>From the Herald Express.......
STING VISIT TO DYING FRIEND
BY COLLEEN SMITH
11:00 - 19 May 2003
Pop superstar Sting has been to Torquay's Rowcroft Hospice to visit one of
his oldest friends and colleagues, Kim Turner who died last week of cancer
at the age of 46.
Torquay boy Kim - brother of Wishbone Ash guitarist Martin Turner - managed
The Police and Sting for 20 years, before giving up the music business to
return to his Torquay roots in recent years. Tragically Kim died only two
days before the first anniversary of his marriage to his girlfriend of many
years, New Yorker Joann. Kim's cancer was diagnosed within two months of
the wedding and Joann has spent the last 10 months nursing him.
Sting - Britain's second richest pop star - had been visiting Kim during
treatment at the London Clinic.
A close family friend said: "The last time Sting visited Kim in hospital in
London he said, 'See you again' as he went to leave, and Kim looked back
and said 'I will see you again won't I?' and Sting said 'Yes, of course you
will'.
"I think it's a mark of the man and of his friendship with Kim that he made
sure he honoured that promise. He was due to fly out to Los Angeles to make
a visit but instead he came to Torquay to visit Kim in Rowcroft before he
left the country." Kim, who has two teenage daughters with his first wife
Kathy, closely-guarded his privacy and has been known for keeping
tight-lipped about his rock 'n roll years on the road with The Police and
Sting.
When The Police played an early gig in Torquay in the late 1970s they all
slept the night on the floor at Kim's parents' Torquay house afterwards.
Friends describe how he treated everybody with the same friendly open
manner - whether they were begging on the streets or the world's richest
men. Once he famously invited a New York beggar to dinner with him at one
of the city's most expensive restaurants and then put him up for the night
afterwards
Kim's wife Joann said: "Kim had an amazing life. He was always just open to
so many things. He had a way of making people feel as if they had known him
forever, even within a few hours of meeting them.
"The cards and letters I have had from people who met him, some who just
knew him for a short time back in The Police days, have been incredible."
And his eldest brother Martin recalled: "Kim just had a way of getting
things done.
"Once a film crew was trying to record a Sting concert at Madison Square
Gardens but they couldn't film because of the roar of the jets into JFK
airport. So he phoned the Mayor of New York and got them to stop all air
traffic for an hour and a half - I think it cost him something like a
quarter of a million dollar donation to the Mayor's favourite charity, but
I don't think anybody except Kim could have pulled it off."
Former Torquay Boys' Grammar schoolboy Martin said: "What's even more
amazing is that Kim was practically a drop-out from school. Today he would
be diagnosed dyslexic, but in those days he was just a kid who hated school
and who couldn't read or write very well. He was supposed to go to Audley
Park - but mostly he didn't bother."
Martin said that Kim opted out of the music business about five years ago
after 20 years of living out of a suitcase.
"He had other business interests. Everything he did was a success because
he just loved people. He had two cattle farms in South Devon because he
loved animals. Financially they probably weren't a success but I don't
think that mattered," said Martin
Kim was the youngest of three brothers. His music career began as a drummer
at the family home in Dart Avenue, Shiphay.
After playing in a number of bands he was dragged in to look after The
Police by Miles Copeland - who managed Wishbone Ash.
"I think Miles was a bit reluctant to get involved with The Police at first
but he felt he had to because of Stewart. So it was Kim, not Miles, who
really helped get them started - road managing, doing sound, all that
stuff. It was only when they started to get successful that Miles came on
board."
One of Kim's oldest friends and business associates was Terry Hannaford, a
co-director of Skip-It and Total Hire at Barton. He said: "Although I knew
that Kim was dying, the news has really hit me hard. We were friends far
longer than we were business partners. I knew his late father Ed before I
knew Kim."
Kim leaves two daughters Stevie, 17, and Jaimie, 15, who will be travelling
from live New York with their mother for the funeral later this week. He
also leaves his mother, Eileen and an older brother, Glenn.
Hope everyone is having a great week,
-Anne
