Everything But The Girl’s Ben Watt Discusses Writing Novels, Finding His (Singing) Voice, & Calling Time On DJing — billboard.com

Best known as the male half of Everything But The Girl, the duo he formed in 1981 with Tracey Thorn, Ben Watt has many talents beyond providing the harmony to Thorn’s lead vocal. Since 1998, he has been an established presence on London’s deep house circuit, as a DJ, re-mixer, producer and proprietor of the Buzzin’ Fly label. He has also put in time as a radio host on the BBC’s 6Music station. In 1992, Watt was hospitalized with the rare autoimmune disease Churg-Strauss syndrome. He went on to write about his illness and recuperation in the unsentimental 1996 memoir “Patient.”  Watt’s new book, “Romany and Tom,” is another memoir in which he chronicles the story of his parents. His father, Tom, a Glaswegian jazz musician, is nearing his last days as the book opens. His mother, Romany, a former actress turned broadcaster and celebrity interviewer for British magazines, retains only the faintest memories of her life and family. Watt’s memoir veers between his almost photographic recollection of his bohemian parents’ tumultuous relationship and his latter-years position as their caretaker. He contrasts the decline of his father’s career--George Martin offered him a job arranging early Beatles demos; no fan of the style of music forcing his into obsolescence, the elder Watt refused-- with the rise of his mother’s writing career, and the resentment that caused.

Read More