Grant McLennan of The Go-Betweens is dead

Natural Mike · **Posted:** Sat May 06, 2006 7:42 pm

On Saturday 6th May, legendary Australian singer songwriter Grant W McLennan died in his sleep at his home in Brisbane.

McLennan was one of Australia’s greatest songwriters who created an outstanding musical legacy as a founder member of The Go-Betweens and as a solo artist. He was enjoying enormous acclaim for the band’s most recent album Oceans Apart, which has received five star reviews around the world and won had a prestigious ARIA award.

McLennan was born in Rockhampton, Queensland on 12th February 1958. While attending university in Brisbane he met fellow student Robert Forster and together they formed The Go-Betweens. After releasing a string of singles the band recorded their debut album, Send Me A Lullaby, in 1981. The Go-Betweens recorded a series of exceptional albums that achieved widespread critical acclaim and were fundamental in bringing Australian music to a global audience. He was an unparalleled lyricist and a prolific and meticulous composer. His auto-biographical masterpiece ‘Cattle and Cane’ was recently voted by the Australian Performing Rights Association as one of the ten greatest Australian songs of all time.

In 1989 The Go-Betweens took a ten year sabbatical and McLennan recorded four powerful solo albums including the vivacious debut Watershed and the epic Horsebreaker Star as well as forming satellite groups like Jack Frost with Steve Kilbey of The Church and The Far Out Corporation with Iain Haug of Powderfinger.

When Robert Forster and Grant McLennan reformed The Go-Betweens in 2000, the band was greeted with adulation by a new generation of musicians like Belle and Sebastian for whom, their songs had been an inspirational teenage soundtrack. The three albums the band subsequently released were universally acknowledged as containing some of McLennan’s greatest compositions.

McLennan was a passionate supporter of the arts, extremely well-read and maintained a keen interest in all contemporary music, cinema and visual art. He was an exceptionally charming and polite man who endeared himself to everyone who met him and was one of the rare individuals worthy of the epithet ‘larger than life’.

His singular contribution to music and his commitment to his craft simply cannot be understated. He will be deeply missed by all who knew him. He is survived by his mother, sister, girlfriend Emma and lifetime musical colleague Robert Forster.

- Bernard MacMahon, Lo-Max Records, 6th May 2006

Damn - McLennan was still putting out solid material but, more importantly, he seemed like an all-around good guy.

Flying Rabbit · **Posted:** Sat May 06, 2006 7:51 pm

Aural Fixation · **Posted:** Sat May 06, 2006 7:53 pm

Oh my god! I am stunned about this news. I am so so so glad that I got to see them last year. Sheesh, he wasn't even old.

Rest in peace, Grant.

ayah · **Joined:** Mon Oct 25, 2004 12:03 pm **Posts:** 6402

what the hell?
bummed.

Evil Dr. K · **Joined:** Mon Oct 25, 2004 11:51 am **Posts:** 6327

I'm incredibly fond of all the Postcard bands so this is really quite tragic.

rogneeb · **Joined:** Mon Oct 25, 2004 1:07 pm **Posts:** 12618

rip - thanks for all the great music. pretty young - jesus.

no guru · **Posted:** Sat May 06, 2006 9:50 pm

So what happened to him?

Mick · **Posted:** Sat May 06, 2006 11:05 pm

holy shit. The Go-Betweens are the greatest thing this city ever produced.

RIP. Listening to 16 Lovers Lane right now.

schadenfreude · **Posted:** Sun May 07, 2006 12:05 am

Incredibly sad.. The Go Betweens were on the cusp of being recognized as more than an indie cult band.

telescope · **Posted:** Sun May 07, 2006 12:15 am

This is really sudden. I hadn't heard that he was ill or anything.

Just tried to find more info on this, but it seems all the local news networks are still obsessed with the Beaconsfield mine rescue

Sex, Drugs, and Dave · **Posted:** Sun May 07, 2006 12:21 am

Fuck...

one of my favorite songwriters

ptrck · **Joined:** Wed Oct 27, 2004 10:55 pm **Posts:** 5568

agreed. excellent band, and oft-overlooked.

seafoam · **Posted:** Sun May 07, 2006 12:28 am

I was watching That Striped Sunlight Sound just last night with my boy. This is tearfully sad. He was a rare constant talent.

I would have never heard of him or the Go-betweens without this board, namely Billz. Thanks for that treasure.

And thank you McLennan. If I make it, I daresay I will continue listening to your music until I am quite old.

Mick · **Posted:** Sun May 07, 2006 1:13 am

telescope Wrote:

This is really sudden. I hadn't heard that he was ill or anything.

Just tried to find more info on this, but it seems all the local news networks are still obsessed with the Beaconsfield mine rescue

I just read the Sunday Mail and the Australian, and nothing.

I doubt there will be much hooplah over this. Which is very very sad.

duckyboy · **Posted:** Sun May 07, 2006 4:26 am

Christ, this sucks. I can't even think. Can't think enough to write anything. Just...fuck. The Go-Betweens are one of my favorite bands.

RIP

duckyboy · **Posted:** Sun May 07, 2006 4:29 am

I think I will listen to "Cattle and Cane" on repeat for awhile.

Mick · **Posted:** Sun May 07, 2006 7:50 am

the girl from Iron On briefly mentioned this at the show tonight, but it was no minute of silence or anything...

I'm sad.

Donovan · **Posted:** Sun May 07, 2006 12:18 pm

Sad, sad news. RIP

Mick · **Posted:** Mon May 08, 2006 12:15 am

And to boot, Richard Carlton from 60 Minutes just died, so there will definitely be scant mention of this anywhere 'round here.

