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Any Major Kris Kristofferson Songbook

September 30th, 2024 3 comments

In a genre teeming with great lyricists, Kris Kristofferson may well be country music’s eternal poet laureate. A friend once remarked: “There is no human emotion for which there is no Kristofferson song,” and he’s probably right. With his death at the age of 88, Nashville should build a monument to the man!

Much is made of KK’s career in the military (he was an army brat) and how he abandoned that to become a janitor at Nashville’s Columbia studios. But before he joined the army, he had been a Rhodes scholar in English at Oxford. It’s safe to say that Kristofferson knew his way around poetry.

Clearly, he knew his way around creating a good melody as well. So he created superb songs for other people, but had no confidence in his own voice to sing them. It was Johnny Cash and producer Fred Foster who virtually forced Kristofferson to give himself a chance as a recording artist. It turned out that KK was, in fact, a great singer. He was not a “good” singer in the vein of a George Jones, but his growly baritone was filled with character, emotion and warmth. The famous critic Robert Christgau differed, finding that KK was “the worst singer” he had ever heard. “He has no relation to key… no phrasing, no dynamics, no energy, no authority, no dramatic ability, and no control of the top two-thirds of his six-note range.”

With critics like Christgau sniping — not entirely without cause and yet completely missing the point — KK’s first album, eponymously-titled and released in 1970, was not an immediate success. Christgau was a fool on many things, and he was rarely more foolish than he was on KK. It was one of the great debut albums by anybody.

Re-released a year later as Me And Bobby McGee, it did better business. As it should; just look at some of the songs on that album: Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down, For The Good Times, Me And Bobby McGee, Darby’s Castle, Help Me Make It Through The Night, To Beat The Devil, Best of All Possible Worlds, Just The Other Side of Nowhere, Blame It On The Stones, Casey’s Last Ride…

I may be sabotaging the present collection of songs when I say that every version of a Kristofferson song is best when it is sung by him, with the possible exception of Mr And Bobby McGee — though even there, I prefer the sad yearning in Kristofferson’s voice to Janis Joplin’s histrionics.

That is not to say that Kristofferson songs have no value in their covers or, indeed, their original versions recorded by others. Because KK’s versions are not elaborately arranged, and melodically quite uncomplicated, they lend themselves to fruitful interpretation across genres. This mix is evidence of that. It starts off with a soul singer doing KK – a third of tracks here are soul covers – and closes with a trio of rat packers.

Rest in peace, KK!

As ever, this mix is timed to fit on a standard CD-R and includes home-devilbeating covers, and the above in an illustrated PDF, which also includes the links to previous Songbooks.

1. Thelma Houston – Me And Bobby McGee (1972)
2. Hank Ballard – Sunday Morning, Coming Down (1970)
3. Millie Jackson – Loving Arms (2014)
4. The Little Willies & Norah Jones – Best Of All Possible Worlds (2006)
5. Mark Chesnutt – Lovin’ Her Was Easier (Than Anything I’ll Ever Do Again) (2010)
6. David Wood – From The Bottle To The Bottom (2009)
7. Bobby Bare – Darby’s Castle (1972)
8. Justin Tubb – Jody And The Kid (1972)
9. Ray Price – When I Loved Her (1971)
10. Percy Sledge – Help Me Make It Through The Night (1970)
11. Al Green – For The Good Times (1972)
12. Sam Baker – Sugarman (1968)
13. Booker T. – Why Me (1974)
14. Rita Coolidge – The Burden Of Freedom (1974)
15. Waylon Jennings – To Beat The Devil (1972)
16. Johnny Cash – Casey’s Last Ride (1985)
17. Willie Nelson – The Pilgrim: Chapter 33 (1979)
18. George Jones – Come Sundown (1984)
19. Frank Sinatra – Nobody Wins (1973)
20. Dean Martin – Just The Other Side Of Nowhere (1972)
21. Sammy Davis Jr. – Please Don’t Tell Me How The Story Ends (1982)

