The Australian music industry is mourning the death of well-known musician, producer, journalist and pioneering AIDS activist Vince Lovegrove who was killed when the Kombi van he was driving rolled and burst into flames on Binna Burra Road near Federal early on Saturday morning.
The accident is believed to haver happened between 1am and 3am, but it was not till six hours later that a passer-by spotted the burnt-out wreckage of the van in a small gully and alerted police, who found the body of Lovegrove, 64, inside the vehicle.
Police have yet to formally identify Lovegrove or release his name but tributes to Lovegrove started flowing across media since Sunday afternoon. The accident is being investigated by police.
The Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) paid tribute to him on Twitter, saying:
‘Our thoughts are with the family and friends of Aus music legend Vince Lovegrove; a true pioneer of our industry, he will be missed by all’.
In the 1960s, Lovegrove founded The Valentines with the late AC/DC frontman Bon Scott, sharing vocals with him, before later introducing his friend to the other members of AC/DC.
As manager of 80s rockers The Divinyls, he was instrumental in the band’s international success. He later worked as Jimmy Barnes’s tour manager.
According to Wikipedia, Lovegrove was also widely recognised for his AIDS awareness campaigning. The disease claimed both his second wife Suzi Sidewinder and son Troy and Lovegrove told their story in two award-winning documentaries, Suzi’s Story and A Kid Called Troy.
He also worked as a music journalist writing for Australia’s music newspaper Go-Set and most recently via his web blog, MusicBackTrack. The website’s most recent entry was posted last Friday. He also wrote an unauthorised biography of INXS frontman Michael Hutchence.
