“The first thing I did in the morning was take a fix… I don’t know why I started. I suppose it was to overcome my insecurity”: He was a member of one of the most famous supergroups of the late 60s. But this forgotten great died in poverty aged just 43

Former Family/Blind Faith bassist Ric Grech performing onstage in the early 1970s.

On Saturday, June 7, 1969, the new band formed by Eric Clapton, Ginger Baker, Steve Winwood and a comparatively unknown 22-year-old bass player from Leicester played a free concert in London’s Hyde Park.

Going by the name Blind Faith, they hadn’t yet released an album (their hugely anticipated and hyped debut was still two months away) and it was their first ever gig together, but the band the music press had tagged with the new word ‘supergroup’ played to 100,000 people.