Bill Fay

Early career Fay was born on 9 September 1943 in north London, where he lived throughout his life. He attended college in Wales, studying electronics, where he first began writing songs on the piano and harmonium. His first single, "Some Good Advice" / "Screams in the Ears", was issued on the Deram label in 1967, and was followed by two albums, Bill Fay in 1970 and Time of the Last Persecution in 1971. The recordings did not sell well, and Fay was dropped from Deram soon after the release of his second album. They were re-issued in 1998, Despite returning to the recording studio in the late 1970s, Tomorrow, Tomorrow & Tomorrow, the follow-up to Time of the Last Persecution was not released until January 2005, His first two albums were re-issued in 1998, The compilation album Still Some Light appeared on the Coptic Cat label in 2010, a double CD containing a mix of older material and newer, home-recorded songs. Released on 21 August 2012 on Dead Oceans, Life is People was his first new studio LP in over 40 years. Who Is the Sender?, a new album by Bill Fay, was released in April 2015. The second album track, "War Machine", came out as a single in February 2015. A feature article entitled "Bill Fay Was a Hidden Gem. One Musician Made Finding Him a Mission" was published in the New York Times on 15 January 2020. His last album, Countless Branches, was released on 17 January 2020. Fay died from complications of Parkinson's disease in London, on 22 February 2025, at the age of 81. ==Covers and appreciation==

The American band Wilco has played Fay's song "Be Not So Fearful" in live performances and the band's singer, Jeff Tweedy, can be heard singing it in the documentary I Am Trying to Break Your Heart: A Film About Wilco. Fay joined the band and Tweedy onstage for the rendition of the song at shows at the Shepherd's Bush Empire in 2007, and at the Union Chapel, Islington in 2010 respectively, both in London. The English singer-songwriter and pianist John Howard recorded a cover version of the song "Be Not So Fearful" for his E.P. Songs for the Lost and Found (2008). The song "Be Not So Fearful" was also covered by Ed Harcourt on the benefit compilation album Songs to Save a Life - In Aid of Samaritans (2011). A cover version of Fay's "Pictures of Adolf Again", by producer and musician Jim O'Rourke and Wilco drummer Glenn Kotche, can be heard in the film from Kōji Wakamatsu, United Red Army. The title track of "Time of the Last Persecution" became a live standard of the British Apocalyptic folk group, Current 93. The band Okkervil River covered Fay's song "Plan D" on their Golden Opportunities 2 EP in 2011. The American band The War on Drugs covered Fay's song "I Hear You Calling" at shows throughout 2014. His song "Be Not So Fearful" was covered by A.C. Newman in 2014, and was used in the episode "Us" of The Walking Dead. In 2008 the English singer Marc Almond recorded a live version of "Cosmic Boxer" and it was released on his album ''In 'Bluegate Fields': Live at Wilton's Music Hall''. In a widely available live bootleg recording of a show at The Great American Music Hall in San Francisco in February 2009, Stephen Malkmus of the band Pavement, covered Fay's "We Have Laid Here". ==Discography==

Albums • Bill Fay (Deram, 1970) • Time of the Last Persecution (Deram, 1971) • Tomorrow, Tomorrow & Tomorrow (recorded 1978–1981; Durtro, 2005; Dead Oceans, 2024 28-track re-release) • Life Is People (Dead Oceans, 2012) • Who Is the Sender? (Dead Oceans, 2015) • Countless Branches (Dead Oceans, 2020) Compilation albums • From the Bottom of an Old Grandfather Clock (recorded 1966–1970; Wooden Hill, 2004) • Still Some Light (2CD, recorded 1970, 1971, 2009; Coptic Cat, 2010) / new edition: Still Some Light Pt. 1 (1CD / 2LP) & Still Some Light Pt. 2 (1CD / 2LP) (Dead Oceans, 14 January 2022) (compilation of early 1970–1971 studio recordings and 2009 new material home recordings) ==Notes==