Jon Povey obit

PRETTY THINGS’ Jon Povey Passed Away

 

He was not on the list. 

Jon Povey, a stalwart of PRETTY THINGS, died yesterday at the age of 80. The veteran has been battling cancer for a number of years and seemed to be beating it but, sadly, was unable to. Beating things came natural to Jon, who used to serve as a drummer in THE FENMEN and got co-opted, together with Wally Waller, into Phil May’s collective – only as a keyboard player that the band hadn’t had before, and one of the singers too.

The appearance of Povey not enriched the group’s sound yet also brought his unique character into the ranks. As for the music, without Jon’s majestic intro and outro, PT’s 1973 classic “Silk Torpedo” would not have the same allure and lingering aftertaste, and the magical psychedelia of their 1968 rock opera “S. F. Sorrow” would have lost a lot of its mysticism – not mentioning the enchantment of the “I See You” serenade which he voiced to a great effect. On that song, Jon intoned:

“As evening shadows chase the sun,

The night is here my day is done.

Through dark forests of my mind

A light is shone – it’s you I find”

– a fitting epitaph to Povey’s talent.

 

Between 1967 and 2007 there were four stints with PT for Jon, who never lost contact with his former colleagues, delivering the “Crowley And Me” album with Twink, as STAR SPONGE VISION, in 2018, and worked with Waller under the name of THE BEXLEY BROTHERS. Povey also lent his vocals to the “Born Again” single from Italian proggers TECHNICOLOUR DREAM as recently as 2022. At the time of his demise, he was completing a solo album and an autobiography, both titled “Dartford Boys” to indicate his birthplace. A prominent artist and a homespun philosopher, Jon Povey is to be sorely missed.