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Drummer from 1990s rock band 60ft Dolls dies

Carl Bevan A man with brown hair and a beard looking at the camera. He is sitting in front of a painting which sits on a desk beside paint brushes, sprays and painting colours.Carl Bevan
Bevan supported bands such as Oasis and Sex Pistols before quitting music and becoming a landscape artist

Musician and artist Carl Bevan has died at the age of 51, his partner has announced on social media.

Bevan rose to prominence as the drummer of the 1990s punk rock band 60ft Dolls.

The trio supported bands Oasis and the Sex Pistols and played Glastonbury before splitting in 1998.

Bevan, originally from Glynneath in Neath Port Talbot but grew up in Newport, returned to the public eye as a landscape artist in 2018 after quitting music.

Bevan's partner, Bev, confirmed the "devastating" news on Bevan's Facebook page.

Bevan, who was inspired to take up music by his father Ray, is survived by his daughter Connie.

Carl Bevan told the BBC how art helped him quit rock 'n' roll

"I will miss you Carl, I'm so proud of you," dad Ray wrote on Facebook, calling his son a "beautiful, talented, funny genius".

"My life will never be the same without you."

Good friend and former 60ft Dolls bandmate Richard Parfitt also led the tributes to Bevan

"Carl Bevan was a brilliant drummer, a brilliant artist and a brilliant friend," the 60ft Dolls frontman said on X. "So long little brother X."

The Dolls supported fellow rockers Ash during their early years and their drummer Rick McMurray added on X: "So sorry to hear this. He was truly one of a kind."

Bevan was a teenager when the 60ft Dolls burst on to the scene in the 1990s and admitted he had a reputation as a party animal.

"There was a lot of gigs, a lot of laughter and stuff got broken and brain cells sacrificed in the name of rock'n'roll," he told the BBC in 2020.

Getty Images A image of band performing in a shopping centre. The men play guitars in forefront while a man plays a drumset in the background. Getty Images
The band shared bills with the Foo Fighters and Iggy Pop, and played huge festivals such as Glastonbury

The 60ft Dolls were part of what was labelled "Cool Cymru" in the 1990s, along with Manic Street Preachers, Super Furry Animals, Catatonia and Stereophonics.

The Dolls' 1996 record The Big 3 reached top 40 in the album chart and included chart singles Happy Shopper and Talk To Me.

They shared bills with the Foo Fighters and Iggy Pop and played festivals including Reading, T in the Park, and Glastonbury.

After what he described as a misspent youth making music and memories with two mates Parfitt and Mike Cole in the band, the musician mellowed and his most recent work was making landscape paintings.

"Painting has been amazing for my sanity, especially in lockdown," Bevan recalled in 2020.

He started painting scenes from pictures taken while on walks with his beloved cavapoo dog Billy in a makeshift studio in his house in Cardiff before moving into a permanent space at Bridge Studios in the Fairwater area of the city.