Phil May (75) – Lead singer for the Pretty Things – was born Philip Dennis Arthur Wadey, later Kattner on 9 November 1944 in Dartford, Kent, England. He was raised by his aunt and uncle, whose surname was May. In childhood, he was sent back to live with his mother and stepfather, whose surname was Kattner, but later decided to change his name to May.
He formed the Pretty Things at Sidcup Art College in 1963 with guitarist Dick Taylor, a former bass player with an early incarnation of The Rolling Stones, when both bands were an integral part of the London blues-rock explosion. Keith Richards had also gone to Sidcup College and May, Taylor and the Stones’ then leader Brian Jones all shared a house.
With May as lead singer, the band became part of the British blues rock scene and quickly gained a recording contract. Initially an energetic R&B outfit, they had a string of hits in the mid-1960s, “Don’t Bring Me Down” (nr.10) and “I’m a Road Runner Honey”. Playing raw and visceral rhythm and blues, they threatened to upstage the Rolling Stones as the bad boys of rock in those early days, although they never reached a commercial successful level.
In the late 1960s, The Pretty Things started to branch out into psychedelia and May became a prominent counterculture figure, known for his claim of having “the longest hair in Britain”, drug-taking and bisexuality. The 1968 album S.F. Sorrow, which was released on the Motown imprint Rare Earth, was regarded as the first rock opera album. The songs and lyrics were based on stories written by May, which were often composed while the album was being recorded. May later admitted that his usage of LSD had a major impact on the album, saying “”It was like a sharpening of the imagination for me. I don’t think S.F. Sorrow would have been impossible without it, but there’s a lot of acid in the imagery.” The album was not commercially successful at the time, but later became a cult favorite.
“We thought we were making something special. It was to give you an experience, so you move from cradle to grave with somebody’s life – which they give you in opera all the time,” says Phil May, the singer in The Pretty Things. “In some ways, that added bitterness to the pill when it was ignored.”
They influenced David Bowie, who references them in his song, Oh You Pretty Things, and covered Rosalyn and Don’t Bring Me Down on his 1973 album, Pin Ups. The likes of Jimi Hendrix, Aerosmith and Van Morrison were acolytes of the wild boys of pop, who enjoyed not only chart success but a phenomenal 55-year-long career.
May remained with the Pretty Things until they retired in 2018, following a final concert with guests including David Gilmour and Van Morrison. He was one of the band’s main lyricists. He was the primary lyricist for the album S.F. Sorrow.
This longevity was very much down to the controversial, enigmatic May. In many ways he proved to be the stereotypical pop star, but also a performer who came to define counterculture itself.
In 1976 a new group called the Fallen Angels, led by guitarist Mickey Finn, with Greg Ridley from Spooky Tooth and Humble Pie, Twink from the Pretty Things, and Bob Weston from Fleetwood Mac set out to record an album and for vocals recruited May. However, after they had recorded only eight partially complete songs, all except May abandoned the project. May recruited some more players to complete the album Phil May and the Fallen Angels, which was then only released in the Netherlands.
“Before Led Zeppelin, The Who, or even the Rolling Stones arrived on the scene … the Pretty Things were the acknowledged perpetrators of mayhem, outrage and general carnage. Musically and visually they were well ahead of their time.”
May loved the rock n’roll lifestyle and revelled in friendships with the likes of Jimi Hendrix, with whom he shared a bill on the Parisian student circuit, as well as girlfriends.
When chart success waned in the mid-Seventies, the band continued to tour, having joined Led Zeppelin’s Swansong label. “During our Led Zeppelin years, the Pretty Things played at an infamous LA venue called the Roxy and Iggy Pop came along,” May recalled. “The Stooges were massive fans of The Pretties and we used to hang out together. We thought he was going to sing. But he didn’t, he just ran from one side of the stage to the other and head-butted the wall.”
The Pretties sold fewer records but still packed venues. May continued to have immense fun. “Viv Prince, in his madness, once said to me, ‘We’re going out on a double date, you and me.’ I said, ‘Oh right. Who is it?’ He said, ‘Judy Garland, and she’s bringing somebody for you.’
“So we go down to a club called the Ad Lib, and we’re sitting around and the lift doors open and there’s Judy – a bit gone on the sauce already – and she’s got Rudy Nureyev on her arm. So I say, ‘Thanks, Viv. Is that what you call a double date?’ Everybody wanted to know who slept with whom, but I honestly can’t remember. Wish I could.”
Phil May died on 15 May 2020 at the age of 75 after suffering from complications following hip surgery after a cycling accident.
