Admiration and grief have been given equal measure this week as people express their feelings about Jackie Leven’s death.

The singer/songwriter was a resident of Botley, but born in Kirkcaldy, Scotland, and lost his battle with cancer on Monday night.

Even though his career began in the 70’s fronting ‘Doll by Doll, and although he has about 30 solo albums to his name, Jackie was still being labelled a new act by BBC Radio 2 in 2010.

“I have long thought of Jackie as Britain’s lost rock star.” Says Neil McCormick, the Daily Telegraph’s chief rock music critic and one of Jackie’s biggest champions.

The young Jackie Leven had the same dangerous magnetism as Oliver Reed in that a drink and a fight weren’t far away. As Neil eloquently describes Doll by Doll: “They were positively scary live, you thought they might jump off the stage and punch the audience, but the toughness of Leven’s persona was counterbalanced by the tender depths of their songs.”

Leven’s voice sets him apart from almost any other performer and once you felt the emotion it never left you.

The frustrations of knowing that he should have had wider recognition are tempered by the fact that over the coming years many people will discover this ‘new’ artist called Jackie Leven.

As Neil McCormick summed up: “…to those who knew, he was the real deal. His work has incredible depth and resonance. I have a feeling we haven’t heard the last of him.”

You can hear an interview with Jackie Leven and Xan Phillips on Playdio.com