In Memoriam – October 2026
It’s quite normal to announce, following the death of a musician, that there’s only one surviving member of a group (we have one such case in this month’s write-ups). But usually these are outfits from the 1970s or earlier. It does come as a bit of a shock to learn of a decimated band that had hits in the 1990s (or “the other day”, as I think of that decade).
But so it has been with the R&B quartet The Rude Boys, who may be best known for their 1991 hits Written All Over Your Face and Are You Lonely For Me. In October, Melvin Sephus joined fellow bandmates Larry Marcus and Buddy Banks (who died in 2016 and 2020, respectively) at the big house party in the sky. Lead singer Joe Little III is now the sole survivor.
On October 28, we lost two movie legends who also committed their voices to record. German actress Elke Sommer released a string of records in different languages in the 1960s, while Patrick Stewart featured on several spoken-word records. Those don’t qualify him for inclusion, but in 2016 he issued a parody charity mini-album titled Patrick Stewart’s Cowboy Classics to raise funds for the international humanitarian organisation International Rescue Committee. Thus, Stewart qualifies.
And we lost one of The Beatles’ early patrons, Horst Fascher. The then 23-year-old German befriended John, Paul, George, Stu and Pete when they first arrived in Hamburg in August 1960. He often appeared with them for a song on stage and, as a trained boxer, kept the Liverpool boys safe from undesirable encounters. Fascher went on to found the Star Club, where The Beatles played their last Reeperbahn residency. He died on October 31 at the age of 90.
The Soul Master
Along with Luther Vandross and Peabo Bryson, Freddie Jackson formed a trinity of 1980s soul romancers whose music called for candlelight and scented massage oils.
Harlem-born Jackson grew up singing gospel and developed his soul-crooning skills in New York’s music scene. In the early 1980s, he sang lead with the funk band Mystic Merlin before trying his luck as a solo and backing singer. Soul singer Melba Moore recognised his potential after seeing him perform in a nightclub. They went on to record a couple of duets, including the gorgeous A Little Bit More.
Jackson scored big with his 1985 debut album, Rock Me Tonight. The epic title track topped Billboard’s R&B chart for six weeks and reached #18 on the US pop chart. Follow-up You Are My Lady was another R&B #1 and his biggest pop crossover hit, reaching #12 on the Billboard Hot 100.
The great debut was followed by the even better Just Like The First Time (which made my Albums of 1986), another platinum seller. It produced three more R&B chart-toppers: Tasty Love, the majestic Have You Ever Loved Somebody, and Jam Tonight. His duet with Moore, A Little Bit More, also topped the R&B chart.
Jackson followed this in 1988 with Don’t Let Love Slip Away, which featured the excellent Nice ’N’ Slow, and 1990’s Do Me Again, whose title track topped the R&B chart.
In 1989, he duetted with Natalie Cole on the gorgeous I Do, on her album Good To Be Back. He also recorded a duet with Irene Cara, Love Survives, for the soundtrack to the animated film All Dogs Go To Heaven.
The same year, Jackson appeared as a lounge singer in an episode of The Golden Girls, singing the Disney song It’s A Small World to Sophia.
Although his later albums did not enjoy the commercial success of those of the 1980s, Jackson continued recording and releasing music into the 2010s.
In 2024, he revealed that he had been diagnosed with kidney disease. He worked with the National Kidney Foundation to raise awareness of the condition. Jackson died on October 5, three days after his 70th birthday.
The Harmonist
A founding member of the hugely influential soul vocal group The Dells, second tenor Verne Allison was never the lead and yet one of its essential voices for six decades.
Born in Chicago in 1936, Allison formed The Dells (initially The El-Rays) with schoolmates Marvin Junior, Johnny Funches, Chuck Barksdale and brothers Michael and Lucius McGill. They scored their first big success with the doo-wop classic Oh What A Night, which reached #3 on the US pop chart in 1956.
A serious car accident in 1958 interrupted the group’s progress, but The Dells regrouped in 1960. By the late 1960s, they had developed a sophisticated soul sound which helped set the template for many vocal soul groups in the 1970s. Their hits included Stay In My Corner, There Is, and Give Your Baby A Standing Ovation.
Allison also contributed as a songwriter, writing songs such as Dry Your Eyes and Movin’ On.
