Darryl Michael Roy Read (19 September 1951 – 23 June 2013) was a British singer, guitarist, drummer, actor, poet and writer.

Read had been playing the drums and the guitar at the age of 14, and with Michael Des Barres he formed the rock pop group the Orange Illusion in 1967.

Read recruited Lou Martin and Stuart MacDonald, members of blues outfit Killing Floor, and guitarist Chris Gibbons to form The Krayon Angels.

[1] They played in London and recorded a demo album but the group split in early 1969, when Jeff Pasternak and Chris Gibbons created a Simon & Garfunkel-type duo.

Read was the only white player amongst Locke, Derrick Johnson and Rosko Gee, who went on to become members of Bob Marley's band and Traffic.

Read came up with a band name - Crushed Butler - and they recorded a demo at Regent Sound Studios in Denmark Street called 'It's My Life'.

Crushed Butler dressed in hand-cut slash neck red T-shirts, straight legged Levis jeans with studded belts.

Within a year Breslau pulled out of the management deal, and took all their equipment back, and though Gerald Horgan remained friends with Read he couldn't do much to help further the group's career.

The group changed their name to 'Tiger' and went through a succession of bass players including ex-Smile bassist Barry Wyles, and were managed by Neil Christian for a while.

[1] Read also worked with Terry Stamp and Jim Avery of pro-Fidel Castro activist proto punk garage band rockers Third World War as a songwriter.

In late 1972, Read joined ex-Silverhead guitarist Steve Forest, playing drums in a glam rock trio called Dizzy.

At the end of the summer of 1972, Read joined singer/lead-guitarist Barry Pyatt at Butlin's in Bognor Regis, in a cabaret combo by the name of "Sugar and Spice".

In 1975, Read began pursuing a front man singer/guitarist career and continued to switch between music and acting and got a song publishing deal with Famous Chapel.

In early 1976 Read recorded songs at Polydor with Steve Forest and Charlie Harty, including a track titled 'On The Streets Tonight'.

[1] There were more television performances including a featured role in Rock Follies, Minder and Read taken on by Tony Meehan to record five of his own penned tracks.

In 1980 Read landed a role in the Royal Shakespeare Company's production of Barrie Keeffe's play Bastard Angel,[1] and in the same year, he recorded his first solo single 'Living on Borrowed Time'/'West End Girl' produced by Ray Hendrikson.

The Hearts of Darkness now consisted of Read (lead vocals/guitar), Paul Thomson (drums), Volker Janssen (keyboards) and Graham Sears (bass).

They recorded a mini album No Soul Through Midnight in 1986 and released a 16mm promo film titled No Place which featured Connover Farndon and ex-Stray Cats manager Tony Bidgood.

He and Read flew to Los Angeles in 1987, picked up various musicians in Hollywood, where they began writing and recording the album Book of the Dead under the name The Hearts of Darkness.

The Hornets and Read eventually made an album at Paramount Recording Studios in 1992 titled Beat Existentialist featuring Ray Manzarek on three tracks.

Crushed Butler "Uncrushed" album was reissued on compact disc with a new bonus track entitled High School Dropout(2nd Version) by RPM/Cherry Red Records in 2005.

Read was inspired by Ray Manzarek to write a poetry book titled Set,[1] illustrated by George Underwood in 1999, hardcover, and in 2000 in a paperback version.

In mid November 2009 Crushed Butler Uncrushed was re-issued for the third time; this version on 12-inch vinyl with a new bonus track entitled Let It Ring, was released worldwide by Radio Heartbeat Records, New York City.