Until now, the Steve Clark section has been entirely in Japanese, so I thought it best to post this message I received from Malivin last January here. Malvin wrote this for the benefit of Steve`s Japanese fans and asked that I put it in my page.

I would like to talk about Steve if you don't mind:

He was such a gentle soul, always ready to help friends, always ready with a smile. I liked him immediately during our first meeting at Battery studios London in September 1982. The band were just putting the finishing touches to "Pyromania"

Although they already had a guy for the job of Steve's guitar technician, Steve liked me better........my personality maybe.......... And I got the job. I was happy to be in the company of these five young guys, it was fun, they all had great senses of humour (which is essential in this business) and I soon settled into my position. I found that I had a very relaxed relationship with Steve. He would call me if we had a day off to see if I wanted to go for dinner and drinks... .....of course, "drinks" were always part of the plan. We always had fun, laughing and joking the whole time, his laughing was infectious, It was easy to like him. He would normally try to keep the conversation light, but occasionally, he would voice his opinion strongly. He was mostly fun though.

He was always very kind to my children, in fact my 16 year old daughter Lesley walked, for the first time in her life, from Phil, who was holding her, to Steve who caught her just before she was about to fall. Everyone cheered and I could see that Steve was proud of the moment too. What a great smile!

I visit his graveside in Wisewood Cemetery every time I go back to Sheffield, I make the area neat and tidy and look with interest at the gifts that have been left for him, many gifts are left by Japanese fans. I'm sure that Steve would appreciate this because he really liked visiting Japan. He liked to drink Sake sometimes, I have found a small jug of Sake there at the graveside, plus some Marlboro red cigarettes. Some people have left jewelry and soft toys. It is very encouraging to know that so many people have traveled so many miles to make the trip to Wisewood.

Towards the end of the 80s Steve started to drink more, we were in the studio recording Adrenalize in 1991 and Steve was having problems working. Steve just wanted to play his guitar....... playing LIVE was why he was in this business, he always reminded me of that fact. So it was harder for him to concentrate in the studio (which calls for outstanding patience) and consequently started to drink more and more.

The last twelve months of his life were very difficult, I tried to 'retrain' him. I tried to be a shoulder for him to rest upon. I tried lots of things to distract him and to occupy him. I used to fly kites and throw Frisbees, he liked to build model aeroplanes or cars, but we still had too much time on our hands. It was very difficult for him. I felt so sorry for him, but I was
helpless.

I often think of Steve running across the stage at the beginning of the show, The Kabuki style curtain would drop and everybody's eyes would be on Steve thrashing out the chords to 'Stagefright' his hair flowing behind his head and a white silk scarf trailing on top of a red bolero and white pants.That is the way I shall always remember him.

Red and white lightning!

I would like to say thank you to all great Japanese fans, it is always a pleasure for us to be able to play in Japan. (also........I love tempura Udon)

Hope to see you all again soon.
Malvin,
January18 2000