Cult folk musician and songwriter Bill Fay dies aged 81

Cult-favourite folk musician and songwriter Bill Fay has died, aged 81.

The news was confirmed in a statement by his label, Dead Oceans, who said that Fay died “peacefully” in London yesterday morning (February 22). A cause of death has not been given, though Fay was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease.

“Bill was a gentle man and a gentleman, wise beyond our times,” Dead Oceans wrote. “He was a private person with the biggest of hearts, who wrote immensely moving, meaningful songs that will continue to find people for years to come.”

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Born in North London in 1943, Fay went to Wales to study electronics at University. During his time studying, he began writing songs on the piano and harmonium, recording some demos that were noticed by former Van Morrison drummer Terry Noon. Noon helped Fay sign to Decca Records subsidiary Dream and he released two albums: 1970’s ‘Bill Fay’ and 1971’s ‘Time of the Last Persecution’. His second LP didn’t sell well, and he was eventually dropped from his label.

After his music career seemed to come to an end, Fay pursued various other careers, as a groundskeeper, fishmonger and fruit picker. In 1998 – almost 40 years after the release of ‘Time of the Last Persecution’ – a small British label reissued his music, leading to its discovery by producer Jim O’Rourke.

O’Rourke played the albums for Jeff Tweedy during the writing and recording sessions for Wilco‘s seminal ‘Yankee Hotel Foxtrot’, and Tweedy liked the songs so much that he began performing a cover of ‘Be Not So Fearful’ during their live shows. Fay eventually joined the band to perform the song, once in 2007 and once in 2010.

David Tibet of Current 93 was also introduced to Fay’s music through O’Rourke, and helped Fay to release the compilation album ‘Tomorrow, Tomorrow & Tomorrow’ in 2005, which featured a series of studio recordings from between 1978 and 1981.

A few years later record producer Joshua Henry, who discovered Fay through a copy of  ‘Last Persecution’ in his father’s record collection in his record collection, contacted Fay and helped him sign to Dead Oceans.

This would beckon a second half of his career, resulting in three new albums: 2012’s ‘Life Is People’, 2015’s ‘Who Is the Sender?’ and ‘Countless Branches’ in 2020. The new music brought a cult fanbase, including Nick Cave, The War on Drugs, The New Pornographers’ A.C. Newman, and Stephen Malkmus.

Describing Fay’s music in a 2024 interview with the Guardian, Tweedy said, “There’s a simplicity and an elegance to it. You immediately recognise this is something uncut by ambition and fashion; it’s just somebody humbly adding their voice to contribute some beauty in, and maybe make peace with, the world.”

Fay never toured and made only one television appearance on Later… with Jools Holland. In their statement, Dead Oceans shared that he had been working on an album at the time of his death. “Our hope is to find a way to finish and release it,” they wrote.

“But for now, we remember Bill’s legacy as the “man in the corner of the room at the piano”, who quietly wrote heartfelt songs that touched and connected with people around the world.”

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