Last year, veteran UK keyboardist Martin Duffy died after suffering brain injury from a fall at his home. Duffy was 55. He’d played with bands like Felt and the Charlatans, but he spent most of his career in Primal Scream. He started out as a contributing musician and then as a full member of the band beginning in 1989. Duffy was still playing in Primal Scream shortly before his death, and front man Bobby Gillespie wrote movingly about Duffy after his passing. Duffy’s son Louie has written a detailed statement claiming that the band economically exploited Duffy for years and that they showed no concern for his wellbeing.
As The Argus reports, the 19-year-old Louie Duffy has written a witness statement in response to an inquest into Martin Duffy’s death. In his seven-page statement, Louie writes that his father’s 30 years in Primal Scream “might lead people to believe that he was a wealthy man, but this is not the case at all. My Dad died in debt, and I know how badly this affected him in the last year of his life.”
Louie says that Martin Duffy was once an “equal member” or Primal Scream but that the band- mostly Bobby Gillespie and Andrew Innes- “gradually cut out from getting any songwriting credits, then touring and merchandise profits, eventually just being paid per gig.” Louie writes that his father struggled with alcoholism and prostate cancer. He writes about his father’s difficulty when returning to the band post-lockdown while recovering from a cancer treatment; the treatment being performed while “in agony” because of a terrible catheter.
Last year, Louie Duffy writes, Martin Duffy learned that Primal Scream cut him out of a huge financial fortune:
“He read in the press that the band had sold half of their back catalogue to BMG — for what turned out to be five million pounds — and he didn’t receive a penny. He wasn’t consulted or even talked about it. Dad had played on every Primal Scream album — had songwriting on at least two — but still the band chose not to offer him the opportunity to get his share, at a time when they knew he really needed financial help.
Although he only had a comparatively small amount of publishing, if he had been included in this sale it would have been life-changing for Dad. He could have cleared the debt he had built up during lockdown and been able to pay off some of the mortgage, relieving him of all his money worries. When he asked about it, he was told by his manager — who is also the band’s manager — that ‘it wouldn’t be worth his solicitor’s fees pursuing it.’ Dad’s interests were never properly managed on his behalf.”
Louie Duffy claims that his father’s health declined after he was forced off a Primal Scream tour for drinking, and that he believes his father “just gave up.” After Martin Duffy’s death, Louie says he heard from Bobby Gillespie and Andrew Innes, but contact had stopped. He points out the disconnect between Gillespie’s politics and his treatment of Duffy.
“I’ve seen on Instagram how Bobby Gillespie is always urging everyone to support the strikers — fair pay for the workers — and there is nothing wrong with that, Dad supported the strikers too, but not if at the same time you aren’t paying your own bandmate of over 30 years even a small share of the tour profits to make his life easier. As the band got older, they did less touring and more one-off gigs which meant Dad was getting paid less and less, only earning around £40k a year for playing with Primal Scream, not a lot for someone with his talent and experience.”
You can read the whole account here.
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