If you grew up gaming in the '80s and early '90s, you've no doubt heard of Tim Follin and Jeff Follin.
Playing incredibly catchy and engaging tunes on relatively modest audio hardware, the brothers produced some of the best video game soundtracks of the era. A New Zealand Story (Famicom), Terminator 2 (Famicom), Spot: Video games (Game Boy), Solstice II (NES), Spider-Man and the X-Men in Arcade's Revenge (SNES), Plok (SNES), and Ken Griffey Jr. Presents Major League Baseball (SNES).
According to a message posted on Facebook by Jeff's brother Tim, it was revealed that Jeff had succumbed to pancreatic cancer earlier this week, having only been diagnosed on May 7.
“The speed at which this has happened is absolutely brutal,” Tim says. “He leaves behind a wonderful wife and three amazing children, the eldest is 19 and the youngest is 16. You can only imagine how devastating this is for all of them, and all of us. He is four years older than me and I have adored and emulated him since I was a teenager. He was the most caring, compassionate and loving older brother you could ever want. I loved him more than anyone. It feels like a big piece has suddenly and violently been ripped away from me. I have been in tears for weeks. I can honestly say that at the moment I am trying to figure out how to survive without him, but I know he would want me to be there for his family. Making sure I can help them in any way I can is my number one priority right now.”
The Follins' love of music began in a household where their mother and grandmother played the piano and encouraged Jeff and Tim to learn various instruments. While Tim was intent on pursuing a musical career, Jeff studied Environmental Biology at the University of Nottingham. According to vgmpf.com, Jeff was working as a potato harvester when his brother asked him if he'd like to work for Manchester-based studio Software Creations, and a legendary partnership was born.
Sadly, Jeff left the video game industry in 1995 after the production of Batman Forever.
Tim added that his brother was in perfect health: “He didn't smoke, he rarely drank alcohol, he exercised regularly, he ate healthy – he did everything he should have and yet this happened. Pancreatic cancer is one of the deadliest cancers – it has almost no symptoms yet it progresses the fastest. If you are able, please consider donating to pancreatic cancer research – this disease desperately needs a cure.”
Our hearts go out to Jeff's family and friends during this extremely difficult time.
