Deacon Blue’s James Prime dead at 64
Scottish pop band Deacon Blue have confirmed their keyboardist James Prime has died aged 64 following a battle with cancer.
In a statement on social media, the band wrote: “Dear friends, We announce with great sadness that our brother James Prime passed away this morning after a short struggle with cancer.”
The group continued: “Thank you so much for the messages of support that you shared over the last two weeks, they meant so much to Jim, his family & us. With love, DBx.”
The announcement of Prime’s passing comes after the band issued a health update on the musician only last week, confirming he wouldn’t be participating in their forthcoming tour due to his cancer. Deacon Blue’s Ricky Ross, Lorraine McIntosh, Dougie Vipond, Gregor Philp and Lewis Gordon shared a group statement revealing that Prime was “seriously ill and undergoing care in hospital”.
They also detailed a recent conversation with the keyboardist, explaining that he’d given his blessing for them to continue without him while he was ill.
Deacon Blue wrote: “We spoke to Jim yesterday about Deacon Blue’s plans for the rest of the year, and he encouraged us to continue with love in our hearts and with his full blessing that the shows go ahead, even if it means replacing the irreplaceable James Miller Prime for the time being.”
The group are still scheduled to play a UK and Ireland arena tour later this year, which starts in Liverpool on September 19th.
Prime was a founding member of Deacon Blue in 1985 and contributed heavily to each of their 11 studio albums, including The Great Western Road, which was released earlier this year. Their 1989 album, When The World Knows Your Name, topped the UK album chart and has since gone double platinum, selling over 700,000 copies.
Before joining Deacon Blue, Prime gained experience as a session musician with Altered Images, which gave him his first taste of life in the music industry. Outside his commitments with his band, he was also a lecturer in Commercial Music at the University of the West of Scotland.
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