Llynboddi, Gethin

Gethin Llynboddi was better known as Gabriel Lake.  He was born in 1951 in Cardiff, Wales, and grew up in a brownstone row house on Ninian Park Road.  His father Roald Llynboddi was a worker on the Cardiff docks who raised Gethin alone after Sian Llynboddi drowned in Cardiff bay.  In 1971 Gethin saw the band Air over Bristol in a Cardiff pub.  After the show he met the band and showed Peter Simms several songs he had written including an early version of "Tristen".  Llynboddi and Simms, with Idlowes Gruffid, formed Van Gogh in Blue.  Llynboddi provided vocals on all four Van Gogh in Blue albums:

• Sunflower, 1974

• Cerulean Scream, 1975

• Starfall, 1979

• Dutch Portrait, 1980

After the breakup of Van Gogh in Blue, Llynboddi gave up music and retired to an estate in Ogmore Vale.

Pillingsworth, Chauncey "Titan"

Chauncey Pillingsworth was born in London, England in 1950.  He gave himself the nickname "Titan" while at university.

At the end of 1979 he joined the band Van Gogh in Blue to become the band's third and final bass player.  He pushed the band into a new creative direction for their last album which was a critical success but a commercial failure.

He recorded one album as part of Van Gogh in Blue:

• Dutch Portrait, 1980

After the breakup of Van Gogh in Blue, Pillingsworth moved to Hollywood where he worked as a musical consultant for a series of motion pictures.

Pond, Ian

Ian Pond was born in York, England in 1959.

Philo Records brought him to the band Van Gogh in Blue as a drummer to replace Donald Roger after Roger's death.  While reportedly well liked by his band mates, Pond's style never fully melded with the band.

He recorded one album as part of Van Gogh in Blue:

• Dutch Portrait, 1980

After the breakup of Van Gogh in Blue, Pond toured with several bands.

Pritchard, Penelope

Penelope Pritchard was born and raised in Edinburgh, Scotland.  In 1972, at age sixteen, she left home for London.  For the next four years, she had no set address.  She attached herself to several local bands, following them to venues and attending after-show parties.  She was noticed by a scout from Philo Records in 1976 and hired as a studio musician.  When Low Gruff quit the band Van Gogh in Blue in late 1978, the studio had her audition for the band as a bass player.  She appeared on the 1979 album Starfall.  On the night the band arrived in Germany during their Starfall Tour, she was arrested for public drunkenness, disorderly conduct, lewd behavior, illegal narcotics, indecent behavior with an underage person, and discharge of an illegal firearm in a public place.  She was unable to complete the tour and Low Gruff flew in to finish the last seven concerts.  She was subsequently fired from the band and replaced with Titan.

Fans blamed her for Roger-Roger's drug overdose a few months later.  She did a topless interview for Playbox Magazine in 1980 in which she claimed to have been responsible for Peter Simms' divorce and to have aborted his child.  In 1982, she returned to Edinburgh and was later hired by the university to teach music theory.  In 1985 she had a son, Malcolm, who was rumored to have been fathered by a member of the House of Commons.  

Rogers, Donald "Roger Roger"

Donald Rogers was born in 1954 in Summerside on Prince Edward Island, Canada.  In 1972 he enrolled in University King's College in Hallifax where he majored in history, although his interests were in music.  He and several friends traveled to Great Britain on a site-seeing trip in 1974, and while in Cardiff, he saw an advert for a drummer.  On a whim, he obtained a cheap drum-set and auditioned for Gethin Llynboddi, Peter Simms and Idlowes Gruffid.  They were greatly impressed and immediately hired him as the drummer for Van Gogh in Blue.

Going by the nickname "Roger-Roger", he recorded three albums as part of Van Gogh in Blue:

• Sunflower, 1974

• Cerulean Scream, 1975

• Starfall, 1979

Rogers died of a drug overdose in London in 1980.  He was then replaced by drummer Ian Pond.

Simms, Peter

Born in 1949 and raised in Long Ashton, Britian, Peter Simms was a musician involved with the prog-rock movement.  From 1969 to 1971 he led a band named Air over Bristol.  It had a small following in the Bristol area but failed to catch on elsewhere.  While performing in Cardiff, Wales in 1971, he and acquaintance Low Gruff (Idlowes Gruffin) met Gethin Llynboddi (soon to change his name to Gabriel Lake).  The three formed the band Van Gogh in Blue with Simms stepping back to let Lake do lead vocals.  After trying several drummers, they hired Donald Rogers in 1974 and were signed by Philo Records shortly thereafter. 

Simms appeared on all four Van Gogh in Blue albums:

• Sunflower, 1974

• Cerulean Scream, 1975

• Starfall, 1979

• Dutch Portrait, 1980

In 1975 Simms married Peggy Applebottom who appeared as a backup vocalist on several tracks on Cerulean Scream and Starfall.  The couple were expecting a child in 1979 which kept Peggy Simms from touring.  She miscarried while the band was in Japan.  The couple divorced shortly thereafter.  In 1980, former bass-player Penelope Pritchard alleged in a Playbox interview that she had become pregnant by Simms and had aborted the baby.

After the breakup of Van Gogh in Blue, Simms worked in advertising with a London firm.  He sporadically performed musical guest appearances.  Simms suffered a fatal heart attack in 1979.