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Artist News
Genesis P-Orridge dies
By Andy Malt | Published on Monday 16 March 2020
Genesis P-Orridge – the influential frontperson of Throbbing Gristle and Psychic TV – has died, aged 70, after a period receiving treatment for leukaemia.
The death of P-Orridge – who used the pronouns ‘s/he’ and ‘h/er’ – was announced in a statement from he/r daughters Genesse and Caresse, posted on Facebook by h/er manager Ryan Martin. They wrote: “It is with very heavy hearts that we announce the passing of our beloved father, Genesis Breyer P-Orridge. S/he had been battling leukaemia for two and a half years and dropped h/er body early this morning, Saturday 14 Mar 2020”.
Born Neil Megson in 1950, P-Orridge started out in 1969 as a founding member of experimental performance art group COUM Transmissions – alongside others including then partner Cosey Fanni Tutti – from which Throbbing Gristle grew in 1975. Their abrasive, confrontational sound saw them pioneer what became known as industrial music – the name derived from their own record label, Industrial Records.
The band’s sound and the often disturbing imagery – both lyrically and visually – that accompanied it brought them a notoriety – they had already been described as “wreckers of civilisation” during their COUM days by Tory MP Nicholas Fairbairn. However, albums such as 1979’s ’20 Jazz Funk Greats’, on which they attempted to move away from the industrial genre (although not into jazz funk), ensured a legacy and influence beyond any shock value.
After Throbbing Gristle split up in 1981, P-Orridge formed Psychic TV, with an initial focus on making psychedelic music to soundtrack video art. The band were prolific and in 1986 entered the Guinness Book Of World Records for releasing the largest number of albums in one year – thanks to an albeit ultimately aborted attempt to record a new live album on the 23rd of every month for 23 months.
An experimental artist far beyond music, in the 90s P-Orridge and second wife Lady Jaye Breyer P-Orridge embarked on what they called the ‘Pandrogeny Project’, undergoing numerous plastic surgeries in an attempt to become mirror images of one another, referring to themselves as a single entity: Breyer P-Orridge. This project was cut short in 2007 when Lady Jaye died suddenly.
In their statement at the weekend, P-Orridge’s daughters said: “S/he will be laid to rest with h/er other half, Jaqueline ‘Lady Jaye’ Breyer who left us in 2007, where they will be reunited”.
