Raphael Ravenscroft June 4, 1954 – October 19, 2014
Raphael Ravenscroft was an in-demand session musician whose saxophone can be heard on albums by Robert Plant, Daft Punk, Mike Oldfield, Duffy, and Pink Floyd to name just a few. He most famously provided the iconic sax parts for Gerry Rafferty‘s 1978 hit single, “Baker Street.” The song reached #2 on the US charts, #1 in Canada and Australia, and #3 in the UK. In 2010, BMI recognized the it for having been played more than 5 million times around the world. Throughout his career, Ravenscroft also wrote several regarded saxophone instruction books. He also composed music for numerous major advertising campaigns. Ravenscroft semi-retired in 2012 due to health issues and died from a suspected heart attack on October 19, 2014. He was 60.
Mark Fisher was an esteemed British architect whose contribution to popular music came by way of tour stages he designed some of the biggest tours in history. His highlights include the Rolling Stones‘ 1989 Steel Wheels 1994 Voodoo Lounge stages, U2‘s 2009 360 stage, and Pink Floyd‘s 1980 The Wall stage. He also developed stages for tours by Madonna, Tina Turner, Peter Gabriel, Robbie Williams and Lady Gaga to name a few. Mark Fisher died in his sleep while in hospice care on June 25, 2013. He was 66.
Storm Thorgerson February 28, 1944 – April 18, 2013
Storm Thorgerson was a renowned graphic artist whose catalog includes some of rock music’s most famous album covers. Born in Middlesex, England, Thorgerson went to high school with Syd Barrett and Roger Waters of Pink Floyd fame. He eventually joined a graphic arts collective called Hipgnosis which created many popular album cover designs until closing shop in 1983. He then went on to form his own design house, Storm Studios. Arguably, Thorgerson’s most famous cover is the one he designed for Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon. Often surreal in nature, his canon of work includes the covers of most of the Pink Floyd albums; the Cult‘s Electric; Led Zeppelin‘s Presence and In Through the Out Door; Peter Gabriel‘s three self-titled albums; as well as visually stunning covers for Muse, Phish, Megadeth, Catherine Wheel, Black Sabbath, the Cranberries, Genesis, Alan Parsons and many more. Thorgerson also directed popular videos by the likes of Bruce Dickinson, Nik Kershaw, Paul Young, David Gilmour, and of course, Pink Floyd. He suffered a stroke in 2003 but recovered and went back to work. Sometime later, he was diagnosed with cancer and ultimately died from it on April 18, 2013. Storm Thorgerson was 69 when he passed away.
Kevin Ayers was an English musician who was largely responsible for the birth of the British psychedelic movement of the ’60s. Born in Kent, Ayers was in college when he immersed himself in the storied Canterbury scene where a collective of progressive rock, avant-garde and free jazz commingled to create something new and exciting. He soon found himself playing alongside Robert Wyatt in the Wilde Flowers. In 1966, the band morphed into Soft Machine with Ayers starting out on bass and shared vocals but later switching to guitar. Soft Machine quickly grew a strong local following, often performing with Syd Barrett-era Pink Floyd. In early 1967, they released their first single, “Love Makes Sweet Music” b/w “Feelin’ Reelin’ Squeelin’,” making it one of the first British psychedelic singles ever released. It pre-dated Pink Floyd’s debut single by a month. Soft Machine followed with their self-titled debut in December of 1968, and although the Chas Chandler/Tom Wislon produced effort is widely considered a classic, it failed to excite more than die-hard fans of the movement until many years later. After an extensive U.S. tour supporting Jimi Hendrix, Ayers sold his guitar to Noel Redding and planned to retire to the beaches of Ibiza forever. Before leaving however, Hendrix gave him an acoustic guitar and made him promise to not give up songwriting. Whether it was the beautiful locale or the guitar, Ayers found fast inspiration for songs that would make up his solo debut, Joy of a Toy. The album was released in 1969 on Harvest Records, also home to Pink Floyd at the time. His follow-up album, Shooting at the Moon, included future star in his own right, Mike Oldfield, on bass. Ayers continued to perform and record until once again retreating to seclusion during the late ’70s. He briefly resurfaced to record and release 1988’s Falling Up which trumpeted his “comeback” with mostly glowing reviews only to see him go underground again soon thereafter. By the late ’90s, he was living a reclusive life in southern France, but in 2005, he began to create music again, and with the encouragement upon learning that young bands like the Go-Betweens and Teenage Fanclub were enthusiastically citing him as an influence, he completed and released The Unfairground in 2007. Members of Roxy Music, Teenage Fanclub, and Neutral Milk Hotel, among others, appear on the album. It was another critical triumph. Kevin Ayers was 68 when he passed away on February 18, 2013. Cause of death was not immediately released.
Clive Welham was an English drummer whose brush with fame came during the early ’60s,when he played with pre-Pink FloydSyd Barrett and then, David Gilmour. In 1962, Welham was playing alongside Barrett in a band called Geoff Mott and the Mottoes. Within a couple of years, Barrett went off to join what was to become Pink Floyd, while Welham and Gilmour moved on to play in the Ramblers, the Four Posters and ultimately, Jokers Wild before Gilmour was hired to replace Barrett in Pink Floyd. Clive Welham passed away on May 9, 2012 following a long illness.