Kevin Ayers

Cheerfully eccentric Kevin Ayers has been active in British progressive rock since 1963, when he and some friends from Canterbury founded the Wilde Flowers. In 1966 Ayers and drummer Robert Wyatt left to start Soft Machine [see entry]. He played bass with the group until 1968, then began his ongoing solo career. Singing in a deep bass voice and making quiet jokes about moons and bananas - his specialty is pataphysical humor, the British equivalent of Zen koans - Ayers has played alongside Mike Oldfield (who first recorded on Ayers' albums), Steve Hillage, John Cale, Brian Eno, and Andy Summers. He spends most of his time at his estate on the island of Ibiza and continues to tour and release European albums every few years.

from The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll (Simon & Schuster, 2001)