Kelly Groucutt
Kelly Groucutt (actually Michael William Groucutt ) (born September 8, 1945 in Coseley , England , † February 19, 2009 in Worcester , England) was an English musician. He gained notoriety in particular as a longtime bassist in the rock band Electric Light Orchestra (ELO), from 1974 to 1983.
Career
Groucutt began his musical career in smaller bands in the 1960s.
In 1974 Groucutt came to ELO from a little-known band when they were looking for a bass player for the concert tour for the album "Eldorado". He quickly established himself in the band and with the followers through his stage presence and taking over the lead vocals on several songs. His characteristic voice can be found on the 1975 ELO tracks "Nightrider", "Poker" and "Down Home Town", 1976 on "Above the Clouds", 1977 on "Sweet Is the Night" and 1979 on "The Diary of Horace" Wimp ". At live concerts he also sang the operatic part of "Rockaria!", Which was sung by a singer in the studio version from 1976.
Groucutts first studio album with ELO, on which he consistently participated as bassist and singer of the backing vocals, was "Face the Music" released in 1975. This was followed in 1976 "A New World Record", 1977 "Out of the Blue", 1979 "Discovery", 1980 the soundtrack album "Xanadu" and 1981 the regular album "Time".
In 1982 Groucutt released his first solo album "Kelly", on which ELO bandmates Bev Bevan , Richard Tandy and Mik Kaminski as well as their co-arranger and conductor of the orchestral parts Louis Clark participated.
Groucutt remained loyal to ELO until the studio recordings for the 1983 album "Secret Messages", when he left the band in a dispute over author's royalties and sued both the management and the head of the band, Jeff Lynne . The judicial process ended with a settlement payment of £ 300,000 to Groucutt. The album "Secret Messages" was then completed without him.
In the years that followed, after Lynne let the ELO project fall asleep in order to devote himself to other music projects or his production activities, Groucutt worked on various subsequent bands together with other former ELO musicians (e.g. "ELO Part II “), Both for studio recordings and concert tours. Most recently, a tour with "The Orchestra" through Scotland and England was planned for May 2009.
Private life and death
In 2006 he married his long-time partner Anna-Maria Bialgia in his second marriage. On February 18, 2009, Kelly Groucutt suffered a heart attack and was admitted to the local hospital, where he died on February 19, 2009 at the age of 63. On February 17th he gave a sold out concert with “The Orchestra” in Berlin's “ Admiralspalast ”.
Web links
- Kelly Groucutt's website ( September 22, 2007 memento in the Internet Archive )
Individual evidence
- ↑ Notice of death on BBC News. Retrieved May 10, 2016 .
- ↑ http://www.morgenpost.de/kultur/article1038940/ELO_Bassist_Kelly_Groucutt_ist_tot.html
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Groucutt, Kelly |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Groucutt, Michael William (real name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | English rock musician |
| DATE OF BIRTH | September 8, 1945 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Coseley |
| DATE OF DEATH | February 19, 2009 |
| Place of death | Worcester |