49 Facts About Darryl Read

Darryl Michael Roy Read was a British singer, guitarist, drummer, actor, poet and writer.

Darryl Read collaborated with musicians such as Bill Legend, Mickey Finn and Ray Manzarek.

Darryl Read appeared as a child actor in a number of films, including, aged 13, in Daylight Robbery, for which he won a silver medal for best actor at the Venice Film Festival.

Darryl Read appeared onstage in two rock-based plays and a number of television programmes.

Darryl Read was a published author of poetry as well as a biographical novel.

Darryl Read was killed in a motorcycle incident in Thailand in 2013.

Darryl Read was born in Exeter, where his father Hedley Darryl Read was working on a stage production of A Streetcar Named Desire.

Darryl Read struggled at school and following his parents divorce, he lived with his grandparents.

Darryl Read attended an audition at the Corona Academy for Dramatic Arts in Chiswick, west London, and he was accepted.

Darryl Read left boarding school the following term in early 1963.

Darryl Read left Corona in 1968 with a small number of film and TV acting credits under his belt including a Venice Film Festival award for his role in the film Daylight Robbery.

At 17 Darryl Read appeared in Fabulous 208, a teenage magazine.

Darryl Read had been playing the drums and the guitar at the age of 14, and with Michael Des Barres he formed the rock pop group the Orange Illusion in 1967.

Darryl Read appeared in a 1967 episode of Dixon of Dock Green, the 1968 film The Lost Continent and a 1969 episode of Z-Cars.

In early 1968 Darryl Read became interested in the Edgar Broughton Band and Mick Farren of the Deviants.

Whilst trying to secure a record contract for Darryl Read, Hemingway got Darryl Read to record demos at Decca Studios, as well as inviting him to a Beatles session at Abbey Road Studios, and introduced him to Jimi Hendrix.

Darryl Read continued to switch between playing drums and guitar whilst continuing acting work.

Darryl Read was asked by Emperor Rosko to form a group for his brother Jeff Pasternak from American west coast psychedelic band The Pasternak Progress.

Darryl Read recruited Lou Martin and Stuart MacDonald, members of blues outfit Killing Floor, and guitarist Chris Gibbons to form The Krayon Angels.

Darryl Read did another album demo for them and gave them the name Smooth Loser, which they later utilised as a rock band.

The demo album Darryl Read made with Krayon Angels was eventually released in 2000 on Dig The Fuzz Records.

Darryl Read joined an Edmonton-based soul outfit called the Keith Locke Band, playing drums.

Darryl Read was the only white player amongst Locke, Derrick Johnson and Rosko Gee, who went on to become members of Bob Marley's band and Traffic.

Darryl Read came up with a band name - Crushed Butler - and they recorded a demo at Regent Sound Studios in Denmark Street called 'It's My Life'.

In 1971 Darryl Read was struggling financially and heavily using amphetamines and sleeping pills.

Darryl Read started working at Track Records as a songwriter and assistant to John "Speedy" Keen.

Darryl Read worked with Terry Stamp and Jim Avery of pro-Fidel Castro activist proto punk garage band rockers Third World War as a songwriter.

In late 1972, Darryl Read joined ex-Silverhead guitarist Steve Forest, playing drums in a glam rock trio called Dizzy.

In 1972 Darryl Read joined as drummer the theatrical tour of rock musical Hair.

Darryl Read got Steve Forest the job as lead guitarist, and they toured with the show for one year, Darryl Read had originally got the part of 'the Recruit' in the show and was to be part of the Tribe, but realised he'd make more money if he played drums and became the bandleader.

In early 1976 Darryl Read recorded songs at Polydor with Steve Forest and Charlie Harty, including a track titled 'On The Streets Tonight'.

In 1977, Darryl Read played Keith Richards in the stage production of Let the Good Stones Roll.

Darryl Read signed a publishing deal with Peter Radzuhn and Tom Muller at Hansa Tone Studios who flew in Paul Thompson of Roxy Music to work with Read in the studio.

Darryl Read directed the piece with Steve Ingle and other students from the British Film School.

Darryl Read was recruited by Terence Pearce to replace singer Paul Roberts in the band High Frontier in London, after Roberts left to join The Stranglers.

Darryl Read and Read flew to Los Angeles in 1987, picked up various musicians in Hollywood, where they began writing and recording the album Book of the Dead under the name The Hearts of Darkness.

Darryl Read collaborated again with Terry Stamp, who now lived in Los Angeles, on some of the song writing duties.

Darryl Read started playing with a rockabilly group called the Mighty Hornets and jammed with them frequently at the Spice Club where they were the resident house group.

The Hornets and Darryl Read eventually made an album at Paramount Recording Studios in 1992 titled Beat Existentialist featuring Ray Manzarek on three tracks.

Bernard White then managed Darryl Read, and released his records on his White Label Records company.

Melaris came up with the concept for the promo and worked very closely with Darryl Read to create a little bit of 'Rock History' by filming in the legendary 'Roundhouse'.

In 1999 White and Darryl Read wrote a screenplay for the low-budget film production of Remember a Day and Richard Wright of Pink Floyd gave White the rights to the track of the same title to use for the drama which was based heavily on Syd Barrett of Pink Floyd.

Also in 1998, Ray Manzarek and Darryl Read released a poetry album with music titled Freshly Dug.

Darryl Read was inspired by Ray Manzarek to write a poetry book titled Set, illustrated by George Underwood in 1999, hardcover, and in 2000 in a paperback version.

In mid-2009, Darryl Read recorded a Mick Farren song titled "Somewhere To Go".

On 17 May 2011, Darryl Read released the single called "Money Number One" which was recorded in Thailand and produced by Barry Upton.

Darryl Read played concerts worldwide as well performing poetry readings and being involved with film production.

Darryl Read was to be featured in a documentary on his prolific career, produced by German film maker Bernd Libbach.

Darryl Read died in a motorcycle road incident in Pattaya, Thailand, on 23 June 2013.