As I went to leave that day, Richard did a very strange thing. He looked me up and down. He said nothing but I realize that he knew it would be the last time he ever saw me - which makes me think he had everything planned out.

- Rachel Edwards, about the day she and Richey spent together after burying their pet dog

 

Personally, I still think he’s alive, although I’ve got no physical evidence or reason to think that he is. But I do. I’ve spoken to people about this who say you’re just trying to block it out, that I’ve just got to accept that he’s dead but how can you accept that he’s dead, when there’s no body, no evidence whatsoever? It’s irrational.

- Nicky Wire, 1996

 

I wish I knew you Richey,

But I cry for the band today

because I only knew you as words and a poster on the wall.

Your intelligence inspired me,

and shared memories of your pain remind me...

I sincerely wish you happiness,

wherever you are.

I'm sorry but, who is Richey?

That's sad. :cry:

 

...who's Richey? :shame:

I'm sorry but, who is Richey?

 

What she said.

Former member of the Manic Street Preachers.

Wrote lyrics and (kind of) played guitar.

A beautiful man.

You should look him up.

Wow that's very sad, Vibrant Ox. :sad:

(Richey James Edwards)

As a rule I don’t dream, but I’ve dreamt an awful lot since Richey went missing. The dreams are not very nice. It’s obviously subconscious, but I don’t think they mean anything. I dream about Richey a lot.

- Nicky Wire

There was a review by some knob who said the band had benefited from Richey’s disappearance, but they don’t realise how my personal life has been completely and utterly fucked. They don’t realise that every time someone rings and hangs up without speaking, I press 1471 hoping it’s Richey. -Nicky Wire

Those are pretty catchy!

21. The Music Press only ever seem to write about the sadness surrounding Richey, and solely portray him as a Tortured Genius / Icon. But do you have a particular fond memory, or warm story about Richey, that you may be willing to share with us?

 

“Nothing in particular - he was my friend, my soulmate.”

Nicky

The time you’d notice it was when we’d be in Nicky’s room, socialising, and suddenly there’d be a lull in the conversation and we’d all realise that was the point Richey would have come up with one of his Richey-isms.

James Dean Bradfield, 1995

Those are pretty catchy!

 

What are? o__O

What are? o__O

The things about the dissapearance :)

He just disappeared? :surprised:

Oh.

I am sad...

I can't miss him because I never knew him...

But he is so beautiful,

and his lyrics,

his words...

The guy was a legend.

"In terms of the 'S' word, that does not enter my mind. And it never has done, in terms of an attempt. Because I am stronger than that. I might be a weak person, but I can take pain." - Richey (October 1994)

 

"...I'd wished he'd left us some note saying, 'Boys, it's for the best. But I still love you.'" - Nicky Wire

 

 

Here are the events leading up to, and following, Richey's disappearance:

1993

 

25 September: Nicky Wire, Richey's bandmate and best friend, gets married.

 

October: the Manic Street Preachers tour Japan and Germany.

In Japan, there is supposedly an incident between Richey and a female fan. (See an account of this on the This Is Our Truth web site. A link to the site is on the "My Favourite MSP Pages/Sites" section. The account is on the "Fan Accounts N onwards" page, near the bottom. It's labeled "FANZINE ARTICLE by Tracy Sharkpool".)

In Germany, Richey goes through a self-admitted "bad period". He begins to stub out cigarettes on his arm, and his drinking increases. The band send him to a health farm, (for the second time), when they return to Britain.

 

26 October: single, "Roses In The Hospital" is released.

 

7 December: the Manic Street Preachers' manager, Philip Hall, age 34, dies of cancer.

1994

 

By this time, Richey has finally moved out of his parents' house in Blackwood, Gwent, and has taken an apartment in Cardiff.

 

January - 5 February: the Manic Street Preachers tour in the UK.

 

7 February: single, "Life Becoming a Landslide" is released.

 

2 March: the Manic Street Preachers play a benefit concert at the Clapham Grand, London, for cancer research. The band are joined by Bernard Butler for several songs. (There are YouTube videos of almost all of this show. You can watch them from this site. Go to the "Videos" page.)

 

8 April: Kurt Cobain, a favourite artist of Richey's, is found after killing himself.

 

22-23 April: the Manic Street Preachers play two shows in Bangkok, Thailand. The second night, Richey is given a set of knives by a fan, which he uses to cut his chest before the show. He also stops eating around this time. Richey is sent to a health farm, (for the third time), when they return to Britain. The band will see, in retrospect, the Thai concerts as the beginning of the serious trouble with Richey.

