Ray Fenwick obit

IN MEMORIAM: Ray Fenwick (Musician, Songwriter, Producer; 1946-2022)

 

He was not on the list.

Ray Fenwick, whose last recordings of film and TV instrumental music were released by Singsong Music in 2021, was a British guitarist of calibre advanced enough to sustain a 60-year career.

Ray, who died on April 30th 2022 at home, replaced Yes guitarist Steve Howe in The Syndicats and enjoyed a successful career start in Holland with Tee Set and After Tea before joining the Spencer Davis Group. He also co-wrote the theme music to cult British TV children’s show, ‘Magpie’.

In the ‘70s, he was a member of Fancy and the Ian Gillan Band and contributed to a number of solo projects by members of Deep Purple.

In 1987 he formed a musical collective called Forcefield with legendary drummer Cozy Powell.

In November 2020, Ray played lead guitar on the album ‘We Persuade Ourselves We Are Immortal’ by The Amorphous Androgynous. Described as a ‘symphonic mini album’ it also features Peter Hammill (Van Der Graaf Generator) on vocals alongside a host of musicians including Paul Weller and Brian Hopper (Caravan/Soft Machine).

Much admired, respected and liked in the music business, he will be missed.

Fenwick's first professional group was a ska and bluebeat group called Ray and the Red Devils. In 1964, he joined The Syndicats, replacing Steve Howe, and in turn being replaced by Peter Banks. In 1965, he joined the Dutch group Tee-Set, from which developed another group After Tea.

He was with The Spencer Davis Group from 1967 to 1969. He also co-wrote the theme music to the 1970s television series Magpie, which was credited to "The Murgatroyd Band", which was basically The Spencer Davis Group at the time. Fenwick wrote all songs on the group's 1969 album Funky (briefly released in the US in 1970; full release only in 1997) and recorded his own album Keep America Beautiful, Get a Haircut in 1971 with a similar line-up, albeit minus Davis.

In July 1972, he played guitar on a number of the tracks for Bo Diddley's Chess Records album The London Bo Diddley Sessions. During the 1970s, he was part of the Ian Gillan Band. He participated in Jon Lord's live album Windows (1974). He was also in the group Fancy, who had the hits "Touch Me" and a cover of Chip Taylor's "Wild Thing".

He also was a member of the studio project Forcefield (1987–1989) along with Tony Martin (Black Sabbath), Cozy Powell (Rainbow, Black Sabbath, Emerson, Lake and Powell), Jan Akkerman and Neil Murray (Whitesnake, Black Sabbath).

He returned to sessions and then featured on former Rainbow vocalist Graham Bonnet's album Here Comes the Night (1991).

In 2003, Fenwick toured with Yes guitarist Steve Howe as part of his band Steve Howe's Remedy, appearing on the live concert DVD of Steve Howe's Remedy Live released in 2005. He appears on Steve Howe's compilation Anthology 2: Groups and Collaborations, released 2016. The two guitarists play together on the track "Slim Pickings", recorded 2002, which closes the album.

Fenwick produced Jo Jo Laine's girl group single "When the Boy's Happy" on Mercury Records under the name Jo Jo Laine & The Firm.

Labels  Angel Air

Formerly of            The Syndicats, Spencer Davis Group, Tee-Set, After Tea, Ian Gillan Band, Fancy, Forcefield, Steve Howe's Remedy