Phil May

November 9, 1944 – May 15, 2020

Phil May, frontman with The Pretty Things, has died at the age of 75. The news was confirmed in a statement from the band’s management team, reporting that he died after being admitted to hospital following an accident.

The statement read: “It is with very deep sadness that the management of The Pretty Things have to announce the death of the band’s lead singer, Phil May. He passed away at 7.05am on Friday, May 15 at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, King’s Lynn, Norfolk. He was 75. Phil had been locked down in Norfolk with his family and, during the week, he had suffered a fall from his bike and had undergone emergency hip surgery, after which complications set in.”

The Pretty Things were widely regarded as one of the great British R&B groups of the early 1960s, and their off-stage antics outstripped their friends and rivals the Rolling Stones. Fights at their concerts were commonplace, and questions were even asked in parliament. Led Zeppelin manager Peter Grant even considered the group “unmanageable”, although later they were among the first signings to Zeppelin’s Swan Song label.

Once dubbed “the longest-haired man in Britain”, May was also something of a revolutionary figure, and David Bowie once scribbled the word ‘God!’ beside his name in an old address book.

The Pretty Things’ music was cited as an influence on a large number of bands and artists as diverse as Aerosmith, Jimmy Page, Nirvana, Ramones, Bob Dylan, the Sex Pistols, The Clash, The White Stripes and Kasabian.

Born Philip Dennis Arthur Kattner in Dartford, SouthEast London, May was raised by Flo, the sister of his mother Daphne, and her husband Charlie, and considered them his real parents.

He co-founded The Pretty Things in 1963 with guitarist Dick Taylor, bringing in guitarist Brian Pendleton, bassist John Stax and drummer Pete Kitley for their first official line-up.

Their first three singles –Rosalyn, Don’t Bring Me Down and Honey I Need – all made the UK Top 20 in 1964 and ’65, and their self-titled debut album was released in 1965. While the line-up was to change down the years, May remained at the helm and appeared on all of the band’s studio albums. The Pretty Things’ 1968 album S.F. Sorrow is widely regarded at one of the first concept records, and was born as May embraced LSD. Years later he told Classic Rock: “What we were attempting was attempted again by different bands later for whatever their reasons were. We started to try to do something different. We tried to change the landscape, and a lot of prog bands came along with totally that intention. They didn’t want to be just rock bands.” “Acid changed my life,” he said. “I saw things in a completely different way. The actual visual experience of being on a trip was stimulating. I found I could control what was going on, to a certain point. I would turn taps on and blood would come out. You’d wash your face and you’ve got blood all over it, but you know you haven’t. And to know you could go back to the bar upstairs and sit there and talk to somebody and you weren’t covered in blood, but you’d experience it as if you were. Or you’d watch somebody’s head changing shape as you were talking to them. It was like a sharpening of the imagination for me. I don’t think S.F. Sorrow would have been impossible without it, but there’s a lot of acid in it, in the imagery.”

Due to a combination of bad luck, unpredictability and sheer bloody-mindedness, the Pretty Things’ records never matched the sales of many of the acts they influenced. At one point May was ejected from the group after failing to turn up for a gig, and they broke up and reunited again more than once. Their most recent album was The Sweet Pretty Things (Are In Bed Now, Of Course…) in 2015. Bare As Bone, Bright As Blood, a collection of “stripped back, acoustic-driven” material was completed before May’s passing. Despite the Pretty Things’ considerable influence on rock music, the band continued to be regarded as outsiders. May didn’t even own a computer until his final years, having been browbeaten into purchasing one by his manager. He didn’t even consider himself particularly talented, saying: “I don’t think I have a unique skill. I haven’t anything to offer in the way that Clapton or BB King, even Dick [Taylor] does. I feel I’m just there… complementing what Dick does on stage. I’ve never had that much confidence. Some might call me a professional musician, but to me I’m just a gifted amateur.”

The Pretty Things played their last live show, The Final Bow, at London’s Indigo at the O2 in December 2018, where they were joined on stage by David Gilmour and Van Morrison.

Talking to Classic Rock in 2015, May commented: “I find bucket lists laughable. But I’ve had an interesting life. I’ve travelled a lot. If someone said: ‘You’re doing Glastonbury next week,’ I’d probably reply: ‘Okay.’ Life wouldn’t change a great deal. We toured America a lot, but do I want to go back there? I suppose we’ve got to play somewhere. But nothing is gnawing at my soul.”

Dave Davies, guitarist with The Kinks and a contemporary of May, was among the many who paid tribute. “This is very sad news,” he said. “Phil was a very talented guy and he will be sorely missed. I’m shocked.”

May is survived by his son Paris, his daughter Sorrel and his partner Colin Graham.

“Some might call me a professional musician, but to me I’m just a gifted amateur”

Phil May