To whom it may concern.
Bryan Glancy is a singer songwriter of the very highest order. He is the first human to receive a posthumous Mercury Award. Strangely little is known of him.
In the painful days after his sudden and unwanted death, his family graciously allowed this blog to be set up and a small proportion of the lives that Bryan touched have left their personal memories of a truly significant human being. No two postings are the same because Bryan was many things to many people and that creates a whole lot of Bryans. It's a great read.
An LP is waiting in the wings to scorch into the Mercury betting stakes. "First two times recipient of the Mercury" "Bryan Glancy" "Odds 1,000,000,000 to 1 win" In my book that is looking quite tasty. Stranger things have happened. Ask anybody from Alan Turing to Chas Rigby.
To be honest in my book he's odds on to win.
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Please send your memories and stories to bryaninfo@gmail.com
Wednesday, July 04, 2012
The Day before the The Day
Sunday, June 17, 2012
David Gray
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Please send your memories and stories to bryaninfo@gmail.com
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Monday, May 03, 2010
Sandy Kilpatrick
In 2000, when my time in Manchester was coming to an end (although I didn’t know it at the time) Bryan used to come and visit me while I was working in the little Waterstones in the Royal Exchange Theatre. I loved that, in the morning, no customers, a mild hangover and a mocha and a wee blether with Bryan. It was 10 years ago, so don’t expect me to go into many details, or, let me say, don’t expect me to be too rigorous with the accuracy. What I do remember is that we had some God talk at that time; he was going through a difficult time, having recently lost his father, and inherited some money. It was the first time really I was faced with that sad conundrum of having your poverty relieved by the death of a loved one. He was sad and flush at the same time, and a very touching person.
Just after I launched the first single with Sleepwalker we had a residency in the Night and Day, where we played with a few bands that we had asked to play with us. One of them was an acoustic outfit called The Rio 6, and they were led by Matt, a friend of Bryan’s. When we were backstage Bryan was with them and they seemed to have this kind of love cult thing going on, all talking in tongues and group hugs. I wasn’t sure what was going on to be honest, but I loved that kind of thing, still do, that kind of whacked out on the edge love and sentimentality - it kind of defined Bryan for me, in a way. I think it’s really apparent in my favourite song of his, ‘My Love’ – because the way he sang that line with his droll Manc drawl, he really made it his. His Love.
He was so full of love and positivity and sadness at the same time, but he also had that endearing boy-about-town kind of edge. The last time I saw him perform it was supporting David Gray in the Academy – they were good friends, and David’s star was in the ascendency, so it was a good opportunity for Bryan to play a few songs. I’ll never forget seeing him that night. But perhaps the image that stays with me best is standing outside the Night and Day one Wednesday afternoon watching him drive down Oldham Street on one of those ridiculous motorized scooters. And I don’t mean a scooter like a Vespa (although a Vespa would have suited him more I think), I mean a scooter like you had when you were nine. But motorized. He looked really comical, like he was having a laugh playing with the sense of cool, and I loved that about him too. He didn’t seem to worry too much about that shit. He had the talent to live his life the way he wanted to, and document that. Yep, he was a lovely guy that Bryan Glancy, it was privilege to have known him.