Steve Fairnie

Stephen Angus Fairnie (died 22 February 1993) was a British musician, artist and actor, the frontman of the post-punk band Writz, and as one half, with Bev Sage, of the 1980s outfit Techno Twins (later just The Technos).

Steve Fairnie, pictured in 1982

Career

Writz became a fixture on the post-punk London scene, headlining at major venues including the Marquee Club.[1]

Writz / Famous Names
Writz, 1980 publicity shot
Writz, 1980 publicity shot
Background information
OriginBristol / London (UK)
GenresNew wave, post-punk, art rock
Years active1978–1981
LabelsElectric Records
Past membersSteve Rowles (vocals & guitar)
Steve Fairnie (vocals)
Bev Sage (vocals)
Jules Hardwick (guitar)
Nick Battle (bass)
Arry Axell (drums)
Websitewww.fairnie.net

Fairnie and Sage continued as the Techno Twins, covering "Falling in Love Again", which charted in 1982, and releasing Swing Together, a Glenn Miller-meets-Marilyn Monroe pastiche. The album Technostalgia followed, and in 1985, as The Technos, Foreign Land—produced, amongst others, by Anne Dudley of Art of Noise—was issued to critical acclaim but minimal sales.[2] In August 1985, the Technos performed their last-ever live show at the Greenbelt festival, an annual Christian event with which they had been heavily involved from its inception more than a decade earlier.[3]

As a fine artist, Fairnie's most prominent pieces were created in the second half of the 1980s to his death in 1993. He also received many commissions to illustrate magazines and books, including for US poet Robert Lax's 24th and 7th.[4]

In 1993, Fairnie died from an asthma attack while on a field trip to Brixham, Devon, with a group of students from Weston-super-Mare College, where he was a lecturer. Despite his limited commercial success ("The thing I hate most about myself is my complete inability to make money.")[5], his contributions to both post-punk and New Romantic music are fondly remembered.

References
  1. Full listing of 1979 Marquee headliners on the official Marquee site Archived 19 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  2. Record label Refuge press release, 1988
  3. Involvement notably referred to by Tom Davies in his 1996 book Landscapes of Glory (SPCK, ISBN 0-281-04908-4)
  4. Stride Publications, 1993, ISBN 1-873012-66-7
  5. Obituary in The Independent, 10 March 1993
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