Mick passed away 16 years ago... Talented musician and shy lad, who said at 28 that some day, when he’s 50, he’ll be writing scores for movies, passed away at 46 – only 46! – after long and devastating fight with cancer. Almost two years he was face-to-face with death but took courage and hoped. Till the very end he hoped for better, believed with almost child’s belief (what GOD we’re talking about if He ignores such courage, belief and strength???) What helped him through those days filled with hope and despair, was friends’ support and his solo album that was released posthumously under the title Heaven and Hull. Artwork includes photo of Humber Bridge, that was Mick’s first association with his hometown Hull, Yorkshire. It has some other symbolic meaning as well. Throughout his career, Mick often preferred to add memorable and tasteful “bridge” to get song together and add a special charm to it, not drawing attention from song itself to some “ridiculous five-minute solo”. And, he spent his last months in Knightsbridge, London. Knight’s Bridge… True knight in music and life, he played and didn’t worry, avoided limelight and helped many young bands – doesn’t matter that commercial success rarely found him and his musical “wards” (doesn’t matter… but really unfair…). He was a real friend to Ian Hunter, and, indeed, Ian, “real friends don’t grow on trees”. Hunter dedicated a song to his friend, “Michael Picasso”. He called him so because Mick could make something out of nothing. Line from “Pleasure Man”, song from Mick’s second solo album, faithfully described the performer – he really got magic in his finger tips. So many songs were touched with his magic wand of guitarist, keyboardist, producer and arranger. He made Lou Reed’s “Perfect Day” one of the most beautiful songs EVER – enough said. And he recorded his last guitar work and vocals just five days before his death… It was Color Me, songs with lyrics inspired by color therapy, alternate cure for cancer.
Memorial concert for Mick, organized by his sister Maggie with help of Mick’s friends and colleagues, including Ian, Joe Elliot and Roger Taylor, was held April 29th, 1994, in Hammersmith Odeon, where one of the last interviews of Mick was filmed in 1992.
Rest in peace, Sweet Dreamer…
