Andy Gill, guitarist for punk band Gang of Four, has died

Guitarist Andy Gill, who supplied the scratching, seething sound that fueled the highly influential British post-punk band Gang of Four, died Saturday, according to a statement from the band. He was 64.

Gill died after a brief respiratory illness. “His uncompromising artistic vision and commitment to the cause meant that he was still listening to mixes for the upcoming record, whilst planning the next tour from his hospital bed,” the band said.

Gill, along with original bandmates Jon King, Hugo Burnham and Dave Allen released in 1979 one of the most seminal albums of the punk era, “Entertainment!” It was named by Rolling Stone magazine in 2003 as one of the 500 greatest albums ever.

FILE- In this Feb. 8, 2011, file photo, Gang of Four's guitarist Andy Gill, left, and singer Jon King perform a concert at Webster Hall in New York. Gill, who led the highly influential British post-punk band Gang of Four, died Saturday, Feb. 1, 2020, in London, according to a statement from the band. He was 64. (AP PhotoJason DeCrow, File)

Gill was also a respected record producer, notably working with the Red Hot Chili Peppers on their self-titled debut in 1984. Other bands he produced include The Jesus Lizard, the Stranglers and Killing Joke.

Gill's jagged guitar playing was sharp and almost abrasive. Last year, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette said Gill “virtually weaponized the instrument with his stabbing, scraping attack and feedback sorcery.”

The Gang of Four's sound was a mix of rock, funk, reggae and R&B. It would greatly influence LCD Soundsystem, Bloc Party, the Futureheads and Franz Ferdinand. But Gill was not a fan of Coldplay, revealing in a 2008 interview that he found them “pompous, mawkish, and unbearably smug” and called the band the “sonic equivalent of wilted spinach.”

Born in Manchester, Gill studied art in Leeds where he met singer King. While Gang of Four never had a top 40 hit, their songs like “Natural’s Not in It” and “At Home He’s a Tourist” became cult classics.

The band recorded two albums and two EPs before Allen left in 1982, tired of the constant touring. The remaining members of the initial lineup recorded one more album before calling it quits in 1984. King and Gill recorded two albums in the 1990s as the Gang of Four. Gill has the last original member to tour with the band's name.

The latest lineup included John Sterry, who joined Gang of Four in 2012, bassist Thomas McNeice and drummer Tobias Humble. The band said “we’ll remember him for his kindness and generosity, his fearsome intelligence, bad jokes, mad stories and endless cups of Darjeeling tea. He just so happened to be a bit of a genius too.”

Gill's wife, Catherine Mayer, tweeted: “This pain is the price of extraordinary joy, almost three decades with the best man in the world.”

LONDON (AP) — The BBC will ask a court to throw out U.S. President Donald Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit against the British broadcaster, court papers show.

Trump filed a lawsuit in December over the way the BBC edited a speech he gave on Jan. 6, 2021. The claim, filed in a Florida court, seeks $5 billion in damages for defamation and $5 billion for unfair trade practices.

The speech took place before some of Trump’s supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol as Congress was poised to certify President-elect Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election that Trump falsely alleged was stolen from him.

The BBC had broadcast the documentary — titled “Trump: A Second Chance?” — days before the 2024 U.S. presidential election. It spliced together three quotes from two sections of the 2021 speech, delivered almost an hour apart, into what appeared to be one quote in which Trump urged supporters to march with him and “fight like hell.” Among the parts cut out was a section where Trump said he wanted supporters to demonstrate peacefully.

The broadcaster has apologized to Trump over the edit of the Jan. 6 speech. But the publicly funded BBC rejected claims it had defamed him. The furor triggered the resignations of the BBC’s top executive and its head of news.

Papers filed Monday with Florida’s Southern District court say the BBC will file a motion to dismiss the case on the basis that the court lacks jurisdiction, the court venue is “improper” and Trump has “failed to state a claim.”

The broadcaster’s lawyers will argue that the BBC did not create, produce or broadcast the documentary in Florida and that Trump’s claim the documentary was available in the U.S. on streaming service BritBox is not true.

It will also argue that Trump has failed to “plausibly allege” the BBC acted with malice in airing the documentary.

The BBC is asking the court to “to stay all other discovery” — the pretrial process in which parties gather information — pending a decision on the motion to dismiss. The discovery process could require the BBC to hand over reams of emails and other documents related to its coverage of Trump.

If the case continues, a 2027 trial date has been proposed.

“As we have made clear previously, we will be defending this case,” the BBC said Tuesday in a statement. “We are not going to make further comment on ongoing legal proceedings.”

President Donald Trump speaks to reporters while in flight on Air Force One to Joint Base Andrews, Md., Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)