Michael Roberts obituary

My friend Michael Roberts, usually known as Mick, who has died in his sleep aged 57, was the charismatic singer with the Leeds band the Bridewell Taxis. They emerged alongside the Stone Roses and Happy Mondays in the late 1980s/early 90s indie-dance boom. Although they never made it as big as their “Madchester” counterparts, the Bridewell Taxis’ exuberant audiences included a young Liam and Noel Gallagher. They were championed by Roxy Music’s Phil Manzanera, who became their executive producer. I first met Mick when I interviewed him for Melody Maker and recognised that behind his cheeky grin and rapscallion image was a sensitive soul, whose wonderful lyrics insightfully captured the pressures and vulnerabilities of working-class life. “He was a poet,” said Paul Weighell, who signed the band to Empire Music Publishing in 1990. “Such a crying shame that he and the Bridewells did not become household names. Seeing them playing to a completely packed Leeds Warehouse was one of the best gigs I ever witnessed.” Born in Stalybridge, Greater Manchester, Mick grew up in Cross Gates, east Leeds, one of the four children of a printer, also Mick, and a home care manager, Susan (nee Miller). H