RETROSPECTIVE – The Disappearance of Richey Edwards

When in November 2008 it was announced that former Manic Street Preachers guitarist Richey Edwards had been declared ‘presumed dead’ by the courts it brought an end to almost fourteen years of desperation and hope and marked the start of a new chapter for the family and friends of the troubled musician. Over the years countless myths have surrounded the fate of Edwards, who was twenty-seven when he vanished on the eve of his band’s American tour, shortly after the release of their third album, the bleak masterpiece The Holy Bible. His battles with depression and anorexia had been well documented in both the press and his lyrics, yet his sudden disappearance shocked the music industry and was immediately followed by tributes from artists, critics and his devoted fans.

His final live performance had taken place at London’s Astoria on December 21 1994, the last of three dates at the venue before the band were to take a break over the Christmas holidays. Shortly after the New Year, Manic Street Preachers made their way to House in the Woods in Surrey, where they had begun rehearsals for their fourth album. Following the five-day practice, Edwards handed a folder containing lyrics to his bandmates and they all went their separate ways for some much-needed rest before their upcoming tour. Having disappeared for several days, Edwards suddenly reappeared with a shaved head and was reportedly upset by the death of his dog, Snoopy. Soon afterwards, he was spotted by a friend at a gig in Newport, Wales, who would later claim that the guitarist looked depressed. On January 31 the four members of the band had met once again to work on demos for their next album and then later that evening Edwards and singer James Dean Bradfield had checked in at the Embassy Hotel on Bayswater Road in London.

Having passed up the chance to watch a movie at the cinema with Bradfield, Edwards remained locked in his room for the remainder of the evening. The following morning, he wrapped up a parcel for a close friend and then left behind his Prozac on the bed, before leaving the hotel at 7am and heading back to Cardiff, where he had recently bought a flat. When he was unable to locate Edwards later that morning, Martin Hall, the band’s manager, became concerned for his welfare due to his history with depression and self-mutilation and began to phone around family and friends. Hall contacted the police the morning after and filed a missing person report, whilst also cancelling their US and European tour dates. His disappearance was eventually announced to the press on February 15, two weeks after he was last seen, in the hope that this would prompt him to contact them. His father, Graham Edwards, also made an appeal on BBC Radio One for his son to return home but his whereabouts remained unknown.

One suspicious piece of information that was discovered was that each day for two weeks prior to the incident Edwards had been drawing out £200 and had left his credit card at home. On February 16 his vehicle, a silver Cavalier, was found abandoned at a service station near Severn Bridge in Gloucestershire, a notorious location for suicides. There was evidence that the car had been slept in and the battery was flat and the police immediately began searching the water for a body. It was only a matter of days before sighting of Edwards were revealed, although one of the most promising was from a taxi driver who claimed to have given a man matching his description a ride to several train stations, before eventually dropping him off near the bridge. The driver did not report the event until February 23, however, having read about his disappearance in the newspaper.

The disappearance of Edwards had come just ten months after the suicide of Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain, who had also been just twenty-seven when he had taken his own life. It has long been noted that many popular musicians had died at the same age, such as Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and Jim Morrison. Myths began to build up around the story of Edwards, with many rumours indicating that he had changed his identity and relocated to America or India. When a body washed up on Beachy Head in Eastbourne, East Sussex some time later, his family had feared that the search was finally over. It took three months before the surviving members called a meeting to discuss the fate of the band. In attendance was their manager, as well as Edwards’ parents, and by the end of the discussions it was decided that they would continue working on what was to have been their follow-up to The Holy Bible. Although they would use some of the lyrics left by Edwards, the band also worked on several new tracks, the first being their comeback single A Design for Life.

Retreating to France to work on the album, recording sessions for what was to become Everything Must Go would result in the band’s most acclaimed work to date, with A Design for Life debuting in April 1996. Following shows supporting Oasis, whose second album (What’s the Story) Morning Glory? had propelled them to the front of the Britpop scene, Manic Street Preachers embarked on an acclaimed tour in support of their Everything Must Go, without giving thought to hiring a second guitarist. Although their subsequent four albums would strongly divide both critics and their fanbase (particularly their 1998 album This is My Truth, Tell Me Yours which, whilst featuring their first number one single, was a rather mediocre affair), the band returned to the lyrics that Edwards had left behind for their 2009 release Journal for Plague Lovers.

Produced by both Dave Eringa (whom they had worked with several times before) and Steve Albini (of Pixies and Nirvana fame), the album saw them distancing themselves from their more commercial sound and closer to the rawness of The Holy Bible. In 2008, shortly before the recording of Journal for Plague Lovers, a court that had ruled that Edwards had been declared as presumed dead. His family had been given the right to declare him dead in 2002 after Edwards had been missing for seven years but they had declined. The remaining band members have been placing a quarter of the royalties from Manic Street Preachers into an account on the chance that he may one day return.

Richard James Edwards would have turned forty-three on December 22.

See larger image National Treasures: Complete Singles (Audio CD) List Price: $26.98 USD New From: $15.27 In Stock Used from: $20.36 In Stock Release date November 8, 2011.