Daniel Lynch (‘The Great Stromboli’) - d. April 9th 2019

You perfected the peculiar,
worked with fire and steel
to earn your license to thrill.
The Strangest Show On Earth
plays to dazzled houses, still.

read about The Great Stromboli here

Dr John - d. June 6th 2019

There’s something bitter

in the gumbo tonight:

splinters of ivory,

herbs and bad voodoo.

Mac is gone, trippin’ 

beyond the reach 

of any medicine.

read about Dr. John here

Paul Darrow - d. June 3rd 2019

Out beyond Star One

there is a planet, haven

for hackers and swindlers,

the serially betrayed,

the terminally cynical.

I hope you finally made

it there, down and safe.

Jake Black - d. May 21st 2019

Heard you at the tollbooths,

an accent I couldn’t explain,

part Bakersfield, part Nashville,

part Coldharbour Lane.

Fell asleep this morning,

never woke up again.

read about Jake Black and Alabama 3 here

Nan Winton - d. May 11th 2019

I could tell you how, 
no matter the voice
or the cut of dress, 
the news is still the news,
but under time's baleful glare,
such a story would be 
too frivolous to bear.

Read about Nan Winton here

Niki Lauda - d. May 20th 2019

From the heat-haze 

of the grid, through 

treacherous chicanes,

straights in flame,

you shelter in 

the eternal slipstream,

plan the next overtake,

drive through fire

to take the flag.

Read about Niki Lauda here

Doris Day - d. May 13th 2019

I found some things
under your pillow:
a smile (one careful owner),
a song of secret love,
and age without decay.

Read about Doris Day here

Freddie Starr - d. May 9th 2019

I see a goose-stepping Faust
exchanging his soul for laughs
in a bleak decade,
drunk on the power of anarchy,
grinning as he pulls the pin
on another grenade.

Read more about Freddie Starr here

Peter Mayhew - d. April 30th 2019

In less cosmic places
the man that you were
went unrecognised.
Despite our disguise,
under the fur
we all have real faces


Read about Peter Mayhew here

Tania Mallet - d. March 30th 2019

The mountains ring
with a single gunshot,
a sniper's requiem,
for a girl who could, 
with one feline look,
kill little boys
like me.

An Otwituary for Tania Mallet

Shane Rimmer - d. March 29th 2019

Up, into the capsule,
up, blasting through 
the swimming pool,
wings opening out.
Here it comes: death, 
the ultimate rescue.

Read about Shane Rimmer here

'Ranking' Roger Charlery - d. March 26th 2019

I heard your song, 
Rude Boy.
You moved my little feet,
and I had to come around.
Top ranking indeed,
full stop.

Read about Ranking Roger here

Scott Walker - d. March 25th 2019

The orchestra plays
a symphony of pain.
Then, your voice,
rich with regret, 
deep as a cello,
the sound
of an empty ship,
a setting sun.



Read about Scott Walker here

Dick Dale - d. March 16th 2019

Guitar,
like a corkscrew of surf,
like a crossfire of drums,
like a cracking of bones,
then reverb, reverb, reverb.

read about Dick Dale here

Jan-Michael Vincent - d. March 8th 2019

Where did you go?
The daydream of youth,
salt-caked, sun-bleached
lost in some Great Swell,
cut to tatters in the chop
of distant rotor blades.

read about Jan-Michael Vincent here

Magenta Devine - d. March 6th 2019

Saints and martyrs
are leafing through features
in old issues of The Face:

• How are youth wearing celestial raiment this season? 
• Death: this year's must-have accessory

In the byline, a picture of you: 
edgy, resolutely on-trend.


Read about Magenta Devine here

Keith Flint - d. March 4th 2019

You were the trouble starter, 

snarling intimidator,
the beat addicted, 

punk blowback liquidator,

fire-eating terminator.

 

Read about Keith Flint here 

André Previn - d. February 28th 2019

St Cecilia will be there,
Toscanini at her shoulder.
Grieg is waiting too, to 
grab you by the lapels,
slap your cheeks, saying
What kept you, sunshine?

read about André Previn here

Mark Hollis - d. February 2019

In a future Eden,
lit by a music
made of space,
I will find you,
garland you with
grass, tell how
I’ve seen genius
for myself.

Read about Mark Hollis here

Peter Tork - d. February 21st 2019

I write the bass line

to your bubblegum meditation.

It tells, for Pete’s sake,

how, in that generation,

you made the world shine.

read about Peter Tork here