By Steve Peck
II got word late Saturday night that the great Bill Fay had passed away at the age of 81. Many will ask, “Bill who?” Suffice it to say, Bill Fay was a one-of-a-kind singer-songwriter whose wisdom and insight into the human experience were truly profound. Don’t expect grand proclamations or wordy exercises meant to impress—everything he did was subtle and unassuming, yet deeply meaningful. To me, he sounded like the humblest musician I’ve ever heard.
Fay was born in north London, where he lived most of his life. He first recorded a single in 1967 and released two beautiful albums in 1970 and 1971 that have become cult classics. However, Fay fell victim to the cutthroat music business and was dropped from his recording contract after his records failed sell. He felt he had been “deleted,” but never stopped making music and writing songs over the coming decades. Fay compiled a mountain of demos and songs, including a couple of unreleased albums. To Bill’s great surprise, his old albums were re-released in 1998, which set off a chain reaction that led him back to the studio in the 2010s. He had a champion in Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy, who said “I can’t think of anyone whose records have meant more to me in my life.”
Fay’s comeback album, “Life Is People,” received wide-spread critical acclaim and earned a 5-star review from MOJO magazine—ranking at number 3 on their top ten albums of 2012 list. However, Bill was painfully shy and private and never returned to the stage—allowing only one public performance on the Jools Holland TV show in November of that year.