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Previous Songbooks:
ABBA
Ashford & Simpson
Barry Gibb Vol. 1
Barry Gibb Vol. 2
Bill Withers
Billy Joel
Bob Dylan Volumes 1-5
Brian Wilson
Bruce Springsteen
Burt Bacharach & Hal David Vol. 1
Burt Bacharach & Hal David Vol. 2
Burt Bacharach’s Lesser-Known Songbook
Carole Bayer Sager
Carole King Vol. 1
Carole King Vol. 2
Chuck Berry
Cole Porter Vol. 1
Cole Porter Vol. 2
Elton John & Bernie Taupin
George Harrison
Gordon Lightfoot
Hank Williams
Holland-Dozier-Holland
John Prine
Jimmy Webb Vol. 1
Jimmy Webb Vol. 2
Jimmy Webb Vol. 3
Lamont Dozier
Laura Nyro
Leonard Cohen
Neil Diamond
Paul McCartney Vol. 1
Paul McCartney Vol. 2
Prince
Rod Temperton
Rolling Stones Vol. 1
Rolling Stones Vol. 2
Sly Stone
Steely Dan

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Bruce Springsteen Sings Covers

September 23rd, 2024 14 comments

 

 

Today, September 23, Bruce Springsteen turns 75. Even by today’s standards, when the age of 75 doesn’t indicate inevitable decrepitude, Springsteen clearly is in extraordinary shape. He’s still touring at full power, with three-hour concerts. Those years of working out — that man had guns! —  are clearly paying off now.

No doubt Bruce, like any ageing person, has his health issue. But it seems he is The Boss of enlarged prostates, or whatever physical deterioration may afflict him! Even the peptic ulcer thing he had earlier this year quickly fucked off when it saw that The Boss has things to do.

When I reviewed Springsteen’s autobiography Born To Run in 2017, to go with the Bruce Springsteen Songbook,  I noted: “Here is a man who knows his strengths and his limitations, and how to balance them. He knows his value and has no need for false modesty, even when he explains why he took the decision to be the boss of his backing band, the E Street Band.” That self-awareness has assured that Springsteen’s career has been reasonably free of embarrassing moments and misjudgments.

With a huge treasury of his own songs, Bruce has little need to resort to the work of others. When he does, it is either for charity or tributes, or they are performed for the sheer fun of it at concerts. So this mix of Springsteen singing covers comprises mostly live recordings. Springsteen is eclectic in his choices, covering all sorts of things, from soul classics and protest folk to hard rock and even punk anthems.

Two covers here are of his own songs, so they’re strictly speaking not really covers. Because The Night was inexplicably rejected for inclusion on the Darkness On The Edge Of Town album, and was instead released by Patti Smith, who had a massive hit with it in 1978. Fire was written and first recorded by Bruce’s pal Robert Gordon in 1977, but became a hit the following year for The Pointer Sisters.

There are a couple of highlights on this mix. The version of Purple Rain was recorded at a concert in Brooklyn two days after Prince’s death in April 2016. It opened the concert and it’s magnificent, with a superb guitar solo by Nils Lofgren.

I really like the version of Highway To Hell recorded in 2014 in — of course —, Australia. Again, there’s some fine guitar work. I’ve loved the cover of Jimmy Cliff’s Trapped ever since I heard it performed in concert in 1985. I was delighted when it appeared later that year on the b-side of Springsteen’s Santa Claus Is Coming To Town single. The version here is from a 1985 concert in LA.

The version of Chuck Berry’s You Never Can Tell, recorded in Leipzig, Germany, in 2013, is improvised, as the lead-in shows. It is thoroughly enjoyable, and clearly the band is having royal fun.

The playlist ends with Twist And Shout, a snappy number in the hands of The Isley Brothers or The Beatles, but in Bruce’s rendering it’s a sweat-drenched eight-minute-plus workout that was a staple of E Street Band gigs for a long while.

