RIP - Nikki Sudden?

Rumors circulating today that the very great Nikki Sudden passed away last night in Berlin. Apologies if it turns out to be incorrect, I haven't seen it on Google yet.

Swell Maps frontman Nikki Sudden died Saturday after a show at New York's Knitting Factory, Billboard.com has learned. He was 49. No cause of death has been made public yet, according to Secretly Canadian label head Chris Swanson, whose company reissued 10 of Sudden's albums in recent years.

Always a prolific artist, Sudden has just completed a new solo album, "The Truth Doesn't Matter," and has a gig booked in London on Wednesday (March 29) with his band the Jacobites. According to a post from longtime group member Dave Kusworth on Sudden's MySpace.com page, the show will go off as planned in memoriam to Sudden.

"Nikki Sudden believed in rock'n'roll -- and how hard was that in this cold new millennium?," Kusworth wrote.

Sudden rose to fame with his brother Epic Soundtracks in Swell Maps, a late 1970s rock combo that has remained influential despite its brief lifespan. Soundtracks died of unknown causes in 1997.


According to Secretly Canadian, Sudden was nearing completion on his autobiography, "The Last Bandit."


good obituary: [newyorknighttrain.com]



Post Edited (03-27-06 12:27)

This just kills me...I know he's not particularly well regarded around Trouser Press way, but I came to love his music the last couple of years, and I think it's just a damn shame that he died so young (like his equally talented brother Epic Soundtracks). Oh well, at least he left plenty of music behind for fans to enjoy.

Please help me. Did Nikki and Joey Head ever play together?

jowe head?

yup