In 1973, the singer-songwriter Kevin Coyne, who has died of lung fibrosis aged 60, released his second album, Marjory Razorblade. It was well received by critics, although his wantonly mannered and guttural delivery, exploration of unorthodox song structure and often improvised lyrics concerning unsavoury topics were not conducive to chart success. His dour and self-effacing manner did not help in interviews, either. Indeed, Virgin’s press office referred to him as an “anti-star”.
Nevertheless, largely through Radio One presenter John Peel’s championing, Coyne built a cult following. What he was proving was the artistic merit of sweating over something new while more celebrated contemporaries turned out increasingly ordinary albums. He toured Europe and Australia, and released a further 11 Virgin albums - while their spin-off singles were worthwhile marketing exercises.
If he meant nothing in the Top 40, Coyne was appreciated as a songwriter’s songwriter, and collaborated with musicians such as Zoot Money, Andy Summers, Carla Bley, Robert Wyatt and, for 1979’s Babble, Dagmar Krause, the mainstay of Slapp Happy and Henry Cow.
He earned, too, the admiration of Johnny Rotten and Sting. Coyne was infinitely less precious and artistically self-centred than other artists of that era, such as Nick Drake, Melanie Safka and James Taylor, whose primarily acoustic albums appealed more to self-doubting adolescent diarists than fans of heavy metal, jazz-rock and similar genres that dominated early 1970s rock.
Born in Derby, Coyne was educated at Joseph Wright school of art from 1957 to 1961, and then studied painting and printmaking at Derby and District College of Art from 1961 to 1965. He was also performing in pubs and clubs, where he sometimes provoked the extreme audience reaction that became more pronounced after he turned professional.
From 1965 to 1968, Coyne worked as a social therapist at Whittingham hospital, Preston. He then worked for London’s Soho Project as a drugs counsellor. These experiences - and a fondness for the grippingly personal styles of black rural bluesmen - informed his early attempts at composition as a vocalist with Siren, a blues-rock band, contracted to Peel’s Dandelion record company.
Aided by plugs from Peel, two singles and two albums sold steadily if unremarkably before Siren disbanded in 1972. By then married and a father, Coyne quit his day job and struck out on his own with a solo album, Case History, and a European tour with other Dandelion artists. He also ventured into musical theatre, with England, England, a 1977 musical written with playwright Snoo Wilson. Then came the contract with Virgin.
Coyne was to become particularly popular in Germany, location of the in-concert Live Rough And More album - and, in the early 1980s, following a nervous breakdown brought on by his worsening alcoholism, and the subsequent collapse of his marriage, made the decision to move there. It was there he formed a German backing outfit, The Paradise Band.
He took up permanent residency in Nuremberg, where in a short-lived relationship he fathered a third son, before later remarrying. After becoming teetotal, he managed to balance a resumption of his recording and touring schedule with making headway as a painter, exhibiting principally in the Netherlands and Germany. Many buyers of his work were unfamiliar with his rock past. He also wrote Show Business (1993) and several other books of poems and short stories - some published in German, most recently Ich, Elvis Und Die Anderen (2000).
While he continued to be received with affection elsewhere, Coyne concentrated on Germany, where he balanced a consistency of presentation with experiment and keeping consumers guessing what he would be trying next. There was also a rumour that Coyne had been approached to replace the late Jim Morrison as lead singer with the Doors. “I didn’t,” he said, “show much enthusiasm.” Morrison was to be, however, a central figure in a Coyne play based on posthumous squabbles between dead pop icons. His 1995 album, The Adventures Of Frank Randle, was based on a stage musical about an English comedian - with Coyne in the title role. It also starred singer Julia Kempken.
Robert, one of his sons from his first marriage, joined his touring ensemble on guitar, and both he and elder brother Eugene, were heard on latter day albums, which included Knocking On Your Brain (1997), with guest guitarist Gary Lucas, once of Captain Beefheart’s Magic Band; Room Full Of Fools (2000); Life is Almost Wonderful (2002) with Brendan Croker; and Carnival (2002), featuring the track Rolling And Tumbling, a nod to the blues that had captured Coyne’s adolescent imagination.
He is survived by his second wife Helmi, and his sons Eugene, Robert and Nico.
· Kevin Coyne, singer, composer, writer and painter, born January 27 1944; died December 2 2004