 

Spring (perhaps April?): Richey's friend from university, Nigel, hangs himself.

 

31 May: single, "Faster/PCP" is released.

 

24 June: the Manic Street Preachers play at the Glastonbury festival.

 

July: Richey disappears for 48 hours. Shortly after he returns, following two days of drinking and self-mutilation, in an apparent suicide attempt, he is committed to Whitchurch hospital, Cardiff, then the Priory Clinic, Roehampton, for ten weeks of rehabilitation.

 

30 July: the Manic Street Preachers honour their commitment to play at the T In The Park festival, without Richey.

 

8 August: single, "Revol", is released.

 

19 & 21 August: the Manic Street Preachers honour their commitment to play at festivals in Germany and Holland, without Richey.

 

27 August: the Manic Street Preachers honour their commitment to play at the Reading festival, without Richey.

 

30 August: album, Holy Bible, is released. This has been seen by some people as Richey's suicide note.

 

Early September: Richey checks out of the Priory Clinic.

 

September - October: the Manic Street Preachers tour in France, as the support act for Therapy?.

 

3 October: single, "She is Suffering", is released.

 

October: the Manic Street Preachers tour in the UK.

 

7 November - December: the Manic Street Preachers tour in Europe, as the support act for Suede.

Sometime during the tour, Richey buys a meat cleaver, apparently intending to chop off his fingers, so that he doesn't have to play onstage, in emulation of Steve Clark, guitarist for Def Leppard. The cleaver is taken away from Richey before he can use it on himself.

 

22 November: Simon Price, a reporter for Melody Maker music weekly, interviews Richey in Paris. It is the last time Richey will speak to the British press.

 

24 November: Nicky discovers after a show in Amsterdam, that Richey has cut himself vertically down his chest, an injury which requires 36 (by some accounts) stitches.

 

29 or 30 November: the last TV interview with Richey is recorded in Stockholm for a Swedish TV channel. (To see this, go to the "Videos" section.)

 

1 December: Nicky finds Richey outside the group's hotel in Hamburg, Germany, repeatedly banging his head on the wall, blood streaming down his face. The European tour is ended, despite several more shows on the schedule.

 

19-21 December: Richey's last three shows with the Manic Street Preachers, at the London Astoria. The group smashes their equipment at the end of the last show.

Note - there is no video from Richey's last show! What is sometimes labeled Richey's last show, is actually from the show on the 20th. There is an audio recording of 21 December, however. You can hear or download it from this site. Go to the "Sounds" page.

1995

 

January: the Manic Street Preachers begin rehearsals for their fourth album. Richey takes £200 a day from his bank account for the two weeks before his disappearance, for a total of £2800.

 

14 January: Richey and his sister, Rachel, bury the dog they had for 17 years, Snoopy. It is the last time Rachel sees Richey.

 

Mid-January: Richey attends a show at TJ's in Newport. This is the last time he is seen at a public event.

 

23 January: Richey gives his last ever interview, for the Japanese magazine, Music Life, with Midori Tsukagoshi.

 

23 January: Richey sees his parents for the last time.

 

29-30 January: the Manic Street Preachers spend these days rehearsing for their upcoming tour of America.

 

31 January: Richey talks to his mother for the last time. He tells her that he isn't really looking forward to going to America.

 

31 January: Richey and bandmate James Dean Bradfield check into the London Embassy hotel on Bayswater Road in London in preparation for leaving for their promotional tour of America the next day.

 

1 February: 7 AM (GMT): Richey checks out of the Embassy hotel, and is never seen again. It is certain that he drives to his apartment in Cardiff where he leaves some things before driving away again. By some accounts, he does not enter Wales for eight hours after leaving the hotel. Meanwhile, James goes on to America, believing Richey might return after a few days.

 

2 February: Martin Hall, the Manic Street Preachers' manager, files a missing person report on Richey with the Metropolitan (London) police. Richey's family places an advert in their local paper. It reads: "Richard, please make contact. Love Mum, Dad and Rachel". The advert runs for three days.

 

February: sometime during the two weeks following his leaving the Embassy Hotel in London, Richey is supposedly spotted at the passport office in Newport.

 

5 February: David Cross, a fan from Mid-Glamorgan, supposedly sees Richey at the Newport bus station.

 

7 February: Anthony Hatherhall, a taxi driver from Newport, supposedly picks up Richey from the King's hotel in Newport, and drives him around the valleys, including Blackwood. The passenger gets off at the Severn View service station and pays the £68 fare in cash.

