Drummer took his life after 25-year fight with tinnitus
THE drummer in one of Britain’s best-known alternative rock bands killed himself after a 25-year battle with tinnitus, an inquest heard yesterday.
Craig Gill who played in Oldham group Inspiral Carpets, had had the condition that causes ringing in the ears since he was 19.
The married father of three often had problems sleeping and developed anxiety issues as a result.
Following a restless night Mr Gill, 44, was discovered hanging from his bedroom door by his wife Rose, 46, on November 20 last year.
Yesterday she told the inquest in Heywood, Greater Manchester, that he was a devoted family man and she had ‘no idea’ why he took his life.
However, she revealed that in the weeks before his death he had suffered terribly with the ear condition.
‘For the past 20 years Craig suffered from debilitating tinnitus, a condition caused by not protecting his hearing when enjoying the careers he loved the most – a successful musician, DJ and love of listening to music,’ Mrs Gill said.
‘His condition affected his day-today wellbeing and he suffered in silence with both sleep deprivation and anxiety. In the weeks leading up to his death his tinnitus had become so unbearable he felt there was no cure. Instead of reaching out, on that day in November, Craig made the saddest and most tragic of choices.
‘Craig was a devoted father, husband, son, brother and band member. Anyone fortunate enough to have known him would understand how passionate he was about life and the lives of those close to him. Only Craig will ever know how devastating the decision was to leave our three beautiful children and the family he loved.’
On the day he died Mr Gill, who had also been a DJ at The Hacienda nightclub, had dropped his wife and children at MediaCity in Salford to watch the recording of a children’s TV show.
Mrs Gill phoned him at around 7.45pm to tell him what time they would be home, but discovered his body on arrival shortly before 9pm. She performed CPR until paramedics arrived but he could not be saved.
Mr Gill joined Inspiral Carpets aged 14 in 1985, two years after it was formed by Graham Lambert and Stephen Holt. The group’s hits included Joe, This Is How It Feels, She Comes In The Fall, Dragging Me Down and Saturn 5.
Alongside the Stone Roses, Happy Mondays and the Charlatans, the band was pivotal in the so-called Madchester scene of the late 1980s and early 1990s. Noel Gallagher was a roadie on their early tours before he and his brother Liam, who attended Mr Gill’s funeral, formed Oasis.
Mrs Gill, of Oldham, said her husband’s death was a ‘complete shock’ because he had no history of depression or self-harm. The court heard he did not leave a suicide note.
Recording an open verdict, Coroner Joanne Kearsley said that, while she was in no doubt Mr Gill had killed himself, she could not be sure that he had intended to die.
‘From all the investigations there’s nothing to suggest he had any history of self-harm, any previous history of suicidal ideation, no evidence of drug or alcohol use, nothing that we have thought to have been worrying him,’ the coroner said.
‘He had tinnitus for such a long time it’s difficult to say that escalated to a point where that was so bad.’
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