BRIGHTON, U.K. – Bryan Leitch, lighting designer for top artists including Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake, Kanye West, Coldplay, Kylie Minogue, James Taylor, and others, died April 23 after a long illness. He was 69 and has been lighting artists on stages on both sides of the Atlantic since the mid-1980s.
Credited as “a legend” by GLP’s Mark Ravenhill, Leitch’s industry honors included an award for lifetime achievement at the 2012 Knight of Illumination (KOI) ceremony in the U.K.
MIRRAD, the visual arts and design collective, where Leitch worked along with James Thompson, Dave Cohen, Tom Campbell, Francis Clegg, Ben Everett and Tom Taylor, praised Bryan as both “an amazing designer” and “one of the kindest and most-loved personalities in live music.”
In April 2017, Leitch and his wife Tracey embarked on a road trip around the U.K. and Ireland in a 1963 Vauxhall Victor on the Cancer Bonus Tour to raise funds and awareness for the Sussex Cancer Fund and Bloodwise, a charity committed to blood cancer research. The 2017 road trip’s itinerary included more than 330 venues in 100+ cities and towns where Leitch had worked during his lighting career.
Leitch had credited cancer research for helping him battle a form of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma for so long. He was first diagnosed with the disease in 2009 and had undergone a bone marrow transplant a year later.
Artists including Biffy Clyro, Elbow and Gabrielle supported the initiative to raise funds and awareness, dubbed The Cancer Bonus Tour. Along with the chance to support cancer research, the journey also gave Leitch the chance to meet up again with many of the crew members and artists he had worked with during his career.
