Robert Quine

Robert Quine (born December 30, 1942 in Akron / Ohio , † May 29, 2004 in New York ) was an American musician and guitarist . Quine was considered a pioneer of the New York punk scene . He has worked with the likes of John Zorn , Brian Eno and Lou Reed , who Quine described as "a great guitarist".

life and work

He started his career in the mid-1970s as the guitarist of the punk band Richard Hell and The Voidoids . During this time two albums were created, including the 1977 album Blank Generation .

Quine was mainly influenced by the pop art band The Velvet Underground , with whose guitarist Lou Reed Quine later worked closely. In the 1980s, Quine was a permanent member of his band. Later albums were created together with Brian Eno and the world-famous avant-garde jazz musician John Zorn. In 1985 Quine made a guest appearance on Tom Waits album Rain Dogs and worked as a studio guitarist for Lloyd Cole . A long collaboration with singer and songwriter Matthew Sweet followed . In 1992 he worked with Greg Cohen , Art Baron , Don Alias and Bill Frisell as part of the Charles Mingus project Weird Nightmare: Meditations on Mingus .

Lou Reed on Robert Quine's death: “Robert Quine was a great guitarist. He had an extraordinary mix of taste, intelligence and rock'n'roll qualities. "

Robert Quine died of a heroin overdose and was found dead by his friend Rick Kelly, a luthier, in his New York apartment on Saturday, June 5, 2004. According to the New York police, it was a suicide ; a suicide note was found. It is assumed that Quine had already committed suicide a week earlier, on the weekend of US Memorial Day - between May 29 and 31, 2004.

Kelly told Billboard magazine in an interview on Quines suicide that he had not got over the death of his recently deceased wife. Quine was 61 years old.

Works (selection)

• 1977: Blank Generation (with Richard Hell & The Voidoids)
• 1981: Escape (with Jody Harris)
• 1982: Destiny Street (with Richard Hell & The Voidoids)
• 1982: The Blue Mask (with Lou Reed)
• 1983: Legendary Hearts (with Lou Reed)
• 1984: Live in Italy (with Lou Reed)
• 1984: Basic (with Fred Maher )
• 1997: Painted Desert (with Ikue Mori and Marc Ribot )
• 2001: The Bootleg Series Volume 1: The Quine Tapes ;
  Three-CD box with Velvet Underground live recordings made by Quine on a tape recorder in 1969.