A legendary rocker of the British punk scene was granted his dying wish when his loved ones buried him at sea.
Brian James, the punk rock guitarist who founded British group The Damned, died on March 6 at the age of 70. On April 28, his friends and family gathered to lay him to rest on the ocean floor off the coast of East Sussex, England, according to The UK Sun. The burial was held after a small church service in Brighton.
James’ widow, Minna, told The Sun this week about the burial and said, “It was a beautiful day and the sea was calm. We’ve been together since I was 18, so it was very emotional. A burial at sea is pretty unusual, but it was in his will, so we had to do it.”
Another unnamed source told The Sun, “Brian now sleeps with the fishes, which is what he wished for before he died. He was a true original in life and has carried that on in death.
“The spirit of punk never left him, and he was adamant he wanted his final resting place to be at sea. A few loved ones went out on the boat for around three hours and watched as his coffin was dropped into the drink.”
According to The Sun, a local funeral home had to apply for a special permit from the Marine Management Organisation in order to perform the burial at sea.
The family announced James’ death on his Facebook page back in March, writing, “It is with great sadness that we announce the death of one of the true pioneers of music, guitarist, songwriter, and true gentleman, Brian James.”
He was survived by Minna and his son Charlie, and daughter-in-law Alicia.
James is often credited with writing the “first ever UK punk single,” the 1976 song “New Rose,” which music critic Dave Thompson called “rightly revered as one of the greatest songs to emerge from 1970s Britain.”
After his tenure with The Damned from 1976 to 1978, James went on to co-found the British-American punk group The Lords of the New Church, which was together throughout the 1980s and then reunited several times since the year 2000.
