* please send photos and memories of Ben to bendaglishphotos@gmail.com - they would love to hear from you *
We all knew Ben. We all loved Ben. He was somehow at the heart of everything I did since 1997, and at the heart of people's C64 lives for as long as we can remember.
He was multi-talented, humorous, lovely, playful and one of the best human beings I've ever known.
I'm sure we're all crushed by his sudden departure: he beat lung cancer once, but the second time was too much, despite our hopes.
We knew he had lung cancer since 2015. Indeed, in 2016 he turned in a magical performance at The Underworld with FastLoaders despite suffering the after-effects of chemo! He looked half-dead, but he got on that stage and literally became the music. I've never seen anything like it.
Any place Ben went became better because he was there. We've all lost a mentor and a friend, along with a part of our personal history with the C64.
Ben is irreplaceable in our hearts. It hurts, but we have great video of him at his best, and all the music he created is still there. No musician could really ask for more.
They say you should never meet your heroes: but anyone who was lucky to have Ben as a hero invariably ended up even more in awe of him and his music than before, despite his best attempts to make fun of the hero worship!
Our hearts go out to Sarah, Jake, Rhianna and Lottie. They've lost more than we have, but they have more memories too. I hope that will sustain them in the years ahead.
