Silver Apples founder Simeon Coxe dies aged 82

Simeon Coxe, co-founder of the pioneering electronic music duo Silver Apples, died yesterday (8 September) in Fairhope, Alabama.

He was 82. The cause of death is not yet known, and the news was first reported by AL.com.

Coxe was born in Knoxville, in 1938, and grew up in Orleans from the age of seven. He’s best known for his work with Silver Apples, which he co-founded with Danny Taylor in the late 60s. Their seminal self-titled debut album was released in 1968. Simeon developed his own synthesiser, nicknamed ‘the Simeon’, which was made up of nine audio oscillators and 86 manual controls, designed to control lead, rhythm and bass pulses with hands, feet and elbows.

During the recording of their sophomore LP, Contact, the pair found themselves collaborating with Jimi Hendrix on their own version of The Star-Spangled Banner. The LP, however, was pulled from shelves upon its release as Pan American Airways took offence at the LP’s artwork, which features the duo in the cockpit of a Pan Am aircraft with drug paraphernalia. The back of the LP portrays the two artists amongst the rubble of a plane crash.

The pair disbanded and in the 70s Coxe worked as a reporter-producer for WKRG TV in Mobile, Alabama. In 1996, Coxe revived Silver Apples with a new line-up featuring Xian Hawkins. Later, in 1998 he reunited with Danny Taylor and they released The Garden that year. After Taylor died in 2005, Coxe continued to make music as Silver Apples and released the LP Clinging to a Dream in 2016.

ADVERTISEMENTS