Grant McLennan

Grant McLennan co-established the Go-Betweens, a revered cult outfit from Australia, and secured a lasting reputation as one of the sharpest, most buoyant tunesmiths working in modern pop. His later work outside the group left that reputation intact. He entered the world in Rock Hampton on February 12, 1958. While studying at Brisbane University in the mid-1970s, he joined fellow student Robert Forster in forming a band fueled by their mutual passion for punk and 1960s folk. They named the project the Go-Betweens and released several singles ahead of their first full-length recording, Send Me a Lullaby, which appeared in 1982. Throughout the rest of the decade the band earned widespread critical respect within the post-punk landscape, even as strong albums such as 1983’s Before Hollywood and 1987’s Tallulah never reached a broad listenership. The group’s 1988 release, the outstanding 16 Lovers Lane, likewise fell short of the commercial breakthrough many observers had anticipated, prompting the members to split. McLennan then launched a solo path. He first recorded as half of the duo Jack Frost alongside Steve Kilbey of the Church, then delivered his own debut album, Watershed, in 1991; both it and its 1993 successor, Fireboy, appeared under the name G.W. McLennan. Following the double album Horsebreaker Star in 1995, he joined a short-lived Go-Betweens reunion for touring before completing his fourth solo record, In Your Bright Ray. The Go-Betweens reconvened once more in 2000, producing four albums and a live DVD during a period of renewed creativity and acclaim. McLennan passed away at his Brisbane residence on May 6, 2006, aged 48.