Terry Reid, the British bombastic singer who spent both Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple, has died. He was 75 years old.
Reid representatives confirmed their death in a statement to The Guardian. He had been treated for cancer just before his death, and a Gofundme had been created for donations.
Reid, born in Cambridgeshire, England, had a unique and moving voice with a huge range that earned him the nickname of “superlung”. It was a coveted figure among the Titans Arena-Rock of the time, even the vocal power Aretha Franklin once said in 1968 that “there are only three things that happen in England: the Rolling Stones, the Beatles and Terry Reid.”
Reid first found local success in the Teen Rock The Redbeats group, and soon joined the band Peter Jay and the Jaywalkers. After a presentation at the Marquee Club in London, where Mick Jagger and Keith Richards caught the Reid set with the Jaywalkers, the Rolling Stones took the group to a support tour. Also in that package: Ike and Tina Turner and the Yardbirds, then the main project of the guitarist Jimmy Page.
Reid, who had also become a close friend of Jimi Hendrix then, left the Jaywalkers to become a solo act. Stones asked him to support them on an American tour. Citing those obligations of the tour, he rejected Page's offer to face a new group he was forming. Instead, Reid recommended vocalist Robert Plant and drummer John Bonham of Band of Joy, and that group soon debuted as Led Zeppelin.
“Many people asked me to join their bands,” Reid told The Guardian. “I intended to do mine. I contributed half of the band, that's enough on me!”
Led Zeppelin was not just the massive act that Reid almost faced. He also rejected the launch of Ritchie Blackmore to El Mantero front, after Rod Evans left the band in 1969. Ian Gillan took the job.
As a solo artist, Reid signed an agreement with the influential talent manager Mickie Most, and his 1968 LP debut, “Bang Bang, You're Terry Reid”, included a song, “Without expression,” he wrote at age 14. That song would become a popular version of the time: John Mellencamp, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young and Reo Speedwagon would be in charge of a crack in IT.
He supported Cream, Fleetwood Mac and Jethro Tull on Tour (and almost opened for the stones at the infamous Altamont festival, but that date jumped), but never achieved the success of the list according to its proximity to fame. However, exquisitely carried out albums such as 'River' of 1973 Cult Classics auction in the rock canon of the 70s, and in the 80s he resorted to the session work with Bonnie Raitt, Don Henley and Jackson Browne. Reid became friends with Brazilian musicians Gilberto Gil and Caetano Veloso after they moved to the United Kingdom during the Brazil Military Tour and the first Wight Festival opened and opened the Brazid festival. Glastonbury 1971 Festival, with David Bowie's lateral stage.
Later, Reid moved to California and lived outside Palm Springs in his last years. His musical reputation was revived both by the era of DJ (the virtuoso Turntablist Dj Shadow collaborated with him) and the rockers of the 90s and 2000 in love with his vocal skill. Chris Cornell, Marianne Faithfull's band and Jack White, The Raconteurs, covered their songs. According to the reports, he registered a series of unpublished clues with Dr. Dre. Reid told The Guardian that the rap magnate “was fascinated with [Reid’s album] 'Memory seed' and invited me to his study where we rework it with his rappers, a fascinating experience. “
Reid is survived by his wife, Annette, and his daughters Kelly and Holly.
