Adrian Henri (10 April 1932 – 20 December 2000) was a British
poet
A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...
and painter best remembered as the founder of poetry-rock group the Liverpool Scene and as one of three poets in the best-selling anthology ''
The Mersey Sound'', along with
Brian Patten and
Roger McGough. The trio of
Liverpool poets came to prominence in that city's
Merseybeat
Beat music, British beat, or Merseybeat is a British popular music genre that developed around Liverpool in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The genre melded influences from British and American rock and roll, rhythm and blues, skiffle, tradit ...
''
zeitgeist
In 18th- and 19th-century German philosophy, a ''Zeitgeist'' (; ; capitalized in German) is an invisible agent, force, or daemon dominating the characteristics of a given epoch in world history. The term is usually associated with Georg W. F ...
'' of the 1960s and 1970s. He was described by
Edward Lucie-Smith in ''
British Poetry since 1945'' as the "theoretician" of the three. His characterisation of popular culture in verse helped to widen the audience for poetry among 1960s British youth. He was influenced by the French
Symbolist
Symbolism or symbolist may refer to:
*Symbol, any object or sign that represents an idea
Arts
*Artistic symbol, an element of a literary, visual, or other work of art that represents an idea
** Color symbolism, the use of colors within various c ...
school of poetry and
surrealist
Surrealism is an art movement, art and cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists aimed to allow the unconscious mind to express itself, often resulting in the depiction of illogical or dreamlike s ...
art.
Life and career
Adrian Henri's grandfather was a seaman from
Mauritius
Mauritius, officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island country in the Indian Ocean, about off the southeastern coast of East Africa, east of Madagascar. It includes the main island (also called Mauritius), as well as Rodrigues, Ag ...
who settled in
Birkenhead
Birkenhead () is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England. The town is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the west bank of the River Mersey, opposite Liverpool. It lies within the Historic counties of England, historic co ...
,
Cheshire
Cheshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Merseyside to the north-west, Greater Manchester to the north-east, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire to the south-east, and Shrop ...
, where Henri was born. In 1938, at the age of six, he moved to
Rhyl
Rhyl (; , ) is a seaside town and community in Denbighshire in Wales. The town lies on the coast of North Wales, at the mouth of the River Clwyd.
To the west is Kinmel Bay and Towyn, to the east Prestatyn, and to the south-east Rhuddlan ...
.
[.] He studied art at King's College (now
Newcastle University
Newcastle University (legally the University of Newcastle upon Tyne) is a public research university based in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It has overseas campuses in Singapore and Malaysia. The university is a red brick university and a mem ...
) and for a short time taught art at
Preston Catholic College before going on to lecture in art at both
Manchester
Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...
and Liverpool Colleges of Art. He was closely associated with other artists of the area and the era including the Pop artist
Neville Weston and the conceptual artist
Keith Arnatt
Keith Arnatt (1930–2008) was a British conceptual artist. As well as conceptual art his work is sometimes discussed in relation to land art, minimalism, and photography. He lived and worked in London, Liverpool, Yorkshire and Monmouthshire.
Lif ...
. In 1972 he won second prize for his painting ''Meat Painting II – In Memoriam Rene Magritte'' in the
John Moores competition. He was president of the Merseyside Arts Association and Liverpool Academy of the Arts in the 1970s and was an honorary professor of the city's
John Moores University.
Henri had a 10-year relationship with
Carol Ann Duffy
Dame Carol Ann Duffy (born 23 December 1955) is a Scottish poet and playwright. She is a professor of contemporary poetry at Manchester Metropolitan University, and was appointed Poet Laureate in May 2009, and her term expired in 2019. She wa ...
, who later became
Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom
The British poet laureate is an honorary position appointed by the monarch of the United Kingdom on the advice of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, prime minister. The role does not entail any specific duties, but there is an expectation ...
. The pair met when she was 16, him 39 at the time, and lived together until 1982.
Henri married once, to Joyce; the couple later separated. He had no children. For the last 15 years of his life his partner was Catherine Marcangeli.
His career spanned everything from artist and poet to teacher, rock-and-roll performer, playwright and librettist. He could name among his friends
John Lennon
John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer-songwriter, musician and activist. He gained global fame as the founder, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the Beatles. Lennon's ...
,
George Melly
Alan George Heywood Melly (17 August 1926 – 5 July 2007) was an English jazz and blues singer, critic, writer, and lecturer. From 1965 to 1973, he was a film and television critic for ''The Observer''; he also lectured on art history, with an ...
,
Allen Ginsberg
Irwin Allen Ginsberg (; June 3, 1926 – April 5, 1997) was an American poet and writer. As a student at Columbia University in the 1940s, he began friendships with Lucien Carr, William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac, forming the core of th ...
,
Willy Russell
William Russell (born 23 August 1946) is an English dramatist, lyricist and composer. His best known works are '' Educating Rita'', '' Shirley Valentine'', '' Blood Brothers'' and '' Our Day Out''.
Early life
Russell was born in Whiston, Lanc ...
,
John Willett and
Paul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained global fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and the piano, and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John ...
. Unlike McGough and Patten, Henri turned his back on the trendier London scene, and chose to remain in Liverpool, saying there was nowhere he loved better.
