Robert Calvert

Infobox Musical artist
Name = Robert Calvert


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Background = solo_singer
Born = birth date|1945|03|09, Pretoria, South Africa
Died = death date and age|1988|08|14|1945|03|09
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Associated_acts = Hawkwind
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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 2, and after schooling in London and Margate, 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. He went on to a solo career after leaving the group.

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

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

Major works

olo recordings

*"Captain Lockheed and the Starfighters" (1974)
*"Lucky Leif and the Longships" (1975)
*"Cricket Star" (1979, one sided flexi single)
*"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)

As a member of 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)

Guest appearances

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

Written work

Musicals/stage 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)

Poetry collections

*"Centigrade 232" (1977)
*"The Earth Ritual" (1987)

Novels

*"Hype" (New English Library, 1982)

External links

* Knut Gerwers' [http://aural-innovations.com/robertcalvert/ Spirit of the Page] Calvert site
* [http://everything2.com/?node=robert+calvert A short Robert Calvert bio]
* [http://www.doremi.co.uk/icu/calvert.html Robert Calvert on tour in 1986]
* [http://aural-innovations.com/issues/issue18/02_sneyd.html Gnawing Medusa's Flesh: The Science Fiction Poetry of Robert Calvert]
* [http://aural-innovations.com/issues/issue18/03_jones.html Working Down A Diamond Mine]
* [http://www.fortunecity.com/victorian/university/222/radio/calvert/contents.html An interview with Robert Calvert]