Legendary Birmingham rock n roller who was more Keef than Keef, Dave Kusworth has died at the age of 60. With his hats and scarves he epitomised the rock n roll glimmer twins dream but he could back it up with an immense gift for melodic song writing couched in the guitar strewn rock n roll of the Jacobites with Nikki Sudden in the early eighties or eventually on his own trail of great records.
Dave Kusworth, of Jacobites, TV Eye, Rag Dolls and other groups, has died at age 60. Details are scarce, but partner Anouschkat Elspass confirmed the sad new via Kusworth’s Facebook, writing, “I am heartbroken Dave the Love of my life, my soulmate, my lover and best friend has passed away in his sleep.”
Jacobites were formed by Nikki Sudden and Kusworth when their bands, Swell Maps and the Subterranean Hawks, broke up. (Sudden’s brother and Swell Maps drummer Epic Soundtracks was also in Jacobites.) Co-leading the band, Jacobites’ music was full of warm, romantic swagger, owing to Rolling Stones, Dylan and Velvet Underground. (Around the same time, Kusworth also played briefly played in glam rock band The Dogs D’Amour.) Jacobites‘ mid-’80s albums were originally released on UK label Glass but Twin-Tone released a best-of 1986, and Numero Group reissued their classic 1984 self-titled debut and 1985’s Robespierre’s Velvet Basement in 2013.
When Jacobites ended Kusworth continued to make records on his own with The Bounty Hunters and The Tenterhooks. Nikki Sudden died in 2006, and Epic Soundtracks died in 1997.
Read tributes to Dave from Teenage Fanclub’s Norman Blake, The Auteurs’ Luke Haines, The Lilac Time and more — and listen to some classic Jacobites
