Chris McKay/Getty ImagesAndy Gill, cofounder and guitarist of Gang of Four, is dead at 64. According to his obituary, which was published by The Guardian, the musician came down with pneumonia.
While Gang of Four never reached critical success, the band carved its name into England’s post-punk/new wave scene in the ’70s and ’80s, and is also widely credited for influencing acts such as the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Rage Against the Machine, Nirvana‘s Kurt Cobain, U2, R.E.M.‘s Michael Stipe and Franz Ferdinand.
Gill’s radical and jagged guitar style is heavily featured in the band’s albums Entertainment! and Solid Gold, as well as singles “At Home He’s a Tourist,” “Damaged Goods,” “What We All Want,” “I Love a Man in a Uniform” and others. Gang of Four had its biggest U.S. chart success with “Is It Love?,” which reached #9 on Billboard‘s Dance Club Songs tally in 1983.
In an interview with Vintage Guitar, Gill broke down what made the band’s sound so unique, “I think of the Gang of Four approach as the band is the instrument. The guitar isn’t the instrument; the band is the instrument being played. Many of the guitar parts in those songs, if you try and play it on its own, for the most part, it doesn’t make a whole heap of sense. It’s completely dependent on a symbiotic relationship with the other elements.”
Gill produced a variety of critically acclaimed albums, such as the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ 1984 self-titled debut album along with Killing Joke‘s eponymous 2003 album and The Stranglers‘ Written in Red. He also produced albums for Therapy?, The Futureheads, The Young Knives, Polysics, late INXS singer Michael Hutchence and Fight Like Apes.
Gill is survived by his wife, journalist Catherine Mayer, whom he married in 1999.
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