A Farewell to the Quiet Legend: Bernie Marsden
“I am truly heartbroken. Bernie Marsden was the kindest soul. I met him on May 4, 2009 at my Royal Albert Hall debut. A big moment for me. After the show he approached me and was the first person to say ‘Great gig…Hi, my name is Bernie Marsden.’ I was in awe of him as I was in awe that entire day. There would be many wonderful times with Bernie to come. As our friendship has grown over the past 14 years, I have found Bernie to be a great encourager, a confidant, a brilliant writer and most of all…a dear friend. He was “the best of the best” and championed so many young careers while being such a brilliant musician on his own. I never saw him happier than the time we camped out at Abbey Road Studios for a month writing music together for what would become the Royal Tea album. So much talent wrapped up in such a wonderful human being. Humble, kind and larger than life, I will always cherish my time with him and regret the moments we won’t have together. This is such a great loss to me personally and a tremendous loss to the music world. He was a superstar in every imaginable way. My sincerest heartfelt condolences go out to Fran and his family.”
In a world full of egos and flash, Bernie Marsden was an unassuming giant of rock who preferred to let his guitar do the talking. His passing on the 24th of August has left a hole that none could hope to fill, but the legacy of his music will be something that will genuinely echo down generations to come, the songs he wrote and his fretwork loved by countless thousands.
That offers some comfort for the many of us who are feeling this loss deeply, but for anyone who has ever had the privilege of meeting him, the fact that such a warm and generous man was also one of the finest guitar players and songwriters this country has produced, this opportunity to sit down and truly think about Bernie is both heartbreaking and a blessing.
Born on the 7th of May 1951 in Buckingham, the young Bernie had soon been bitten by the bug of rock ‘nʼ roll, the excitement of watching Marty Wilde, Joe Brown and Cliff Richard on the television, something that had him hooked straight away. He had the fortune of seeing some touring artists play locally, and from that moment onwards, his mind was made up about his future path.
Do yourself a favour, put on anything he ever played on, lift a glass and remember the extraordinary man and his music.
Bernie, thank you for it all. You will be forever in our hearts.
Thanks to MetalTalk’s Paul Monkhouse for the kind words regarding our late friend Bernie. Be sure to read the full article here.
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