Scott Muni

How sad I was to get the news about the recent death of Scott Muni. There must be very few people, who either lived in or visited the New York area during the past thirty years who haven’t touched or affected in some way by the warmth of Scott’s personality and by his genuine love of music. E L P in particular has a great deal to thank him for as Scott was amongst the very first people to recognize the bands talent. So much so in fact that he took the unprecedented step of playing the entire album of Pictures at an Exhibition uninterrupted back to back on FM radio in New York. This single act not only brought the band to the publics attention, it completely broke through all the rules of radio programming at the time and opened up a whole new era of musical freedom to radio in the USA. ELP would always stop by at WNEW to say hello to Scott when we were in New York and he often came to our shows at Madison Square Garden to give us support and to announce the band on stage. I always remember when going up to WNEW being struck by the atmosphere in the studio. Invariably he was completely alone during the broadcast, but you were always aware that at the other end of the microphone, he knew that he had the whole of the listening audience of New York for company. I always felt that it was rather like performing on stage, in some ways you are completely alone, but at the same time, through the feelings and the music you share, you are intimately close to so many thousands of people. The enduring memory I have of Scott was that when I talked to him, even from the very first time we met, I felt as if he was part of my own family. It felt as if I had known him all my life.  I will miss him, and the world of music will certainly miss him. He was a great man who made a significant contribution; not only to the world of music, but also to the world as a voice of reason and compassion. Apart from being a personal friend, he was, in my opinion, the greatest music-oriented radio broadcaster of all time. It is with deep sadness that I bid him farewell. May his light shine on forever. Greg Lake.