Mike Ratledge
May 6, 1943 – February 5, 2025
WORDS DAVE LING
Mike Ratledge, a co-founder and keyboard player of the Canterbury-scene group Soft Machine, has died after a short illness. He was 81 years old. The news was confirmed by his former bandmate and current Soft Machine guitarist John Etheridge, who wrote on social media: “Mike was the backbone of Soft Machine in the early years and a man with an absolutely incisive mind – a marvellous composer and keyboardist. A real renaissance man – so talented, cultured, charming – and a wonderful companion.”