On the 17th October, 1957 Stu was born.
He always said that it was the year that rock'n'roll was born.
I was privileged to meet him in 1981 and marry him in 1982.
On a gray Autumn London day I staggered off a plane and into a squat in Kentish Town. I was 18. It was the only address I had.
All days have the power to change your life - this day was extraordinary.
A skinny blue haired punk bet me a Mars bar that he could drink half a bottle of Bacardi straight. He won. I bought him a Mars bar. Within days we were sharing our lives together. Stu was in a band called Charge which had achieved some notoriety both in England and in Germany. White labels of their music were everywhere; Stu constantly graffitti-ed the band's name all over London; they gigged, alot; they had record company interest; Stu played with the music press; everyone knew someone who had a bootlegged demo tape of them.
At this time Stu wrote prolifically. Dozens and dozens and dozens of songs. Mostly political. Some humourous. Some love songs.
We lived the "idealised" "punk" lifestyle. A squat in Kentish Town with no hot water, a psychotic drummer who stole my fishnets and showered by standing in the middle of the bathroom floor and pouring buckets of water over himself , the singer & his borther (both Geordies) who smiled constantly and wore next to no clothing despite the fact that the temperatures were constantly below zero, a beautiful blonde bass player & his equally beautiful German girlfriend & his snake.
And an assortment of friends, roadies, hangers-on & purveyors of chemicals. Eventually it had to end. The bathroom floor fell into the kitchen below, the snake disappeared, Stu had a guitar stolen and disintegration & pointlessness seeped in. Charge's last album was called Perfection. We all moved out.

In August of 1982 Stu & I got married in black leather
at Finsbury Town Hall.
That year Charge did their final tour of the UK supporting The Damned.
The end of Charge was imminent.
And we had a brilliant Summer. We dyed each other's hair, wore each other's clothes, Stu got his picture on the front page of Sounds with the title blaring out - "Men in Frocks" - the press didn't get what Stu was about but it didn't really matter, we honed our photography skills on each other & he taught me how to use a dark room and how to sing.
We set up bands - first HezaSheza then Gods In Disguise,
consistently throughout doing George Drake.
People who saw us loved us & their was no shortage of gigs.
However, in London there is also no shortage of bands.
I have always believed that Stu and his writing were far ahead
of their time.
We played every small venue in London, met some amazing people and had a wicked time.
However no deals were forthcoming,
either for the bands or for Stu's writing or guitar playing abilities.
Then there was Bardot's Babies and Clamhead.
He always kept at it. He believed in himself unfailingly. And with good reason. He honed every skill. He had always been a remarkable writer. Soon he would become undeniably one of the best, if least recognised, guitarists of his era. Just ask any other guitarist who saw him play.
He also pulled from within himself a great voice - he could do anyone from Sinatra & Astaire to Lydon & Lemmy. He did a course at the London School of Furniture and learnt to make guitars.
He made beautiful guitars, the first one modeled on my body - I loved it.
In 1992 Stu & I drifted apart from each other & divorced amicably.
Stu met Sab Grey and his life took the turning he had always dreamed of. Though I don't think he necessarily realised that then.
Stu and Sab formed The Accoustic Mercenaries & started playing some of the best skewed up rockabilly & blues I have ever heard.
Again, everyone who heard them loved them, but the record companies wouldn't go for it.
In time Stu & Sab decided to make the move to the big old U S of A.
Sab had come from Baltimore and so that is where they went.
Stu finally fulfilling the dream he had held all his life.
To play where his heroes had played, to write where the people who had inspired him had written.
To drive Route 66. To sing in Nashville.
Stu then met Johna.
In his words to me on a flying visit to London in 1998: "She is the most beautiful woman I have ever met; she has an IQ of, oh, over 300 AND she plays guitar like a demon!"
He was so happy.
Stu & Johna married not long after and moved to San Francisco.
He was where he always wanted to be.

Where, on the 12th July, 2003, Stuart Lunn/ Stu P.Didiot/ Stu Devillier left the world a sadder planet.

I will always be grateful for the influence that Stu was on my life.
I would not be the person I am without that influence.
K.

MORE ON STU

Since putting up this site, which has been as much about me coping as it has been a tribute, I have stumbled across many things that I have not seen for alot of years. I spent an afternoon with Jon Klein who has taken on the mammoth task of digitising the sounds and videos that we have managed to dredge out of our respective boxes and lofts.
I am shocked. And not a little stunned. HezaSheza were good! Young and a little fey - buy, hey it was the early 80's. However George Drake was brilliant. There is video footage of Stu playing George and singing, me in the background, wearing the drummer boy outfit, doing percussion and drum machine. A good audience and some brilliant songs. Stu didn't get a record deal because he wasn't any good - he didn't get a record deal because he was 15-20 years ahead of his time!
There are demo tapes recorded on everything from hi-tech, for the time, 24 track studio down to 4 track portastudio tapes made in the front room & kitchen of Jon & Sophie's place. Songs that I had not forgotten but songs that had somehow, during the course of time, faded into a place in the back of my head. They are SO Good! I am overwhelmed by the content, the quality, the verve, the energy.
I am overwhelmed. 16/10/03

A Year On

Stu has been in my head, and it feels, occupying the very air around me. I don't feel sad but I do miss him. I still have ideas I want to run by him, to get his feedback, hear his laughter of approval or derision. I recently received some stories from an old teenage friend of Stu's and it reminded me so much of the mad boy I fell in love with all those years ago. Also recently I framed the Stu_Pendous Sounds cover and put it on my studio wall. He smiles down on me opposite Kelly from Girl's School - I know he would approve the combination.
I don't believe I shall ever stop missing him. 17/07/04

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