As always, the playlist is timed to fit on a standard CD-R, and includes home-bossed covers and the above text in a handy PDF. PW in comments.

1. Because The Night (1985, Patti Smith Band)
2. Trapped (1985, Jimmy Cliff)
3. Chimes Of Freedom (1988, Bob Dylan)
4. Who’ll Stop The Rain? (1980, Creedence Clearwater Revival)
5. Fire (1978, Pointer Sisters)
6. Jersey Girl (1981, Tom Waits)
7. Bring ‘Em Home (2016, Pete Seeger)
8. Give My Love To Rose (2002, Johnny Cash)
9. This Land Is Your Land (1980, Woody Guthrie)
10. Rhinestone Cowboy (2019, Glen Campbell)
11. I Wish It Would Rain (2022, The Temptations)
12. Gypsy Woman (1994, The Impressions)
13. Purple Rain (2016, Prince)
14. Highway To Hell (2014, AC/DC)
15. London Calling (2009, The Clash)
16. Good Lovin’ (2009, The Rascals)
17. Summertime Blues (1978, Edie Cochran)
18. Turn Back The Hands Of Time (2022, Tyrone Davis)
19. War (1988, Edwin Starr)
Bonus Tracks
20. Nightshift (2023, The Commodores)
21. Stayin’ Alive (2014, The Bee Gees)
22. You Never Can Tell (2013, Chuck Berry)
23. Twist And Shout (1978, Isley Brothers/The Beatles)

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Previously in Sings Covers:
Al Green Sings Covers
Aretha Franklin Sings Covers
Diana Ross Sings Covers
Gladys Knight Sings Covers
Tina Turner Sings Covers

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Any Hits Major from 1974 Vol. 2

September 17th, 2024 2 comments

Lately I have been reading a lot about the summer of 1974. This year marked the 50th anniversary of West Germany winning the football World Cup, which the country also hosted. I was eight years old and approached the tournament with as much wide-eyed excitement as I do modern sports with squinting cynicism. Hence my wide reading on the subject.

In my memory, the summer of 1974 was long and filled with nothing but sunshine and all the fun that brings. The reports from the World Cup suggests otherwise. In June and July, the weather was wet and awful. But photos in the family album testify to some hot days, and the music does the rest.

There was a lot of sunshine music in 1974. George McCrae’s Rock Your Baby was the big summer hit in Europe, and as summer faded, The Hues Corporation’s Rock The Boat was ubiquitous. But even the winter hits sounded like they come from summer.

This mix reflects an upbeat mood, though early in the sequence we have a double-whammy of downbeatness provided by Hot Chocolate’s tragic Emma, whose protagonist dies by suicide, and Gigliola Cinquetti’s Go (Before You Break My Heart). The latter was titled Si in the Italian original, which was the runner-up to ABBA’s Waterloo in the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest (read all about that contest in the text for Any Major ABBA Songbook). Cinquetti’s English version reached #8 in the UK.

ABBA feature later in the mix with I Do I Do I Do I Do, a song that exposes the profound influence of schlager music on the Swedes. It was a Top 10 hit throughout Europe, and topped the charts in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, but stalled at #38 in the UK. Surprisingly, the song, hardly ABBA’s finest moment, reached #15 in the US Billboard Top 100, doing better than Mamma Mia, Money Money Money, Chiquitita, Gimme Gimme Gimme or Super Trouper.

This compilation follows Any Major Hits from 1974 Vol. 1, which reflected the US experience of the charts; this lot draws from the US and European charts, though on both playlists there are obviously songs that were hits on both sides of the Atlantic. It is sequenced in a roughly chronological order, according to the UK charts, kicking off with Who Do You Think You Are, a #21 hit in the UK for Candlewick Green but in the US in the cover version by Bo Donaldson & The Heywoods (and much later a hit for Saint Etienne). The mix ends with a track by Italian singer Drupi which wasn’t a hit in the UK but was huge in Germany and other parts of Europe. Drupi had hit the UK Top 20 in 1973 with Vado Via.

