Goodbye to much-loved Stevie Stone

HOT’s Zelly Restorick was one of those people lucky enough to have been close friends with Steve Stone, the news of whose death she heard about from Aideen O’Hagen of Jiggery Pokery a couple of days ago. “I was one of many of those lucky people – which was proven when he celebrated his 60^th and 70^th birthdays and was surrounded by a hall filled with family and friends, good music, drinks and hearty handmade food.” “I never thought I’d make it to 60”, he joked at both decade celebrations!

You will have your own personal memories of Stevie Stone; I’ve been reading about some more this morning on social media. Though departed, he is still greatly loved and held dear to many hearts, as he was when he was alive.

Stevie lived and died on the West Hill in the flat he’d ‘inherited’ from his close and very dear friend, Terry, who wouldn’t have wanted anyone else to reside there after his death a few years ago.

Prior to this, Stevie spent time going between his boat, the aptly named ‘Free Spirit’ – “How could I resist a name like that?” said Stevie to me about the purchase of this boat – and his holiday home at Shear Barn on the beautiful east hills. He loved both with a passion, especially the verandah and the patio doors at Number Two Ocean View at Shear Barn, where he could lay in the sun and listen to music wafting through the doors and entertain friends and family.

I’m listening to Brighter Day, one of my favourite ‘Stevie songs’ and crying – simultaneously sad that I will never hear this beautiful, heart touching song from Stevie’s voice again, yet thankful that I have this precious song safely in my music library, along with others of his own making, four of which were written specifically for me, which I’m listening to.

Brighter Day is a song, Stevie told me years ago, as we have known each other a long time, which was created after we first met at Shear Barn and his musical muses returned after a long absence. This song was one I would often request when Stevie was playing, as who doesn’t yearn for a Brighter Day?

For years we day-dreamed that Robbie Williams would get to have this song, Brighter Day, in his hands, listen to it and love it enough to record it. We did everything we could to make this dream a reality. If you have any connection to Robbie Williams, please let me know and we’ll send him a copy, sadly posthumously, but still would be a dream come true.

Stevie was a lover and a liver of life. He had a wide bright smile that could brighten a room, a cheeky sense of humour, a vibrant personality and the ability and talent to perform his music at the drop of a hat. I recently helped Stevie alphabetize his music sheets for his bands and solo appearances – there were 100s, including many a one that he had created himself. HOT’s Erica Smith called him ‘Stevie the Human i-Pod’, as he could instantly recall and perform the music and lyrics to so many songs from all genres”.

I’m now listening to Onwards and Upwards – another song written for me. “Time is our friend, learning to love ourselves and to our hearts be true”. Stevie, like many of us, was on a life-long journey of learning to love himself and being true to his heart.

Stevie is known throughout the town for his effortless musical ability, his wide smile and laugh, his sincere and genuine desire to say adieu to the crowd and the party leaving everyone feeling better than they were when they arrived.

Stevie was playing with two groups, Jiggery Pokery and The Haystingers, two things that would definitely get him out the house, ready to give his all to the audiences. He was due to play with The Haystingers just before he died.

Aideen O’Hagen, singer and violinist with Jiggery Pokery said that this would be the end of Jiggery Pokery; she is much, much saddened by the loss of such a close friend and someone who brought such joy, verve and energy to their group.

Stuart Alexander from Jiggery Pokery writes: “To say that Aideen & I are devastated is an understatement. We are shell-shocked.

“We heard the news a couple of days ago that our precious Stevie was found in his kitchen by Andy from the Haystingers when collecting him for a gig. We don’t know yet how long he had been there?

“We have lost our friend, big brother & our inspiration. It was an honour to play and sing along side such a talented and original artist for so many years.

“He had written so many songs over his long life, some of which we were hearing for the first time in recent years. He always knew how to surprise us.

“We were lucky enough after several years of trying, to record our double album last summer & are fortunate enough to have many live gig recordings over the years so his music will live on.

