Adrian Borland - Death

Death

By 1999 Borland had lived with severe depression for about 14 years. He had still been denied commercial success or widespread popularity outside of continental Europe, and he had tried to commit suicide at least three times, the third (according to his mother Win Borland) when he jumped in front of a car. He had also developed a drinking problem.

His plans for that year were staggering. Not content with merely anticipating the release of 500 Miles of Desert he expressed the intention to record a sixth solo album with Heads and Hearts producer Wally Brill, a tour of Europe that June to promote the WRT album, a further tour later in the year to promote the new solo release, and 'a 12 song acoustic record with Wally Brill using percussion, trumpet, violin, viola and atmospheric electric guitar' for 2000. Meanwhile the remastering of several The Sound recordings, created at the very start of their career in 1976/77, was underway by Wally Brill. The finished product, Propaganda, was released by Renascent and featured linernotes by Borland, like all previous releases . It would be officially released on the 26th of April - the very day Borland would commit suicide. Of the plans drawn up by Borland over the winter, only his solo album was undertaken. It was recorded at The Premises, London over a number of months, although Borland himself recorded guide vocals and guitar in the space of about a fortnight. After this point his disposition changed. In a letter he wrote to his parents shortly before his death he expressed fear at being sectioned in Springfield mental hospital . 'He was returning home distraught and anxious...he had ignored the medical advice to pace himself', his mother, Win Borland, wrote. At evidence given at Westminster Coroner's Court it was revealed that he had visited an ex-girlfriend in the days before his death and that his condition had worsened thereafter. The Wimbledon Guardian reported:

"She said: "His thoughts were coming out loud and at one point he said there's always the railway line". She called 999 but by the time police arrived he had disappeared and was reported as a high risk missing person.

That night Mr Borland turned up at Kennington Police Station claiming he was being chased. Later he rang his mother to say he was in a curry house in Kennington. She alerted police and following a series of phone calls and hold-ups he was eventually dropped off at his mother's home at around 3.15 am

by officers who described his state of mind as "lucid"."

The night of the 25th Borland slipped away to Wimbledon Station. In the early hours of the 26th horrified commuters watched as Borland committed suicide by throwing himself under a train. He was 41 years of age, and was interred at the Merton & Sutton Joint Cemetery, London. In an account given by drummer Mike Dudley his funeral was attended by his parents, Bob Lawrence and Adrian Janes of The Outsiders, original Sound keyboardist Bi Marshall, early Sound manager Steve Budd and Wally Brill, co-producer of Heads and Hearts and Harmony and Destruction, among a multitude of others.