Singer-songwriter Louis Tillett has died in a Sydney hospital after lengthy health struggles, aged 63. The announcement was made online today, a week after his passing, by partner Rachael Slattery:
I am very sorry to have to pass on the news. One week ago Louis Tillett passed away. Jack and I were with him to the end. We thank Royal Prince Alfred and Concord Hospitals for allowing Jack and I to stay for days and weeks at a time leading up to his passing.
Please remember him as he was, in the words of Hellen Rose, a Cheeky Druid. He brought joy to our pain, light to our darkness, and a good dose of mischief. I have gone to great lengths to make his Music available everywhere possible. I will leave links in the comments for you to find them. Louis has donated his body to Science. There will be no funeral as such. But please stay tuned for news about his Memorial.
Louis Tillett will be remembered as one of the most talented songwriters of the Australian underground scene of the 1980s and ‘90s.
Tillett released nine studio albums and a live recording in a career that started in Sydney in 1977 with an experimental version of the Wet Taxis. That band finally coalesced as a more conventional ‘60s punk-influenced outfit in the mid-1980s and supported an Australian tour by Nico.
A single, “Cmon “, which was a cover of an Atlantics song followed on Hot Records who also released an album, “From The Archives” in1985. Line-up changes and the Rob Younger-produced “Sailors Dreams” 45 on Citadel followed before the band broke up and Tillett went solo.
Side projects like No Dance (with Bretty Myers of Died Pretty and Damien Lovelock of Celibate Rifles)and the live Paris Green preceded the debut solo album, “Ego Tripping at the Gates of Hell”.
Tillett briefly played with Catfish, the side project for Cold Chisel’s Don Walker, before signing with major label imprint Blue Mosque. He collaborated with ex-West Taxis bandmate Penny Ikinger and guitarist Charlie Owen intermittently, and made inroads into Europe.
He was the subject of a documentary in 2000, "A Night At Sea With Louis Tillett".
At times better known in Europe than he was in his home country, Louis struggled with mental health throughout his career. His last studio album, “Soliloquy”, was released in 2006 and he played only intermittently in the years until his death.
