Kevin Ayers - Telegraph Such effort proved too much for Ayers, however, who preferred a life of Mediterranean indulgence. Once again he departed the music scene, for life in Ibiza. But his talents had marked him out as a singer and songwriter of note, and EMI's Harvest label quickly signed him as a solo artist. In 1969 he duly released his first solo album, Joy Of A Toy, on which he demonstrated his odd charm, mixing Noël Coward-esque drollery with gentle psychedelic flavours. Britain's youthful rock critics were enthusiastic, as was John Peel at the BBC, who championed Ayers on his Radio 1 show. Flaxen haired, well-spoken and witty, Ayers quickly came to be seen as the golden boy of early-1970s British rock. His albums Shooting At The Moon (1970) and Whatevershebringswesing (1971) were well-received, and featured Ayers backed by a group of friends called The Whole World which included, among others, Robert Wyatt on drums and a teenage Mike Oldfield on guitar. Both albums contained strong, even popular, songs alongside a great deal of sonic experimenting, as Ayers veered from musical hall singalong to dissonant tape loops. In 1973 Ayers released the album Bananamour - at the time he had a surreal enthusiasm for bananas - and the single Caribbean Moon. Finally he was making radio-friendly music, and after being signed to Chris Blackwell's influential Island Records and employing John Reid (Elton John's manager) it seemed he wanted to step beyond his comfortable niche of eccentricity. The resulting album, The Confessions Of Doctor Dream And Other Stories (1974), positioned Ayers for mainstream success, and a live album cut at London's Rainbow theatre with Brian Eno, Nico, John Cale and Mike Oldfield, suggested that Ayers was being welcomed into the pantheon of British rock royalty. Yet with wealth and stardom within his grasp, Ayers again shied away, preferring to head back to the Balearic Islands rather than work at touring and promotion. Pursuing various vices and women in equal measure, he set about enjoying himself. His mid-1970s albums Sweet Deceiver and Yes We Have No Mananas failed to produce the necessary hits and, by the late-1970s, once punk had shaken the British rock establishment, he had largely withdrawn from the spotlight to Deia, Majorca, the village made famous by Robert Graves. By that time Ayers had met Kristin Tomassi, Richard Branson's first wife, and begun an affair with her. Though Branson's marriage was beset by infidelities on both sides, Tomassi's liaison with Ayers proved an irreparable breach. Together Ayers and Tomassi went on to have a daughter. In the 1980s, from Deia, Ayers recorded a series of albums that entertained his most loyal followers but did little to suggest that he was anything but a man out of time. His 1992 album Still Life With Guitar was a largely acoustic affair and found him sounding extremely relaxed. It was the last Ayers recording to feature the guitar playing of his friend, Ollie Halsall who would soon die from a drug overdose. Ayers then withdrew almost completely from the world, buying a property in Montolieu, in the South of France (Majorca having become too popular and expensive). There he lived quietly, funded by the trickle of royalties. Also living in Montolieu was the American artist Timothy Shephard, who befriended Ayers. Shephard, having listened to Ayers's home-made recordings of new songs, determined to finance an album and set about booking recording sessions with noted younger musicians (including Teenage Fanclub and Euro Child as well as Ayers's old friends Robert Wyatt and Hugh Hopper). The London label Lo-Max released these recordings as The Unfairground in September 2007, attracting enthusiastic reviews. Tour dates were offered and there was talk of Ayers recording with Blur, but it was not to be. In an interview that year with The Daily Telegraph in Notting Hill, it was obvious that Ayers would not be taking on further commitments: drinking heavily throughout, he dismissed the idea of performing and appeared traumatised by the new attention. The golden boy of the British underground, now scarred by drink, wanted nothing more than to return to his French village. He did so and did not perform or record again. Kevin Ayers is survived by his daughter with Kristen Tomassi and by the daughter of another relationship. Kevin Ayers, born August 16 1944, died February 18 2013