The Scottish musician Ian Bairnson, who performed guitar for the Alan Parsons Project and Kate Bush, has died at 69. In an Instagram put up, his spouse mentioned that he handed away after “a long battle with dementia.”
Bairnson was born in Shetland in 1953. After working as a session musician for a number of years, he joined the band Pilot in 1973, staying with them for 4 years and 4 albums. Alongside another Pilot members, he additionally began performing with the Alan Parsons Project — Parsons produced the band’s debut album — and he’d play with Parsons for the following few a long time.
He additionally often collaborated with Kate Bush, and carried out on her first 4 albums: 1978’s The Kick Inside and Lionheart, 1980’s Never For Ever, and 1982’s The Dreaming. He performed the guitar solo on “Wuthering Heights.” Throughout his profession, he additionally performed on albums by Joe Cocker, Mick Fleetwood, and Yes’ Jon Anderson, and toured with Sting and Eric Clapton.
“Ian was the sweetest, kindest, loving husband I could ever have wished for and I take comfort that he is resting now up there in his very own piece of ‘Blue Blue Sky,’” his spouse wrote in her Instagram put up. “Although Ian has left us, his musical legacy stays with us and will continue to delight and brighten our lives, as it did his, forever.”
Parsons additionally paid tribute to Bairnson in a Facebook put up, writing: “I have always considered Ian a musical genius … He was a true master of the guitar – he knew every possible playable guitar chord and how to describe it.”