Martin Duffy Obituary, Death – Martin Duffy, 55, who played keyboards for Primal Scream and Felt and was a former bandmate of Tim Burgess’ in the Charlatans, has passed suddenly, according to Tim. Duffy was born in Birmingham on May 18, 1967, but he spent most of his youth there. He joined the independent band Felt in 1985 when leader Lawrence posted an advertisement for a guitarist at the Virgin Records store in Birmingham with the following query: “Do you want to be a rock’n’roll star?” and a man came highly recommended by Duffy.
The band joined Creation Records in the middle of the 1980s for their 1986 album The Seventeenth Century, which many listeners consider to be the start of its imperial era. During this period, Duffy’s sound grew to be an essential component of the band. The album’s flip side, The Pictorial Jackson Review, which was published in 1988, contains two Duffy instrumentals.
The album has previously been cited by Burgess as proof that Duffy is “truly the only musical genius I have ever met.” In an interview with the Quietus, Burgess recalled how he and Kevin Shields, of My Bloody Valentine, “stayed up all night one time with wide mouths appreciating his intrinsic brilliance.” Lawrence claimed that he had achieved his goal of recording 10 singles and 10 albums in the course of 10 years by the time the band disbanded in 1989; Duffy remained a member of the group until that point.
Duffy joined Primal Scream as a full-time member towards the end of 1989 after contributing to the band’s first two albums, Sonic Flower Groove in 1987 and Primal Scream in 1989. Primal Scream dispersed both albums. Duffy is “probably the smoothest player in the band,” according to Tim Tooher of Mojo, who also noted that the guitarist’s playing has echoes of Thelonious Monk, Johnnie Johnson, Jerry Lee, and Cecil Taylor. His voice has a characteristic that makes it seem as though scotch was used to pickle his throat prior to his birth. The bluesy sound of Primal Scream is Martin’s own.
Duffy was stabbed in 1993 while touring with the band in New York City, and the stabbing narrowly missed killing him. After founding member Rob Collins passed away, Duffy continued to perform with the Charlatans, standing in for him when the group supported Oasis at Knebworth in August 1996. From the beginning, Rob Collins has been a part of the Charlatans. Additionally, he made contributions to the band’s 1997 album “Telling Stories.”
Burgess paid respect to Duffy on Twitter by commenting, “Yet another tragic incident that claimed the life of a lovely soul. Martin Duffy intervened to preserve The Charlatans after we lost Rob. He joined us onstage at Knebworth, and he was a real friend to everyone in the band. He accompanied me on tour with my solo band as well, and I truly valued our time together. Duffy, have a pleasant trip.” Duffy also worked with musicians like Beth Orton, Steve Mason, Mark Stewart of the Pop Group, the Chemical Brothers, Paul Weller, Vic Godard, Subway Sect, and Jessie Buckley on the soundtrack of the 2018 movie Wild Rose.
Beth Orton is one of the several artists working on the project. Duffy’s debut solo album, Assorted Promenades, was released in 2014 on Burgess’ O Genesis label. The CD contains tracks that date back as far as 1997. Duffy told the Quietus that she and Burgess observed a car on the side of the road catch fire before deciding to release the record. Burgess contributed to the album as well.
Tim took it as a sign, according to the line in the John Foxx song “Burning Car,” which the two people had just finished listening to. Chaosmosis, the band Primal Scream’s most recent studio album, was released in 2016. Additionally, Duffy participated to the Bobby Gillespie-fronted 2021 collaboration album Utopian Ashes.