By Steve Newton
I received an email today from American musician Penny Little about an interview I did in 1989 with Blue Murder guitarist John Sykes.
She took issue with the fact that an important contributor to the music of Blue Murder was not named in the story.
“There’s no mention of keyboardist Nik Green, who passed in 2016,” Little wrote. “He was there from the very beginnings of the band, produced early demos. Because the label wanted to market the band as a power trio, he was not included in PR and often was not even on stage but hidden behind curtains.
“It was disgusting how they treated him,” she continued. “That’s the corporate music world. Nik was my husband and he and I were close to John Sykes til his death.”
A tweet sent out by original Blue Murder bassist Tony Franklin the day after Green died from cancer reads: “Still can’t believe he’s gone. His contribution to Blue Murder was huge. Rest In Peace Nik.”
While Green was not pictured with Franklin, Sykes, and drummer Carmine Appice in the band’s early promotional photos, he did indeed handle keyboards on all three Blue Murder releases–1989’s self-titled debut, 1993’s Nothin’ But Trouble, and 1994’s live Screaming Blue Murder: Dedicated to Phil Lynott.
He was pictured in some of Blue Murder’s latter-day photos, when Franklin and Appice’s respective positions were filled by bassist Marco Mendoza and drummer Tommy O’Steen.
Above: 1993 Blue Murder promo photo, with Green on far left
Here’s a clip of Green performing with the original Blue Murder lineup on the 1989 single “Jelly Roll”:
It’s nice to see that no curtains were deployed for this performance. And also nice to think that Sykes–who also succumbed to cancer, last December–might just now be working on some new demos with Green in the afterlife. And maybe thinking that Ozzy, new on the scene, might want to sit in.
To hear the full audio of my 1989 interview with Blue Murder’s John Sykes subscribe to my Patreon page, where you can eavesdrop on over 500 of my uncut, one-on-one conversations with rockers since 1982.
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Thanks Steve for posting that! Nik, who played with Jimmy Page and Roy Harper before he joined Blue Murder first as engineer, was there to engineer and add keyboards to early demos.
Ever since I’ve learned the news of John’s passing, I’ve been hunting for recordings I didn’t have.
Today I listened to Blue Murder live at Dallas City Limits 1994.
Mr. Nik Green’s presence is huge in this recording and every shows he participated.
He sure was introduced as a member of the gang at shows I went to.
When Mr. Green passed and Ms. Little was struggling with his medical bills, Mr. Franklyn started a fund to help her.
Many Blue Murder fans chipped in including myself. We loved Nik’s playing and he was a reliable guy to John.
In an article of recently published magazine dedicating to John, he mentioned that he’d known Nik since they were teens.
Just because John skipped mentioning Nik in an interview, that doesn’t mean John failed to recognized Nik’s works. Some never seen photos of Japan tours were included in the recent mag. and readers can see Nik in them having a good times.
After Mr. O’steen passed away, John lost Mr. Stu ( tour manager), then Mr. Green as if some force impeding John from getting out in front of fans.
We , Japanese fans of John Sykes, recognize immense contributions of Mr. Green. I’m sorry for your loss, Ms. Little.
Btw, I fortunately won a sweepstake and had dinner with John, ex-wife, record company staff, BURRN! editor in 1995. He was polite, kind and beautiful.