South African musician Julian Laxton has died, according to numerous Facebook posts.
Laxton was a stalwart of the music industry, a songwriter and guitarist best known for his performances with The Julian Laxton Band. He went on to achieve success in music production with a string of hit songs to his name, working with bands such as Mango Groove and Lucky Dube.
News of his death prompted an outpouring of comment and condolences on social media, with many paying tribute to Laxton's trailblazing career.
“Safe Sailing Julian Laxton, in my opinion one of the greatest guitarist’s I’ve seen,” commented American musician Tommy Sinclair. “Never understood why you never took your talent worldwide. l rate you with all the greatest guitarists.”
Johannesburg actor and voice artist Anton Dekker said: “I've just heard the awful news. One of the world's greatest axemen, phenomenal musician and composer extraordinaire, Julian Laxton, passed away earlier today. Rest in Peace Julian Laxton. Thank you for a lifetime of music. Our world is suddenly a little less colourful now.”
According to his profile on the Artslink website, Laxton first made a name for himself “as a guitarist in many rock bands (Freedom's Children, Hawk, The Nevadas, etc), as well as folk groups (Mel, Mel and Julian). In his last band, The Julian Laxton Band, he wrote, arranged and produced such hit songs as Celebrate the Rain, Blue Waters and Johannesburg.”
According to the website, he wrote many radio, TV and cinema commercials (jingles) and won numerous local and international awards, including two bronze awards in New York and a nomination for Best International Radio Commercial.
On LinkedIn, Laxton listed among his achievements and accolades a Loerie Award for a Coca-Cola TV advert, a best educational movie award in Canada for Ubejani and four gold records.
“I have also written film scores for about 15 feature movies and themes for TV series, one being the theme for 1986's Shaka Zulu.”
TimesLIVE
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