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Nigel Watson passed away in 2019
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how sad - r.i.p. nigel, and thanks for everything you did for peter!
(strange that this went without notice - even wikipedia doesn't mention it at the time of writing this.) |
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Thanks for posting this, Dino!
I did a google search only a few weeks ago to find out whatever happened to NW, but I found nothing. From the link you provided, it seems he had a bit of a rough time the last years of his life. Roger Cotton died in 2016. Pete Stroud is still active. From what I can see on FB Larry Tolfree is looking good and happily retired. -Daniel Last edited by dansven; 05-30-2020 at 03:22 PM.. |
#4
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Anyone around remember the threads getting removed on here when the lawyers stepped in to apparently protect Peter from Nigel? We weren't even allowed to discuss it. Think that was back in Marty's days? For the record, I actually really liked Nigel's music. Most people seem to think he was boring but I enjoyed his splinter group stuff.
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were financial things at play? was nigel accused of ripping off peter or upstageing him or pushing him too much into work? i was certainly surprised when i saw the splinter group in concert and nigel played what originally were peter's guitar phrases and solos - and very well so. i was in front of the stage, so i saw who played what. but as the stage was rather low and the house was packed, people in the rear half of the club could see nothing more than the musicians' heads - they were absolutely convinced that peter miraculously had regained his style and playing ability from the days of old again. no wonder they were raving with thunderous applause and i'd heard some say "unbelievable - he's back on his zenith!". so i have to say nigel was a talented guitarist indeed. anyway i'd be interested in what was to cause such a sad ending. |
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From the Ledge 15 years ago:
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Last edited by chriskisn; 06-02-2020 at 08:10 PM.. |
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From the Mail on Sunday back in 2004
"Rock legend told to ditch his band - by order of his Government minders ONE of Britain's greatest music legends is at the centre of an extraordinary wrangle over his career and private life. Friends of troubled Fleetwood Mac founder Peter Green say a Government-run legal body which controls his money wants to break up the band credited with rescuing him from obscurity. Members of the Peter Green Splinter Group insist only they can look after him and nurture his talent. But Green's family says officials are acting in his best interests and protecting him from people who want to profit from him financially. Now there are fears that the guitarist could be plunged back into the drugs and mental health nightmare that nearly killed him a decade ago. Fans were shocked when the Public Guardianship Office decided Green, 57, should leave the group. It claimed he was in danger from another band member and insisted he was better off without them. But the move appeared to have backfired this month after Green's first solo outing was panned by critics. And The Mail on Sunday reveals today how Green's career is again in doubt, amid claims that the PGO, controlled by Lord Chancellor Charles Falconer's Constitutional Affairs Department, 'kidnapped' Green to keep him away from the band. Born in Bethnal Green, East London, Peter Green shot to stardom in the Sixties as Fleetwood Mac's lead guitarist. His compositions, such as Albatross and Black Magic Woman, were hits worldwide. As recently as 1996, Mojo magazine voted him one of the top three rock guitarists of all time, alongside Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton. But Green loathed his success. Turning to drugs, he became increasingly unstable. He left the band in 1970 and became a hermit. In 1977 he was arrested after threatening his accountant with a rifle for trying to give him a royalty cheque. Diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, Green spent several years in and out of mental institutions where he was given electric shock treatment. When lifelong friend and fellow guitarist Nigel Watson tracked him down in the Nineties, Green's fingernails were six inches long and he was unable to play a note. Watson nursed him back to health and taught him to play guitar again. In 1996 the pair formed Splinter Group, which has recorded four albums and performed nearly 1,000 concerts, all to widespread acclaim. Watson protected the deeply introverted Green on and off stage. It was Watson who arranged for his affairs to be handed to the PGO, an official body set up to safeguard the financial interests of the infirm or mentally ill. It pays Green £250 a week and invests the rest of his £30,000-a-year earnings. Green is said to have complained to friends about the PGO's control. 