On Wednesday, November 26, 2008 at 6:32:43 AM UTC-8, Hyfler/Rosner wrote:
> Richey Edwards
> Troubled guitarist with the Manic Street Preachers, he
> disappeared in 1995
> http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2008/nov/26/richey-edwards-manic-street-preachers/print
> Worth a look at the site for the comments. They're
> fascinating.
>
> Garth Cartwright
> The Guardian, Wednesday November 26 2008
>
> The disappearance in 1995 of the Welsh rock musician Richey
> Edwards, then aged 27, became a major British media event
> and, in the years that followed, supposed sightings of (or
> messages from) Edwards, akin to those of Elvis Presley in
> the US, lent a bizarre aspect to his supposed death.
> Edwards, whose parents have been granted a court order
> declaring him to be presumed dead, was himself a student of
> rock music history and popular culture, and would surely
> have been amused to find himself the object of so much
> speculation and intrigue.
> Amused but not surprised: as a member of the Welsh rock
> group the Manic Street Preachers, Edwards had often courted
> controversy and commanded a loyal following. Edwards' talent
> was not that of a musician - he could barely play the
> guitar - but as a lightning rod of sorts for adolescent
> angst. A handsome, gaunt man, Edwards embodied similar
> qualities to the 18th-century poet Thomas Chatterton or,
> more recently, the rock singer Pete Doherty. The irony of
> his disappearance is that it led to the Manic Street
> Preachers becoming one of Europe's most popular bands in the
> mid-1990s, his absence allowing the three remaining
> musicians to create more mainstream rock-pop.
> Richard James Edwards grew up in Blackwood, south Wales,
> where he attended Oakdale comprehensive. Between 1986 and
> 1989, he attended the University of Wales, Swansea,
> graduating with a degree in political history. While there
> he befriended Nicky Wire. Wire was playing guitar in a punk
> band, initially called Betty Blue before changing to the
> Manic Street Preachers, and Edwards became the band's roadie
> and driver. When the band's bassist quit, Wire shifted to
> bass and Edwards, who had begun collaborating with Wire on
> song lyrics and design, joined as rhythm guitarist. That he
> possessed no musical ability was not a problem - pale and
> thin, Edwards looked like a rock music archetype. While in
> the band he preferred to be referred to as Richey James.
> In August 1989 the band independently issued their debut
> single Suicide Alley. The following year they issued the EP
> New Art Riot on the Damaged Goods label. This attracted
> interest from the UK music press due to their attacks on
> fellow rock musicians. A management deal followed and the
> band released the January 1991 single Motown Junk via
> Heavenly Records. This attracted press attention with such
> combative lyrics as, "I laughed when Lennon got shot."
> The Manic Street Preachers' confrontational attitude looked
> back to British punk rock, and their concerts also aped the
> chaos of that era. This proved a perfect mix for the music
> press, which began championing the band. When the NME
> journalist Steve Lamacq questioned the band's commitment,
> Edwards grabbed a razor-blade and carved "4 REAL" into his
> own forearm. The wound received 17 stitches and the glossy
> photographs taken of the gory graffiti helped confirm to
> teenagers that here was a band who "meant it". In the wake
> of the ensuing publicity Sony Records signed the band and,
> in 1992, they issued Generation Terrorists, an ambitious
> double-album on which each of the 18 songs was accompanied
> by a literary quotation. While reviews were mixed - the
> band's limited musical ability and reliance on aggressive
> posturing alienated many - Generation Terrorists sold over
> 250,000 copies and established the Manic Street Preachers as
> Britain's new indie rock hope.
> In September 1992 the band's recording of Theme from MASH
> (Suicide is Painless) reached No 7 in the UK singles chart
> and suggested they might have wide appeal. Edwards, by now
> the focus of intense fan devotion, enjoyed fame but began
> showing signs of emotional instability. Self-mutilation
> (often burning himself with cigarettes), anorexia nervosa
> (for which he wrote the song 4st 7lb) and alcoholism
> combined to make him increasingly unreliable. In 1994 he was
> admitted to the Priory hospital for treatment. The band
> played on as a three-piece - Edwards' guitar amplifier had
> often been turned down low, so his absence did not affect
> their sound.
> While the band's 1993 album Gold Against the Soul had not
> been strongly received, their third album, The Holy Bible
> (1994) - with a Jenny Saville painting on the cover -
> re-established their critical worth. Most of The Holy
> Bible's lyrics were written by Edwards and, under the
> influence of Sylvia Plath, expressed the depths of
> depression.
> Edwards was booked to travel to the US on February 1 1995
> with the band's singer James Dean Bradfield for promotional
> duties, but never took the flight. Little is known about his
> movements in the following days, although it appears he left
> London for Wales. On February 14 that year his abandoned
> Vauxhall Cavalier received a parking ticket at the Severn
> service station, and it is widely believed that he jumped to
> his death from the Severn Bridge.
> Edwards is survived by his parents, Graham and Sherry, and
> sister Rachel.
> . Richard (Richey) James Edwards, rock musician, born
> December 22 1967; declared dead November 23 2008

they are never gonna solve this