Ten years ago today, on April 3rd 2002, Frank Tovey (better known to connoisseurs of seedy synthesiser music as Fad Gadget) passed away after suffering a heart attack. He was 45-years-old. To mark the anniversary, his label Mute (Tovey was the first artist signed by Daniel Miller) have made a short tribute film, which you can watch below. Say Mute, "It was 10 years ago today, April 3rd 2002, that Frank Tovey, aka Fad Gadget passed away. We miss him dearly. Play your favourite Fad Gadget or Frank Tovey tune really loud today. In loving memory." The Quietus is currently blasting Tovey’s 1980 debut album, Fireside Favourites in tribute. It’s arguable that never before or since has an artist captured the awkwardness, the strange humour, the revulsion and prurient joy of (especially British) sexuality and human physicality quite as effectively as Tovey did on that record.
WATCH: Remembering Frank Tovey
Mute release tribute film on the anniversary of his death