Recently I watched a video of The Rubettes performing Sugar Baby Love on German TV. It’s a great pop song, but seeing lead singer Alan Williams lip-synching the falsetto parts as if he had actually sung them in the studio was a bit off. Sugar Baby Love is one of those songs that preceded the formation of the group to which it was credited; the Rubettes were initially really a bunch of session musicians, and Williams was a backing vocalist on the recording. The lead vocals on the record were performed by Paul Da Vinci, but when he declined to be a Rubette, Wiliams became the frontman.

The song was initially offered to Showaddywaddy (also featured here with the thumping Hey Rock & Roll), but they turned it down, despite the backing vocals that go “oop-showaddy showaddywaddy”. At that point the producers told the session musicians that they could have Sugar Baby Love, provided they form a group. The Rubettes went on to top the charts with the song in the UK, West Germany, Netherlands and other countries, and had six further UK Top 20 hits, most of them riffing on the 1950s nostalgia wave, until their chart career fizzled out in 1977.

Around the same time the run of success of the Bay City Rollers came to an end. The biggest teen band of the 1970s became the acme of uncool for the longest time, but a sober reappraisal reveals a string of fine pop records. I made that point many years ago, in 2008.

In Germany, there was a war between the Bay City Rollers and the Sweet. Much as I’m inclined to defend BCR, in a teen-off, Sweet must be the winner. Summerlove Sensation is very good, but The Six Teens is a fantastic song. There were two versions, the album one and the much brighter single version featured here.

Elsewhere, the teen war of 1974 was between BCR fans and those of The Osmonds. In that battle I must have been in the BCR camp, though the toothy Mormons had a few songs that, with the benefit of solemn revision, are stone cold pop classics: Crazy Horses and the featured Love Me For A Reason.

It is interesting to note how well US soul was doing in the UK. Six of the tracks on this mix are soul numbers, including Johnny Bristol with Hang On In There Baby, which climbed up the UK charts to #8 at around the same time The Osmonds were climbing down from the top with Love Me For The Reason — which had been written by Johnny Bristol.

Links for all past mixes in the series are up.  If you dig the feel of 1974, take a look at the collection of posters from West-Germany’s Bravo magazine in 1974 (other years are available, too).

As always, the mix is timed to fit on a standard CD-R and includes home-lipsynched covers. PW in comments.

1. Candlewick Green – Who Do You Think You Are
2. Alvin Stardust – Red Dress
3. Slade – Everyday
4. Hot Chocalate – Emma
5. Gigliola Cinquetti – Go (Before You Break My Heart)
6. The Rubettes – Sugar Baby Love
7. Showaddywaddy – Hey Rock And Roll
8. 10cc – The Wall Street Shuffle
9. The Arrows – Touch Too Much
10. The Sweet – The Six Teens
11. Bay City Rollers – Summerlove Sensation
12. George McCrae – Rock Your Baby
13. The Main Ingredient – Just Don’t Want To Be Lonely
14. The Hues Corporation – Rock The Boat
15. The Osmonds – Love Me For A Reason
16. Sweet Sensation – Sad Sweet Dreamer
17. Johnny Bristol – Hang On In There Baby
18. Abba – I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do
19. David Essex – Gonna Make You A Star
20. Pilot – Magic
21. Barry White – You’re My First, My Last, My Everything
22. Drupi – Piccola e fragile

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Any Major Hits from 1944
Any Major Hits from 1947
Any Major Hits from 1961
Any Major Hits from 1970
Any Major Hits from 1971
Any Major Hits from 1972 Vol. 1
Any Major Hits from 1972 Vol. 2
Any Major Hits from 1973 Vol. 1
Any Major Hits from 1973 Vol. 2
Any Major Hits from 1974 Vol. 1

A Year in Hits
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In Memoriam – August 2024

September 4th, 2024 5 comments

There’s always something tragically romantic about a musician dying on tour. So it was with two acts in August. Rapper Fatman Scoop died after collapsing on stage in Hamden, Connecticut, and Chon Travis, lead singer of punk band Love Equals Death, was found dead in his hotel room in Stafford, England, holding his guitar.

