Plush (band)
| Plush | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Cape Town, South Africa |
| Genres | Alternative rock, acoustic rock |
| Years active | 2000–2011 |
| Labels | Plush music, Sheer |
| Associated acts | Rory Eliot and The Reason |
| Members | Rory Eliot, Vocals & Guitar Emelio Gassibe, Bass Carl Wegelin, Lead Guitar with touring members Devin Jones (drums) and Domenico Benigno (keyboard, piano & accordion) |
| Past members | Chas Smit on lead guitar, Dale Orchard, Dez Lewis, Sean Brannigan, Dom Peters, Sean Ou Tim, Ben Peters, Tim Rankin |
Plush is a South African alternative rock band formed in 1996 in the city of Cape Town.
Rory Eliot is the lead singer and rhythm guitarist, Emelio Gassibe plays the bass and Carl Wegelin plays the guitar. (Chas Smit - Original member)
Rory was born in Durban in 1980 and began singing at age 8. He got his first guitar at 15 and soon created his first song Far Beyond, which is featured on their debut album. Rory went on to study dramatic art in Johannesburg at AFDA.He also received a Masters in Songwriting from the University of Bath. He is since married to his long time girlfriend and has two daughters.
Emelio Gassibe plays bass and sing backing vocals. He is married and has a daughter Carla-Ann and son Caleb.
Carl Wegelin plays the guitar. Carl grew up on a wine farm outside of Wellington in the Western Cape. Carl pursued music professionally after moving to Cape Town to study engineering.
Performing together since 1996, Plush turned professional in 2000 and in 2002 won the National Battle of the Bands competition, against over 500 bands from across South Africa. The name "Plush" was given to them by Natal south coast fans who thought their performance was plush, a slang word meaning awesome.
Plush first flickered on the national South African music map back in 2003. The song "Tainted" reached number 1 on TuksFM, and "Today" and "My Baby" received regular radio play, the latter getting airtime on MTV.
Together they were described as "so unbelievably tight that they sound as though they are one masterful musician, playing two guitars, with four arms and one almighty voice".
In September 2005, whilst crossing a street in Pietermaritzburg, Smit was knocked over and killed by a drunk driver.
Eliot was quoted by the Daily News as saying, "He was like a brother to me. I am not sure what the future holds for me, or for the band. I will have to think about it and what Chas would have wanted." Soon after, the Plush website announced that the band would not be continuing. Today, he remembers the time as his darkest season.
Memorial services took place in Pietermaritzburg, Cape Town and London.
Suffering tremendous grief, Eliot took a six-month sabbatical before returning as a solo artist, determined to fulfill a promise he'd made to Smit that they would make it. Soon Peters and Gassibe joined the newly reformed Plush and their loyal fans began to spread the word of a comeback.
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Wikipedia