Brian Pendleton (13 April 1944 – 16 May 2001) was a British guitarist, and a founder member of the 1960s pop group

Pretty Things The Pretty Things were an English band formed in September 1963 in Sidcup, Kent. They took their name from Willie Dixon's 1955 song "Pretty Thing". A pure rhythm and blues band in their early years, with several singles charting in the Unite ...

Early life

Born in Wolverhampton, England, Pendleton moved south as a child, attending

Dartford Grammar School Dartford Grammar School is a selective secondary (ages 11–19) foundation school for boys in Dartford, Kent, England, which admits girls to its sixth form (ages 16–18). All of the students joining the school are considered to be from the top ...

. After school, he started work in the same field as his father as a trainee insurance clerk, before responding to an advertisement placed in ''

Melody Maker ''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. It was founded in 1926, largely as a magazine for dance band musicians, by Leicester-born ...

'' by

Dick Taylor Richard Clifford Taylor (born 28 January 1943) is an English musician, best known as the guitarist and founding member of the Pretty Things. Taylor was an early bassist for the Rolling Stones, but left the band to resume his studies at Sidcu ...

and Phil May of the Pretty Things, seeking a guitarist.

Musical career

As rhythm guitarist for

, Pendleton featured on their first two albums, ''

The Pretty Things ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

'' and '' Get the Picture?'', and the period of the band's greatest commercial success, when they enjoyed hits such as " Rosalyn" and "

Don't Bring Me Down "Don't Bring Me Down" is the ninth and final track on the English rock band the Electric Light Orchestra's 1979 album ''Discovery''. It is their highest-charting hit in the United States to date. History "Don't Bring Me Down" is the band's s ...

" (1964) and "Honey I Need" (1965). Brian played the memorable slide guitar on "Rosalyn", and the Pretty Things sound of the period owes a great deal to his driving rhythm guitar playing. In December 1966, exhausted by life on the road, Pendleton quit the band suddenly while en route to a concert in Leeds, and left the music industry.

Later life and death

Pendleton became an insurance underwriter and followed this career for over 20 years, working for

Sun Alliance Insurance Sun Alliance Group plc was a large insurance business with its main offices in the City of London and later Horsham. It was created in 1959 by the merger of Sun Insurance, founded in 1710, and Alliance Assurance founded in 1824. In 1996 Sun Allia ...

and later the Prudential. On 25 May 2001 he was found dead by the door of his flat in Maidstone, Kent; he had been suffering from

lung cancer Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma (since about 98–99% of all lung cancers are carcinomas), is a malignant lung tumor characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissue (biology), tissues of the lung. Lung carcinomas derive from tran ...

. He was survived by two sons.

References

External links

A Tribute to Brian Pendleton Website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pendleton, Brian English rock guitarists English male guitarists 1944 births 2001 deaths Musicians from Wolverhampton People educated at Dartford Grammar School Deaths from lung cancer in England Pretty Things members 20th-century British guitarists 20th-century British male musicians 20th-century British musicians