John Trueman RIP

John Trueman has died.

This is a strange one for anyone involved with the music scene in Leeds. He was an arrogant, greedy, selfish man - often embarrassingly so - who messed up a fair few gigs for a fair few bands on account of his attitude. But he had a certain ridiculous charm about him, and seemed omnipresent in Leeds for many, many years. Essentially, no artist who played at The Cockpit or Josephs Well between 2000 and 2005 would have gone without dealing with him at some point.

He died last night in the LGI after his liver packed in. He'd been ill for some time, largely self-inflicted over the years, and a few days ago it became clear he would not live much longer. Andy (Futuresound) and a few others went to visit the other day and said he was already pretty much gone then. It was only a matter of time.

John was an orphan and was always very secretive about his private life. It is known that he had a brother, but the last I heard was that the hospital had not been able to contact him. I truly hope they have managed to do this now.

He was a weird, abbrasive, awkward and uncomfortably selfish man. I'm pretty sure he would have had no idea who I am. But I'll always remember his ridiculous and often strangely endearing ways. He will be missed by everyone who had ever spoken to him or dealt with him in any way, for a variety of bizarre reasons. As John Keenan said over at Leeds Music Forum, I'm sad he's gone, but desparately hope he doesn't haunt me.

RIP John Trueman, the ultimate unscrupulous music promoter.