The Dells were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2004 and continued performing into the following decade. After Allison’s death, Michael McGill is the last surviving member of the group’s classic line-up.
The Singing Christmas
In 1969 the delightfully-named folk singer-songwriter Keith Christmas (it was his real name) played at the Beckenham Arts Lab, where David Bowie was involved in organising events. Bowie liked Keith’s guitar playing and invited him to contribute acoustic guitar to his Space Oddity album.
Christmas, who died three days shy of his 80th birthday, appeared at the first Glastonbury Festival in 1970. His albums Fable Of The Wings (1970) and Pigmy (1971) built his reputation, with a mixture of delicate acoustic songs and adventurous arrangements. In 1972 he was voted one of six favourite international artists by writers of the British Sounds magazine — despite having no recording contract at the time.
On later albums, produced by Greg Lake and then Peter Sinfield, Christmas took a harder musical direction. He toured as a support act for an impressive range of performers, including The Who, King Crimson, Ten Years After, Frank Zappa, The Kinks, Captain Beefheart and Roxy Music.
Frustrated by the music business, Christmas retired from performing in 1981 and ran a business renovating Victorian houses. He eventually returned to music, recording a series of albums. His final studio album, titled Life, Life, appeared in 2019.
The Beatles Engineer
English recording engineer Phil McDonald was just 18 when he joined EMI Recording Studios at Abbey Road, London, in 1964. Within a year, he had helped record Beatles classics like Yesterday and Help. Many more Beatles tracks would follow, as well as work for all four members as solo artists.
After working on classics like Rubber Soul, Revolver, Sgt Pepper’s and the “White Album”, he won an engineering Grammy, with Geoff Emerick, for 1969’s Abbey Road. McDonald was among the few people credited on the album’s back cover (“An E.M.I. recording. Thanks to George Martin, Geoff Emerick and Phillip McDonald”).
Following the Beatles’ break-up, McDonald continued working with each of the four on their solo recordings, including George Harrison’s All Things Must Pass (1970), Dark Horse (1974), Thirty Three & 1/3 (1976), George Harrison (1979), Somewhere In England (1981), and Gone Troppo (1982), John Lennon’s Plastic Ono Band (1970) and Imagine (1971), Paul McCartney’s eponymous 1970 album and the Wings’ Wings Over America (1976) and Back To The Egg (1979), and Ringo Starr’s Sentimental Journey (1970) and Stop And Smell The Roses (1981).
His credits also included Deep Purple’s Deep Purple In Rock (1970), Syd Barrett’s The Madcap Laughs (1970), Yoko Ono’s Fly (1981), Harry Nilsson’s Son Of Schmilson (1972) and A Little Touch Of Schmilsson In The Night (1973), Linda Lewis’ Lark, Fathoms Deep (both 1973) and Not A Little Girl Anymore (1975), The Rolling Stones’ Black And Blue (1976), the Traveling Wilburys’ Volume One (1988), and Roy Orbison’s Mystery Girl (1989). He also produced records by Squeeze, including 1982’s Sweets From A Stranger.
The Teenage Pop Star
When the English pop group The Love Affair scored a UK #1 hit with a cover of Robert Knight’s Everlasting Love in 1968, lead singer Steve Ellis was just 17.
Ellis began singing in bands at the age of 15. His first group was the Clifton Bystanders, before he joined the Soul Survivors, with whom he played in London clubs such as the Marquee and the Flamingo. In 1966, the band evolved into The Love Affair.
The breakthrough came in February 1968, when Everlasting Love knocked The Beatles’ Hello Goodbye from the top of the charts. The group followed it with three more major hits: Rainbow Valley, A Day Without Love, One Road, and Bringing On Back The Good Times.
Deciding that the band wouldn’t make it big in the US, Ellis left The Love Affair in 1969 to pursue a solo career. It didn’t go to plan. He subsequently fronted the bands Ellis and Widowmaker, but neither matched his earlier success. He also appeared on recordings with other musicians.
In 1981, an accident involving a forklift truck severely injured Ellis’ feet. He spent years in and out of hospital, having to learn to walk again. He eventually returned to performing in the early 1990s, touring with his own version of his old group, billed as Steve Ellis’ Love Affair.
