Declaran muerto a un músico británico que desapareció hace 13 años

16:20

Se trata de Richey Edwards, guitarrista de la banda Manic Street Preachers, de quien no se sabe nada desde febrero de 1995. Una orden judicial emitida hoy lo declara "presunto muerto".

DESAPARECIDO. De Richey Edwards no se sabe nada desde 1995, pero hoy fue oficialmente dado por muerto. (BBC)

El guitarrista de la banda galesa Manic Street Preachers, Richey Edwards de 27 años, desapareció sin dejar rastros en 1995. Hoy, pasados 13 años, una orden judicial lo declara "presunto muerto".

A pesar de haber sido reportado visto en distintas partes del mundo, el músico británico se habría suicidado, según conclusiones de la policía británica. El vehículo del músico fue hallado en la zona del puente Severn Bridge, en Gales.

Los padres del guitarrista, Graham y Sherry Edwards, recibieron la orden judicial que declara a su hijo como presunto muerto. Por su parte, la vocera del grupo dijo que el anuncio "fue muy triste" para los restantes integrantes.

"Todos soñamos con que Richey aparezca algún día. Esperamos que esté vivo en algún lado. Pero esa esperanza ya no es realista y el anuncio trae cierta forma de cierre", agregó. Edwards fue visto por última vez el 1 de febrero de 1995 en Londres.

(Télam)

http://www.clarin.com/diario/2008/11/23/um/m-01808850.htm

After seven years of waiting, U.K. rockers Manic Street Preachers will say a formal goodbye to Richey James Edwards, their band mate who disappeared February 1, 1995, on the eve of an American tour.

Without finding a body, British law requires a person to remain missing for seven years before declaring him or her dead. Morrison-esque disappearance theories aside, and unless he miraculously appears on Friday, the courts will so rule. The declaration will both open a can of worms about what to do with his reported millions of pounds in royalties -- which have sat in a frozen bank account -- and also provide closure to family, friends and fans across the world who have waited for this day.

Edwards was the tortured soul in a band of scruffy, glammed-out angry young men who sprung out of the South of Wales in 1991 ready to take on the world - politically, socially and musically. He started life with the band in the late Eighties carting their equipment, but soon became an integral member of the group, writing many of the band's lyrics and channeling their "Generation Terrorist" attitude through his frequent self-mutilations. He will be forever known as the rocker who dug the phrase "4 Real" into his arm with a knife in front of a music journalist in 1991.

He was frequently spotted in a downward spiral of drugs and alcohol, allowing his depression to become a public face, and culminating in what is considered the group's artistic masterpiece: 1994's The Holy Bible. Edwards was absent in the aftermath of the album's release, admitted to a clinic, while allowing band mates Nicky Wire, James Dean Bradford and Sean Moore to handle promotional duties.

There is irony in the fact that the band's first hit single, in 1992, was a cover of the theme to M*A*S*H*, "Suicide is Painless," because in interview after interview over the years, Edwards maintained that the desire to cut himself was in no way foreshadowing death. "Self-mutilation is a very different issue to suicide," he said in 1994 just after Kurt Cobain's suicide. "It is a controlled pain personal to you, allowing you to live/exist to some degree."

It was these type of statements, along with a bizarre set of choices he made before disappearing, which led many people to think that he hadn't killed himself, but just decided to disappear in the way that a favorite author of his, J.D. Salinger, had appeared to nearly thirty years before.

Having checked into a London hotel the night before a planned promotional trip to the U.S. in preparation for a tour, Edwards inexplicably decided to drive back home to Cardiff, Wales, on the morning of February 1st. He dropped off his anti-depressants at the house, and left his passport sitting on the table.

Edwards car was found with the battery dead on February 12th next to the Severn Bridge, which joins England and Wales. The bridge was known as a frequent suicide attempt point, but for weeks prior to his disappearance Edwards reportedly withdrew cash from an ATM every day - which conspiracy theorists say point to a plan to leave without a trace. Edwards' body was never found, and reported sightings of him over the ensuing years have sent his family flying to India and the Canary Islands searching.

A few months after his disappearance, his band mates chose to carry on without him. The Manic Street Preachers' next two albums, 1996's Everything Must Go and 1998's This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours, were hugely successful in the U.K., yet never achieved wide success stateside. The group's latest album, last year's Know Your Enemy, was reviewed worldwide as the band's first major misstep.

Larger than life, when living, Richey Edwards left behind band mates, family, friends and fans without ever saying goodbye. Tomorrow the British courts will do it for him.

ANDREW STRICKMAN
(January 31, 2002)

http://www.rollingstone.com/search?query=Richey+Edwards%2C++Manic+Street+Preachers+is+dead&type=&search=Search

John Frusciante

El guitarrista de los Red Hot Chili Peppers, John Frusciante, reclutó a su compañero de grupo Flea y al ex guitarrista de The Smiths Johnny Marr para que contribuyan en su próximo disco solista, "The Empyrean".
El álbum saldrá a la venta el 20 de enero a través de Record Collection, informó la revista Billboard. Los grupos The Sonus Quartet y the New Dimension Singers también participan en el sucesor de "Curtains" (2005). Frusciante ha publicado siete discos como solista desde que regresó a Red Hot Chili Peppers, en 1998.
Mientras tanto, el vocalista de Red Hot Chili Peppers, Anthony Kiedis, está creando una serie para el canal HBO basada en su vida en el rock and roll, con el nombre tentativo de "Scar Tissue".
De acuerdo a la revista Variety, la serie no está basada en el libro de Kiedis con el mismo título, que se dedicaba más a su tiempo dentro de los Chili Peppers.
Kiedis dijo que está considerando narrar el show y realizar apariciones ocasionales. Mientras tanto, el baterista del grupo, Chad Smith, está realizando un nuevo disco junto a la superbanda conformada por el vocalista Sammy Hagar, el bajista Michael Anthony (ex Van Halen) y el guitarrista Joe Satriani.
Red Hot Chili Peppers, por su parte, está descansando por un período de tiempo indeterminado, tras una maratónica gira en apoyo a su disco doble del 2006, "Stadium Arcadium".