Michael Dunford obit

Michael Dunford from Renaissance Passes Away

 

He was not on the list.

Michael Dunford, musical composer and guitarist of the progressive rock

band Renaissance passed away on Tuesday, November 20, 2012. He had just returned home from the first leg of the band's North American tour and

suffered a massive Instantaneous Cerebral Hemorrhage while dining at his

home in Surrey, England Monday night. He was rushed to hospital where

doctors declared his condition irreversible and terminal. He passed away

at 11:06 pm GMT, surrounded by his family without having regained

consciousness.

 

The fairly reclusive and soft-spoken composer, a mainstay in the world of

progressive rock, was born, raised and educated in Surrey. His first job

was selling clothing in a local shop followed by a stint as an airside

driver at Heathrow Airport which enabled him to form a skiffle group

which lead to his first rock band called Nashville Teens in the early

1960s. Nashville Teens reached #6 on U.K. singles charts with their

version of Tobacco Road. On leaving them, he formed several other bands

such as The Pentad and The Plebes. One night he went to see the original

band Renaissance perform locally and ended up joining them in the early

1970s. The original band members were Jim McCarty, Louis Cennamo, John

Hawken, Keith Relf and Jane Relf.

 

Dunford and vocalist Annie Haslam first took Renaissance’s reins from

former Yardbirds members, Keith Relf and Jim McCarty in 1971 and soon had

established the group as a world class recording and touring act, selling

out venues like New York’s Carnegie Hall and The Royal Albert Hall in

London. They would go on to release over a dozen albums before eventually

parting ways in the mid-1980s. However, they would continue to write new

material together and in 2001 reunited the band to record a new studio

album, tour the following year, and release a live album. After another

sabbatical, the refreshed line-up was introduced to the world and captured

for posterity on “Turn of the Cards and Scheherazade and Other Stories

Live 2011.”

 

Earlier this fall, Dunford and the band completed recording their first

new studio album in twelve years. “Grandine il Vento” was recorded at

Studio X in Ridgewood NJ, USA. All the music on the new album except for

one track was composed and arranged by Dunford and features him on

acoustic guitars and backing vocals.

 

Michael Dunford is survived by his wife Clare, two sons William (13) and

Oliver (10), and sister Judy Kendall. Services will be held at Woking

Crematorium at a date to be announced.