“Our hearts go out to his family and friends
We will miss you dear Stevie.
You were Mr Jiggery Pokery.”

The Haystingers released this quote on their Facebook page: ‘Such sad news today, our beloved Stevie has passed away, our deep condolences to all his friends and family, and sorry to those of you who came out to see us at the Nelly today, and watched me set the PA up and then take it straight down again… Andy sadly found him in his flat this afternoon to pick him up for the gig. Always with a huge smile on his face, we were honoured to have had such a blast playing with him, Stevie you’ll be hugely missed by all who knew you.”

Now I’m listening to Zelisnkska Gronsischka, a clever, funny song Stevie composed for me, thinking it was my real name after I signed off one of my long emails with a fake pseudonym. Something we would both do.

Stevie in the past had worked in the newspaper business… I was always on at him to write for HOT and feel what it was like to work for a publication not owned by sponsors and advertisers, where he’d be free to write what he wanted. One of his roles was fittingly as ‘stone editor’ for a while, the man at the end of the newspaper reels as they come off the press.

Another of his incarnations was as a bar owner in Spain, grabbing an opportunity with both hands and going for it with some friends. The venture sadly wasn’t a success, but left Stevie with many a story to regale of their adventures and misadventures.

Stevie was an only child – and music was a life-long companion from a very early age. Wherever Stevie went, of course his guitars went too. He turned his life experiences into melodies and lyrics. He was a poet, scribbling down lyrical poems on pieces of paper and strumming to get just the right chord for that particular song.

Stevie had his troubled times too – life wasn’t all plain sailing – and he worked hard to deal with these times alone, not wanting to affect others. He was a meditator and had a strong spiritual belief system.

In the past two–three years, he’d been a member of East Sussex Naturists, about which he wrote to me recently: “I’m so grateful to you for introducing me to the group – they’re a lovely bunch of people and I’ve enjoyed a good few events with them that I wouldn’t have known about otherwise.” Those events included learning qi gong and yoga, both of which he said helped him hugely.

As a teacher of one of the classes, I could see Stevie getting lost in the exercises, floating his arms through the air, smiling, fully in the moment. He was a sensitive soul. A Piscean.

I thought of Stevie just the other day as I walked past someone at the bus stop, smiled and said hello and they ignored me. I’d written a poem about how disheartening and empty this feels – and how lovely it is when someone smiles back – and Stevie turned it into a beautiful song, Smilez, adjusting the lyrics and adding a classic melody.

I feel sad that these songs won’t be heard again with his unique voice and guitar accompaniment. The words ‘devastated’, ‘gutted’, ‘stunned’ and ‘saddened’ have been used by people when they’ve heard the news. One friend, Dean Robinson wants to set a place for “our dear talented, irreplaceable and much-loved Stevie Stone and place a pint of beer in front of ‘his chair’ at the coming sing-a-long gathering at The Old King John this Thursday. We were going to cancel, but the vote was that Stevie would have wanted the party to go on!

I was lucky enough to have rehearsed and sung some songs publicly with Stevie. We never got to busk, which had long been my dream, but maybe that was lucky for Stevie, as I would have been a poor accompaniment to his talent!

I’m now listening to Any Amount of Love, sent out by Philip Baker of East Sussex Naturists, telling the group of Stevie’s sad death. He said: “Touching on the sensitive, the song floats around the borderlines of our subconscious and conscious emotional mind. We live in a difficult physical, material world, which is constantly changing every second, as indeed are our physical bodies. Stevie brings us compassionate wisdom, borne of life experience combined with intelligence and soul insight.

“As the song says: ‘You can take any amount of love, you can make any amount of love’. Even when life seems to have dealt you bad cards, there is a way to change everything… Could that be to switch into acceptance and then going outwards to others, creating love in the world? It changes us. It changes the world. It changes everything. Almost as if there were a hidden law of the universe at work.”

Rest in Peace, Stevie.

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