7 October 2018
John Wicks, frontman of the UK power pop band The Records, has died in Burbank, California, following a battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 65 years old.
Wicks co-founded The Records in London in 1978. The group made three albums for Virgin – Shades in Bed (1979), Crashes (1980), and Music on Both Sides (1982) – before disbanding in 1982.
The Records were best known for their single Starry Eyes, which hit #56 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1979.
Wicks reformed The Records in 1994 with a new lineup after relocating to Los Angeles, where he made his home.
When Wicks wasn’t fronting The Records, he also had a productive solo career on such collections as the country-flavoured album Solace in Wonderland (1994) as well as Lessons Learned (2011) and Works in Progress (2012).