Chris in New York, January 2008

We are very sad to hear the news that Chris Sievey died yesterday. Chris, who was recovering from a an operation to remove a tumor, was a true maverick entertainer and someone it was a pleasure to be around. He was exciting company and could always be counted on to come up with a brilliantly daft idea.

Of course, Chris is mostly known for his punk band The Freshies and being the man behind the mask of his bonkers real-life cartoon character Frank Sidebottom.

Chris predated the DIY ethic of punk by starting his own label - Razz in 1974. The label released over 60 titles.  

in 2008 I went to New York with Chris to stay with some mutual friends who had arranged some gigs for Frank Sidebottom. The shows ranged from open mic spots in crap downtown Manhattan bars to a serious electronic noodling performance evening in trendy Williamsburg. Needless to say Frank's eccentric and unruly interpretations from the Manchester classics songbook (and of course his unique renderings of Queen and Elvis Presley hits) forced a mixed reaction from the audiences - some hollerin' and whooping with delight, some stood wide eyed in utter confusion... You either loved Frank or hated him, but believe me Chris understood this very well - he would often say how annoying Frank was, always referring to him in the third person.

Chris was an eternal child, full of youthful vigor and with a burning ambition to have fun and enjoy himself.

One drunken Manhattan evening, after we had visited some toy shops and lost a few hours spending our dollars on the jukebox and beer in some dark bar, we stumbled out onto a Lower East Side pavement. We had bought some rubber bouncy balls which we pulled out of our pockets and threw hard across the street, trying to catch them when they bounced back off the opposite red brick wall. Only one or two balls at first, but soon there were a dozen or so rubber balls flying in every direction, randomly bouncing from walls, windows, the rooves of yellow cabs, hurtling from lamposts - everywhere - causing mass confusion on the pavement as drinkers ducked and dodged the soft bouncing missiles. Chris was having a whale of a time - he was in his element.

Chris played down his cancer telling friends that it wasn't going to be fatal and that he was having the tumor removed and he would soon be back to his usual, youthful self. At the time of writing it is unclear as to what caused Chris to collapse at his Hale home whilst recovering from the operation.

He will be sadly missed. Our thoughts are with his family and loved ones. Some good old fun has been removed from mine, and many people's lives. If there was ever someone who could be described as 'too young to die', that was Chris Sievey.

Mat. 22 June 2010.

http://rockhall.com/inductees/the-hollies/bio/

On March 15, 2010 The Hollies were inducted into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

After leaving The Hollies, Nash co-formed the hugely popular Crosby, Stills and Nash. He also became a photographer. Many of his superb photos capture his life with his musical friends and colleagues of the time such as Neil Young and his then girlfriend Joni Mitchell. Many of these photographs were on display at The Richard Goodall Gallery, Manchester in 2004 - the exhibition opened in person by Nash himself.

MDMArchive filmed an interview with Graham and found him thoroughly amiable and best of all, he loved the idea of the Archive and offered to help in any way he could.