Adrian Borland: Age 41 | Cause Of Death: SUBWAY /TRAIN / SUICIDE
(b.1957, d. 26 April 1999, London)
On April 26th. 1999 Adrian Borland died. [He] committed suicide by throwing himself in front of a train in London on early Monday morning. He was right in the middle of the recording session for his new solo album. Adrian Borland leaves a great work, which is documented on more than twenty albums . He was present as a singer, guitar player and – especially – as a songwriter since the late 70`s, when he formed his first band THE OUTSIDERS, his contribution to the “New Wave” whilst at the same time creating electronic music with the band SECOND LAYER. International recognition as front man with legendary eighties band THE SOUND was followed by a crazy affair with HONOLULU MOUNTAIN DAFFODILS, under the pseudonym Joachim Pimento, belting out a wired STOOGES-like sound together with a few friends from his Wimbledon local. ~
In memoriam Adrian Borland
Obituary
Adrian Borland 1957-99 RIP
Adrian Borland, 41, lead singer with THE SOUND committed suicide by throwing himself under a train on April 26th.
Songwriter Borland’s first band , The Outsiders, became the first English Punk band to release an album by themselves, 77’s ‘Calling On Youth’. Borland then formed another group , Second Layer, produced a host of bands including Luke Haines’ early group The Servants and collaborated with the likes of Dead Kennedy’s Jello Biafra before going on to form The Sound. Snapped up in 1980 by Korova, they were immediatly sent on tour with fledgling labelmates Echo And The Bunnymen.
The band were later dropped by the label for refusing to make their sound more commercial, but continued until 1987 when they released one of their most critically acclaimed records ‘Thunder Up’
Afterwards , Borland continued with a solo career on Play It Again Sam before releasing ‘Cinematic’ in 1996 on the Setanta label.
A new Borland album under the title White Rose Transmission was being recorded when the singer killed himself.
Red Sun Records
On April 26th. 1999 Adrian Borland died. Our friend committed suicide by throwing himself in front of a train in London on early Monday morning. He was right in the middle of the recording session for his new solo album.Adrian Borland leaves a great work, which is documented on more than twenty albums . He was present as a singer, guitar player and – especially – as a songwriter since the late 70`s, when he formed his first band THE OUTSIDERS, his contribution to the “New Wave” whilst at the same time creating electronic music with the band SECOND LAYER. International recognition as front man with legendary eighties band THE SOUND was followed by a crazy affair with HONOLULU MOUNTAIN DAFFODILS, under the pseudonym Joachim Pimento, belting out a wired STOOGES-like sound together with a few friends from his Wimbledon local. From 1989 Adrian released five solo albums, first together with his new backing band THE CITIZENS, later on his own. In the middle of the 90’s his very fragile albums “Beautiful Ammunition” and “Cinematic” show his enormous talent as a songwriter. Also in 1995 he brought out his first cd with WHITE ROSE TRANSMISSION, his congenial collaboration with Carlo van Putten from THE CONVENT. His following solo record “5:00 A.M.” – released in 1997 – was again a link to his most successful time. His last finished work is the second WHITE ROSE TRANSMISSION album “700 Miles Of Desert”, which was recorded in Bremen between November 1998 and February 1999. The cd will be released in Germany on June 21st.. Of course the acoustic tour of WHITE ROSE TANSMISSION, which was scheduled for May, can’t take place without Adrian. Instead his friends Carlo van Putten and Mark Burgess will be performing the WHITE ROSE TRANSMISSION songs, amongst others, as a tribute to Adrian on those evenings. While working on “700 Miles Of Desert” we have seen Adrian in all his facet’s again. As a creative perfectionist, full of humor and conversation; as a withdrawn melancholic; as an intelligent, ambitious artist and an absolutely reliable worker, who always played his music with such intensity. He was sensitive and could often fall into deep depression. It now seems he was more tired of life than we ever suspected. Looking back it’s easy to read much into lines from his songs that profess a readiness to leave this world. Goodbyes were one of his main themes but we shouldn’t allow ourselves to interpret his songs in such a one-dimensional way. We can’t, nor would we want to do or say anything that would in any way show disrespect towards Adrian’s decision to leave this life. It is after all, hardest on the ones that are left behind. For Adrian, the sorrow and pain of this life is over. We hope now that Adrian is where he wants to be.~ In memoriam Adrian Borland/Red Sun Records
Eulogy for The Sound's Adrian Borland
I wish to say goodbye to my acquaintance Adrian Borland of The Sound, who sadly took his own life in England April 25. I had often been a grateful guest in Adrian’s family home in Wimbledon, South London (and in his steady pub there with his fine and loyal friends, the Crooked Billet). He not only left behind some of the finest LPs in my whole collection, such as 1981’s incredible From the Lion’s Mouth and 1985’s gorgeous Heads and Hearts, but I also feel horribly for his kindly mom and dad, who looked after him for two decades into adulthood while he fought off emotional instability with the help of modern medication. At the time of his sudden, unforeseen suicide (he was killed by a train), Adrian was finishing a new solo LP and was about to head out on a rare solo tour, making his loss seem all the more senseless. For some reason, he’d recently insisted on discontinuing his medication (according to his producer, Wally Brill), perhaps contributing to his depression.
As with the suicide of Lush’s Chris Acland two years ago, everyone who knew and liked this talented songwriter and emotional singer is sad beyond words. I immediately thought of the times Adrian came out to meet me at the train station, and the time he played the new (final) Sound recordings for me in 1986, justifiably proud and beaming as Thunder Up held me spellbound. I also remembered the three fantastic Sound concerts in New York in ’83 and ’84, and I felt even worse. I’d recently been hired to write liner notes for the upcoming reissue of one of his old, more artistic, unusually stark Sound LPs, 1982’s All Fall Down, and now that task seems sober and melancholic rather than celebratory. R.I.P. ~Jack Rabid
Biography
Through several personnel shifts around bandleader Adrian Borland (guitar, vocals), the U.K. punk band the Outsiders gradually transformed into the psychedelic post-punk band the Sound. A lineup of Borland, bassist Graham Green, and drummer Michael Dudley released an EP and several singles on the Torch label in 1979, which led to a deal with Korova. The Sound released the critically acclaimed but commercially neglected albums Jeopardy (1980) and From the Lions Mouth (1982). Meanwhile, Borland and Green created an experimental side project called Second Layer, which released two EPs and an album. Under pressure from Korova to make its music more commercial, the Sound recorded the bleak, somewhat disappointing All Fall Down in 1982, a defiant reaction against accessibility. In retaliation, Korova dropped the Sound from its roster; they resurfaced on A&M for a short time in 1984 with the Shock of Daylight EP, which featured new bassist Graham Bailey, before settling on Statik. After collaborating with singer Kevin Hewick on This Cover Keeps, the Sound released the brighter pop album Heads and Hearts in 1985 and the double live album In the Hothouse in 1986. The group broke up after 1987’s schizophrenically mood-shifting Thunder Up, with Borland going on to a solo career (as Adrian Borland and the Citizens), as well as reviving the Second Layer. Sadly, the singer committed suicide on April 26, 1999. — Steve Huey, All-Music Guide