Mick · **Posted:** Mon May 08, 2006 1:41 am

slightly more recent, has comments from Robert Forster:

http://www.couriermail.news.com.au/stor ... 42,00.html

http://www.smh.com.au/news/music/from-t ... 11087.html

http://blogs.smh.com.au/newsblog/archiv ... 04521.html

http://www.smh.com.au/news/music/gobetw ... 11083.html

telescope · **Posted:** Mon May 08, 2006 2:50 am

amgl Wrote:

slightly more recent, has comments from Robert Forster:

http://www.couriermail.news.com.au/stor ... 42,00.html

http://www.smh.com.au/news/music/from-t ... 11087.html

http://blogs.smh.com.au/newsblog/archiv ... 04521.html

http://www.smh.com.au/news/music/gobetw ... 11083.html

It was good to see this in the herald this morning (even tho that tosser Bernard Zuel wrote them both AND just had to mention Tim Freedman as well). There was actually a little box on the front page indicating the stories inside, so at least there was some recognition that this is significant.

And it the little bit I heard of Triple J this morning when the alarm went off they played a song and were talking about it.

Still, there doesn't seem to have been an answer of why he died - just that he was feeling ill and went to lie down. I guess just a heart attack or something?

duckyboy · **Posted:** Mon May 08, 2006 3:07 am

Thanks for the links. This is still pretty hard to believe.

Aural Fixation · **Posted:** Mon May 08, 2006 9:58 am

Norman Blake of Teenage Fanclub posted this on the Go-Betweens' message board:

Quote:

Norman Blake
Unregistered guest
Posted on Saturday, May 06, 2006 - 10:19 pm:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I posted this at the teenage fanclub board earlier

Francis called me earlier, and I'm still trying to take it in. It's terrible news. I am absolutely shocked. Grant was a wonderful person. Fantastic songwriter. Some of you may know that we were friendly with the Go Betweens, having played a number of shows with them over the years.

They were fantastic. Great music, lovely people. On the last night of the last tour that we did with them, only last year, Grant prepared us the legendary "go between" cocktail, basically taking whatever alcohol was near to hand, and mixing it together (that's how it appeared to me anyway) He was a sweetheart, a lovely, lovely guy. Always bright and engaging. Absolutely the life and soul of the party.

I'll be playing his music tonight, and thinking fondly of him and his beautiful smile.

He will be sadly missed. One of my heroes. Love you Grant.

Aural Fixation · **Posted:** Mon May 08, 2006 10:10 am

More from NME:

Quote:

Tributes flood in for Go-Betweens star
Grant McLennan's death leads to outpouring of emotion

Tributes have been flooding in for The Go-Betweens' singer Grant McLennan, who died suddenly on Saturday (May 6) aged 48.

The star passed away in his sleep at his Brisbane home after complaining of feeling ill while preparing for a house party.

Now the messageboard on the band's website go-betweens.net has been filled with messages from fans and contemporaries.

Edwyn Collins and his wife Grace wrote: "Sending our love and prayers for strength to Grant's family, to dear Robert and all The Go-Betweens family. Thinking of you all tonight."

Teenage Fanclub frontman Norman Blake said: "It's terrible news. I am absolutely shocked. Grant was a wonderful person. Fantastic songwriter. Some of you may know that we were friendly with The Go-Betweens, having played a number of shows with them over the years.

"They were fantastic. Great music, lovely people. On the last night of the last tour that we did with them, only last year, Grant prepared us the legendary "go between" cocktail, basically taking whatever alcohol was near to hand, and mixing it together (that's how it appeared to me anyway) He was a sweetheart, a lovely, lovely guy. Always bright and engaging. Absolutely the life and soul of the party.

"I'll be playing his music tonight, and thinking fondly of him and his beautiful smile. He will be sadly missed. One of my heroes. Love you Grant."

And ex soccer star and indie rock fanatic Pat Nevin added: "It is dreadful news that Grant has gone. Quite simply my favourite songwriter and also a lovely man too. I was honoured to DJ with him in Edinburgh a while back and even though he was exhausted from the tour schedule he made such an effort with everyone. He and his genius will be sorely missed."

The Go-Betweens were formed by McLennan and co-frontman Robert Forster while attending university in Brisbane during the 1970s. They released six acclaimed albums in the Eighties, before splitting up in 1989.

After both going solo in the Nineties, McLennan and Forster reformed The Go-Betweens in 2000. They released three more LPs, the last of which was 'Oceans Apart', which came out in 2005 and was widely regarded as one of the band's best records.

The Australian Performing Rights Association (APRA) recently voted one of McLennan's best-loved tunes, 'Cattle And Cane' (from the 1983 album 'Before Hollywood'), as one of the 10 greatest Australian songs of all time. Other favourites of his included 'Bachelor Kisses', 'Bye Bye Pride' and 'Streets Of Your Town'.

Paying tribute to his friend and colleague, Forster told the Australian News that "The last six months was the happiest I had ever known him."

He added: "He was very happy in his private life and had just written an amazing bunch of songs. He was especially pleased with how well the last album had done. That had put a real spring in his step."

There will be a speech about McLennan in the Australian Parliament Tuesday (May 8 ) about his exceptional contribution to Australian arts. His funeral will be at the Cathedral in Queensland on Friday (May 8 ).

no guru · **Posted:** Mon May 08, 2006 10:14 am

So cause of death is still unannounced/undetermined?

Grant McLennan of The Go-Betweens is dead

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