His numerous publications include ''
The Mersey Sound'' (Penguin, 1967), with McGough and Patten, a best-selling poetry anthology that brought all three of them to wider attention, ''Collected Poems, 1967–85'' (
Allison & Busby
Allison & Busby (A & B) is a publishing house based in London established by Clive Allison and Margaret Busby in 1967. The company has built up a reputation as a leading independent publisher.
Background
Launching as a publishing company in Ma ...
, 1986), ''Wish You Were Here'' (
Jonathan Cape
Jonathan Cape is a British publishing firm headquartered in London and founded in 1921 by Herbert Jonathan Cape, who was head of the firm until his death.
Cape and his business partner Wren Howard (1893–1968) set up the publishing house in ...
, 1990) and ''Not Fade Away'' (
Bloodaxe Books
Bloodaxe Books is a British publishing house specializing in poetry.
History
Bloodaxe Books was founded in 1978 in Newcastle upon Tyne by Neil Astley, who is still editor and managing director. Bloodaxe moved its editorial office to Northumbe ...
, 1994).
He was the leading light of a band, the Liverpool Scene, which released four LPs of poetry and music. Earlier, in 1955, he had played washboard in the
King's College, Newcastle's,
skiffle
Skiffle is a music genre, genre of folk music with influences from American folk music, blues, Country music, country, Bluegrass music, bluegrass, and jazz, generally performed with a mixture of manufactured and homemade or improvised instruments. ...
group. He was a firm believer in live poetry reading, and read his poetry at many and varied venues as well as holding poetry workshops at schools and colleges. One of his last major poetry readings was at the launch of ''The Argotist'' magazine in 1996.
In 1986 Henri became the first President of the National Acrylic Painters' Association, a post he held until 1991, after which he became its first Fellow and Patron until his death in 2000.
He died in Liverpool, aged 68, having never properly recovered from a stroke that he had suffered two years previously. The night before his death,
Liverpool City Council
Liverpool City Council is the Local government in England, local authority for the City status in the United Kingdom, city of Liverpool in Merseyside, England. Liverpool has had a local authority since 1207, which has been reformed on numerous ...
conferred on him the Freedom of the City in recognition of his contribution to Liverpool's cultural scene.
[ He also received an honorary doctorate from the ]University of Liverpool
The University of Liverpool (abbreviated UOL) is a Public university, public research university in Liverpool, England. Founded in 1881 as University College Liverpool, Victoria University (United Kingdom), Victoria University, it received Ro ...
.
He described his early philosophy as "If you think you can do it and you want to do it—then do it."
In 2012 ''Adrian Henri: Total Artist'' was released. ''Total Artist'' concentrates on Henri's work from the 1960s and 1970s, as well as capturing some of the excitement and dynamics of the art scene in Britain during this time. Henri was at the centre of a distinctive yet highly connected counter-culture, providing an opportunity to consider his embrace of total art as a template for interdisciplinary art practice. Published by Occasional Papers, the Exhibition Research Centre, Liverpool John Moores University and Université Paris Diderot.
The Liverpool Scene
The Liverpool Scene was a poetry band, formed around 1967, which included Adrian Henri, Andy Roberts, Mike Evans, Mike Hart (ex Liverpool Roadrunners),[ Percy Jones and Brian Dodson. Four LPs were issued with Henri's poetry heavily featured. The first one was produced by Liverpool DJ ]John Peel
John Robert Parker Ravenscroft (30 August 1939 – 25 October 2004), better known as John Peel, was an English radio presenter and journalist. He was the longest-serving of the original disc jockeys on BBC Radio 1, broadcasting regularly from ...
, who was then working on the pirate radio station Radio London. Despite his support, the album achieved little success: the following three were equally unsuccessful. Public performances by the band included a (financially unsuccessful) 1969 tour[ when they opened for ]Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin were an English rock music, rock band formed in London in 1968. The band comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist-keyboardist John Paul Jones (musician), John Paul Jones and drummer John Bonham. With a he ...
. Henri was described in performance as "bouncing thunderously and at risk to audience and fellow performers, the stage vibrating out of rhythm beneath him." The Liverpool Scene disbanded in April 1970.[
The albums were:
*''The Incredible New Liverpool Scene''
*''The Amazing Adventures Of''
*''Bread on the Night''
*''St. Adrian & Co., Broadway and 3rd''
*''Heirloon'' (rarities and outtakes)
There were at least three "best of" albums and two non-LP singles, "Love Is"/"The Woo-Woo" and "Son, Son"/"Baby".
]
Bibliography
* Biggs, Bryan; Hudek, Antony; Marcangeli, Catherine. ''Adrian Henri: Total Artist.'' London: Occasional Papers, 2014.
See also
* Liverpool poets
* Peter Edwards
References
External links
Interview with The Argotist Online
Interview with Roger McGough about 40 years of the Mersey Poets
Henri reads ''Death in the Suburbs'' (audio)
Footage of Adrian Henri performing live with The Liverpool Scene
National Portrait Gallery, London
Adrian Henri website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Henri, Adrian
Artists from Birkenhead
Writers from Birkenhead
Alumni of Newcastle University
People associated with Liverpool John Moores University
20th-century English poets
20th-century British poets
1932 births
2000 deaths
Poets from Liverpool
Grimms members