Folk musician Bert Jansch,has died at the age of 67, after a lengthy battle with cancer.
Jansch was born in Glasgow in 1943, he recorded his debut album in 1965, which featured what would become his best-known tune, ‘Needle of Death’. His output totalled around 25 more long-players between then and his final release, The Black Swan, in 2006.
His guitar playing was acclaimed by many fellow musicians, among them Neil Young, who put him alongside Jimi Hendrix, and was promoted to write ‘Neede and theDamage Done after Jansch’s ‘Needle of Death’.
He was also a member of he was part of acoustic folk group Pentangle from 1967 – 1973 and appearing on their 1970 hit single ‘Light Flight’.
Pentangle reformed in 2008 after receiving a lifetime achievement at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards. (Jansch received his own similar award for his solo work in 2001).
Jansch experienced something of a revival in recent years, becoming familiar to a newer and younger audience. He played his home city several times, including shows in 2006 and 2008.
His last live performance, with Pentangle, at the Royal Festival Hall on 1 August – a scheduled show at the Edinburgh festival was canceled due to his failing health.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.