Sky Saxon
Sky Saxon, lead singer of the ’60s garage band the Seeds, died this morning in Austin, TX.
Sky’s wife Sabrina Saxon posted news of his passing on Facebook this morning: “Sky has passed over and YaHoWha is waiting for him at the gate. He will soon be home with his Father. I’m so sorry I couldn’t keep him here with us. More later. I’m sorry.”
Saxon fell ill last Thursday, but was not hospitalized Monday with what doctors suspected was an infection of the internal organs, but cause of death has not yet been released. His final performance was last Saturday at Antone’s (in Austin) with the band Shapes Have Fangs.
He will be missed.
Sky Saxon (real name Richard Marsh) founded the Seeds in 1965 with guitarist Jan Savage, keyboardist Daryl Hooper and drummer Rick Andridge. The bands’s first couple of singles ‘Can’t Seem To Make You Mine’ and ‘Pushin’ Too Hard’ were both large regional hits in the California area. Only the later reached national success when it landed at #39 on the Top 40 chart.
Saxon broke up the Seeds in 1970, when he join the Yahowha religious sect, inspired by their divine leader Father Yod. He released several albums as the Yahowha 13 in the mid 1970s. Members of the sect went their separate ways after Father Yod died in a hang gliding accident in 1974, although Saxon continued to collaborate with various members of the Yahowa.
The 1980′s saw him collaborate with several bands — including Redd Kross and The Chesterfield Kings — before reforming the original Seeds in 1989 to oldies package tour “The Summer of Love”. The remained active speraticly, but by 2003 Saxon was the only remaining original member in the band.
The Seeds were scheduled to play the “California ’66 Revue” tour with The Electric Prunes and Johnny Echols of Love in August.
