Vale Alvin Lee

[J.D.]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-21688814" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Actually, his name was really Graham Alvin Barnes and I didn't think I'd be posting this for a while.

As those of you who have even taken any notice of my posts in the YouTube music thread will note, I was a fan.

[w00dsy]

I did mention it in there, not sure if you saw it but I thought of you when I found out. How did he die?

[mrleisure]

That is very bad news .

http://www2.gibson.com/News-Lifestyle/F ... n-Lee.aspx" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[J.D.]

I did mention it in there, not sure if you saw it but I thought of you when I found out. How did he die?

Ahh, thanks w00dsy.

Apparently died of complications as a result of "routine surgery". Not the kind of news you want. Seems so unlikely these days.

That is very bad news .

I had a look at that article. I just hope that mainstream fans will remember him for something else besides "I'm Goin' Home", which I thought was more a stage act than a piece of music. They came to see fast guitar and that's what they got.

I will remember him for tracks like "Help Me", especially the "Recorded Live" version from 1973, "Good Morning Little Schoolgirl", "I'd Love to Change the World", "Choo Choo Mama" ( rather silly ditty but entertaining) and more recently his blues work. Alvin stuck to his roots but he actually changed significantly over the years. In many ways he was a quite a bit better in his later years because he played to the band more.

His signature guitar was his famous ES335 "Big Red" which was replicated in all its glory by Gibson a few years ago. He stopped touring with it because it became too valuable. Someone reportedly offered him US $500,000 for it.

I suspect he was more comfortable in the close environment of a pub than a festival like Woodstock. Either way, he never let his audience down. There is a recording of "I Can't Keep From Crying Sometimes" from the Isle of Wight Festival in 1970 which was probably Alvin's best live moment IMHO. The first solo is just a cracker. I've rarely heard someone play so loose and so tight at the same time.

Very good guitar player, good songwriter, better than average singer...fantastic entertainer.