I really liked an album he did in the early 70’s “Solid Air”.<\/p>\n
British songwriter John Martyn dead at 60
\nJan. 29, 2009, 1:14 PM EST<\/p>\n
LONDON (AP) — British singer-songwriter John Martyn, whose soulful songs were covered by the likes of Eric Clapton, died Thursday. He was 60.<\/p>\n
Martyn’s official Web site said the musician, who lived in Ireland, died Thursday morning. It did not give a cause of death.<\/p>\n
A skilled guitarist and earthy vocalist influenced by folk, blues and jazz, Martyn performed with \u2014 and was admired by \u2014 musicians including Clapton, Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour and Phil Collins.<\/p>\n
Collins said Thursday that Martyn had been “a great friend.”<\/p>\n
“He was uncompromising, which made him infuriating to some people, but he was unique and we’ll never see the likes of him again,” Collins said.<\/p>\n
Martyn was born Iain David McGeachy near London in 1948, but grew up in Glasgow, Scotland.<\/p>\n
He took up the guitar in his teens, moved to London and released a series of enduring albums, including “The Road to Ruin” and “Solid Air,” regarded by some critics as one of the best British albums of the 1970s.<\/p>\n
Martyn never became a household name, but his songs were praised by critics and highly regarded by other musicians. One of the best known, “May You Never,” was recorded by Clapton and a host of other artists.<\/p>\n
Martyn had a reputation as a hell-raiser, and acknowledged that alcohol and drugs had sometimes led him into trouble.<\/p>\n
“I’ve been mugged in New York and luckily I fought my way out of it,” he told the Daily Mirror newspaper last year. “I’ve been shot a couple of times as well, but I just lay down and pretended to be dead.<\/p>\n
“I guess I’m hard to kill.”<\/p>\n
Martyn had suffered health problems in recent years, and in 2003 had a leg amputated below the knee because of a burst cyst. He continued to perform, appearing at last year’s Celtic Connections festival in Glasgow.<\/p>\n
Last month, Martyn was named an OBE \u2014 Officer of the Order of the British Empire \u2014 by Queen Elizabeth II for his contribution to music.<\/p>\n
There was no immediate word on survivors or funeral plans.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I really liked an album he did in the early 70’s “Solid Air”. British songwriter John Martyn dead at 60 Jan. 29, 2009, 1:14 PM EST LONDON (AP) — British singer-songwriter John Martyn, whose soulful songs were covered by the likes of Eric Clapton, died Thursday. He was 60. Martyn’s official Web site said the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1,2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.mrambler.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/722"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.mrambler.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.mrambler.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.mrambler.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.mrambler.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=722"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.mrambler.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/722\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.mrambler.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=722"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.mrambler.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=722"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.mrambler.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=722"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}