By Jude Webber and Kate Kelland
LIMA/LONDON (Reuters) - Veteran British disc jockey John Peel, who championed new music trends like punk on mainstream radio, has died of a heart attack on holiday in Peru.
Reuters Photo
His employer the British Broadcasting Corporation said on Tuesday the 65-year-old Peel, whose laconic style and northern English accent was immediately recognizable, was in the ancient Inca city of Cuzco with his wife Sheila.
He died on Monday.
"John Peel was a broadcasting legend. I am deeply saddened by his death," said Andy Parfitt, controller of the BBC's flagship pop music station Radio One.
While many around him opted for the musical mainstream, Peel determinedly espoused the off-beat and the experimental throughout his long career, making him a beacon to young bands trying to break through.
"John's influence has towered over the development of popular music for nearly four decades and his contribution to modern music and music culture is immeasurable. He will be hugely missed," Parfitt said.
Fans agreed.
"Very sad news, the man is a legend. There are many bands out there who would never have seen the light of day but for Peel," said one on a Web Site after hearing of Peel's death.
PIRATE RADIO
Peel was born in Heswall near Chester in northwestern England and, after completing his compulsory military service in 1962, went to the United States to kick off his career.
He started work at a radio station in Dallas, Texas and was there when President John F Kennedy was assassinated.
From there he roamed from one radio station to another, ending in Los Angeles in the heyday of the hippy era.
Returning to England in 1967 he began broadcasting to the mainland from pirate radio ships anchored just outside British waters. Then he moved to Radio One as the station took to the airwaves giving Britons a taste of the surging popular music of the Beatles and their contemporaries.
But music to do the ironing by was not for him.
Instead, Peel populated the night with movements like punk, reggae and hip-hop -- always open to the unknown and on the look out for the unusual.
A popular figure with the avant-garde of the music scene, Peel made a smooth transition from the night owl to the avuncular with his "Home Truths" family stories radio show.
Regularly topping music paper Best DJ polls, Peel also won the 1993 Sony Award for Broadcaster of the Year and in 1994 was named Godlike Genius by the NME music newspaper.
Peel picked up a string of Honorary Degrees from universities across England and won an Order of the British Empire (OBE) for his work.
BBC Director of Radio and Music Jenny Abramsky described Peel as unique. "He had a remarkable rapport with all his listeners. Everyone at BBC radio is devastated by the news," she said. "John is simply irreplaceable."
He leaves his wife Sheila and their four children. (Additional reporting by Jeremy Lovell in London)