'He said they wouldn't even let him buy a new guitar,' said one. Now the PGO has turned the tables on Watson and obtained an injunction banning him from contact with Green or speaking publicly about the musician. However, last week, the High Court threw out its bid to keep the dispute secret. Watson's friends believe the PGO wants to launch Green as a major star and help him earn another fortune. But they say that will lead to a repeat of his breakdown. Green disappeared in December after the PGO announced he was leaving Splinter Group. Friends tracked him to Sweden, where he had been for three months with the agency's full knowledge. The PGO said it acted to safeguard the guitarist, but some claim it 'kidnapped' him to break his links with the band. 'Peter cannot cope on his own,' said a friend. 'Nigel is the only person who understands him and his music, and the group takes care of all his needs. 'Separating them is cruel and could be dangerous. He doesn't want to be rich, he just wants to play guitar.' Manager Arthur Anderson said:'The PGO won't tell us where he is. We're desperately worried.' The agency's actions have been defended by Green's older brother Michael, a guitar tutor who lives in Peacehaven, East Sussex. 'It was Peter's decision to leave the band,' he said. 'He was unhappy and getting stressed.' And a PGO spokesman said: 'The Public Guardianship Office has a statutory duty to act in the best interests of its clients, who are vulnerable people. We cannot talk about individual cases and have a duty to maintain confidentiality at all times.'
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#8
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It was a sad end to Nigel's musical career, and I don't think we heard much about him after that.
He certainly did have a decent talent, and it was probably wasted being a builder/carpenter (thought he may well have been talented at that too).
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#9
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thank you so much, chriskisn - all of this has escaped me completely!
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#10
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RIP Nigel Watson.
Everything I've read and seen makes me think he genuinely had good intentions and was indeed a good friend to Peter. That 2003 article even says it was Nigel who initially set up the PGO. It's a shame (and perplexing) the Man of the World documentary some years ago didn't delve into that period. Perhaps it couldn't for legal reasons. I might be off the mark, but I'd be less trusting of his sister. I don't know how much of an involvement she had with Peter in the 2000's. On another matter, that article references £30,000 a year earnings. I do hope that doesn't include royalties. I had imagined PG would be taking in much more than that.
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As for Michele Davis/Reynolds or whatever her name is, I guess the history is certainly there in terms of Clifford Davis. Didn't she get the rights to Peter's music after divorcing Clifford? Speculation again though. Despite the £30,000 a year earnings, there was one interview in Splinter Group days when it was mentioned that Peter arrived in a Jaguar (although that may have been Nigel's?). It is another one of those FM stories where we won't know the truth and everyone will have their own version of the truth anyway. Oh and an old interview off of the net I was just reading: http://www.musicdish.com/mag/?id=4778
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#12
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It sounds like those were interesting conversations.If the old threads were still on the system I would restore them. A gag order binds people under the court’s jurisdiction. In that case, the partIt’s to the lawsuit. It would have no effect on fan conversations.
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#13
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Bob Welch and I corresponded about how it seemed awfully convenient that the woman who got the rights in the divorce was now the manager. It smacked of puppet mastering.
That said, Mich seemed nice enough when I saw the SG. Didn’t they get Dave Walker right after Pete left?
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On and on it will always be, the rhythm, rhyme, and harmony. THE Stephen Hopkins |
#14
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I wish Mick would just say definitively that the group does not exist anymore. Then we can edit Wikipedia and get rid of all this crap about the surviving members of the 2018-19 lineup comprising a current configuration. Thanks to Mick and all erstwhile members for the good times. |
#15
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I think Steve might be referencing the period after Peter left the Splinter Group. Nigel Watson did contribute to a Dave Walker album when SG folded. I'm not sure whether Mich Reynolds had any involvement in that though and I don't know whether Nigel was a leading figure in that album/band.
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'Where words fail, music speaks' Mick Fleetwood |
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