Damn! First heard him in the early seventies, and dipped in and out of his work over the years. A real original - David Bowie nicked both his ideas and Mick Ronson for Hunky Dory! I saw him in the Rough Trade tent at the Green Man festival a few years ago, and he was engaging, funny and gave a great short performance. A real loss. Some great stories in this Guardian piece:
Only just discovered him thanks to Gideon Coe playing Memphis in winter on 6 music recently such a brilliant track, a very talented musician, but then whats he done on grit?? Dunno but he called one of his albums Millstone Grit so maybe he climbed as well eh !!!