Bill Drummond, the former KLF frontman who burnt £1m as an artistic statement, will be the lead speaker at Barnett Waddingham’s forthcoming DC pensions conference.
Drummond, who founded art pop acid house chart-toppers The KLF with long-time collaborator Jimmy Cauty, will deliver a session entitled ‘Best Before Death’..
The pair also founded The K Foundation, under which incarnation they burnt £1m of their own money, equivalent to the 2016/17 pensions lifetime allowance, on a Scottish island in 1994.
The money, which came from the proceeds of their successful KLF chart hits, including ‘Justified & Ancient’, featuring Tammy Wynette, which reached Number 2 in the UK charts in 1992 and ‘What time is love’.
Speaking to the BBC about the burning in 2004, Drummond said: “It’s a hard one to explain to your kids and it doesn’t get any easier. I wish I could explain why I did it so people would understand.”
The event takes place at The Barbican on 6th October 2016, and features presentations from Schroders and Vanguard as well as Barnett Waddingham representatives. The event aims to ‘provide a unique opportunity for delegates to explore complex issues through the structure, flow and creativity of music’.
Barnett Waddingham partner and head of workplace health and wealth Damian Stancombe says: “He’s the man who burnt the Lifetime Allowance – who else could we get.”
Bill Drummond’s Session synopsis – Best Before Death
There was something missing in my life.
It needed more meaning
It needed a three word strap line
Nike had Just Do It
Tesco had Every Little Helps
Coke had Taste The Feeling
What had I got other than Accept the Contradictions
And that felt way out of date
As out of date as Its The Real Thing
Then one morning earlier this year I opened the fridge
And pulled out the semi-skimmed
It had been there for a few days
So I thought I should check the best before date
And what I read was Best Before Death
I knew my eyes were deceiving me
But my imagination wasn’t
In an instant my life had the meaning it needed
And I had the three word strap line that I was looking for….