| René Berg | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Ian Bruce |
| Born | 24 February 1956 |
| Died | 28 July 2003 (aged 47) Kent, England |
| Genres | Rock Hard rock Glam rock Power pop |
| Instruments | Guitar |
| Years active | 1977 - 2003 |
| Labels | Miles Ahead Ammunition Communique Records |
| Associated acts | Idle Flowers Soho Vultures René Berg Band Hanoi Rocks Hollywood Killers Herman Brood |
René Berg (Born Ian Bruce, 24 February 1956 - 28 July 2003) was an English musician, vocalist, guitarist, and songwriter who recorded and performed in a number of bands starting in the late 70's until his death in 2003. His notable bands included Idle Flowers, Soho Vultures, René Berg Band, along with appearances in Hanoi Rocks, Herman Brood Band, and Jim Penfold's The Killers (1986)[1] (previously known as The Hollywood Killers).
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René was born Ian Alistair Bruce in 1956, the oldest child of a GP. He grew up in Wanstead, East London, and at the age of 8 went to King’s College Choir School in Cambridge as a boarder. When he was 13 the family moved to Eastry in Kent, and Ian transferred to day school and took up fishing, about which, says his sister Fiona, he was “completely passionate”. At about the same time he bought his first guitar with Green Shield stamps, and taught himself to play, and the basement of the Eastry house soon became a regular jam session venue. School was followed by three years at catering college, but music won out. In 1979 he toured Holland with Soho, a band formed by Tim Smit (now director of the Eden Project). The band also featured Sev Lewkowicz (later to play with Mungo Jerry and Dennis Locorriere) on keyboards. In 1981, after a stint in Amsterdam with Herman Brood’s Wild Romance (initially on guitar, but also on lead vocals after Broods was jailed for dealing LSD), René, as he was by then known, returned to the UK and formed Idle Flowers in September 1981. The band opened up for Hanoi Rocks on 20 January 1983 at the Klub Foot, Clarendon and René also guested on guitar with Hanoi Rocks sometime in that year and joined Hanoi Rocks on stage at Birmingham Mermaid on the 27th May for the encore. The Idle Flowers recorded many demos for an intended debut LP entitled The Leather, The Loneliness And Your Dark Eyes (which became the title of René's 1992 solo album) but the recordings remain unreleased. The only official Idle Flowers release was the excellent All I Want Is You / Fizz Music single back in 1984 on the Miles Ahead label recorded at the famed Abbey Road Studios.
In March 1985, Berg was asked by Michael Monroe and Nasty Suicide to join Hanoi Rocks as the band's new bassist for the departed Sami Yaffa. Berg was an old friend of the band and had played occasionally with Andy McCoy. The new Hanoi Rocks lineup (which also included one time Clash drummer Terry Chimes filling in after Razzle's death) only lasted a few months before falling apart. However René did record bass on the Rock & Roll Divorce (1985) live album and the final Hanoi Rocks 1985 demos. His self penned song "Fast Car" included on his 1992 solo album as well as Hanoi Rocks posthumous Lean On Me (1992) collection was recorded by Hanoi Rocks. The rest of the 1985 demos remain unreleased.
Shortly after the demise of Hanoi Rocks in May 1985, a month later the Idle Flowers broke up in June 1985 after almost a four year stint together. Berg kept a low profile before ending up singing lead vocals in 1986 on the Suicide Twins (Andy McCoy and Nasty Suicide's side acoustic band) Sweet Pretending.
In 1986 René grouped with Jim Penfold from The Hollwood Killers and started The Killers who recorded four unreleased demos, appeared on London Weekend TV, and did many shows before disbanding in early 1987. Also in 1987 he played on the Gang Bang Band's 12" EP recorded with Nasty Suicide from Hanoi Rocks, Bernie Torme, Dumpy Dunnell and members of the Quireboys, Babysitters, and Wolfsbane.
