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Singer-songwriter Kevin Ayers, who founded Sixties band Soft Machine, has died aged 68.
Kevin Ayers, an influential musician in the Sixties psychedelic scene, has died aged 68. The English singer-songwriter was found dead at his home, where he lived alone, in the South of France around lunchtime on Tuesday by a neighbour. It is thought he died on February 18.
Bernard MacMahon, from Ayers's record label Lo-Max Records, told the Telegraph that the musician had not been ill, but had "lived a rock'n'roll lifestyle". A note was found by his bed which said, “You can’t shine if you don’t burn.”
MacMahon said that Ayers was “the ultimate product of the Sixties generation”, and that he was a “proper artist”, not motivated by the prospect of fame, but by a “turmoil to create something he was happy with”.
Ayers founded Soft Machine and played early gigs with Syd Barrett's band Pink Floyd in the Sixties, paving the way for a wave of psychedelic pop music. Soft Machine's self-titled debut album is considered a psychedelic classic, and music critic Nick Kent said that Ayers and Barrett "were the two most important people in British Pop music. Everything that came after came from them."
When Jimi Hendrix moved to London in 1968 he became good friends with Ayers. Hendrix encouraged Ayers to write music, giving him a Gibson guitar to do so, and the two musicians toured America together that year. In 1970, Soft Machine made history by being the first band invited to play at the Proms. Ayers’s first solo album, Joy of the Toy, was very influential for future rock bands Sonic Youth and Teenage Fanclub. He went on to write music with Brian Eno and Elton John, before retiring for 15 years in the 1990s, when he moved to the South of France. In 2007, Ayers released critically acclaimed album The Unfairground, but was reluctant to perform.
john Peel famously said that Ayers was the “most important, under-acknowledged innovator in contemporary popular music in Britain”.
He is succeeded by two daughters – Rachel Ayers and Galen Ayers – and his sister Kate.
Kevin Ayers, an influential musician in the Sixties psychedelic scene, has died aged 68. The English singer-songwriter was found dead at his home, where he lived alone, in the South of France around lunchtime on Tuesday by a neighbour. It is thought he died on February 18.
Bernard MacMahon, from Ayers's record label Lo-Max Records, told the Telegraph that the musician had not been ill, but had "lived a rock'n'roll lifestyle". A note was found by his bed which said, “You can’t shine if you don’t burn.”
MacMahon said that Ayers was “the ultimate product of the Sixties generation”, and that he was a “proper artist”, not motivated by the prospect of fame, but by a “turmoil to create something he was happy with”.
Ayers founded Soft Machine and played early gigs with Syd Barrett's band Pink Floyd in the Sixties, paving the way for a wave of psychedelic pop music. Soft Machine's self-titled debut album is considered a psychedelic classic, and music critic Nick Kent said that Ayers and Barrett "were the two most important people in British Pop music. Everything that came after came from them."
When Jimi Hendrix moved to London in 1968 he became good friends with Ayers. Hendrix encouraged Ayers to write music, giving him a Gibson guitar to do so, and the two musicians toured America together that year. In 1970, Soft Machine made history by being the first band invited to play at the Proms. Ayers’s first solo album, Joy of the Toy, was very influential for future rock bands Sonic Youth and Teenage Fanclub. He went on to write music with Brian Eno and Elton John, before retiring for 15 years in the 1990s, when he moved to the South of France. In 2007, Ayers released critically acclaimed album The Unfairground, but was reluctant to perform.
john Peel famously said that Ayers was the “most important, under-acknowledged innovator in contemporary popular music in Britain”.
He is succeeded by two daughters – Rachel Ayers and Galen Ayers – and his sister Kate.