 

14 February: Richey's Vauxhall Cavalier arrives at the (Aust) Severn service station.

 

15 February: the South Wales police issue a public statement about Richey's disappearance. Also, Richey's father, Graham Edwards, appears on Cardiff's Red Dragon Radio, to appeal to Richey to get in touch. The Manic Street Preachers issue an official band statement.

 

17 February: Richey's Vauxhall Cavalier is reported abandoned at the (Aust) Severn service station. Apparently, Richey has been living in it for a time. The battery is run down, and burger wrappers and pictures of his family, which were taken the month before, are found in it.

 

May: the Manic Street Preachers and Graham and Sherry Edwards, Richey's parents, meet to decide about continuing the group.

 

29 December: the Manic Street Preachers make their first public appearance since Richey's disappearance, as support for The Stone Roses at Wembley Arena.

1996

 

15 April: single, "A Design for Life", is released.

 

20 May: album, Everything Must Go, is released. This contains songs Richey worked on with the group before he disappeared.

 

October: Channel Four airs the television programme, The Vanishing of Richey Manic, as part of a series called Fame Factor. (To see this, go to the "Videos" section.)

 

November: Vyvyan Morris, a lecturer from Neath College in South Wales, supposedly sees Richey in a hippie market in Goa, India.

1997

 

17 March: Rachel, hits out at the police for not properly handling the investigation of her brother during the BBC Radio Wales documentary Eye On Wales.

 

April: the English group, Ideal, receive notice for a song they wrote called, "Richey Is Dead".

1998

 

November: Tracey Jones, a British-born barmaid on the island of Fuerteventura, supposedly sees Richey in the Underground Bar in the town of Corralejo.

1999

 

May: it is reported by PC Michael Cole of the Metropolitan Police, that more work has been done on Richey's case in the previous year, than in the three years before.

2000

 

February: Sherry Edwards, Richey's mother, writes a letter to Richey in the Sunday Mirror newspaper. She also appears on television to appeal to Richey to come home.

2002

 

January: with the seventh anniversary of Richey's disappearance near, his parents, Graham and Sherry Edwards, say they will never have their son declared dead. It is legally possible to have a missing person declared dead after seven years.

 

March: a pair of trainers, along with some bones, are found washed up by the Severn River. They are later determined to not be Richey's.

2003

 

July: a skeleton is found in the Bristol channel. It is determined to not be Richey's.

 

14 July: "Judge Y'rself", the last song written with Richey, is released on the album, Lipstick Traces - A Secret History of the Manic Street Preachers. The song was originally recorded for the Judge Dredd movie soundtrack, but never released.

2004

 

October: it is reported that Lee Wilde supposedly saw Richey on Famara beach, Lanzarote.

 

6 December: album, Holy Bible, is re-issued in a special 2CD and DVD 10th anniversary edition.

2008

 

4 November: it is reported that the Manic Street Preachers have been recording a new album, due out in Spring 2009, which will contain only the lyrics Richey left with them before he disappeared.

 

23 November: as of this date, Richey's legal status has been changed, by court order, to "presumed dead". His parents, Graham and Sherry Edwards, have been granted control of his estate, and the missing person case on Richey is now officially closed.

2009

 

18 May: album, Journal For Plague Lovers is released. It contains only the lyrics Richey left with the band before he disappeared.

 

 

 

Copyright © 1999 - 2009 Vivian Campbell. All rights reserved.

 

"...we thought whatever he's done, he wants to do. If he's happy, good luck to him." - Nicky Wire

 

"Personally, I still think he's alive, although I've got no physical evidence or reason to think that he is. But I do...how can you accept that he's dead, when there's no body, no evidence whatsoever? It's irrational." - Nicky Wire

Cult of Richey-ers scare me. Right now they are probably carving up their forarms in an attempt to connect with the 4-real incident,

thinking that that is the most important contribution he has made. O_____o

maybe you should change your mood from dead to something else??

Missing?

October 2004: it is reported that Lee Wilde supposedly saw Richey on Famara beach, Lanzarote.

 

WTF?

 

I just looked this up (But I have no idea who Lee Wilde is, unless it meant one half of the Wilde twins who came up on wikipedia, which were in movies in the 40s and 50s, and interestingly they were born on separate days) and Wilde claims he only realised who it was, a week after he saw the guy. Hahaha.

Yo sis, you spelled disappearance wrong :kiss:

 

Oh, and today is the anniversary of the death of Sid Vicious.

Good call.

 

And here from the BBC, a very moving tribute to the life and times of a wonderful man, Sid Vicious:

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7854357.stm

Yeah the whole 4-Real thing is a little disturbing.