Bill Fay, the cult British singer-songwriter whose music was later championed by artists like Jeff Tweedy and Nick Cave, leading to a late-career resurgence, has died at the age of 81.
Dead Oceans — the record label that released Fay’s three most albums, which arrived decades after inactivity — confirmed the folk artist’s death on social media Saturday. No cause of death was provided.
“It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Bill Fay, who died peacefully this morning in London, aged 81. Bill was a gentle man and a gentleman, wise beyond our times. He was a private person with the biggest of hearts, who wrote immensely moving, meaningful songs that will continue to find people for years to come,” Dead Oceans wrote.
“Only a month before his passing, Bill was busy working on a new album. Our hope is to find a way to finish and release it, but for now, we remember Bill’s legacy as the “man in the corner of the room at the piano”, who quietly wrote heartfelt songs that touched and connected with people around the world.”
The London-born William Fay signed with the legendary British label Deram Records in the late Sixties, releasing two folk albums, his 1970 self-titled debut and 1971’s Time of the Last Persecution. Neither album was successful, and Fay was dropped by Deram, after which he and his music largely fell into obscurity.
However, decades later, producer Jim O’Rourke introduced Fay’s music to Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy, who would soon lead a revival of Fay’s music. “There’s a simplicity and an elegance to it,” Tweedy, who also covered Fay’s “Filled With Wonder Once Again,“ told The Guardian last year. “You immediately recognize this is something uncut by ambition and fashion; it’s just somebody humbly adding their voice to contribute some beauty in, and maybe make peace with, the world.”
Wilco often covered “Be Not So Fearful” live in concert — Fay joined the band in one of the performances in 2007 — and when renewed interest in Fay’s work led to his return to recording, Tweedy guested on Fay’s 2012 album Life Is People, his first album in over 40 years.
Cave considered Fay — who declined an invite to serve as opening act on a Grinderman tour — “one of the greats,” the Guardian reported, and the War on Drugs, Kevin Morby, and Cate Le Bon are among the contemporary artists who have covered Fay’s work.
Over the past decade and a half, Fay released three more albums — Life is People, 2015’s Who is the Sender? and 2020’s Countless Branches — on Dead Oceans, as well as Tomorrow Tomorrow and Tomorrow, an LP recorded by Fay in the late Seventies that remained unreleased until it came out last year.
“Bill’s first two albums, Bill Fay and Time of the Last Persecution, found a modest but loving audience upon their release at the dawn of the 1970s,” Dead Oceans added. “While they weren’t considered commercial successes at the time, they continue to inspire devotion decades on, now known as overlooked classics from the era.”
Source link
