Peter Sinfield, King Crimson Founder & Lyricist, Dead at 80

Peter Sinfield, a co-founding member of King Crimson and chief lyricist for their first four albums, died on Thursday (November 14th) at age 80. The news was shared on King Crimson’s official website, with no cause of death revealed.

In addition to writing the lyrics on the albums In the Court of the Crimson King (1969), In the Wake of Poseidon (1970), Lizard (1970), and Islands (1971), Sinfield was responsible for coming up with the band name King Crimson.

Sinfield occasionally played synthesizer during King Crimson’s live shows, but also served as a jack of all trades for the UK prog-rock pioneers, with an obituary on the band’s website describing him as an “original roadie, lyricist, lights operator and live sound engineer.”

After a falling out with co-founder Robert Fripp, Sinfield was asked to leave the band at the beginning of 1972. Following his time in King Crimson, he went on to carve out an impressive career and a songwriter and producer.

He produced the self-titled debut from Roxy Music, and wrote lyrics for Emerson, Lake & Palmer. Sinfield even went on to write pop songs for the likes of Celine Dion and Cher, among others. One of his compositions for Celine Dion, the hit ‘Think Twice,” won the esteemed Ivor Novello award for Best Song Musically and Lyrically.

Sinfield also released one solo album, 1973’s Still. A video of him performing the tune “The Song of the Seagoat” can be seen below.