Mi-Sex Guitarist Kevin Stanton Passes Away Aged 61

Kevin Stanton, the founding guitarist of New Zealand new-wave icons Mi-Sex, has died aged 61.

News of Stanton's death has spread quickly through the local music community on social media, with several paying tribute to the man's instrumental and composition talents. He had returned to Australia a few weeks ago from his home in France to be with his family, and passed away peacefully in his sleep.

Keyboardist Murray Burns and Mi-Sex have issued a statement on his passing, explaining that they were "very saddened" by the news about their "very, very special friend".

"It is hard to fathom Kevin is no longer with us," they wrote. "Only last Sunday we chatted, arranging times together in the not too distant future, hoping for a new chapter in our creative partnership.

"Kevin really opened up the door to songwriting for me. He was my teacher in so many ways and gave me the confidence to explore my music and believe in my ideas.

"He brought the dark, dark edge to Mi-Sex that we all loved and were intensely intrigued by."

Born on 21 June 1955, Stanton formed the band in New Zealand in 1978 with the late Steve Gilpin (d. 1992) and bassist Don Martin, with Burns and drummer Richard Hodgkinson. He relocated to Sydney with his fellow members later that year, but left the band for a spell in 1982 to attend to health issues.

He returned four months later before being joined by second guitarist, and former Silent Movies player, Colin Bayley, in 1983, staying with the band through fourth album Where Do They Go? before departing for good.

The guitarist was the songwriter or co-songwriter of several of Mi-Sex's best-loved tunes, including their seminal hit Computer Games, from their 1979 debut album Graffiti Crimes, as well as that record's title track and other songs including But You Don't Care (1979), People, Space Race, It Only Hurts When I'm Laughing (all 1980), Shanghaied! (1981), Castaway (1982) and more.

Stanton suffered from severe cervical spondylosis, a serious spinal condition, and was the subject of a fundraiser in 2014 featuring a line-up of local greats. He relocated to France in March this year to await an operation in England after it was found that local doctors could not help him further.

He is survived by his wife, Aleta, and children Nyran, Georgia, Miki, Benjamin and Lenore.

Mi-Sex have been enjoying a resurgence in the past few years, reuniting in 2011 for a Christchurch earthquake benefit show and releasing their first new single in 25 years in 2016, though Stanton was not a part of either reunion.