ANNOUNCEMENT
Two months after celebrating his 65th birthday with family and friends at home in Saltburn, our dear friend Raphael Doyle passed away quietly in his sleep at Teesside Hospice in the early hours of Friday 30 March 2018.
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BIOGRAPHY
In 1969 Raphael Doyle left County Antrim for England. The troubled 15 year old had clashed once too often with with the conservative, Catholic environment of his upbringing, and fetched up at the Finchden Manor community in Kent, run by visionary teacher & healer George Lyward.
The boy who showed him round on his first day there was called Tom Robinson. The pair quickly bonded over a mututal love of Bob Dylan, Nina Simone, Ray Charles and the blues of Buddy Guy and Robert Johnson. They formed a band and begand writing songs together. When bluesman and broadcaster Alexis Korner (himself a Finchden old boy) came down to visit, Raphael and Tom played him their songs. Alexis became a friend and unofficial mentor.
By 1973 Raphael and Tom had left Finchden, moved to London and teamed up with their mutual friend Hereward Kaye to form an acoustic trio called Café Society. They were discovered playing at The Troubadour folk club by Ray Davies of The Kinks. who subsequently produced the band’s self-titled debut album.
Support tours with The Kinks, Leo Sayer, Alan Hull and Barclay James Harvest followed and in 1976 Café Society expanded their lineup to build a following on London’s burgeoning pub rock scene. A second album was already underway when Tom Robinson abruptly left the band after seeing The Sex Pistols at The 100 Club, and Café Society slowly ground to a halt.
Raphael formed a band of his own, but his confidence was shattered. Stage fright, dealing with the music industry and the stresses of bringing up a young family led to an increasing dependence on drink. His wandering years included touring Europe with Ignatz; recording gospel rock in the USA with Giantkiller and playing electric blues gig with guitarist Paul Davey, which won a strong following across South London.
Raphael’s Pied Piper storytelling and songs in schools took kids and adults alike to other worlds – but through all the wild, tempestuous times, family life provided a constant emotional anchor. His youngest son Louis Doyle began making a name of his own on the London indie scene – first with The Cadets, then Slides, The Spare Room and most recently as OK Doomer.
When Raphael was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease in early 2016 Louis and old friend Tom Robinson urged him to record a definitive solo album and once Anglo-Irish musician/producer Gerry Diver [Youth, Van Morrison, Christy Moore, Shane McGowan] offered to come on board, the whole project clicked into place. Funded via a PledgeMusic campaign, Raphael named the new record Never Closer after a poem by Seamus Heaney.
The first single was Raphael’s unflinchingly confessional poem “I Come From Ireland” which Gerry Diver set to music in the unique personal style pioneered by his own award-winning Speech Project in 2012.
As the reset of the record took shape at Gerry’s South London studio, others stepped up to lend a hand. Recording engineer Daniel Moyler [Brody Dalle, FKA Twigs, Björk] oversaw the additional sessions with Louis at Miloco studios. Mastering legend Barry Grint [Prince, Madonna, David Bowie, Radiohead etc) sprinkled his sonic magic over the mixes. And on hearing those, Martin Goldschmidt – boss of leading indie label Cooking Vinyl – offered to release the album.
It was released on Cooking Vinyl in January 2017 and tracks were featured by Lauren Laverne and Cerys Matthews at BBC 6 Music, by Jeremy Vine and the late Steve Wright at BBC Radio 2, by BBC Radio Ulster’s iconic Across The Line show, and by Bob Fischer at BBC Tees. Despite his declining health Raphael also played a short run of showcase gigs that month in Newcastle, London, Dublin and Belfast.
In January 2018 he celebrated his 65th birthday quietly at home in Saltburn-by-the-Sea with family and friends, and died peacefully in his sleep at Teesside Hospice on Friday, March 30th 2018, with his wife Rosamund at his side.
