Aussie Rock Singer Louis Tillett Passes Away, Aged 64

Louis Tillett, the Australian rock singer, keyboardist and saxophonist for The Wet Taxis and backing musician for Tex Perkins, as well as many other projects, has passed away aged 64.

His partner, Rachael Slattery, posted the news yesterday (13 August), a week after Tillett’s passing. “I am very sorry to have to pass on the news. One week ago, Louis Tillett passed away,” Slattery wrote on Facebook.

“Jack and I were with him to the end. We thank Royal Prince Alfred and Concord Hospitals for allowing Jack and I to stay for days and weeks at a time leading up to his passing.”

Slattery’s statement continued, “Please remember him as he was, in the words of Hellen Rose, a Cheeky Druid. He brought joy to our pain, light to our darkness, and a good dose of mischief.

“I have gone to great lengths to make his Music available everywhere possible. I will leave links in the comments for you to find them. Louis has donated his body to Science. There will be no funeral as such. But please stay tuned for news about his Memorial.”

Tillett released seven solo albums throughout his music career, with the most recent, Soliloquy, released in 2006. In 1995, Tillett and multi-instrumentalist Charlie Owen teamed up to release the album Midnight Rain, which won the Rolling Stone Critic’s Award for the Best Album in 1996.

After working with members of Died Pretty and Catfish, Tillett led the band The Aspersion Castle. In 2000, he was the subject of the documentary A Night At Sea With Louis Tillett.

In 2018, Tillett released a retrospective/Greatest Hits album, To Ride A Dead Pony, which tracked decades of his career.

“This is a collection of rare and live recordings, which was borne out of my desire to give a historical lineage to fans of the music, who had only limited ideas of what I wrote or performed, according to their experience,” Tillett wrote in a press release (via Bandcamp).

“Whether that was people in Australia, or in Europe, there were always gaps in my musical journey, where I felt I wanted to illustrate the many and varied line-ups and influences and experiences that happened along the way for all audiences to see the whole picture.

“This is a musical flashback to my earliest recordings with Wet Taxis, and No Dance, through to the bigger band line-ups of the Ego Trippers from Hell, and The Aspersion Caste, and the very rare recordings I made with Paris Green.”

You can check out To Ride A Dead Pony and buy Tillett’s digital discography here.