Robert Calvert

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Robert Newton Calvert (9 March 1945, Pretoria, South Africa - 14 August 1988) was a writer, poet, and performer.

Calvert moved to England when he was two years of age and attended school in London and Margate. He began his career by writing poetry and in 1967 formed a Street Theatre group Street Dada Nihilismus. He was best known as the lead singer, poet and frontman of Hawkwind intermittently from 1972-1979 during which time he co-wrote their hit single "Silver Machine" and directed their Space Ritual Tour. Calvert suffered from bipolar disorder, at one point being sectioned under the Mental Health Act, Lemmy would sing on the single version of "Silver Machine", his vocal an overdub of a live recording taken at the Roundhouse in London. "They tried everyone else singing it except me" he (Lemmy) later said^[1]

During periods away from Hawkwind duties, and after finally leaving the group in 1979, Calvert worked on his solo career, his creative output including albums, stage plays, poetry, and a novel. His first solo album, Captain Lockheed and the Starfighters, attained mainstream success.

His other musical collaborators include Michael Moorcock, Brian Eno, Arthur Brown, Jim Capaldi, Steve Pond, Inner City Unit, Vivian Stanshall, Nektar, John Greves, Adrian Wagner, Amon Düül II, and Spirits Burning (posthumously).^[2]

Calvert died of a heart attack in 1988 in Ramsgate, England.

Nik Turner, and other former Hawkwind musicians are currently collaborating as Hawklords as a tribute to Bob and others.

[edit] Discography

[edit] Solo

• Captain Lockheed and the Starfighters (1974)
• Lucky Leif and the Longships (1975)
• "Cricket Star" (1979, one sided flexi single recorded under Robert Calvert and the 1st XI)
• "Lord of the Hornets" / "The Greenfly and the Rose" (1980, single)
• Hype (1981)
• Freq (1984, inspired by the UK miners' strike)
• Test-Tube Conceived (1986)
• At the Queen Elizabeth Hall (Clear Records 1989, live album recorded on October 1, 1986. Reissued in 1993 as BGOCD 187)
• Blueprints from the Cellar (Home-recorded demos)
• Revenge (Demos with Pete Pavli - Released 1999, recorded 1980s)
• Centigrade 232 (Words only - Voiceprint VP403CD 2007) also see book below
• Centigrade 232 (Words & music, issued as the Brock/Calvert Project - Voiceprint HAWKVP42CD)
• The single "Ejection" is on the United Artists Records 2004 sampler All Good Clean Fun CD re-package (Liberty 8660902), but was not on the original 1971 LP

[edit] With Hawkwind

• Space Ritual (1973)
• Astounding Sounds, Amazing Music (1976)
• Quark, Strangeness and Charm (1977)
• Hawklords (1978) (Also known as 25 Years On and recorded using the band name Hawklords)
• PXR5 (1979)

[edit] Guest appearances

• Adrian Wagner - Distances Between Us (1974)
• Nektar - Down To Earth (1974)
• Amon Düül - Die Lösung (recorded 1988, released 1989)

[edit] Bibliography

[edit] Musical plays

• The Stars That Play With Laughing Sam's Dice (1976, about Jimi Hendrix)
• The Kid From Silicon Gulch (1981)
• Test-tube Baby of Mine (1986)

[edit] Poetry collections

• Centigrade 232 (1977)
• The Earth Ritual (1987)

[edit] Novels

• Hype (New English Library, 1981)

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Knut Gerwers' Spirit of the Page Calvert site
• A short Robert Calvert bio
• Robert Calvert on tour in 1986
• Gnawing Medusa's Flesh: The Science Fiction Poetry of Robert Calvert
• Working Down A Diamond Mine
• An interview with Robert Calvert