Frank Sidebottom, The Bard of Timperley
Chris Sievey, the genius behind , died on Monday after a short battle against lung cancer. Frank was a comedic marvel and as unique as it gets. I had the absolute pleasure in seeing Frank a few years ago and even got him to pose for a photograph. This was aces and the picture has sat on the shelf beside my desk every day since then. The world will truly be a duller, quieter, place now. Chris died with very little to show for a career were he entertained so may. Jon Ronson (the Men who Stare at Goats etc) .
Here's to Frank, The Bard of Timperley.
Frank covers Panic by The Smiths...
Frank's Queen medley...
i hadn’t heard of him on this side of the pond until rock mother hipped me to the sad times on twitter. what a delightful man, sugar! it’s grand reading so much has been donated to defray costs and have some money left for his family. xoxooxo
i’m sorry he frightens me! its the cartoon head too much like a clown ~shudder!
on a real note my condolences to his family for their loss its never easy even if expected and my heart goes out to them.
Ronson, on his twitter account (), has been telling stories of Frank from the days he played in Frank’s band. e.g. the following story in 4 tweets:
We supported Gary Glitter. They were really rude. “You can’t use
our lights. Stay off the hydraulic stage.” (cont)
(cont) so Frank immediately jumped onto the hydraulic stage
singing, “Do you want to be in my gang my gang my gang” (cont)
(cont) floating over the audience, smoke bombs exploding.
Afterwards Gary Glitter’s roadies chased him down the corridor (cont)
(cont) Frank quickly took off his head. The roadies reached him, “Have you seen Frank Sidebottom?” Chris said, “He went that way.”
He will definitely be missed. The character of Frank Sidebottom is so over the top and slightly mad as a hatter, that you couldn’t help but laugh till you did some damage to your internal organs. And he always said “Thank You” after each song.