Obituary: Local musician Brian Wade dies aged 77

Gibraltarian Brian Wade passed away on Sunday in London.

He had just turned 77 on January 8 this year having been born in Gibraltar in 1947.

Musician, songwriter, artist manager, TV composer and publisher, he died in London, which had been his home from the 1960s.

Brian formed part of the well-known local group The Echoes. As an actor he also took part in plays locally and in the drama festival with the schools and St Joseph’s Drama Group.

In the UK he would initially form the band Trane with other Gibraltarian musicians.

In 1975 he wrote and produced the single ‘Rock around the Rock’ for local group Buddy on the BEEB label. Brian even launched his own career as a solo performer in 1979 releasing the song written with his songwriting partner Tony Cliff ‘Only Me’ on the GEM record label.

In 1978 Brian produced the first album by Elaine Paige called ‘Sitting Pretty’ with Alan Winstanley. He co-wrote most of the songs including her first top 40 hit ‘Don’t Walk Away till I Touch You’ which made the Top 40 in the UK chart. Writing for television his early work was as a writer at ATV Music and wrote music for the Rising Damp Movie, Truckers for the BBC, Across the Lake movie with Anthony Hopkins, The Muppets, and The Monster Club movie.

He was later commissioned to write some 100 pieces, ranging from Sports to News to Children's television to station idents by various producers at Sky television.

Brian would create his own publishing company WAIF Productions Ltd. with his wife Geri where they managed a number of well-known artists such as Chesney Hawks.

In 1986 he co-wrote the British Eurovision entry ‘Runner in the Night’ by Ryder which came in seventh overall. Back in the 1980s as manager of the local group Vibrations in London he secured several UK tours with the likes of Shirley Bassey and Michael Ball. He would also co-produce both their albums.

Our condolences to his wife Geri and his son Luca.