His later work included a charity recording, Step Inside My Love, with Paul Weller, and the album Boom! Bang! Twang! (2018), on which they collaborated again.
The Soul Child
One of the victims of the collapse of the Stax label in 1975 was the group The Soul Children, whose Anita Louis has died at the age of 76.
The Memphis-born singer first joined Stax as a backing vocalist, singing on recordings produced by Isaac Hayes and David Porter. The latter recruited her in 1968 for a new quartet that also included Norman West, J. Blackfoot and Shelbra Bennett.
The Soul Children had a series of hits on the R&B Charts, including Give ’Em Love, The Sweeter He Is, Hearsay, and the superb I’ll Be the Other Woman, which also cracked the pop Top 40 in 1973. The group also performed at Wattstax, the landmark 1972 concert celebrating black music and culture.
After Stax folded and Shelbra Bennett left to pursue a solo career, Louis continued with West and Colbert. The group disbanded in 1979, and Louis left the music business.
Norman West is now the sole surviving member of The Soul Children.
The Film Composer
If your taste in movies extend beyond fast & furious, superheroes and cartoons, you probably will have heard the compositions and arrangements of English composer George Fenton, who has died at 76.
After having had a hit in Sweden with his 1969 cover of The Beatles’ Maxwell’s Silver Hammer, Fenton spent much of the 1970s working in theatre. His breakthrough came in 1982 with Gandhi, Richard Attenborough’s biographical film, for which he co-composed the score with Ravi Shankar. It earned him his first Academy Award nomination and began a long association with Attenborough. Their subsequent collaborations included Cry Freedom (1987, earning Fenton another Oscar nomination), Chaplin (1992), and Shadowlands (1993).
Fenton received further Oscar nominations for Dangerous Liaisons (1988) and The Fisher King (1991). His other well-known film scores included Groundhog Day (1993), You’ve Got Mail (1998), The Madness of King George (1994), Sweet Home Alabama (2002) and Hitch (2005). He also worked extensively with director Ken Loach, scoring films including The Wind That Shakes The Barley (2006), I, Daniel Blake (2016) and Sorry We Missed You (2019).
Some of Fenton’s most recognisable work came through David Attenborough nature documentaries such as The Trials of Life in 1990, Life in the Freezer (1993), The Blue Planet (2001), Planet Earth (2006) and Frozen Planet (2011). His work on The Blue Planet and Planet Earth earned him Emmy Awards.
Fenton’s other television credits include the period drama The Jewel In The Crown (1984), Alan Bennett’s Talking Heads and the wildly popular 1980s UK detective series Bergerac. He also composed the theme music for BBC programmes including Newsnight and the BBC’s Nine O’Clock News.
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.
Sass Jordan, 65, Canadian rock singer-songwriter, Canadian Idol judge, on Oct. 2
Sass Jordan – You Don’t Have To Remind Me (1992, also as co-writer)
Ricardo Soulé, 76, singer, musician, songwriter with Argentinian prog band Vox Dei, on Oct. 2
Joël Manglou, 68, French musician, on Oct. 3
Antoine Ciosi, 94, French-Corsican singer-songwriter, on Oct. 4
Antoine Ciosi – Le prisonnier (1994)
Prince Waly, 34, French rapper, on Oct. 4
Charles Ellerbe, 76, jazz fusion guitarist, on Oct. 4-5
Lena Martell, 86, Scottish singer, announced Oct. 5
Lena Martell – One Day At A Time (1979)
Larry Boutilier, 89, singer-guitarist of Canadian bluegrass group Boutilier Brothers, on Oct. 5
Freddie Jackson, 70, soul singer, on Oct. 5
Freddie Jackson – Rock Me Tonight (1985)
Freddie Jackson – Have You Ever Loved Somebody (1986)
Natalie Cole & Freddie Jackson – I Do (1989)
