John Balance

Born Geoffrey Nigel Laurence Rushton in 1962, he co-founded Coil in 1983 with Peter Christopherson. The group became one of the most singular bodies of work in British experimental music, fusing occultism, personal mythology, and dense, often ecstatic electronics. He was responsible for Coil's vocals, lyrics, and chants as well as synthesizers and esoteric instruments. Outside the group he collaborated with Nurse with Wound, Current 93, and Death in June, and produced remixes for Nine Inch Nails. Coil's catalogue, from the industrial noise of Scatology to the ambient beauty of Musick to Play in the Dark, remains widely influential. He died in November 2004.