Andrew Weatherall, the legendary DJ, producer, and musician, has died aged 56, his publicist has confirmed.
Weatherall died in the early hours of Monday, February 17, at Whipps Cross Hospital, London. The cause of death was a pulmonary embolism. He was being treated in hospital, but the blood clot had reached his heart.
Weatherall’s early entry into the music scene began with Boy’s Own, the fanzine he co-founded covering fashion, football, youth culture, and acid house. His DJ career began at Danny Rampling’s Shoom parties, and later at Paul Oakenfold’s Future/Spectrum nights and Nicky Holloway’s Trip.
Later, Weatherall would help start the Boy’s Own Recordings record label and begin making music, which led him to make remixes for the Happy Mondays, Primal Scream, and Saint Etienne in the 1990s. His remix of Primal Scream’s “I’m Losing More Than I’ll Ever Have” turned into their hit “Loaded”, leading him to become a producer on their Screamadelica album.
His subsequent musical projects included the influential Sabres of Paradise and Two Lone Swordsmen, production for bands like Fuck Buttons and Warpaint, and work under his own name and with The Asphodells. He also continued to be an in-demand DJ and remix artist, and threw parties in London like A Love from Outer Space, which played dance music with a “kind of sleazy, kind of slow, disco/post-punk influence from the past, present, and future”, as Weatherall told Dazed in 2010.
Weatherall’s latest release, the two-track single “Unknown Plunderer”/“End Times Sound”, was set for release later this week, February 21.
“His family and friends are profoundly saddened by his death and are taking time to gather their thoughts,” a message on Weatherall’s website, Rotters Golf Club, says. “Further announcements regarding funeral arrangements will be made in due course by Andrew’s press officer, James Parrish.” Contact details are available on the website.