Charlie Gillett dies

[Banjo99uk]

Sad news today

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8573682.stm

[IrisRose]

Sad and distressing news.   A loss to the world of music.   The Knopfler community will mourn him. 

[koobaa]

Very sad indeed. He was one of the first who fell in love with MK's music and spread the word out.
R.I.P Charlie. Thank you for discovering one of the greatest talents in music.

[sweetsurrender]

Thanks for the link.  what a sad news !!  Just think about this folks, without his playing DS demo tape of SOS, DS might never have been discovered. 

[Best Brown Baggies]

Sad news indeed.
I wonder how the history of Dire Straits would have evolved without his intervention?

Cheers   BBB

[superval99]

I was very sad to hear that Charlie Gillett had died.    RIP Charlie.

[dmg]

Only Charlie would play Sultans due to it's length I believe.  Sad news that he should pass, especially at only 68.

[ingridswing]

Way to young, we owe him our thanks. RIP Charlie

[Love Expresso]

TK has put this link on the MKNews site. It is from BBC The World Today and it contains five minutes of talk with John Illsley about Charlie Gillett. Interesting to listen to. It starts from minute 47:04 and John tells the demo tape story, which is not like I always thought the milk bottle story. Think I've got that story from a german book about Dire Straits... So another legend is destroyed here... Have a listen here:



http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p006nk1t/The_World_Today_20_03_2010/

LE

[man on a track]

LE, you're mixing up two different stories if I'm informed correctly on that.
So don't worry about destroyed legends!

I wonder what happens to Charlie's stacks of reel-to-reel tapes now... Especially THE ONE 

[Pottel]

da demo,...omg...

[sweetsurrender]

without CG playing the demo tape, do you folks think DS would ever have been discovered/ MK music carreer would ever have gotten off the ground ?

IMO, I think MK was at the right place at the right time. LUCKS definitely played a major role in his success.  Correct me if I'm wrong, I believed MK mentioned in one of the interviews that LUCKS had nothing to do with the success.

[man on a track]

I think that quality always finds its way to the light of day - one way or another.
Don't forget that the DS album at first almost flopped in the UK.

But when it comes to the actual hieght of a specific flight I'd agree that luck does play a role, too.

[dustyvalentino]

I think that quality always finds its way to the light of day - one way or another.

Normally, I would say this is the case but in actual fact there are just so many super talented musicians out there who never make it.

I guess however we'll never know!

[dmg]

I think that quality always finds its way to the light of day - one way or another.
Don't forget that the DS album at first almost flopped in the UK.

But when it comes to the actual hieght of a specific flight I'd agree that luck does play a role, too.

A reason for the lack of relative success at the start was possible due to the popularity of punk music at the time but as they say the cream always rises to the top.