“I had a nightmare boogie one last night / I dreamed I was trapped in a hall full of golden discs / Somebody said to me: “Which one is yours?” / And I had to confess, I hadn`t got one”. The nightmare Kevin Coyne describes in his song “Having a Party” (1978) was real. During his lifetime, the English musician, who lived in Nuremberg from the mid-1980s until his death, never received a gold record or appeared in the charts. And yet he was satisfied with his life – with all its ups and downs: He is – after Mike Oldfield – the second musician to be signed to Virgin Music, works with musicians such as Andy Summers (The Police), Zoot Money, Gary Lucas, “Wix” Wickens, tours Europe, USA and Australia on more than 1.500 concerts and festivals, plays in the hottest venues such as Marquee Club and Roundhouse in London or Bataclan in Paris. In addition, he paints and draws non-stop, writes poems, short stories and plays like crazy. He’s a creative drifter who never takes a break and is constantly under steam: as soon as a tour is over, it’s off to the studio to record the next record. When he died in 2004 at the age of only 60, he left behind an incredible body of work: several thousand drawings and paintings, over 50 LPs, CDs and singles. For his 80th birthday on January 27, 2024, there are not only numerous exhibitions, but also his music is available again. For the release come numerous previously unissued discs (with new covers, liner notes, DVDs), but also previously unknown and unreleased live and studio music from the archives.
The genius Kevin Coyne, the “famous unknown”, is worth rediscovering!
– Stefan Voit
The exhibition “Unknown Paintings” starts today at Galerie Kunst Herrmann in Neumarkt and can be visited until February 24th.
We at MIG music are celebrating with you and will be showing Kevin’s Rockpalast performance from 1979 on our YouTube channel tonight at 6 PM CEST
