"Meek's depression deepened as his financial position became increasingly desperate. French composer Jean Ledrut falsely accused Meek of plagiarism, claiming that the tune of "Telstar" had been copied from "La Marche d'Austerlitz", a piece from a score Ledrut had written for the 1960 film Austerlitz, and which had little similarity to "Telstar". This lawsuit meant Meek never received royalties from the record during his lifetime.
On 3 February 1967 Meek killed his landlady Violet Shenton and then himself[10] with a single-barrelled shotgun that he had confiscated from his protégé, former Tornados bassist and solo star Heinz Burt at his Holloway Road home/studio. Meek had flown into a rage and taken the gun from Burt when he informed Meek that he had used it while on tour to shoot birds. Meek had kept the gun under his bed, along with some cartridges. As the shotgun had been owned by Burt, he was questioned intensively by police, before being eliminated from their enquiries.
Meek was subsequently buried at Newent Cemetery, Newent, Gloucestershire. His black granite tombstone can be found near the middle of the cemetery.
The lawsuit against Meek was ruled in his favour three weeks after his death in 1967. It is unlikely that Meek was aware of Austerlitz, as it had been released only in France at the time."
"Meek became obsessed with the occult and the idea of "the other side". He would set up tape machines in graveyards in a vain attempt to record voices from beyond the grave, in one instance capturing the meows of a cat he claimed was speaking in human tones, asking for help. In particular, he had an obsession with Buddy Holly (claiming the late American rocker had communicated with him in dreams) and other dead rock and roll musicians.
His professional efforts were often hindered by his paranoia (Meek was convinced that Decca Records would put hidden microphones behind his wallpaper to steal his ideas), drug use and attacks of rage or depression. Upon receiving an apparently innocent phone call from American record producer Phil Spector, Meek immediately accused Spector of stealing his ideas before hanging up angrily.
Meek's homosexuality – at a time when homosexual acts were illegal in the UK – put him under further pressure; he had been convicted of "importuning for immoral purposes" in a London public toilet in 1963 and fined £15: he was consequently subject to blackmail.[7] In January 1967, police in Tattingstone, Suffolk, discovered a suitcase containing the mutilated body of Bernard Oliver. According to some accounts, Meek became concerned that he would be implicated in the murder investigation when the Metropolitan Police said they would be interviewing all known homosexual men in the city.[8] and in fact, neither Meek nor Beatles manager Brian Epstein would live to see homosexuality legalized in the UK."
hemishe's recent comments:
On 3 February 1967 Meek killed his landlady Violet Shenton and then himself[10] with a single-barrelled shotgun that he had confiscated from his protégé, former Tornados bassist and solo star Heinz Burt at his Holloway Road home/studio. Meek had flown into a rage and taken the gun from Burt when he informed Meek that he had used it while on tour to shoot birds. Meek had kept the gun under his bed, along with some cartridges. As the shotgun had been owned by Burt, he was questioned intensively by police, before being eliminated from their enquiries.
Meek was subsequently buried at Newent Cemetery, Newent, Gloucestershire. His black granite tombstone can be found near the middle of the cemetery.
The lawsuit against Meek was ruled in his favour three weeks after his death in 1967. It is unlikely that Meek was aware of Austerlitz, as it had been released only in France at the time."
His professional efforts were often hindered by his paranoia (Meek was convinced that Decca Records would put hidden microphones behind his wallpaper to steal his ideas), drug use and attacks of rage or depression. Upon receiving an apparently innocent phone call from American record producer Phil Spector, Meek immediately accused Spector of stealing his ideas before hanging up angrily.
Meek's homosexuality – at a time when homosexual acts were illegal in the UK – put him under further pressure; he had been convicted of "importuning for immoral purposes" in a London public toilet in 1963 and fined £15: he was consequently subject to blackmail.[7] In January 1967, police in Tattingstone, Suffolk, discovered a suitcase containing the mutilated body of Bernard Oliver. According to some accounts, Meek became concerned that he would be implicated in the murder investigation when the Metropolitan Police said they would be interviewing all known homosexual men in the city.[8] and in fact, neither Meek nor Beatles manager Brian Epstein would live to see homosexuality legalized in the UK."