On August 19, the world’s oldest person died. Maria Branyas of Spain was 117 years and 168 days old. She was born in 1907, and was the last survivor from that year. She’d have remembered the First World War; she became an adult during the 1920s. During the Spanish Civil War, she was a nurse in a field hospital in Catalonia (unfortunately on the wrong side).

The current oldest (recorded) person in the world is a Japanese woman who is 116 years old. There are only six people in the world on record as having been born before 1910, all women. The oldest man alive (on record) is a chap called John Tinniswood of Liverpool, who turned 112 on August 26.

The Doo Wop Legend
With the death of Maurice Williams at the age of 86, we have lost a true doo wop legend. With his group The Zodiacs, Williams had his biggest hit with 1960’s Stay, which made a comeback 27 years later on the soundtrack of Dirty Dancing.

Written by Williams seven years earlier, it was recorded at the end of a session, almost as an afterthought, with Williams taking lead and Henry Gaston on falsetto. A US #1 (at 1:36 the shortest ever), Stay served as a blueprint for acts that were to follow, especially The Four Season. It was later a hit for The Hollies, The Four Seasons (inevitably) and Jackson Browne.

The Zodiacs, named after a British Ford model, had been around for a while, first as the Royal Charms, then The Gladiolas and The Excellos. As The Gladiolas, they had a minor hit in 1957 with Little Darlin’, another song Williams had written earlier, at the age of 16. It became a mainstream hit for a white band from Canada, The Diamonds (whose version, it must be said, is better).

Williams remained in music, recording and touring, and also worked as a journalist in his native South Carolina.

The Power Rocker
Some acts simply didn’t travel well outside the US. Greg Kihn, who has died at 75, was one of them.  With his imaginatively named Greg Kihn Band, he had a series of hits that fused rock with pop and, as the 1970s turned into the ’80s, new wave influences. The most famous song of these was 1983’s Jeopardy, the chorus of which resembled that of the Jeopardy! game show theme, leading to some legal disputes.

Kihn, who was his band’s lead vocalist, had an early champion in Bruce Springsteen, who gave him at least two songs, the featured For You (1977) and Rendezvous (1979). The former features a fine guitar solo by the band’s Dave Carpender.

After his band’s era of success, Kihn became a DJ on a classic rock radio station and an author of horror fiction novels.

The Chambers Brother
Psychedelic rock owed a lot to soul band the Chambers Brothers. Their epic 1967 song Time Has Come, clocking in at over 11 minutes, was a pioneering work. It was co-written by guitarist Joe Chambers, who has died at 81.

One might file The Chamber Brothers under soul, but in truth they traversed genres, often within one album. The brothers had their roots in gospel, and their albums always featured a bit of God-praising. But they were also part of the folk scene in the 1960s, playing at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival (the one where Bob Dylan was booed for going electric) and were at home in funk and rock.

The Hit Arranger
English arranger Charles Blackwell, who has died at 84, started his career as a teenager with Joe Meek, the master of weirdness, arranging the 1961 UK #1 Johnny Remember Me by Johnny Leyton. The following year he returned to the top of the UK with a song he wrote and produced, Mike Sarne’s Come Outside (featuring future Eastenders mom Wendy Richards).

Blackwell went on to arrange some of the most mainstream hits of the 1960s, such as Engelbert Humperdinck’s Release Me and Tom Jones’ What’s New Pussycat. He also crossed the channel to work with acts like Michel Polnareff, Brigitte Bardot, Marlene Dietrich, and Françoise Hardy. In France his composition Tchin Tchin was a 1964 hit for Richard Anthony.

