Chris Acland

Acland was born at the Royal Lancaster Infirmary in Lancaster, Lancashire. He was the son of Oliver Geoffrey Dyke Acland and Judith Veronica Williams, and the great-grandson of Sir Francis Dyke Acland, the 14th Baronet Acland.[1] He studied at North London Polytechnic, where he met his future Lush bandmates Meriel Barham and Miki Berenyi, briefly dating the latter.[2]

He played in a number of bands, including The Infection, Les Turds,[3] A Touch of Hysteria and Panic, before founding Lush in 1988 with Steve Rippon, Emma Anderson, Meriel Barham and Miki Berenyi. After personnel changes gave way to a stable lineup, Lush released their debut mini album, Scar, and developed a following as a live act. They would go on to release three albums and several singles and EPs and achieve critical success.

Acland was a keen football fan and a supporter of Tottenham Hotspur F.C. He and members of Moose and the Cocteau Twins formed the band The Lillies and recorded a humorous flexi-disc entitled "And David Seaman Will Be Very Disappointed About That" following the team's victory over North London rivals Arsenal in the 1991 FA Cup semi-finals[4]

On 17 October 1996, after Lush had completed their tour and music festival appearances, and two days after Anderson announced a desire to quit the band, Acland died by hanging himself in his parents' garden in Burneside, Cumbria. His bandmates in Lush were devastated and disbanded after a period of mourning.[5]