Ms Cathy Raven

Monday 12 June 1995

LETTER:Fitting memories

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From Ms Cathy Raven

Sir: On 6 June you printed a short item (In brief: "Dying confession") saying that Sean Mayes, 49, had died of Aids and why his passing was newsworthy. Sean had revealed that his mother murdered his brother in 1972. He then led police to the body. For years he had kept the secret to protect the mother he loved but, knowing he was dying, finally broke the silence so that his brother could have a proper funeral.

It seems tragic to his friends that this terrible news item serves as his only obituary for nothing was more abhorrent to Sean than killing.

He was a philosophy student from Trinity College Cambridge turned rock pianist. For 15 years he played with the band Fumble (Elvis stage musical) and toured Britain, Europe - East and West - and America. He toured and recorded with David Bowie (Stage and Lodger) and with Tom Robinson (War Baby). Latterly, Sean turned to writing and published a biography of Joan Armatrading and co-authored with Kevin Cann Kate Bush - a visual documentary.

The Sean Mayes his friends knew was a talented, beautiful and highly intelligent man, always considerate with time for everyone, completely unpretentious, totally honest, with a naive curiosity and love of life. That is how he will be remembered and deeply missed by those who knew and loved him, not for the headline news which tragically overshadowed his death.

Yours faithfully,

CATHY RAVEN

Coton, Cambridgeshire

10 June

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