Hippie hero Arthur Lee dies aged 61
Duncan Campbell
Saturday August 5, 2006
The Guardian
One of the central figures of the 60s psychedelic rock scene, Arthur Lee of the Love, has died in Memphis at the age of 61. After surviving drug problems and a spell in jail for firearms offences, the singer finally succumbed to leukaemia after a long battle with the disease.
The news spread swiftly yesterday over the internet among Lee and Love's hardcore base of loyal fans, some of whom had first come across the singer when the band was formed in 1965 in Los Angeles. "Arthur Lee died with his wife, Diane, by his side," said his manager, Mark Linn, on a fan website. "This is still very much a shock for me, as I had hoped Arthur would recover."
With its trademark logo in familiar wavy psychedelic lettering, Love was associated with the innovative music of California, at a time when the Byrds, the Mamas and the Papas, and the Doors were flourishing.
Lee, who once described himself as "the first so-called black hippie", was born in Tennessee but moved with his family to Los Angeles as a child.
The band with which he found fame was initially called Grass Roots but became Love, which fitted the mood of the time, to avoid confusion with another group of the same name. Like a number of other bands of the time, they used several different musical styles. They had an early hit with My Little Red Book from their first album, Love.
Its 1968 third album, Forever Changes - with A House is Not a Motel and Alone Again Or - brought them greatest critical kudos and still appears on many musicians' and rock writers' favourites lists. He drifted out of the music business in the 1970s but returned with new musicians in the 80s and 90s and would play Forever Changes live in its entirety with a full orchestral backing.
Lee was convicted on drugs-related charges in the 80s.
This came back to haunt him in 1996 when he fired a gun into the air after an argument with a neighbour. He was given an automatic jail sentence of eight to 12 years under California's draconian three-strikes laws.
Released in 2001, he resumed his music career with different musicians before being diagnosed with leukaemia. Several musicians, including Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin, played benefit concerts for him when it became clear how serious his illness was. He was also the subject of a biography, Arthur Lee: Alone Again Or, by the music writer, Barney Hoskyns.
