AUSTRALIA: Grant McLennan, a founder of the literate and bittersweet band the Go-Betweens, which had lately experienced one of pop music's rare Indian summers, died on Saturday at his Brisbane home in Australia. He was 48.
While there has not yet been an official cause of death, friends speculate that a heart attack was responsible.
Robert Vickers, the band's former bassist, says McLennan went to lie down while setting up for a party. "When people started to arrive they went to wake him up, and they couldn't wake him up."
The Go-Betweens, described by the All Music Guide as "the quintessential cult band of the '80s", released six albums during their initial run, including 16 Lovers Lane".
While the group never dominated the charts, it had modest hits with the songs Spring Rain and Streets of Your Town, acclaim from critics, kind words from U2 and a spot opening for REM before breaking up at the end of 1989.
McLennan, the cherubic, easy-going member of the songwriting pair which he comprised with Robert Forster, made several country-influenced solo records afterwards.
"Grant McLennan's songs have a wistfulness that always reminds me of afternoon sunlight," said Los Angeles Times pop music critic Ann Powers on Monday. "His melodic sense and inherent sweetness perfectly complements Robert Forster's edginess in the Go-Betweens. It's terrible that he's left the world just as the band is finally getting some of the attention they always deserved."
Upon their reunion in 2000, the pair inspired a new generation and made some of the most celebrated music of their careers. Their first reunion album, The Friends of Rachel Worth, was backed by the band Sleater-Kinney, and Scotland's Belle and Sebastian wrote a song of tribute.
Forster, who told the Australian press that his old bandmate was as happy as he'd ever seen him, says the group will not continue without him.
McLennan is survived by his mother, sister, brother, girlfriend and a son.