Steve Mackey tragically passed away last week. I met him when I was hired as a production photographer on a couple of music video shoots he was directing alongside Douglas Hart. As a massive Pulp fan I was delighted to be working with him and they say you should never meet your heroes but he was the loveliest man you could imagine. And he was also ridiculously talented and the ultimate renaissance man.
I have been playing the album Separations by Pulp every day since I heard the sad news. It was the record Steve joined the band on and it took them in a new direction, introducing the electronic element to their sound. It is a superb album and have got completely and utterly immersed in it. They were still relatively unknown when they made it and it was not one I had really heard before as joined them on his n hers like most other people. It was actually recorded in 89 but not released till 92 and for me is a true undiscovered gem and think it truly deserves to stand alongside the records that followed.
Steve will most definitely live on in his music and his photography and his films but also in the hearts and minds of everyone who knew him. My deepest condolences go out to his family.