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Will Owsley - who died aged 44, April 30th, 2010

I learned today, quite by accident, that one of my favourite songwriters of all time, Will Owsley – has died. Almost all of you will be unaware of this man. He has consistently written some of the greatest melodic pop since The Beatles, and yet remained largely undiscovered. The final, terrible irony is that, following his suicide, his existence is so ‘below the radar’ that I have only just discovered his death, some three months after it happened. Here’s a video of him performing one of his greatest songs “Oh No, the Radio” -in my opinion a perfect pop song.

Will Owsley, quite simply, in the 2 solo albums he left us, plus his work with The Semantics, was worthy of rubbing shoulders with Lennon, McCartney, Ray Davies and Neil Finn. He was that good.

Perhaps, like many Artists, he will achieve the recognition in death he never really had in life.

I am deeply shocked and saddened by his death. My thoughts are with his family and friends. He took his life in Franklin, Tennessee. I was over in that state earlier this year, and I wish I’d had the courage to seek him out and say hi. He was truly an undiscovered genius, and his music will live on. Those who stumble across it by accident will find something that now, has become more rare and precious than ever. R.I.P. Will.

Kev Moore