I had the good fortune to attend the funeral of the singer/poet/renaissance man Pip Proud recently, though I didn't know him, my partner Julie played in a band with him briefly That's her on the far left. It might seem odd to call a funeral "life affirming" but that's what it was to me. To see a life in which an artist followed their path when they were recognized and when they weren't, when their fortunes were good and when they were bad regardless, and to have their family recognize this and to be completely honest about their shortcomings but still celebrate a unique and creative soul, well like I say life affirming....
He did alot in his lifetime but a primer is his Meanjin article (with David Nicholls)
"Proud was already renowned in underground circles as the composer and performer of some of the most uncompromising and extraordinary pop music of the 1960s, exemplified in the albums Adreneline and Richard (1968) and A Bird in the Engine (1969). The popular press acclaimed him as ‘a pop primitive’, but the combination of his fragile, intimate vocals, naive guitar playing and raw performing style created scornful opposition alongside his hard core of devotees."
Pip Proud on Lastfm
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