Publicado
Sat, Jun 10, 2023, 07:00
- Louie Duffy made the claims in a statement to the Brighton & Hove Coroner's Office.
The son of late Primal Scream keyboardist Martin Duffy has suggested that the band's founding members Bobby Gillespie and Andrew Innes contributed towards his father's death.
In a lengthy statement given to the Brighton & Hove Coroner's Office, Louie Duffy claimed that the band "offered no support either emotional or financial," to his father, despite knowing that he was in debt and struggling to get by.
The statement pointed to Gillespie and Innes's decision to sell the Primal Scream catalogue to BMG for £5 million last April, and the fact that Duffy was completely excluded financially from this deal, as a turning point. "He didn’t receive a penny," the statement read. "He wasn't consulted or even told about it. Dad had played on every Primal Scream album - had songwriting on at least two - but still the band chose not to offer him the opportunity to get his share, at a time they knew he really needed financial help."
According to Louie, he noticed his father "really start to go downhill," after this incident. "He knew then that he was never going to get his payday, a time when he didn't have to worry so much about paying the bills," he said. "All of our family and Dad's friends noticed this change in him and tried to support him but felt helpless. I can say without any doubt that the band's total disregard of Dad's circumstances directly impacted on his mental health."
The statement also implied that Bobby Gillespie never paid Duffy for his contribution to his 2021 album Utopian Ashes, despite being aware of Duffy's financial woes. Resident Advisor is yet to receive a response from Primal Scream after asking for comment. The inquest into his death is ongoing.
Duffy, who also collaborated with the likes of The Chemical Brothers, Adrian Sherwood and Cocteau Twins' Liz Fraser, suffered a brain injury after a fall last December, and died peacefully surrounded by family. Tim Burgess of The Charlatans, another band Duffy played with, described him as "the only musical genius" he's ever met.
Read Louie's full statement.