Wet Taxis singer and cult figure of the 1980s Sydney music scene, Louis Tillett, dies at age 64

Veteran Australian rocker Louis Tillett has passed away at the age of 64.

Known to fans of Sydney’s thriving independent music scene in the 1980s and 1990s, Tillett was much admired for his solo work and his band, the Wet Taxis.

Tillett’s passing last week was announced to fans on his official Facebook on Sunday, when it was revealed that the gifted musician chose to leave his body to science.

A GoFundMe page launched in 2021 announced that Tillett was suffering from chronic kidney disease.

The debilitating condition has kept the hard-working musician from performing for the past two years.

As a singer, songwriter, keyboardist and saxophonist, Tillet never achieved the kind of mainstream success enjoyed by contemporaries like Hunters and Collectors and Nick Cave.

But his talent as a musician was highly sought after, and Tillett played with legendary indie favorites like The Laughing Clowns and Tex Perkins and Cold Chisel’s Don Walker.

In 1987, he released his first solo album, Ego Tripping at the Gates of Hell, which was widely acclaimed by critics and fans alike.

The music was a mix of jazz, pop and rock. 10 more solo albums followed.

Born in Sydney in 1959, Tillett formed Wet Taxis in 1977 as an experimental group.

It later morphed into a psychedelic rock act, wowing local fans with its bizarre and hypnotic sound, anchored by Tillett’s signature low-pitched ‘dark’ vocals.

In the mid-1980s, he formed a more jazzy group called Paris Green.

Tillett’s other recordings include A Cast of Aspersions in 1990, Soliloquy and his latest record, To Ride a Dead Pony in 2018.