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Barclay James Harvest keyboardist/vocalist Wooly Wolstenholme, who had suffered from mental illness in recent years committed suicide on Monday December 13,2010. Wolstenholme left the group in the late 1970's, first to start a group named Maestoso, then to retire from music to start a farming business. In the 21st century, when Barclay James Harvest splintered into two "Barclay James Harvest" groups, one fronted by guitarist/vocalist John Lees, and another fronted by bassist/vocalist Les Holroyd, Wolstenholme returned to music,joining John Lees' "Barclay James Harvest", recording several studio albums and a live DVD.
A few years back, Wolstenholme had to go on hiatus from Lees' group due to a nervous breakdown, but he rebounded and rejoined Lees' group, but recently, he dropped out of plans to tour with Lees group on doctors' advice. But his mental condition worsened in recent weeks culminating in his suicide.
Wolstenholme, the group's best vocalist, was the crucial ingredient in the group's highly regarded 1969-73 EMI/Harvest albums, where he handled the lead vocals not only on his own songs, but also taking lead on many of the John Lees & Les Holroyd songs as well. Clearly, in Wolstenholme's heyday, Lees and Holroyd recognised that Wolstenholme was a far better singer than they were.
Some of Wolstenholme's finest work will be remembered through a Jan.31,2011 EMI 2-disc reissue of the group's second album "Barclay James Harvest-Once Again", including 7 bonus tracks(5 of them previously unreleased) and an audio-only DVD with a 5.1 surround sound remix of the album.
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