Born April 27, 1946 in Dorset, England, singer and guitarist Gordon Haskell was a journeyman musician. He found his first taste of success as a member of Fleur De Lys, a ‘60s psychedelic band that enjoyed a number 1 hit in South Africa with “Lazy Life”. His debut solo LP, 1969’s Sail in My Boat went unnoticed, prompting Haskell to accept an invitation from his old friend Robert Fripp (they had been bandmates as teenagers) to join Fripp’s current group King Crimson. He contributed heavily to the band’s 1970 album Lizard, but artistic differences led to him exiting the band before ever performing live with them.
He released It Is and It Isn’t in 1972, another solo album that failed to make any waves. He spent the rest of the decade and much of the eighties playing in small venues and writing songs. He returned to the top of the charts in South Africa in 1990 with the single “Almost Certainly” which showcased how his bluesy voice had gained character over the years. He continued to play live and occasionally record his folk-tinged songs that often showed his dark sense of humor. He had an unexpected smash from his 2001 album Look Out with the love song “How Wonderful You Are”, a number 2 hit in the UK that laid the groundwork for his 2002 album Harry’s Bar, a collection of songs that turned the 55-year old into an overnight sensation with its amalgam of blues, jazz, R&B, and observant songwriting. The album went to number 2 in the UK and the top 40 throughout Europe. He quickly followed that up with Shadows on the Wall later that year, but soon got himself fired from his label for some ornery statements in the press. He would never recapture that level of success, but continued to perform regularly and record sporadically until his passing on October 15, 2020.