Paul McKay Skelton

It is now Oct. 2021. Tonight I was doing some random research on the early days of ESP guitars in NY, when I ran across an older interview with Vernon Reid. Vernon had just put Living Color together back in the early 80´s and was cutting demos in the same studio I was cutting some tracks in, so I would run into him and his band, even jammed in the studio with them once back then. In this guitar magazine interview with Vernon, that I literally just stumbled into tonight, he was praising Paul...

I am so sorry that I lost touch with Paul. My friendship with him was brief but memorable. Around 1987 or 1988 I met him when he was playing guitar for Blue Horses, Richard Younger's band. It could be that I met Paul before Richard, but my memory is that Richard somehow contacted me, perhaps because I was helping with bookings at Tramps nightclub on East 15th Street in Manhattan.

I was nineteen and was suffering at the time from what I now know was undiagnosed PTSD. At the time, I only...

I lost touch with Paul after the move to Austin, but I will always remember him for his kindness to me during his time at ESP. He and Ritchie Fliegler helped me enormously in the mid-80s and I still talk of their generosity whenever I play my ESP guitars.
R.I.P. a great guitar player and friend.
My condolences to Annie and Jess.
Brian Willoughby.

Used to work with Paul at ESP Guitars in NYC, i was a young guitarist packing and shipping guitars and he was always giving me the best advice. He put together quite a few amazing guitars for me, and was a perfect New Yorker.

rest in peace'we'll miss you...chb will never quite be the same..friends in richmond,va.

There was one gig Idid with Paul & Rick. We started in San Francisco on Friday, drove to San Diego after the gig and played a gig on Saturday, packed and drove to Sacramento on Sunday, packed up and went back to San Jose Sunday night. ALL IN A TINY FORD PINTO!!!!!!!! I snapped this photo of Paul just as we were pulling into San Jose after our 3 day gig with no sleep!!!!!