 2001
Deacon Blue guitarist Graeme Kelling has died at the age of 47, following a four-year battle with cancer.
The Scottish star, who had cancer of the pancreas, died on Thursday in hospital in Glasgow.
The band had a string of hits in the late 80s and early 90s, including Real Gone Kid and Fergus Sings The Blues.
"We're all too sad to say too much just now," said his fellow band members, adding that a remembrance book would be started on the band's website.
Deacon Blue burst on to the UK music scene in 1988 with their first chart hit, Dignity.
Fronted by lead singer Ricky Ross, and later joined by his wife and co-singer Lorraine McIntosh, the band became hugely popular in Scotland.
Split
Their best-selling albums included Raintown, Homesick, and When the World Knows Your Name, which topped the charts in 1989.
As you know Graeme has had a four year fight with an illness which finally got the better of him
Deacon Blue
The band split in 1994, but reformed in 1999 for a series of gigs and an album of ballads called Walking Back Home.
A statement posted on their official website read: "It is my sad duty to tell you that Graeme Kelling died yesterday morning.
"As you know Graeme has had a four year fight with an illness which finally got the better of him."
His former bandmates called for any "great memories, photographs or thoughts about Graeme" to be added to a remembrance book.
Kelling leaves his wife Julie, and two young children - Alexander, aged five and Grace, aged two.
― Newshound, Saturday, 12 June 2004 12:07 (twenty-two years ago)
This guy was my old landlord. Didn't deal much with him but dealt with his mother on a regular basis. Whenever we were late with the rent she used to hit us with a sob story about how her son had cancer. She did this so often that we were like, "Aye, aye, he's got cancer, sure, sure", in one ear and out the other or else a source of numerous jokes. Now it turns it out the poor bastard
did have cancer!
― Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 15 June 2004 15:18 (twenty-two years ago)
twenty years pass...
I am going through a bit of a DB thing. I barely used to touch those first two CDs on my parents' shelves growing up (though I liked the groggy sleeves of both) but really that musical sweet spot between the Waterboys and Prefab would have been something I really liked. Big opulent drums, rhythmic acoustic guitars, jumpy piano parts, interlaced male/female singing, misty keyboards that usually get their own spots of ambient drift. Sorta spongelike components in the late 80s/early 90s context of Q-friendly British pop rock where everything is either Jon Kelly, or sounds like Jon Kelly, or is Steve Lillywhite. I reckon Ross's quite good at going heart-on-chest about communal subjects without sounding too Bruce-smitten (even if he was for real) or heavy-handed like Justin from Del Amitri could sometimes be (tho even if he got the balance wrong I'd still find that endearing, pop gains texture through the tryhards etc etc)
That said the ostensibly dancey fourth album has stayed my favourite, along with some of the stuff that came immediately afterwards. If anything - regardless of some INXSy moments - embracing of-the-moment trancey/downtempo timbres ("Your Town", "I Was Right and You Were Wrong") and new textures in the production (e.g. the sampled ye olde singing at the back of "Last Night I Dreamed of Henry Thomas", four years before U2 did it on "Wake Up Dead Man") actually nudges them more into a sullen art rock plain. They concurrently sound like a band preparing to part ways and a band in fairly rude health.
― you can see me from westbury white horse, Friday, 13 September 2024 00:58 (one year ago)