Kevin Coyne was a musician, singer, composer, film-maker, and a writer of lyrics, stories and poems. The former "anti-star " [1] was born on 27 January 1944 in Derby, UK, and died in his adopted home of Nuremberg, Germany, on 2 December 2004. Coyne is notable for his unorthodox and unforgettable style of blues-influenced guitar composition, the qualities of his vocal delivery, and for his bold treatment of injustice to the mentally ill in his lyrical songcraft. Many influential music figures call themselves fans of Coyne's work - notable among them are Sting and John Lydon. In the mid-1970s his band included guitarist Andy Summers prior to the formation of The Police. Prominent BBC disc jockey and world music authority Andy Kershaw described Coyne as, variously, "a national treasure who keeps getting better" and as one of the great British blues voices.