Martin Duffy died penniless and alone after being ‘demoted’ by Primal Scream bandmates, son claims

Primal Scream musician Martin Duffy died after becoming “distraught and upset” when he was suspended from the Scottish rock band band, his son has claimed.

Duffy, who played keyboard for the band for more than 30 years, died in December aged 55. His former bandmate, frontman Bobby Gillespie, announced his death on social media, writing: “Hard to write this. We never know how to speak around death other than polite platitudes. All I want to say is that our soul brother Martin Duffy [has] passed away. He suffered a brain injury due to a fall at his home in Brighton. We in Primal Scream are all so sad.”

It has now been revealed that Duffy tripped over and suffered serious head injuries after drinking approximately two bottles of wine.

He was conscious when his son, Louie, found him on the kitchen floor of his East Sussex flat, but he had suffered multiple skull fractures.

Louie, 19, shared a statement as part of an inquest that said after Duffy was told to leave the band and get help for his alcohol dependency, he began drinking even more. He said that Duffy was in debt as he was unable to tour during the pandemic, and claimed that he had been left out of a £5m deal to sell some of Primal Scream’s back catalogue to BMG.

“My dad died in debt and I know how badly this affected him in the last year of his life,” he said.

He said Duffy “wasn’t consulted or even told about” the deal despite playing “on every Primal Scream album”

Duffy’s son added: “But still the band chose not to offer him the opportunity to get his share, at a time they knew he really needed financial help.”

Louie, who said his dad was a “functioning alcoholic”, added: “It was during lockdown when things started going wrong for dad. No gigs meant no income and he got into debt. He was also diagnosed with prostate cancer.”

After lockdown restrictions were lifted, Duffy played with Primal Scream at Glastonbury Featival 2022, but a week later, “messed up” on stage during a show in Glasgow. The following morning, he was “told to leave the tour and get help”.

Louie said in his statement: “The band told him he would not be getting his job back unless he stopped drinking. He became very upset. He seemed completely devastated.

“After this, he started drinking really heavily every day. I couldn’t stop him. It was frightening. I had never seen him like this before. He stopped contacting people and I was really worried about him.”

He added that “after being forced off the tour, I literally saw dad age 10 years in a matter of weeks”.

Louie condemned his dad’s bandmates, including Gillespie, for “demoting” Duffy despite being a member for three decades.

“The band’s belief in the ‘tough love’ they thought they were qualified to dish out to dad when he was at his most vulnerable only made things worse,” he said.

“I understand they thought they were helping him but this method backfired, it made dad become completely overwhelmed.”

Primal Scream declined to comment upon request from The Independent.

Alcoholics Anonymous helpline is open 24/7 on 0800 9177 650. If you would prefer, you can also email them at help@aamail.org or live chat via their website at www.alcoholics-anonymous.org.uk. Drinkline, a free, confidential helpline for people who are concerned about their drinking, or someone else’s. Call 0300 123 1110 (weekdays 9am–8pm, weekends 11am–4pm)