1987 proved a very productive year for Berg who fronted his second band (after the Idle Flowers) called West End Central which quickly evolved into the Soho Vultures with Nasty Suicide (Hanoi Rocks) on guitar. Tommy Fox soon replaced Dougie (Idle Flowers) on bass and The Soho Vultures recorded six great glammy power pop songs in 1987 that to this day tragically remain unreleased.
The Soho Vultures songs recorded were Head Over Heels, Can't Get To Sleep, The Leather, The Loneliness And Your Dark Eyes, Happy, Too Late and the classic London Town. Too Late featured Nasty Suicide on lead vocals while the other songs featured René Berg's outstanding vocals. The Leather, The Loneliness And Your Dark Eyes, Happy, and Too Late were to be rerecorded for the band's debut single on Ammunition Records that never came to be. Fortunately, Head Over Heels, Can't Get To Sleep, and The Leather, The Loneliness And Your Dark Eyes were all recorded for René's 1992 solo album.
Other Soho Vultures songs played live included the old Idle Flowers songs Down The Avenue, Feel Your Love, Glad I'm Not American, Rob The Bank, The Letter, and Alright Alright as well as a cover of Hanoi Rocks Boiler. The Soho Vultures played frequently in London at the Marquee and Dingwall's, toured Finland in September of that year appearing on radio shows, a Finnish TV music programme entitled Rock Stop, and even made a rarely seen video for the song Head Over Heels before calling it a day in late 1987.
After the Soho Vultures disbanded René remained quiet for a few years until he scored a bigger record deal and recorded his only solo album The Leather, The Loneliness And Your Dark Eyes released in 1992 on Communique Records. When he arrived back on the scene he was revitalized by the album release, (his first in eight years since the Idle Flowers single and album) and promoted and played many live dates between 1992-1993 some with his old bandmate Nasty Suicide guesting on guitar. The album featured guitarist Bernie Torme (Ozzy Osbourne Band, Gillan), Paul Gray (The Damned, UFO) and Rat Scabies (The Damned) on drums. A planned tour of Europe and Japan to promote the album was scheduled but was later cancelled. In 1993 René contributed to Nasty Suicide's Cool Talk Injection (1994) album singing lead vocals on the Alvin Gibbs penned song The Trap That Venus Laid and backing vocals on two other songs. René was contracted to do two more albums for Communique Records (which would have mostly likely included London Town and other Idle Flowers / Soho Vultures songs) which never materialized. He never entirely quit playing music. René always recorded private demos with friends (some dating from the late 70's) that remain unreleased.
René Berg died on July 28, 2003 estranged from those who knew him. The cause of death was not an overdose (he never was entirely addicted to heroin and supposely could use or not use it when he chose) but a culmination of depression and all the years of hard living and drinking taking their toll.
One of René's personal proudest moments was appearing onstage in New York, playing side by side with Chuck Berry. Still his legacy lives on - The Darkness' 2003 hit I Believe In A Thing Called Love is very close in arrangement to Berg's Rob The Bank.[2]
Songs
8/4/87, London, Dingwall's (Unreleased).
16/6/87,London Marquee Club (Unreleased),
Songs
28/8/87, Helsinki 007 Club, Finland (Unreleased)
7/10/1987, London, Dingwall's (Unreleased)
Songs
Songs
30/5/1992,London,Marquee Club (Unreleased)
22/5/1993, London, George Robey (Unreleased)
14/11/1993, London, Underworld (Unreleased)
Songs
Herman Brood Band
"songs"
Songs
Gangbang Band
Cheap And Nasty
Idle Flowers (1981–1985)
West End Central (1987)
Soho Vultures (1987)
René Berg Band (1992–1993)
Studio Line up
Live Line up (1993)
Berg's influences included Rolling Stones, Faces, Rod Stewart, Chuck Berry, The Beatles, Hanoi Rocks, and Hollywood Killers, among others.
Retrieved December 16, 2006.