Legendary jazz star and author George Melly has died at the age of 80, following a battle with lung cancer and vascular dementia. Born in Liverpool in 1926 and educated at Stowe public school, the singer, who gave his final performance at the 100 Club on 10 Jun, started off in the navy, and went on to combine a career in music and broadcasting with lecturing on art history and writing film and TV criticism. He also wrote the words for the Flook cartoon strips by Wally Fawkes that appeared in the Daily Mail.
Fellow musicians have been lining up to pay tribute to Melly. Jazz singer Cleo Laine said: "He was a hidden intellectual to most of his admiring fans, being able to converse with great knowledge of the arts in general. He will be sadly missed for the joy of life and harmless fun he generated in his performances". Van Morrison, meanwhile, called Melly a "dear friend, a uniquely gifted character and a true original", and added "he'll be sadly missed".
John Chilton, of John Chilton's Feetwarmers, the band Melly performed with from the 1970s until 2003, commented: "He was a charismatic performer whose wonderful blending of jazz, blues, jokes and anecdotes was unique. He was an extremely affable companion who always championed the underdog. He was a very nice man, unique and unforgettable".
Paul Clark, Liverpool's Lord Mayor, said: "Liverpool has lost one of its most cherished sons. George Melly was more than just a jazz legend, his contribution to literature, art and journalism ensured his place as one of Britain's cultural greats of the 20th century".
According to his wife Diana, Melly was diagnosed with lung cancer back in 2005 and he refused all treatment for his illness. He's been quoted as saying recently: "I don't fear death. I'm a fatalist, although I would rather death came as a shock to me. I've always said I wanted to die either coming off stage with the applause in my ears or of a terminal stroke on a river bank with two trout by my side".
Melly is survived by his aforementioned wife of forty four years, as well as three children and four grandchildren.