TRIBUTES poured in this week following the death of an icon of the Keighley music scene for almost four decades.

Singer, songwriter and guitarist Ashley Cartwright died in hospital on Sunday four days after suffering a blood aneurysm at home in Haworth.

Family and friends had sat around his bed playing him his favourite songs, including tracks by his 80s band Shakes and his current band Black Horse Fairy.

Ashley’s partner Yvonne Gillson, singer with Black Horse Fairy, this week spoke of the shared love for music and literature that brought them together five years ago.

The pair became familiar figures in Haworth and Keighley from long walks in their distinctive Steampunk-style outfits, Ashley adopting his band persona of Archie Blackwell.

Yvonne said: “Ashley was just wonderful – he was so funny, we made each other laugh. Our joint passion was literature. He was always writing down words and getting riffs on his guitar.”

Ashley, 57, grew up in Ingrow where he started playing in rock bands as a teenager, during the late 70s and early 80s fronting hugely popular Keighley outfit The Shakes.

His songs included 51st State Of America, which reached number 71 in the national pop indie charts after being covered by New Model Army.

Ashley went on to form Keighley bands Hunting Party and Inarcadia, singing in his distinctive Yorkshire voice, as well as writing songs inspired by literature and social issues.

After several years of inactivity he returned to the live music scene in 2012, uniting with fellow Keighley music veterans to perform “songs of horror, love, menace and madness” as Black Horse Fairy.

Fellow local musicians and former schoolmates this week took to Facebook to share memories of Ashley, with another Keighley music stalwart, John Gow, writing: “Goodnite and God Bless to The King of the Wild West Riding!”