By Steve Newton
In the single week since his death last Saturday, Allan Holdsworth’s name has probably been heard about as many times as it was during his entire life. Outside of the guitar cognoscenti, the pioneering jazz-fusion player has been shamefully overlooked, so much so that he’s had to struggle for years just to pay the rent.
Not that certain famous rockers haven’t done their best to promote the British fretmaster whenever they could. Back in 1986, when I interviewed Holdsworth for the second and final time, he was earning major praise from no less than Eddie Van Halen himself.
During our conversation in ’86 I brought up that fact, and asked Holdsworth if he felt that those accolades had helped his career at all.
Have a listen:
If you enjoy these type of stories, like Ear of Newt on Facebook and join my new group, Newt’s Flaming Colossal Rockatorium.
Eddie did his best and Holdsworth chose a different path. It could have ended much differently for him.