Brian James, founding guitarist of legendary British punk band The Damned, has reportedly been granted his dying wish of being buried at sea.
James passed away on March 6 at the age of 70. A cause of death was not revealed, although he died “peacefully” with his family by his side, according to a post on his official Facebook account announcing the news.
As The Sun reports, James was buried on April 28 on the sea floor in a private ceremony which took place off the coast of Newhaven, East Sussex, England. His widow Minna, son, Charlie and daughter-in-law, Alicia – and nine of his closest friends were reportedly in attendance.
Minna told the newspaper: “It was a beautiful day and the sea was calm. We’ve been together since I was 18, so it was very emotional. A burial at sea is pretty unusual, but it was in his will so we had to do it.”
Attendees took a boat for “around three hours” from Eastbourne, and afterwards they held a small memorial service at a church near James’ home in Brighton.
One source told The Sun: “Brian now sleeps with the fishes, which is what he wished for before he died. He was a true original in life and has carried that on in death.
The spirit of punk never left him and he was adamant he wanted his final resting place to be at sea. A few loved ones went out on the boat for around three hours and watched as his coffin was dropped into the drink.”
Back in March, Brian’s ex-Damned bandmate Raymond ‘Captain Sensible’ Burns reacted to the news of his death, sharing a photo of himself with Brian on X. Burns wrote: “We’re shocked to hear that creator of The Damned, our great chum Brian James has sadly gone. A lovely bloke that I feel so lucky to have met all those years ago and for some reason chose me to help in his quest for the music revolution that became known as punk.”
We’re shocked to hear that creator of @thedamned, our great chum Brian James has sadly gone. A lovely bloke that I feel so lucky to have met all those years ago and for some reason chose me to help in his quest for the music revolution that became known as punk. Cheers BJ! 🌹 pic.twitter.com/HuLdyMvI3z
— Captain Sensible (@CaptainSensible) March 7, 2025
Brian co-founded The Damned along with vocalist Dave Vanian, bassist Raymond ‘Captain Sensible’ Burns and drummer Christopher ‘Rat Scabies’ Millar in 1976.
The band released their debut single ‘New Rose’ in October of that year, and in February 1977 dropped their debut album ‘Damned Damned Damned’ – the record scored an 8/10 review from NME. In November 1977, the band released their follow-up album ‘Music For Pleasure’, with Brian James leaving the band soon after.
Between 1992 and 1996, James played in the Brussels-based Dripping Lips. In 2001, he joined MC5‘s Wayne Kramer, Guns N’ Roses‘ Duff McKagan, Stewart Copeland and Clem Burke to form the supergroup Racketeers and recorded and released the album ‘Mad for the Racket’.
