The Damned legend Brian James reportedly granted his dying want to be buried at sea
Brian James, founding guitarist of legendary British punk band The Damned, has reportedly been granted his dying want of being buried at sea.
James handed away on March 6 on the age of 70. A explanation for loss of life was not revealed, though he died “peacefully” along with his household by his facet, based on a put up on his official Fb account asserting the information.
As The Sun reviews, James was buried on April 28 on the ocean flooring in a non-public ceremony which happened off the coast of Newhaven, East Sussex, England. His widow Minna, son, Charlie and daughter-in-law, Alicia – and 9 of his closest mates had been reportedly in attendance.
Minna instructed the newspaper: “It was an exquisite day and the ocean was calm. We’ve been collectively since I used to be 18, so it was very emotional. A burial at sea is fairly uncommon, however it was in his will so we needed to do it.”
Attendees took a ship for “round three hours” from Eastbourne, and afterwards they held a small memorial service at a church close to James’ house in Brighton.
One supply instructed The Solar: “Brian now sleeps with the fishes, which is what he wished for earlier than he died. He was a real unique in life and has carried that on in loss of life.
The spirit of punk by no means left him and he was adamant he wished his remaining resting place to be at sea. A couple of family members went out on the boat for round three hours and watched as his coffin was dropped into the drink.”
Again in March, Brian’s ex-Damned bandmate Raymond ‘Captain Smart’ Burns reacted to the information of his loss of life, sharing a photograph of himself with Brian on X. Burns wrote: “We’re shocked to listen to that creator of The Damned, our nice chum Brian James has sadly gone. A stunning bloke that I really feel so fortunate to have met all these years in the past and for some cause selected me to assist in his quest for the music revolution that grew to become generally known as punk.”
We’re shocked to listen to that creator of @thedamned, our nice chum Brian James has sadly gone. A stunning bloke that I really feel so fortunate to have met all these years in the past and for some cause selected me to assist in his quest for the music revolution that grew to become generally known as punk. Cheers BJ! 🌹 pic.twitter.com/HuLdyMvI3z
— Captain Smart (@CaptainSensible) March 7, 2025
Brian co-founded The Damned together with vocalist Dave Vanian, bassist Raymond ‘Captain Smart’ Burns and drummer Christopher ‘Rat Scabies’ Millar in 1976.
The band launched their debut single ‘New Rose’ in October of that yr, and in February 1977 dropped their debut album ‘Damned Damned Damned’ – the record scored an 8/10 review from NME. In November 1977, the band launched their follow-up album ‘Music For Pleasure’, with Brian James leaving the band quickly after.
Between 1992 and 1996, James performed within the Brussels-based Dripping Lips. In 2001, he joined MC5‘s Wayne Kramer, Weapons N’ Roses‘ Duff McKagan, Stewart Copeland and Clem Burke to type the supergroup Racketeers and recorded and launched the album ‘Mad for the Racket’.