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Derek William Dick


Member

1979-1988 Marillion - vocals (as Fish)  
1989- Fish - vocals (as Fish)  

Guest musician

1998 Ayreon - vocals  
2014 Lazuli - vocals  

Personal information

Also known as: Fish
Born on: 25.04.1958

Official website

Derek William Dick was born in Edinburgh, Scotland and grew up in Dalkeith near Haddington. The son of Robert and Isabella, Fish was educated at King's Park primary school and then Dalkeith High School. He was inspired by the music of many of the rock artists of the late 1960s and early 1970s, including Genesis, Pink Floyd, The Moody Blues, Van Der Graaf Generator, The Kinks, T. Rex, David Bowie, Argent and The Alex Harvey Band. The first band he saw live was Yes at Usher Hall, Edinburgh, in 1974. As well as his love for music, he was also a voracious reader, and his literary inspirations included Jack Kerouac, Truman Capote, Robert Burns and Dylan Thomas.

After working as a petrol pump attendant, gardener and forestry worker, Fish came to the public's attention in 1981 with the British rock group Marillion. The band achieved chart success in the UK, attaining top-ten hits in 1985 with "Kayleigh" and "Lavender", and again in 1987 with "Incommunicado". In 1988, Fish left Marillion in order to pursue his solo career. Many of Fish's later works contain lengthy spoken word lyrics, shorter examples of which can be heard on earlier Marillion albums. Vocally, Fish has sometimes been compared to Peter Gabriel, lead singer of Genesis in the 1970s. Music journalist David Hepworth described his voice as a "conflation of Roger Daltrey and Peter Gabriel". Peter Hammill of Van Der Graaf Generator was also a major influence on his songwriting and vocal delivery, which is especially notable on the first two Marillion albums.

According to Fish himself, his nickname originates from the amount of time he spent in the bathtub. Fish married his first wife Tamara Nowy who appeared on the "Kayleigh" promo video on 25 July 1987 (divorced 2003) and had one daughter, Tara Rowena (Taz) born 1 January 1991, who is currently a model for 'Colours Agency' and 2012 was Scottish model of the year nominee.

On 26 August 2007, Fish performed at the 'Hobble On The Cobbles' show at the Market Square in Aylesbury, UK. He was accompanied on stage by his four former Marillion bandmates from the classic lineup (Mark Kelly, Steve Rothery, Ian Mosley and Pete Trewavas) for one song: "Market Square Heroes". This was the first time they had performed together in nearly two decades. In a press interview following the event, Fish denied this would lead to a full reunion, claiming that "Hogarth does a great job with the band... We forged different paths over the 19 years".

His most recent studio album, 13th Star, was released on 12 September 2007 as a specially-packaged pre-release version available to order from his website. A UK tour for this album commenced in March 2008, supported by Glyder. In February 2008, Fish was confirmed to be the Friday night headline act at NEARFest X. He also appeared with BBC Radio 2's Bob Harris on GMTV to promote Childline Rocks, a charity concert.

In 2008, 13th Star presented a Friday evening radio show "Fish on Friday" for digital radio station Planet Rock. When the station was faced with closure, Malcolm Bluemel with the help of 13th Star, Tony Iommi, Ian Anderson and Gary Moore helped save Planet Rock by buying the station.

On 9 June 2008, Fish embarked on his first full North American tour in eleven years. At each stop, he hosted a pre-show meet-and-greet with his fans. Two days prior, he was interviewed by Vince Font of the progressive rock podcast Prog'opolis, which was aired a week later on The Dividing Line Broadcast Network (DLBN) as "My Lunch With Fish".

In 2008, Fish revealed that he would be taking at least six months off from singing due to an "irregular cell growth" in his throat. This was later determined not to be cancerous.

Fish is a supporter of Scottish Premier League side Hibernian F.C.

In 2005, Fish won a Celebrity Music edition of The Weakest Link, beating Eggsy of Goldie Lookin Chain in the final round, sharing £18,750 with Eggsy's charity and his own.

On 20 and 21 October 2012, Fish hosted Fish Convention 2012 in Leamington Spa, United Kingdom. He performed two acoustic sets and two electric sets including material from his upcoming release, Feast of Consequences. He also performed fan favorite Marillion B-Side "Grendel", twice.

(Source: Wikipedia, 21.6.2013)