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'Steve Fairnie'
Steve Fairnie was an influential 1970s-1980s British artist who excelled in fields ranging from music to fine art, acting and performance art to chicken hypnotism.
Biographical information
Born in Fraserburgh, Scotland in 1951, the third child of a North Sea fisherman who had become an evangelical minister, Steve Fairnie settled with his family in Bristol in the 1960s. After spending a number of pivotal years of his life in London with his wife Bev sage, the couple moved back to Bristol in the mid-1980s to bring up their two children. In 1993, Fairnie died from an asthma attack.
Fish Co, Writz and Famous Names
Steve Fairnie's first musical venture was a light-hearted gospel acoustic duo called Fish Co, formed with singing and songwriting partner Steve Rowles. A first album, the happy-go-lucky 'Can't Be Bad' was released in 1975, followed by the darker 'Beneath The Laughter' in 1978. The latter featured a full band formation, most of whom formed the nucleus of subsequent musical formations: guitarist Jules Hardwick, bassist Nick Battle, drummer Arry Axell and vocalist Bev Sage, who also happened to be Fairnie's wife. In an attempt to break into the secular music scene, the band re-branded itself as Writz, and became a fixture on the London scene in the 1970s, headlining at legendary venues including the Marquee. Despite their rapidly-growing following, outright commercial success was elusive. 1979 single 'Night Nurse' (produced by 10cc's Kevin Godley and Lol Creme) was a minor hit and was followed by the album 'Writz'. The band - now Famous Names - played a bit-part in the Dennis Potter LWT production 'Cream In My Coffee'. The band's spectacular live show was a draw throughout the UK and elsewhere, but by 1981, the Famous Names set-up had run its course. Some of the musicians took up regular day-jobs, others stayed in the music business, and lighting designer Peter 'Willie' Williams went on to become an integral part of the U2 entourage, handling stage design for all their live show including the legendary Zoo TV, Popmart and Vertigo extravaganzas.
Techno Twins, the Technos and Casualtease
In 1981, Fairnie and Sage branched out as a duo, achieving minor chart success as the Techno Twins with their 1982 cover of 'Falling In Love Again' and a Glenn Miller-meets-Marilyn Monroe pastiche 'Swing Together'. The album Technostalgia was released, and in 1985, as The Technos, 'Foreign Land' was issued to critical acclaim but achieved disappointing sales. The title track was released as a single in the wake of the album but sank without trace, save for some specialist chart success in the USA. In August 1985, the Technos performed their last-ever live show at the Greenbelt Christian music festival, an annual event with which they had been heavily involved from its inception more than a decade earlier. After a three-year hiatus, the Technos' final album 'Songs for a Nervous World' was released by an independent American label. Parallel to their Technos output, Fairnie and Sage formed the avant-garde performance art collective Casualtease. As well as a Casualtease album, credited to the Techno Orchestra, there were sporadic outbursts of Casualtease productions throughout the 1980s.
Art
Steve Fairnie was an accomplished fine artist, initially studying in Stoke-on-Trent, before being admitted to the prestigious Royal College of Art in London, emerging with a Masters degree in Sculpture after some seven years of studies. His most prominent pieces were created in the second half of the 1980s to his death in 1993. His work hints at the suffering of his childhood, spent in and out of hospital. Light, space, doors, ladders, the sense that there is always a way out: all were recurring themes in his art. The crown was another, celebrating not only the king but also the queen. And his ultimate trademark was a ubiquitous circle-cross combination. Fairnie's work was met with great critical acclaim during his lifetime, particularly during an exhibition entitled 'Houseworks - Home Is Where The Art Is' with RCA contemporary Mark Dunhill (that batch of graduates also included now-celebrated sculptor Tony Cragg). He also received many commissions to illustrate magazines and books, the most poignant example being that from the publishers of US poet Robert Lax (1915-2000) for his poem '24th and 7th'. Fairnie created the nine postcard-sized pieces in the two weeks between the funeral of a close friend and his own death.
Hype, The Kid, Charlie Chaplin lookalike and chicken hypnotism
Other maverick projects included the board game 'Hype', conceived and designed in partnership with Peter 'Willie' Williams, and billed upon completion as 'the only board game with all the slime and grime of the music business'. Fairnie also starred in a silent TV comedy series called 'The Kid', broadcast by the BBC in 1986. He was a part-time Charlie Chaplin lookalike and travelled the world on a variety of assignments - including some of the famous 1980s IBM newspaper ads and a shoot in Japan, where he was asked to stand 10 feet underwater, weighed down with lead, to model clothing. Finally, Fairnie was an accomplished chicken hypnotist, to the delight of bewildered crowds and journalists pleased to be spoon-fed good copy!