Robert John Godfrey

Godfrey in 1998

Robert John Godfrey (born 30 July 1947) is a British composer, pianist and founder member of The Enid.

Early Career

Born on the Leeds Castle estate in Kent, England, Godfrey was educated at Finchden Manor in Tenterden, which was described by its founder George Lyward as a "therapeutic community for adolescents",^[1] other alumni of which included Alexis Korner and Tom Robinson. Although he didn't start to play the piano until the age of twelve, Godfrey's talent was prodigious enough to gain him admission to both the Royal College of Music, then the Royal Academy of Music. He studied under concert pianist Malcolm Binns, and those around him included Sir Michael Tippett, Benjamin Britten and Hans Werner Henze.

Career

From 1968 to 1971 Godfrey became resident musical director with Barclay James Harvest,^[2] making musical contributions to early recordings which established their full, orchestral style of rock music. The relationship fell apart and accounts differ as to why.^[3][4] For a short time after this, Godfrey played in the band Siddartha. In 1974 the Charisma Records label released his first solo work, Fall of Hyperion. Although not a commercial success at the time, this work has since become collectable.

Godfrey is gay, and claimed this was one reason he was fired from BJH. “It was the band’s girlfriends who forced the issue,” he told Classic Rock magazine. ‘‘They were from the Lancashire/Yorkshire area and couldn’t handle the idea of a gay man like me with a plummy accent.’’^[5]

He then went on to form The Enid, a band that is still performing and recording today.

He has been diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease. As a consequence of this, he has revealed that he intends to retire from The Enid and allow the band to continue to perform without him.^[6]

Discography

• Fall of Hyperion (1974) (CAS 1084)
• The Music of William Arkle (1986)
• Reverberations (1987)
• The Seed and the Sower (with Steve Stewart) (1988) (later reissued as by The Enid)
• The Story of The Enid (1991)
• The Art of Melody (2013)
• First Light (2014)

"Fall of Hyperion" track listing

Fall Of Hyperion

1. "The Raven" (8:46)
2. "Mountains" (6:56)
3. "Water Song" (5:57)
4. "End of Side 1" (0:04)
5. "Isault" (5:10)
6. "The Daemon Of The World" (14:44)
   1. "The Arrival Of The Phoenix"
   2. "Across The Abyss"
   3. "'The Daemon"
   4. "The Wanderer"
   5. "IHS"
   6. "Tuba Mirum"

Personnel

• Robert John Godfrey - keyboards
• Christopher Lewis - vocals
• Neil Tetlow - bass
• Jim Scott - guitars
• Tristan Fry - percussion
• Ronnie McCrea - percussion
• Nigel Morton - Hammond organ

Sources

• gaffaweb

References