Blackwell worked with acts such as including Shirley Bassey, Gene Pitney, Lulu, PJ Proby, Jackie DeShannon, Long John Baldry, Alma Cogan, Lena Horne, Buddy Greco, Rita Pavone, Billy Fury, Adam Faith, Paul Anka, Vera Lynn, Bobby Goldsboro, Jay & The Americans, Samantha Jones, Jay & The Americans, Dionne Warwick, Brook Benton, Del Shannon, Johnny Wakelin and others.

In the 1970s he headlined a disco act; in the 1990s he wrote a number of hits for David Hasselhof. The recording of his orchestration of the Anthem of Europe (Beethoven’s Ode to Joy) with a 70-man orchestra is played at every sitting of the European Parliament.

The Experimental Pioneer
With the death of Catherine Ribeiro, French music has lost on of its pioneering forces. The Paris-born daughter of Portuguese parents began her career in the early 1960s, initially focusing on chanson music. But by the late 1960s and early 1970s, as the frontwoman of the band Ribeiro et Les Rabble and later Catherine Ribeiro + Alpes (her collaboration with composer and musician Alain Gozland), her music became more experimental, drawing from psychedelic rock, jazz, folk-rock, avant garde and traditional French elements. It opened many doors for French rock musicians.

She was also an outspoken political voice, stating her opposition to the Vietnam war and advocating for Palestinians.

The Acting Giant
The obituaries for Alain Delon unsurprisingly concentrated on his acting career which merits the widely misused term iconic. Few words were spent on his recording career, which spanned three albums and a bunch of singles and collaborations. It is fair to say that Delon was not much of a singer (you can hear that on the featured duet with soul singer Phyllis Nelson), so his contribution to the world of music consisted mainly of mumbling gruffly in what may be a cool fashion.As always, this post is reproduced in illustrated PDF format in the package, which also includes my personal playlist of the featured tracks. PW in comments.

Nicu Covaci, 77, guitarist with Romanian rock band Transsylvania Phoenix, on Aug. 2
SymPhoenix – Fata verde (1992)

Shari Martin, 54, Kenyan gospel singer, on Aug. 2

Shaun Martin, 45, jazz fusion musician and gospel producer, on Aug. 3
Snarky Puppy – Gemini (2016, as member)

Maurice Williams, 86, doo wop and soul singer and songwriter, on Aug. 4
The Gladiolas – Little Darlin’ (1957, as lead singer and writer)
Maurice Williams & The Zodiacs – Stay (1960, as lead singer and writer)
Maurice Williams – Whirlpool (1970)

Caçulinha, 86, Brazilian musician, on Aug. 4

Paul Gilmartin, drummer of British goth band Danse Society, announced Aug. 6
Danse Society – Somewhere (1983)

Carl Bevan, 51, drummer of Welsh rock band 60 Ft. Dolls, announced Aug. 9
60FT Dolls – Talk To Me (1996)

Dave Sweetapple, 58, Canadian bassist of indie band Sweet Apple, announced Aug. 9
Sweet Apple – Everybody’s Leaving (2017)

Carl Weathersby, 71, electric blues guitarist, singer and songwriter, on Aug. 9
Carl Weathersby – Somebody Help Me (1996, also as writer)

Dean Roberts, 49, New Zealand electronica musician and composer, on Aug. 10

Chon Travis, lead singer of punk band Love Equals Death, on Aug. 11

Talos, 37, Irish indie singer and musician, on Aug. 11
Talos – To Each His Own (2019)

Belén Fernández, 29, Argentine cumbia singer, on Aug. 11

Greg Kihn, 75, rock musician and songwriter, on Aug. 13
Greg Kihn Band – For You (1977)
Greg Kihn Band – Remember (1978)
Greg Kihn Band – Jeopardy (1983)

