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Richey James Edwards (born 1967 – missing since 1995, but has not been declared legally dead) was a member of the Welsh rock band Manic Street Preachers.

Born on December 22, 1967, he attended Oakdale Comprehensive and later (1986-1989) University of Wales Swansea where he graduated with a 2:1 degree in history, much to his perfectionist annoyance.

He has one sister named Rachel. Richey was highly intelligent from a young age. During his adolescence he allegedly wrote an essay on William Shakespeare that was 859 pages long. When he was asked about it, he said "I didn't have anything else to do". By the time he was sixteen he had read the complete works of Shakespeare and Philip Larkin. But although he was a prodigious pupil, he loathed the didactic nature of school, and would sometimes faint in the morning assemblies so that he would not have to face the day ahead.

In the beginning Richey was basically the driver and roadie for the band, but after Flicker the bass guitarist left, he stepped in. More often than not he was miming on the guitar, but he was, along with bassist Nicky Wire, the lyricist of the band, and Richey is said to have written approximately 75% of the lyrics on The Holy Bible, whereas before this, Nicky and Richey wrote roughly 50% each. They are both credited for the lyrics of all the songs up until Richey's disappearance, while the songs Richey alone wrote the lyrics for on Everything Must Go are credited only to him.

1991 saw him gain notoriety when, on May 15, NME journalist Steve Lamacq questioned the Manics' seriousness at the Norwich Arts Centre. In response, Richey took out a razor blade and carved "4 Real" into his forearm. The injury required a trip to the hospital where he received seventeen stitches.

He suffered severe bouts of depression and often self-harmed mainly by stubbing out cigarettes on his body and cutting himself. His problems with eating and alcohol were well known, and he was, according to Nicky Wire, "on the verge of anorexia" when he was at his worst. After the release of the band's third album The Holy Bible, he checked into The Priory psychiatric hospital, missing out on some of the promotional work for the album and forcing the band to appear as a three piece at the Reading Festival.

After coming out of the hospital Richey toured Europe with the Manics, Suede, and Therapy? but was never the same again. During this tour, Nicky felt that he was drifting away from Richey, who he said was just 'a shell' following his therapy. Richey went through many obsessive and destructive phases during this time - eventually the tour ended when Nicky found him outside their hotel banging his head against the wall with blood running down his face.

Disappearance

He disappeared on February 1, 1995 on the day that the Manics were due to fly to America for a promotional tour. He checked out of the London Embassy hotel at seven in the morning and has not been seen since. His silver Vauxhall Cavalier car was discovered thirteen days later in a car park near the Severn Bridge with a flat battery. This prompted speculation that Richey committed suicide by throwing himself into the River Severn, which was referred to in many articles of the time as a 'notorious suicide spot' - this isn't strictly true. However, many believe that Richey simply ran away and started a new life elsewhere - he had been talking a lot about 'the perfect disappearance' before he left, and had borrowed a book on the subject from a friend. Neither option seems particularly plausible in relation different aspects of Richey's character; it was, and still remains, a mystery as to what became of him.

There have been a number of alleged sightings of Edwards, especially in the years immediately following his disappearance. However none of these have proved conclusive and all have been rejected by investigators. While his family had the option of declaring him legally dead in 2002 after being missing for seven years, they opted not to, choosing to keep it as a missing person case.

Literature and other cultural influences

As well as a deep interest in rock music, Richey's other love was/is literature. He chose many of the quotes that appear on Manics records and would often refer to writers and poets during interviews. This interest in literature has been taken up by many Manics fans and has become as much a part of their appeal as the band's music. Albert Camus, Philip Larkin & Fyodor Dostoevsky were amongst his favourite authors.

Richey's lyrics have often been of a highly poetic nature, particularly on the band's third album The Holy Bible, and they have often reflected his knowledge of political history.

Richey's icons/heroes had a profound effect on him and his work. Many of them, like Kurt Cobain and Sylvia Plath, committed suicide at a young age following a short but exceptionally productive life; J.D. Salinger became a recluse, living a hermit-like existence after releasing his novel, The Catcher in the Rye, now recognised as a classic. It was this interest in the unusual that helped shape Richey's own career, particularly during the early days, with the promise of releasing one classic album and then burning out.

Quotes

• "I have a very childlike rage, and a very childlike loneliness."

• "You get respect in society if you are aggressive. If you fight then people respect you. If you fight back, people like you for that as well. When I've been beaten up, if I've been in a pub doing nothing wrong, the fact I chose not to fight back, that I would never throw a punch back, people say I'm weak. I don't think that's a weak thing at all. I think why should I descend to their level? If I've done nothing wrong, throwing a punch back makes me as bad and corrupt as them. As evil as them, as stupid as them."

• "All rock and roll is homosexual."

• "We are the casualties of the 20th Century."

• "In terms of the S-word, that does not enter my mind. And it never has done, in terms of an attempt. Because I am stronger than that."

• "Self-mutilation is a very different issue to suicide. It is a controlled pain personal to you, allowing you to live/exist to some degree."

• "All you can do to the past is to never want to be like it."

• "Love is an impossible concept."

• "I think there's a difference between intelligence and knowledge. There are plenty of people with letters after their names who only know figures and dates. It's possible to know a lot of facts but not know anything at all."

• "The future? That's a big, nasty word, isn't it?"

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