Atrax Records: The Swarb Archive: The Obituary Files: The Banbury Guardian

Dave’s not dead, though he nearly died laughing

The Banbury Guardian - 22 April 1999

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Dave Swarbrick, Fairport Convention’s legendary fiddler and charismatic front man from 1969 to 1985, was shocked when he learned that The Daily Telegraph had printed a glowing appreciation under the mistaken impression that he had died. Dave’s wife Jill told the Banbury Guardian: “He thinks it’s a gas - he nearly killed himself laughing.

“Dave has been very ill and he is still very tired. But he is well on the mend now and as anyone who knows him knows, you can’t keep Dave down for long. He’s ravenously hungry for bacon sandwiches and getting very bored stuck in hospital with only his Walkman.”

‘Swarb’, as he is known to friends and fans, was rushed to hospital with breathing problems while on a tour of Austria with his musical partner, Kevin Dempsey several weeks ago. Doctors in Stuttgart said he had had a narrow escape from death. After a tense three weeks on life support at the German hospital he was flown back to Britain, still attached to a ventilator, and taken to the Walsgrave Hospital, not far from his Coventry home. Swarb has been suffering from emphysema for some time and recently gave up smoking. An infection he contracted in Europe caused life-threatening complications which necessitated a tracheotomy - an incision in his throat to accommodate an artificial airway.

He was taken out of intensive care at the beginning of this week and was recovering on an ordinary ward with the aid of physiotherapy.

Fairport bass player and friend Dave Pegg of Barford St Michael - the two were neighbours in Cropredy years ago - said: “The paper has really messed up. Dave has been seriously ill, he was unconscious for three weeks, and he knows how bad it has been, but he’s on the mend and seeing the funny side of it.

“My phone and fax have not stopped ringing with shocked and tearful people who are devastated at his death and this is likely to go on for days as this news gets out.”

Ric Sanders, who took over as Fairport fiddler when a hearing problem forced Swarb to retire from high-decibel electrified music in 1985, said: “I’m sure Dave would prefer to read the obituary than be dead and not able to read it. So in that sense, this is really good news!

“Obviously we were all very shocked at this untimely piece, it has been a very strange experience, but it’s far from the truth and we’re delighted that Dave is getting better.”

The obituary hailed Swarb as ‘a small dynamic, charismatic figure... cigarette perched precariously on his bottom lip, unruly hair flapping over his face, pint of beer ever at hand - (he) could electrify an audience with a single frenzied sweep of his bow’.

And it ended with an apt quote from Swarb: “No-one Is going to take me off the road. That’s what I like doing - going out and playing. I hope to do it until the day I die.”

“In spite of the shock he’s quite pleased with the tribute which he says is all true,” said Jill. “His message to his fans in Banbury is -I’m not dead and I’ll see you later in the year at the Cropredy Festival.”

A spokesman for The Daily Telegraph said: “We were aware that Mr Swarbrick was quite seriously ill and over the weekend we were informed by a usually extremely reliable source that he had in fact died so an obituary was prepared and published.

“A number of people quickly pointed out our mistake and in fact his wife was one of the first people to ring us and she took it in very good part.”

Last updated on 26 September 2002