Joe Chambers, 81, singer and songwriter with soul band Chambers Brothers, on Aug. 15
The Chambers Brothers – Time Has Come Today (1967, also as co-writer)
The Chambers Brothers – Don’t Lose Your Cool (1969, also as writer)
The Chambers Brothers – Love, Peace And Happiness (1970, also as co-writer)

Tore Ylwizaker, 54, keyboardist of Norwegian electronica band Ulver, on Aug. 16
Ulver – Een Stemme Locker (1994)

Charles Blackwell, 84, English producer, arranger, film composer and songwriter, on Aug. 16
Richard Anthony – Tchin, Tchin (1963, as writer)
Tom Jones – Danny Boy (1967, as arranger)
Blackwell – I Love To See Ya Dancin’ (1978, as writer and arranger)

Luther Kent, 76, blues singer, on Aug. 16

Bobby Hicks, 91, bluegrass fiddler, on Aug. 16
Bobby Hicks – Faded Love (1998)

Johnny ‘Dandy’ Rodríguez, 78, Latin jazz percussionist, on Aug. 17
La Tipica 73 – Acere Bonco (1972, as member on bongos)
Celia y Johnny – Toro Mata (1974, on congas)

Bert Susanka, 62, singer and guitarist of cowpunk band The Ziggens, on Aug. 17
The Ziggens – Big Salty Tears (2020)

Alain Delon, 88, French-Swiss actor and recording artist, on Aug. 18
Shirley Bassey & Alain Delon – Thought I’d Ring You (1983)
Alain Delon & Phyllis Nelson – I Don’t Know (1985)
Françoise Hardy feat. Alain Delon – Modern Style (2006)

Erik Barrett, 48, bassist of metalcore band 100 Demons, announced Aug. 20

Russell Stone, c.77, English singer, songwriter and producer, on Aug. 21
R&J Stone – We Do It (1975, also as writer)

Tim Hinkley, 78, English blues singer-songwriter, keyboardist and producer, on Aug. 21
Hinkley’s Heroes feat. Joe Cocker – Saturday Blues (1999)

Diana, 76, Brazilian singer, on Aug. 21
Diana – Uma Vez Mais (1973)

Justin Chearno, 54, musician with punk band Pitchblende, on Aug. 22

Dewi ‘Pws’ Morris, 76, Welsh singer, actor, TV presenter, on Aug. 22

Umberto Marcato, Italian singer, on Aug. 22

Catherine Ribeiro, 82, French singer, songwriter and actress, on Aug. 23
Catherine Ribeiro – La Nuit Et La Vent (1966)
Catherine Ribeiro + Alpes – Jusqu’à Ce Que La Force De T’aimer Me Manque (1972)
Catherine Ribeiro + Alpes – Tous les droits sont dans la nature (1979)

Daron Beck, 48, member of metal band Pinkish Black, announced Aug. 23

Umberto Marcato, 88, Italian singer, on Aug. 23

Russell Malone, 60, jazz guitarist, on Aug. 23
Russell Malone – Heartstrings (2001)

Jamie Gowers, drummer of British rock group As Everything Unfolds, on Aug. 26

Paul Dwayne, 60, Canadian country singer-songwriter, on Aug. 26

Pete Wade, 89, country guitarist, on Aug. 27
Loretta Lynn – Fist City (1968, on guitar)
George Jones – He Stopped Loving Her Today (1980, on guitar)

Richard Macphail, 73, singer of English rock group Anon, road manager, on Aug. 27

Makaya Ntshoko, 84, South African jazz drummer, on Aug. 27
The Jazz Epistles – Dollar’s Moods (1960, as member)
Hugh Masekela – Inner Crisis (1972, on drums)

Cunnie Williams, 61, soul singer, announced Aug. 30
Cunnie Williams – What Is Black Music (1993)

Fatman Scoop, 56, rapper, on Aug. 30
Fatman Scoop – Be Faithful (2003)

Danielle Moore, 52, singer of English electronic band Crazy P, on Aug. 30
Crazy P – Like A Fool (2015)

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