Robert Wyatt

Robert Wyatt is an English musician whose long career has led many to regard him as one of England's natural treasures. Learning how to play drums at a young age, Wyatt would perform in a Canterbury-based group called The Wilde Flowers before leaving to join the respected progressive rock band Soft Machine in 1966. Touring with the group would build up Wyatt's skills as a drummer and also his confidence as a vocalist--he'd oftentimes sing lead duties on many an occasion. In 1970, after the confines of band dynamics reached a breaking point, Wyatt decided to release a solo album, The End of an Ear, that highlighted his vocal chops as well as his multi-instrumentalist adeptness and interest in experimental tape looping. Wyatt would go on to form his own band called Matching Mole after leaving Soft Machine, but in 1973, after an alcohol-fueled party, Wyatt fell out of a fourth story window and was subsequently paralyzed from the waist down. Without being able to use his feet, Wyatt's drumming was directly effected, but ever the prolific musician that he is, he managed to maintain an ardent recording schedule, and many consider the decades after his accident to be most productive and critically-respected time of his career; especially with landmark albums like 1974's Rock Bottom and 1997's Shleep.