Name: Alan Murphy
   Date of birth:18th November 1953
 Place of birth: London, UK
 Date of death: 19th October 1989
 Marital status: Single
          Children: None

Level 42 member: 1988 to 1989
Instruments played: Guitar
Other instruments played: Keyboards, drums, percussion, fiddle, synths
Solo albums: None
Other collaborations: Plimsoll/Blackmass, Blanche, My Hat My Cane Jeeves/Mahatma, Fusion Orchestra, Ace, Leslie Duncan - Maybe It's Lost (1977), Long John Baldry (1977-80), Amii Stewart - Paradise Bird (1979), Ali Thompson (1980-81), Walkie Talkies - Surveillance (1980), Kate Bush (1980-89), Stapleton All Stars/SFX, Chris Rea - Chris Rea (1982), Nick Heyward (1984), Akira Inoue, Bandit, Mike & The Mechanics (1985 & 1988), Joan Armatrading - Secret Secrets (1985), Miquel Brown - Close To Perfection (1985), Scritti Politti - Cupid & Psyche (1985), Go West (1985-87), Berlin - Count Three & Play (1986), So - Horseshoe in the Glove (1987), Robert Hart - Cries & Whispers (1989), Jon Sloman (1989)

Taken from www.almurphy.btinternet.co.uk:

Alan was born in 1953 and brought up in the Finsbury area of east London , attending the Westminster School (from which he was expelled!) He lived in Percival Street, London with his mother. When he was 14 he used to sneak into a local pub in order to watch a band who had a guitarist whose playing he admired. Alan's first band was called 'Plimsoll', which was soon re-named to 'Blackmass' as a tribute to Deep Purple's guitarist - Richie Blackmore, a hero of his.

Despite not owning an amplifier and competing against 20 other guitarists , Alan successfully audtioned for a band called 'My Hat My Cane Jeeves' (!) that featured a singer called Moon, with George Nash on keyboards, Steve Humphries on bass and Harry Hughes on drums. They soon changed their name to 'Mahatma'. Long John Baldry became a long term friend of Alan's and their paths were to cross several times before Alan was established as one of the most sought-after guitarist in the UK.

Through John Baldry and various gigs, Alan began to make useful some contacts within the musical industry and he started to receive requests to do recording session work. Alan joined a 70's 'progressive rock' band called 'Fusion Orchestra' whose singer - Jill Saward later gained fame with Shakatak (who are still going strong.). Whilst playing at a pub called 'The Londoner', Alan got a phone call from the band 'Ace', who had just lost their guitarist and were recording a new album in USA. Alan packed his old 335 and flew to LA. Alan only spent a month with 'Ace' as he and guitarist Paul Carrack didn't hit it off musically. Once again he crossed paths with John Baldry who was there looking for a band and Alan joined along with some American musicians he’d met. They toured around USA and Canada for the next 3 years until about 1978. Alan was the bandleader and had plenty of scope for playing blues - which had always been the basis for his guitar style.

On returning to London, Alan met up again with drummer Preston Heyman who was by now in the Kate Bush band. On Preston's recommendation Alan was asked to audition as they were looking for a second guitarist to tour in early 1979. Alan was nervous about this audition and due to his time abroad, hadn’t even heard of her number one chart hit - "Wuthering Heights". Alan was offered the job, mainly he felt due to Kate being impressed with the way he made ‘whale noises’.

Whilst with Kate Bush, Alan had a band going called the ‘Stapleton All Stars’ - named after a London pub called The Stapleton, changing their name later to ‘SFX’. The next milestone for Alan was a session for Nick Heyward on his single ‘Warning Sign’. Despite Alan’s guitar solo being composed on the spot, it gained him much recognition and the single was a success, particularly across Europe where it was a hit in November 1984.

After one of the SFX gigs, Peter Cox and Richard Drummie gave Alan a demo tape of their material. Despite being recorded on a 4 track 'portastudio' the quality was fantastic. Alan was taken aback by this material and 2 months later was in a studio re-recording this material with them.This took place in a tiny studio and it was the early days for using midi, where it was common to have several keyboards connected up, leaving very little room to move! Alan was often at his most creative and inventive during early takes as he played through the chord progressions. Although they were happy with the results, they couldn't attract any record company interest. The name of the band was 'Go West'. Peter remembers that whilst in San Francisco, Alan was suffering with a bad bug. On reflection Peter believes that Alan learnt that he was HIV+ from test results he had carried out there. That night Alan played the gig sitting down which seems to make some sense now.

It was possible that Alan now knew his time was limited and when the offer of joining 'Level 42' came along, Alan jumped at it, which gave him a great opportunity to play rather than spend precious time waiting for the 'Go West' situation to be resolved. Alan was invited to play guitar on the 'Staring at the Sun' album at Miraval studios in France. He came in and finished all his parts in one day, joining Level 42 in April 1988. Throughout Alan's career, he often appeared at Music Fairs, hired by Fender to demonstrate their amplifiers and guitars. During 1989 Alan played at the British Music Fair, but it was apparent from his appearance that he was not well. On the afternoon of 19th October 1989, weakened by AIDS virus, Alan died of pneumonia in Westminster City Hospital, near to his old school.