June 25, 2009 10:52

NME legend Steven Wells dies

Iconic writer 'Swells' passes away after suffering from cancer

Former NME writer Steven Wells has died this week (June 24).

The legendary scribe, born in 1960, performed as a punk poet (as Seething Wells) before starting to write for NME in the 1980s.

Swells, as he was often known, swiftly became famous for his brilliant confrontational, pointed style and amazing wordplay as well as his championing of bands and artists that ranged from the Extreme Noise Terror, Napalm Death, The Redskins and Asian Dub Foundation to Daphne And Celeste.

Brilliant, acerbic and fiercely independent, he was a true iconoclast who always questioned the musical status quo.

He was also an contributor to television comedies including The Day Today, and directed a number of music videos in the mid-90s for GobTV.

He published an acclaimed novel, 'Tits Out Teenage Terror Totty', in 1999 via his own Attack! publishing house.

Wells went on to write for The Guardian, as well as writing about his illness in two cover stories for the Philadelphia Weekly.
He filed his last story for the Philadelphia Weekly on June 14.

Diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma in 2006, he died in the US on Tuesday.

See next week's NME (out on July 1) for a full tribute.