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The Clean co-founder Hamish Kilgour remembered as an extraordinary musician and artist

Story Published Thursday 8 December 2022
Dunedin music pioneer Hamish Kilgour

It is with great sadness we hear of the death of Hamish Kilgour. Drummer, singer, songwriter, musician innovator and all-round creative force.

Fiercely independent, founding member of The Clean along with his brother David in 1978, he later moved to New York City and formed The Mad Scene in the early 1990s. He returned to New Zealand in 2017 when The Clean were honoured at the APRA Silver Scroll Awards and inducted into the New Zealand Music Hall of Fame.

“He was an extraordinary musician and artist, determinedly independent, often hilarious and sometimes very difficult but always creative and clearly brilliant” says APRA’s Anthony Healey.

“When he returned to New Zealand, we had the opportunity to celebrate The Clean in Dunedin, which something he thought was a complete nonsense but begrudgingly went along with. When it came time to accept the Award, he was busy delivering food to people up the back of the Dunedin Town Hall who hadn’t been fed. That was more important to him than any industry accolade. He’s much loved and a legend of the Dunedin music family and the wider music community in NZ” he says.

Our deepest love and sympathy go out to David and the Kilgour family, as well as Hamish’s many friends across the globe. Rest easy Hamish, you will be sorely missed.