The British rock scene was revitalised in the 1990s. The likes of the Stone Roses, Oasis, Blur, Pulp and others help bring the genre to the forefront. One band, in particular, were about to explode worldwide until an unfortunate event happened to one of its members. This is the story of how Manic Street Preachers guitarist and chief lyricist Richey Edwards disappeared. This week the Beat Marches On to 1st February 1995 the last time anyone knew where Richey Edwards was.
The Manic Street Preachers were formed in 1986. Four childhood friends in a small Welsh mining village fuelled by the punk attitudes of the late 1970s. Originally Richey was the driver and roadie for the band before becoming a member at a later point.
Although he couldn’t play any instruments the band allowed Edwards to join the band because of his lyric writing abilities. He started to co-write poems with bass player Nicky Wire while singer James Dean Bradfield taught him to play the guitar.
The band in their early days became an underground sensation releasing a couple of singles which combined with enigmatic stage performances made them hot property. Wanting to bring rock n roll back to the mainstream the band were compared to Guns n Roses and Motley Crue the then-standard alternative bands at the time.
The Manic’s started to gain traction with the single You Love Us in 1991. This is when Richey and the Manic’s started to gain notoriety. In an interview with renowned British DJ and journalist Steve Lamacq, Edwards who had become the band’s media spokesman by this time was asked a question as to whether they were genuine or not. To prove the point, he carved “4 Real” on the inside of his left forearm. The two carried on for a little while and then sought medical attention. This was the first time Edwards’s vulnerable side was shown outside of his lyrics.
The following year the band released their first album Generation Terrorists which had a couple of hits, the aforementioned You Love Us and Motorcycle Emptiness. The latter compares the band to Guns n Roses even more so due to the Slash-esque guitar riff.
When the band toured Richie started to become the fan favourite. Performing in eye makeup and a unique dress sense made him stand out compared to the rest of the band. Although he was performing the part on stage due to his lack of musical skills his amps were turned down most of the time.
They released a second album in 1993 Gold Against the Soul. It didn’t break through to the masses but gained a cult status like the previous effort. The opening track Sleepflower is a fan favourite and although the band do not often put it in their live performances, they always have a request to play it from a fan.
1994 was the breakthrough year for the band. It saw the release of the third album The Holy Bible. The album was critically acclaimed and featured dark lyrics written predominantly by Edwards. At first, the rest of the band thought it was a persona and didn’t know what was going on. There were a few songs that are autobiographical like 4ft 7st which detailed his anorexia which he suffered from around this time.
Edwards started drinking heavily around the writing of this album and disappeared in July 1994 for 48 hours when he went on a drinking binge and looked to be self-mutilating himself. After this incident, he checked in to the Priory rehabilitation centre in Roehampton for ten weeks. The band continued with prior commitments without Richey.
There is also a story of Edwards being kidnapped by drug dealers in Cardiff after looking for some cannabis to buy but there isn’t any evidence of when this happened. It was just a story that a roadie was told apparently by Edwards.
Richey checked out of the Priory just after the Holy Bible was released. The band continued to tour in promotion of the album until the end of the year. Unfortunately, the self-mutilation continued for the guitarist cutting himself in the chest, repeatedly banging his head against the wall outside a hotel and an instance where he bought a meat cleaver to chop off his fingers. Luckily, the cleaver was taken off him before he could do any damage.
The last shows the Manic Street Preachers played with Richey were in December 1994 at the London Astoria. No one knew at the time, but co-lyricist and bass player Nicky Wire thought there was an aura around the evening.
In January 1995 the band went to rehearse new material for the next album. From all accounts, it seemed the band were in good spirits especially Richey who was having fun and was buying gifts for the other members. They spent the last couple of days in January rehearsing for a forthcoming tour of America to promote their previous album the Holy Bible.
Singer James Dean Bradfield and Richey Edwards were due to fly out to America earlier than the other two members for a promotional tour. They checked into the Embassy Hotel in London the day before they were due to leave on February 1st. Agreeing to go out for dinner and a couple of drinks that night the two went to their rooms to settle in.
