Tim Rose Biography

Born in September of an indeterminate year ("age is a personal thing - maybe someone will find it out for my obituary.") and brought up in Washington where he won the top music award at High School, Tim first came to prominence in 1967 with his first album on CBS (Columbia). Prior to that, he had trained for the priesthood (but got thrown out for inappropriate behaviour) and been a navigator for Strategic Air Command before becoming involved in the music business.

His first notable group was The Journeymen, along with John Phillips and Scott McKenzie, both of whom went on to musical fame. He then teamed up with fellow members of the New York folk scene, James Hendricks and Cass Elliott, to form The Big Three (not to be confused with the British group of the same name).

CBS, in the wake of their success with Bob Dylan, sought out artistes looking for record deals and the first solo album was born. The blues, folk and rock influences made it a classic, with session musicians of a high quality brought in by CBS to ensure their product was a success. Jimi Hendrix picked up Tim's version of the traditional Hey Joe and made a hit out of it. Because Tim didn't actually write it, he never got a penny in royalties.

More successful in the UK and Europe than in his home country, Tim moved to England in the mid-seventies, performing occasionally in clubs around London, sometimes with fellow expatriate Tim Hardin. These appearances were often shambolic, probably because of the uncertain state that Hardin was in. His heroin and alcohol addiction meant that while he could sing brilliantly, he was unpredictable and therefore grossly unreliable.

The first CBS album was followed by several more excellent recordings, but the one elusive thing that Tim faced was chart success. This led to a variation in styles in the hope of capturing a different market, but no matter whether he rocked, sang ballads or played country, the record sales were getting less as the years went on.

After The Musician, Tim retired from the music business for a number of years before The Gambler was eventually released in 1991. During that time, he was involved in construction work, did some tv commercials, took a degree, did some Geography teaching and was a Wall Street stockbroker.

Recently, encouraged by Nick Cave, he started playing live again, supporting him at the Royal Albert Hall in London. This collaboration led to a new album, Haunted, which is a mixture of older material, recorded live, and new material produced by Cave. His older albums have started being re-released as double CDs and a further album of new material came out in 2002. Also Tim has managed to get back to touring, with a substantial tour of England and European venues in 1999 and further sporadic gigs from then on.  Tim went into hospital to have a bowel complaint investigated.  His heart didn't survive the second of two operations and he died on  24 September 2002, his age now admitted as 62.

One interesting development is that Brooks Guitars of Exeter, Devon, have designed and manufactured a Tim Rose guitar. Made of ebony and spruce, with rosewood sides and a mahogany neck, the guitar has Tim's autograph on it. The price? £1795. Not the kind of thing one would smash up on stage.

For a much more detailed biography, see the Interview.