Richey Edwards
Background information
Birth name	Richard James Edwards
Born	22 December 1967
Genre(s)	Alternative rock
Occupation(s)	lyricist and guitarist
Instrument(s)	Guitar
Years active	1989-1995
Label(s)	Sony
Influences	Sex Pistols, The Clash, Public Enemy, Guns N' Roses, Nirvana, Albert Camus, Sylvia Plath, Osamu Dazai, William S. Burroughs, Jack Keroac, Hubert Selby, Ken Kesey

Richey James Edwards (born Richard James Edwards, 22 December 1967) was the co-lyricist and guitarist of the Welsh rock band Manic Street Preachers. Edwards has been missing since 1995.

Biography

Richey Edwards grew up in Blackwood, South Wales, where he attended Oakdale Comprehensive. Between 1986-1989 he attended University of Wales, Swansea and graduated with a 2:1 degree in political history. He has one sister named Rachel.

Edwards was initially a driver and roadie for Manic Street Preachers, but he soon became accepted as the band's main spokesman and fourth member. Richey showed little musical talent - his real contribution to the Manic Street Preachers was in the words and design. More often than not he was miming on the guitar during early live performances, but was, along with bassist Nicky Wire, principal lyricist. Richey is said to have written approximately 75% of the lyrics on The Holy Bible. Both are credited on all songs written before Edward's disappearance, with Edwards receiving sole credit on three tracks from the 1996 album Everything Must Go, and co-writing credits on another two.

Richey with 4 Real carved into his arm. The NME discussion as to whether to publish this image was a bonus track on "Suicide Is Painless".

In 1991 he gained notoriety following an argument with NME journalist Steve Lamacq, who questioned the band's authenticity and values, keen to ensure the punk ethic was not abused, after a gig at the Norwich Arts Centre. Edwards responded by carving the words "4 Real" into his forearm with a razor blade he was carrying. The injury required hospitalisation and seventeen stitches.

Edwards suffered severe bouts of depression throughout his life, and was open about it in interviews: "If you're hopelessly depressed like I was, then dressing up is just the ultimate escape. When I was young I just wanted to be noticed. Nothing could excite me except attention so I'd dress up as much as I could. Outrage and boredom just go hand in hand."

"Gets to a point where you really can’t operate any more as a human being – you can’t get out of bed, you can’t…make yourself a cup of coffee without something going badly wrong or your body’s too weak to walk."

He also self-harmed, mainly through stubbing cigarettes on his body, and cutting himself ("When I cut myself I feel so much better. All the little things that might have been annoying me suddenly seem so trivial because I'm concentrating on the pain. I'm not a person who can scream and shout so this is my only outlet. It's all done very logically."). His problems with eating and alcohol were well documented, and he was, according to Nicky Wire, "on the verge of anorexia" when he was at his worst. After the release of the band's third album The Holy Bible, he checked into The Priory psychiatric hospital, missing out on some of the promotional work for the album and forcing the band to appear as a three piece at the Reading Festival.

Following release from the Priory, the Manic Street Preachers as a four-piece band toured Europe with Suede and Therapy? for what was to be the last time. Edwards' final live appearance with the band was at the London Astoria, on the 21 December 1994. The concert ended with the band infamously smashing their equipment and damaging the lighting system, prompted by Richey's violent destruction of his guitar towards the end of set closer "You Love Us".

Disappearance

Edwards disappeared on 1 February 1995, on the day that he and James Dean Bradfield were due to fly to the U.S. on a promotional tour. In the two weeks before his disappearance, Edwards withdrew £200 a day from his bank account, which totaled £2800 by 1 February. He checked out of the London Embassy hotel at seven in the morning, and it has been proven that he then drove to his apartment in Cardiff, Wales. In the two weeks that followed he was apparently spotted in the Newport passport office, and the Newport bus station. On the 7 February, Anthony Hatherhall, a taxi driver from Newport, supposedly picked up Edwards from the King's hotel in Newport, and drove him around the valleys, including Blackwood (Edwards’ home as a child). The passenger got off at the Severn View service station and paid the £68 fare in cash.

On 14 February Richey's Vauxhall Cavalier received a parking ticket at the Severn View service station, and on the 17 February the car was reported as abandoned. Police discovered the battery to be flat, with evidence that the car had been lived in. Since then he has purportedly been spotted in a hippie market in Goa, India and has been spotted on the islands of Fuerteventura and Lanzarote. There have been other alleged sightings of Edwards, especially in the years immediately following his disappearance. However none of these has proved conclusive, and none have been confirmed by investigators.

The investigation itself has received criticism. In his book Everything (A Book About Manic Street Preachers), Simon Price states that aspects of the investigation were "far from satisfactory." He asserts the police may not have taken Edwards' mental state into account when prioritising his disappearance. Price also records Edwards' sister Rachel as having "hit out at police handling" after CCTV footage was analysed two years after the disappearance. Price records a member of the investigation team as stating "that the idea that you could identify somebody from that is arrant nonsense." While his family had the option of declaring him legally dead from 2002, they have chosen not to, and his status remains open as a missing person.

Since his disappearance, the band have continued to pay 25% of royalties earned into an account, to be kept for Edwards.

Literature and other cultural influences

As well as an interest in music, Edwards' other love was literature. He chose many of the quotes that appear on Manics records and would often refer to writers and poets during interviews. This interest in literature has remained as integral to the band's appeal as their music. Albert Camus, Philip Larkin and Fyodor Dostoevsky were amongst his favourite authors.

Edwards' lyrics have often been of a highly poetic nature, particularly on the band's third album The Holy Bible, and they have often reflected his knowledge of political history.

His icons and heroes had a profound effect on him and his work. His style reminds very of Syd Barrett's. Many of them, like Kurt Cobain, Ian Curtis and Sylvia Plath, committed suicide at a young age following a short but exceptionally productive life; J.D. Salinger became a recluse, living a hermit-like existence after releasing his novel, The Catcher in the Rye, now recognised as a classic. It was this interest in the unusual that helped shape Edwards's own career, particularly during the early days, with the promise of releasing one classic album and then burning out.

Footnotes and references

External links