Keith Levene, the revolutionary guitarist who was a founding member of each The Conflict and Public Picture Ltd, died from liver most cancers on Friday (11/11). He was 65. The information got here by way of his associate, Kate Ransford, who wrote on Twitter, “My beloved associate who handed away at our house on 11/11/22 peacefully, painfree ,cosy n properly cherished .he was an iconic guitarist and composer my finest buddy , my love , my the whole lot , I like you to the moon.”
Born in London on July 17, 1957, Levene was an avid rock fan as a youngster and at 15 labored as a roadie for Sure on the Near the Edge tour. Just a few years later he co-formed The Conflict with Mick Jones and Paul Simonon, and helped persuade Joe Strummer to go away his band, The 101ers, and be part of The Conflict. He grew dissatisfied with Conflict and ended up being fired by the band earlier than they launched any music. He was additionally briefly in The Flowers of Romance earlier than forming Public Picture Ltd with John Lydon, Jah Wobble and Jim Walker in early 1978 not lengthy after The Intercourse Pistols broke up.
Envisioned as an “anti-rock” mission, PiL throughout Levene’s five-year keep within the band made among the most influential information of the period — together with 1979’s Metallic Field and 1981’s The Flowers of Romance — and their mixture of noise, dub and funk stays the fashion many individuals consider after they consider “put up punk,” and his taut, unconventional fashion was a giant a part of that. After leaving the band in 1983, Keith went on to launch plenty of solo albums and additionally labored as a producer.
There have been plenty of tributes on social media. Jah Wobble merely wrote “RIP KEITH LEVENE,” whereas Thurston Moore wrote, “Keith Levene ceaselessly. Guitar taking part in won’t ever be the identical.” Learn tributes from Trip’s Andy Bell, Anton Newcombe, Lloyd Cole, On-U Sound’s Adrian Sherwood, and extra, and take a look at video of Keith with PiL under.
