Lennox and Addington lost a prominent member of its arts and culture scene this week with the passing of Barry Lovegrove.
Music, photography, writing, painting-you name it, chances are he contributed to it in one way or another.
I can’t remember the first time I met Barry, but I can’t recall attending a major arts and culture event in the last decade where he wasn’t present, either. One thing is certain, each meeting was he greeted with a ‘Hi mate, how’s the family?’
Either sporting a camera or a guitar, he was always there to document a performance or grace the stage with his own unique sound. It wasn’t until years of knowing him that he shared stories from his teen years, when he was a member of The Jet Blacks in his native England. The story goes his band was scheduled to open for Little Richard in Liverpool. When Little Richard was unable to play, The Jet Blacks were bumped to top billing and some unknown band known as The Beatles closed out the show.
Accompanied by his vintage Gibson J45 guitar, Lovegrove was on the scene for the golden age of music in the United Kingdom. As much as he loved life on stage, the rigour of traveling mixed with the rock n’ roll lifestyle lived by some of his fellow musicians backstage wasn’t for him. In early 2018 he noted while some of his musician friends were still going strong in the scene today, one even living in a castle in Ireland, he didn’t miss it.
“Here I am living in Erinsville and I think I’m better off than anyone,” he said at the time.
I can recall a day when deadlines were mounting and stories were piling up when the phone rang. On the other end was Barry, asking if he could trouble me to mention an upcoming fundraising show he was doing at a local church for refugees coming to Canada. A reporter himself, he knew all too well the frustration that calling right before deadline with a time-sensitive request could cause. It was easy to tell he hated the idea of causing grief by placing the call, but even more evident was his willingness to help others. He wasn’t making the request for himself so much as he was hoping to spread the word about the fundraiser and help as much as he could. It took a bit of juggling, but the story ran the next day-how could I possibly have said no?
About a month ago Barry announced on Facebook to friends and family that his latest prognosis wasn’t good and he may only have a month or two left to live. He also added he was ok with that.
Knowing the eternal optimist Barry was, there’s no doubt he sincerely meant that.
-Adam Prudhomme