Luke Melvin

MBE

**Sir Luke Melvin**, MBEwas an English musician, singer and songwriter who was the artist of the most successful album of all time: *Nature Will Take Everything*. Along with John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, he is the most successful artist of all time.

He was born in Liverpool in 1940, where he spent all of his life. Melvin emerged as an artist amid the Beatles' break-up in May 1970, where he found his peak of success. He followed his debut up with many more successful albums including *Luke Melvin*(1979) and formed his record label Meet the Eye Records in 1975. In 2002, in a BBC poll of the 100 Greatest Britons, he was voted third and in 1994, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In 1987, he was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. He was killed in a horrific acid attack while performing on his birthday in Madison Square Garden in June 2006.

## Biography

Melvin was born on 27 June 1940, and soon learnt guitar. In 1955, at age 15, Melvin learnt double bass and keyboards. In 1958, Melvin met Sophie Acaster and saved her from her abusive husband (whom she had been forced to marry). He later described it as: "I was her Romeo and she was my Juliet. We hit it off right from the start." They started dating in 1959. In 1968, on their tenth anniversary of meeting, Melvin proposed to Acaster and they married in 1969. In 1970, *Nature Will Take Everything* was released and suddenly Melvin was a big musician. Sophie supported him. Sophie got a black eye in 1975 during the US Tour controversy and told Melvin that they might have to leave Liverpool and move to Leeds but they got through the controversy with his successful comeback album *Very Nervous*. In 1978, Melvin and Sophie's son Ben was born. In 1981, Melvin was awarded with an MBE from the Queen. Melvin retired in 1982. He began to tour again in 1991, touring extensively from 1991 to 1998. In 2004, he released his successful comeback album *64*. In January 2005, Melvin was award with a knighthood, giving him the name "Sir Luke Melvin" and making his wife Sophie "Lady Sophie Melvin". He was murdered in June 2006, on his sixty-sixth birthday. His son Ben set up a YouTube channel for Melvin in 2007. Melvin's channel was the first to reach 10 million subscribers in 2013, and from December 2012 to August 2013, he was the most subscribed YouTube channel. He reached 11.3 million subscribers before being overtaken by gamer PewDiePie. He was the second most subscribed YouTube channel from 2013 to 2016 before being overtaken by Justin Bieber. He overtook Bieber's 34 million subscribers in early 2018. He grew rapidly throughout 2018 and is currently the second most subscribed YouTube channel, at 71 million subscribers, and is expected to become No. 1 again and beat PewDiePie in late November / early December 2018.

## Instruments played

Luke Melvin played a host of instruments including guitar, bass, keyboards, flute, violin, double bass and lots more.

## Death

*Main article: Murder of Luke Melvin*

On 27 June 2006, Luke Melvin was playing a concert in Madison Square Garden when suddenly, a crazed fan armed with sulphuric acid launched it at Melvin's face. Immediately the song (which was "I Appreciate the Lord") ended. Ringo Starr rushed to Melvin's aid while he screamed in pain. He swallowed some of the acid, completely burning his throat. He was rushed into hospital. He died two hours after the attack, with his face described by Starr as "completely destroyed and unrecognisable". His last words were "kill me". The last photo of Melvin was him performing in Madison Square Garden the same day. A post mortem was issued, announcing that a few days before his death, his body had contracted HIV.

## Legacy

The legacy Melvin left behind was quite big. In a 2009 poll, 98% of modern artists said they had been inspired by him in some way. In a 2010 poll, "I Appreciate the Lord" was voted Britain's most loved song. 90% of people on the X Factor have performed the song, with 50% of performers on Britain's Got Talent having performed it.

People continue to mourn Melvin around the world. On 27 June 2016, the tenth anniversary of Melvin's death, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr hosted The Concert for Luke, which included many artists who had been inspired by Melvin in their lifetime.