Gary Price RIP
I'm sorry to hear that Gary Price, a former colleague of mine at BBC Wales and Radio Cardiff, has died at the age of 64 following a period of illness.
He was one of my favourite radio presenters who communicated his great knowledge and love of soul, jazz, blues and more with style and panache.
Gary had been active in radio in Cardiff for more than thirty years - I met him at BBC Radio Wales where he was the producer for the original incarnation of my Jazz Connection series.
He later joined community station Radio Cardiff after its launch in autumn 2007 where his experience and expertise proved to be great assets.
Gary will be sadly missed - feel free to add your own words of tribute to this page.
He was one of my favourite radio presenters who communicated his great knowledge and love of soul, jazz, blues and more with style and panache.
Gary had been active in radio in Cardiff for more than thirty years - I met him at BBC Radio Wales where he was the producer for the original incarnation of my Jazz Connection series.
He later joined community station Radio Cardiff after its launch in autumn 2007 where his experience and expertise proved to be great assets.
Gary will be sadly missed - feel free to add your own words of tribute to this page.
Thanks to Simon Price for the photo.
See also a tribute page on the BBC website.
posted by Andy Roberts @ 11:03 am
8 Comments:
At 10:41 am ,
Unknown said...
I was also saddened to learn of the death of my old friend Gary Price on 17th January.
Indeed, I can justly claim to be his oldest friend; he was born on 15 April 1945 at 17 Churchill Terrace, Cadoxton, Barry – and I was born on 10 May 1945, at 24 Churchill Terrace!
We started school (at Palmerstown Infants) on the same day in March 1950 and we were soon described by the Headmistress(Miss Rees) as “The Unholy Terrors from Churchill Terrace”.
That was a fair description and, around Churchill Terrace itself, our gang made the fictional ‘Just William’ and his gang seem very tame. Leadership of the gang on a day-to-day basis was determined by who possessed ‘The Shitty Stick’ but I shall draw a veil over where this badge of office came from, and what we generally did with it!
I can tell of an episode at the age of 4 when we pinched some cement and sand from Mrs Warburton’s backyard and went around the houses offering to ‘repair’ their garden walls adjoining the lane. The only slight problem was that we could not get hold of any water.
I still have the vivid image in my mind on how we ‘made water’ to make up for this contingency and then stirred the resultant ‘mortar’ with the dirty end of the Shitty Stick. One of the nosey neighbours (Mrs Hinton, I think) was certainly not amused seeing our disgusting attempts at wall repairs and, following complaints to our parents, we were all chastised and gated for at least a week!
I moved house in Barry at the age of 8, but stayed in touch with Gary through our years at separate primary schools and at the Grammar School.
Whilst Gary was at Leeds studying Textile Design from 1964 to 1967, I was first at Birmingham and then working in Derbyshire, and I would occasionally drive up to Leeds for some riotous student weekends, which will forever stay in my memory. Those who have ever known Gary will guess correctly that many of the events over those weekends could never be published.
I was Best Man at Gary's first marriage, to Chris - and I was saddened by their early divorce - but I was delighted to attend Gary’s marriage to June on Valentine’s Day 1998. Certainly that was a most-memorable day for all who attended.
Thus, I have ‘always’ known Gary – and for those who met him later in life, I can confirm that he was always very loud and much ‘larger than life’.
Our tastes in music were similar except for a short period in the very late 1950’s when he seemed to favour the ‘Connie Francis’ school of ‘pop-music’, whilst I was drawn to the Modern Jazz scene of the time (Miles/Monk/Rollins/Brubeck etc)– but Gary would always deny this in later years!
Those who knew Gary well will also be aware of his strong ‘social conscience’ and I was most impressed by his commitment to the charity Shelter, when he worked for them in the early 1970’s.
I also understand that he has given strong support to some children’s charities in Wales during his later years. That is Gary all over – Big Man, Big Heart.
Having lived in Edinburgh for 30 years, I have visited Barry less and less, so I have not seen so much of Gary over these years. At least I will always have a better picture of him in my mind – of how he was before the suffering he endured latterly. Heck, I can even picture him with a full head of hair!
Good-bye Gary. It was a privilege to have known you.
Sid Godfray
EDINBURGH
At 10:46 am ,
Russ (Soundstorm) said...
Just want to add to the sadness felt at the loss of Gary Price. Gary championed my band (Theory Of Index) in the late 80's, giving us the opportunity to play St David's Hall on a number of occasions. As a result, we still have these wonderful memories of that time. Without Gary's love for music, this may never have happened for us. So sadly missed indeed. Our love to his family and friends who are dearly missing him at this time.
At 12:10 pm ,
Simon Price said...
Heartfelt thanks to Andy for writing that tribute, and to Sidney and Russ for your comments.
It's fantastic to hear those childhood memories (stories I'd never heard before). I may even incorporate some of it into my speech at the funeral.
Thanks again,
Simon Price (Gary's son)
s dot price at independent dot co dot uk if anyone wants to get hold of me.
At 11:32 am ,
Ian and Lisa Clements said...
I am so sorry to hear about Gary.
My memories of my dear friend Gary (who penned me with the nickname 'DJ Clemski') are in a small community centre in Grangetown namely Channel View.
With the help of my partner in crime Ray Farley we helped Gary put together a very popular Pop Quiz. Well, pop quiz was an understatement - with Gary & Ray's obscure musical taste it was more Mastermind, so we had to 'dumb it down'.
I will always remember his microphone testing technique - I would be there with my fingers poised on the gain when Gary would say 'Icicles bicycles testing testing' - a simple '1, 2' would not do.
There are so many memories of Gary and we will miss him dearly.
Rest in peace Gary
All our Love
Ian & Lisa Clements
At 9:22 pm ,
Siadwell said...
Farewell to such a lovely man. Gary will be missed by so many. I had so much help from his vast knowledge of Welsh music compiling my website and was honoured to accept his invite on to Owen Money's radio show wher he treated me like an old friend that I had known for years.
Sincerest condolences to his family.
Siadwell
At 3:01 pm ,
Bryan Leaker said...
Gary Price is a loss to me and all his friends.
At Red Dragon he taught me the ropes and in local bars we would enjoy a drink, have agreat laugh, he helped a lot of people and was a consumate proffesional.
Not only I have I lost a great friend but he`s bound to get the breakfast gig, which means I will get the coffee as usual.
See you next week when I will help all of us celebrate Gary`s life.
Love to June and the family, you have lost a great guy, remember we all have lost a great friend
Bryan Leaker
At 11:13 am ,
Keith and Sylvia Nunn of Penarth said...
A great guy - he bought a lot of records from us as he was a avid collector. Have not seen him for some time but we will both remember him.
At 10:59 am ,
Peter Bevan said...
So sorry to hear this sad news. I haven't seen Gary for sometime now.
My first memories of Gary are seeing him around King Square going with an album under his arm, he never seemed to be without one.
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home