Simon Brint

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Simon Brint
Born(1950-09-26)26 September 1950
High Ham, Somerset, England
Died29 May 2011(2011-05-29) (aged 60)
OccupationMusician

Simon Tracey Brint (26 September 1950 – 29 May 2011) was a British musician, best known for his role as part of the comedy duo Raw Sex with Rowland Rivron. He also composed for many British TV comedy and drama programmes.

Early life

Son of Stephen Brint and Anne Tracey (née Watts), Simon Brint was born in

Oscar-winning short A Shocking Accident in 1982.[1]

Career

In the late 1970s, he began working regularly at the

Hippies (which he also sang the theme tune to), Absolutely Fabulous, 2point4 Children (writing the song 'Age' performed by Gary Olsen), music and dozens of songs for multiple incarnations of The Lenny Henry Show, all of Alexei Sayle's TV work, Comic Relief (on which he was resident composer), A Bit of Fry & Laurie (producing all of Hugh Laurie's songs for the fourth and final series), the comedy special Tracey Ullman: A Class Act, the musical episodes of Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps, Lazarus and Dingwall and Murder Most Horrid, as well as TV drama including London's Burning and Monarch of the Glen.[1]

As an actor, he appeared in several episodes of The Comic Strip Presents (his biggest role being that of a doctor in the episode Queen of the Wild Frontier), the film

Girls on Top
(as half of 'Shelley's People'), and four series and one special of French and Saunders, in which he played various roles as a member of the supporting cast in addition to his regular role as Ken Bishop and occasional appearances as himself. He also appeared on-screen with Rivron in the final ever episode of A Bit of Fry and Laurie, providing the rhythm section for Hugh Laurie's "A Sophisticated Song".

Brint and Rivron created a Raw Sex feature film, the

partially-improvised comedy There's No Business..., which was released on VHS in 1994, starring Brint as Ken Bishop. The duo ceased to appear on the French and Saunders series from the 1994 special onwards (their role having been gradually decreased by incoming producer Jon Plowman
), but Brint continued to provide music until the show ended in 2009 and his singing voice (occasionally as Ken) was frequently heard. His last TV appearance as Ken Bishop was on the 1998 documentary First on Four.

Though most of Brint's musical work remained commercially unreleased, a few items appeared in shops. A 1999 EMI Gold compilation of London's Burning soundtrack cues included his work for the series, and in 2001, BBC Music released a dedicated compilation of his work for Monarch of the Glen. Additionally, his themes for Bottom and the Joanna Lumley series Girl Friday turned up on the compilation album The Best of British Television. As a producer for other artists, he oversaw Victoria Wood's single "The Smile Song" (released in 1991 as the B-side of Hale and Pace's "The Stonk"), and the debut EP of Ella Edmondson. There were unfinished attempts at assaulting shop shelves too – 1992 saw an aborted attempt to release "Christmas Is Charity" in time for that year's Christmas charts, a comedy single produced by Brint and co-written with Charlie Higson and performed by Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse as characters Smashie and Nicey. In 1990, the majority of work for Raw Sex: The Album was completed for Sony BMG, featuring assorted guest comedians performing assorted cover songs with the band, but the project was shelved. In his autobiography, Rowland Rivron attributes the cancellation to BMG's UK operations concentrating almost entirely on marketing Take That.

Later years

In 2004, Brint helped set up a charity, Action for Music, to help undiscovered musicians in

The One Ronnie
in 2010.

Death

On 29 May 2011 at the age of 60, Brint took his own life.[1] The news was made public the following month via social networks by several of his friends and colleagues. He was survived by his wife, Amanda (née Cockerton). They had been married since 2003.[1]

Describing him as a "celebrated nonconformist", comedian Adrian Edmondson wrote of Brint:[1]

"He had a phenomenal gift for interpreting mood through music, and an innate sense of humour which never let the music intrude on any jokes. It was a difficult trick to pull off, but it suited his particular style of creativity, a magpie talent for collecting lots of references and making them into something entirely new that made you appreciate things in a different way."

References

  1. ^
    Edmondson, Ade (27 June 2011). "Simon Brint obituary". The Guardian
    . London. Retrieved 29 July 2018.
  2. ^ "Raw Sex star Simon Brint dies aged 61". BBC News. 20 June 2011.

External links

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