Richey phoned his Mum and said that he wasn’t looking forward to going to America. This was the last time he would talk to his Mum. When Bradfield arrived to meet him to go to dinner, he changed his mind and decided he wanted a quiet night in. Bradfield thought nothing of it and left him to it.
The next day Bradfield was waiting for him in the hotel lobby and Edwards didn’t show. This was unlike him as he was normally on time whenever they arranged to meet. They contacted the hotel lobby who gave them access to the room. All his possessions were there other than his passport, wallet, keys and some Prozac. The records showed he checked out at 7 a.m. No one knew where he was.
Edwards took his car and went back to Cardiff. A receipt on the day he vanished for crossing the Severn Bridge, the bridge that links England to Wales, said he crossed at 2:55 pm. However, it was established in 2018 that the clock is 24 hours, so he actually crossed at 2:55 a.m. 12 hours earlier than presumed. The belief is that he dropped off some things at his flat and set off again. He withdrew £2800 from his bank account and was never seen again.
A missing person’s report was made to the police the next day and Richey’s family placed an advert in their local newspaper begging him to come home. Accounts of multiple sightings in Newport were made during the next couple of weeks. At the Passport centre, the Bus Station, and the Library. A taxi driver claims he took Edwards over to the Severn View service station with him ducking in the back of the car trying not to get noticed. He was putting on a London accent that kept dipping in and out of a Welsh accent.
On February 17th Richie’s car was found at the service station car park. A well-known suicide spot. It had been there for three days and a parking ticket had been issued on three days earlier. The police were called who investigate. The car looked lived in, the battery was run down, and McDonald’s wrappers were found in the car together with family photos on the dashboard. Everyone thought the worst.
Edwards’s body has never been found. Resulting in much speculation. The simple answer is yes, he did jump off the well-known suicide spot but that wasn’t Richey’s thing. Although he was suffering from depression and like to self-harm when interviewed he said he never thought about the ‘s’ word. Many thought it was staged and he ran off and started a new life somewhere.
Multiple sightings occurred over the years. There were the Canary Islands, Israel, a market in Goa, India, and hippie communes. The truth is unless he comes out of the wind then we will never know.
In 2008 with still no sign of the body the family decided to presume Richards dead. They hadn’t given up hope, but this was more of a financial decision. His sister Rachel has independently investigated the case as she has been critical of the original police inquiry.
In a book released in 2019, more evidence came to light of Richey’s disappearance. Working with Rachel’s evidence gathered from her investigation they found out that there was a friend who visited the hotel room that night. Known solely as Vivian she was a fan who turned friend and went to Richey’s room after singer Bradfield had left to go out for dinner and drinks. To this day Vivian has not been found after strenuous searching by Rachel.
The band after discussing it with the Edwards family decided to carry on without Richey. They give 25% of their royalties to Richey’s estate from all sales pre- and post-disappearance. And when they perform on stage, they leave a microphone stand on the far left of the stage where Edwards would normally be if he were still with them. The first album they released since he disappeared, Everything Must Go, had featured some of his lyrics. In 2009 they released a Journal for Plagued Lovers an album consisting purely of Richey’s lyrics he had left behind.
The legacy left by Richey Edwards in his short stardom reached out to the outsiders. He was always open about his struggles when interviewed which people saw and realised, they were not the only ones. To people who were socially awkward and found it hard to interact, he spoke to them. It felt like he was the voice of the voiceless. The people at school who didn’t have any friends saw Richey and thought they were not alone.
In the 26 years that Edwards has been missing his sister hasn’t given up hope and still hopes to find him one day. As the trail keeps running cold and still no trace of where he could be it’s the fact a body has never been found that still gives hope.
The Beat Marches On is a music blog written by Jimmy Whitehead. Jimmy has been blogging for six years specialising in Sports (especially American Football). If you want to follow Jimmy on Twitter: @Jimmy_W1987
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The websites used for research were:
The day Richey Edwards disappeared | Manic Street Preachers missing member | 2019 (penguin.co.uk)
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