In memory of Ian Newton

From Kate…  

   I want to wish you all a wonderful Christmas. Thank you for having made this year such a special one. Your incredible support and encouragement throughout the shows made them something really special that I will never forget.

  It is so terribly sad that Ian Newton, our monitor engineer,  died suddenly just a couple of days ago on 19th December. We are all so shocked by the news and send our deepest sympathies to his family.

      He was a complete sweetheart, a gentle man and an incredibly important part of the sound team right from the very beginning of the live project even before the first rehearsals. Then through to the tech rehearsals and on to the actual shows at Hammersmith.

          It was Ian who encouraged me to use the in-ears system and oversaw the whole process using his huge experience in live work. He encouraged the whole band and Chorus to use in-ears so that all of us were using the same system for all the shows. Many people commented on the high quality of the sound and sound system at the venue and a great deal of this was because of Ian.

           He was personally very supportive to me. There were quite a lot of things I was nervous about especially as I hadn’t sung or played live for such a long time. Ian loved his work and really cared about quality and detail, and spent a lot of time making sure that my monitors had exactly the right mix for every track, as he did with every member of the band and chorus.This meant that we could all work as confidently as possible with each other and in the context of the venue at Hammersmith. Nothing was ever too much trouble for him. He wanted it to be the best it could possibly be.

   We’re all going to really miss him. All of the team but especially the sound team, the band, the singers and of course me too. It’s hard to take in that he’s no longer with us. It’s a real loss for the live music industry. He was only 52. He was a lovely, warm, generous-spirited man with a lovely sense of humour. Thank you Ian for being such an invaluable part of the team, for being so dependable and for being there for me and helping me have the confidence to get up there and perform live. I’ll always remember you sitting there, behind the monitor desk with your lovely big warm smile.

                                      With love and best wishes for the new year ahead,

                                                                         Kate x

(photo taken by Stephen Tayler)