Andrey Gradovich, 60, guitarist of Russian rock band Kolibri, on Oct. 5
George Fenton, 76, English film and TV composer, on Oct. 5
George Fenton – Bergerac (1985m, also as composer)
George Fenton & Jonas Gwanga – The Funeral (Nkosi Sikel’ iAfrika) (1987, as producer)
George Fenton – The Blue Planet (2001, also as composer)
Víctor Hugo Ayala, 92, Colombian bolero singer, on Oct. 6
Piero, 81, Italian-born Argentine singer-songwriter, on Oct. 7
Piero – Mi Viejo (1969)
Verne Allison, 90, singer with soul group The Dells, on Oct. 7
The Dells – Oh What A Night (1956)
The Dells – Stay in My Corner (1968)
The Dells – I’m In Love (I Can’t Explain What I Feel) (1977)
Nina Michelle, 58, Canadian Germany-based jazz singer, on Oct. 7
Keith Christmas, 79, English singer-songwriter and guitarist, on Oct. 8
David Bowie – God Knows I’m Good (1969, on 12-string acoustic guitar)
Keith Christmas – Timeless And Strange (1971, also as writer)
Keith Christmas – The Dancer (1976, also as writer)
Chris Welsh, 71, drummer of Australian alt.rock band Died Pretty, on Oct. 8
Rickey Lee, 81, bluegrass guitarist, announced Oct. 9
Ralph Stanley & The Clinch Mountain Boys – What About You (1973, as member)
Paul ‘Sandy’ Davis, 78, singer and guitarist with UK prog band Gracious, announced Oct. 8
Gracious – Blue Skies And Alibis (1971, as co-writer and on lead vocals)
Stephen Jones, 75, leader of Australian electronic band Severed Heads, on Oct. 8
Severed Heads – Dead Eyes Opened (1984)
Goran Bare, 62, singer of Croatian rock band Majke, on Oct. 9
Rory Bourke, 84, country songwriter, on Oct. 10
Elvis Presley – Patch It Up (1970, as co-writer)
Charlie Rich – The Most Beautiful Girl (1974, as co-writer)
Edgar Patrik, Austrian hard rock drummer (Bonfire, Sinner, Samson), on Oct. 10
Wilma De Angelis, 96, Italian singer and TV personality, on Oct. 11
Brian Jones, 85, saxophonist of English beat group The Undertakers, on Oct. 12
The Undertakers – Just A Little Bit (1964)
Pavel Půta, 78, Czech guitarist, singer and songwriter, on Oct. 12
Lucian Piane, 46, producer and composer, in traffic accident on Oct. 12
Nikki Blonsky – Good Morning Baltimore (2007, as co-producer of Hairspray OST)
George B. Miller, drummer of German rock band Cravinkel, on Oct. 12
David Surkamp, 73, singer-songwriter with prog rock band Pavlov’s Dog, on Oct. 13
Pavlov’s Dog – Standing Here With You (Megan’s Song) (1976, also as writer)
Netinho, 60, Brazilian carnival singer, on Oct. 13
Ray Mills, 89, guitarist of garage rock band The Uniques, on Oct. 14
The Uniques – Not Too Long Ago (1965)
Jonas ‘Heavy’ Stentäpp, 50, Swedish punk musician (Mimikry, Dökött), on Oct. 14
Eddie Friel, 64, Northern Irish singer and pianist, on Oct. 14
Van Morrison – Hymns To The Silence (1991, on piano)
Barbara Jay, 94, British jazz singer, on Oct. 15
Gus Ormo, Venezuelan singer, pianist and composer, on Oct. 16
Sam Noto, 96, jazz trumpeter, on Oct. 16
Stan Kenton – Painted Rhythm (1956, on trumpet)
Clif ‘Hanger’ Croce, singer of hardcore punk band The Freeze, on Oct. 17
Gary Heffern, 72, singer and songwriter of punk band The Penetrators, on Oct. 17
Benito di Paula, 84, Brazilian singer-songwriter, on Oct. 18
Benito di Paula – Charlie Brown (1974)
Lua Blanco, 39, Brazilian actress and singer (Rebeldes), on Oct. 18
Suzanne Slaughter, 46, Australian black metal singer, on Oct. 18
Rick Belanger, 82, drummer-singer of Canadian rock group Five Man Electrical Band, on Oct. 19
Five Man Electrical Band – Signs (1971)
Mr. Whitekeys, 79, Alaskan club singer, on Oct. 19
Anita Louis, 76, singer with soul group The Soul Children, on Oct. 20
The Soul Children – The Sweeter He Is (1971)
The Soul Children – I’ll Be The Other Woman (1974)
David Budge, c.82, singer of psych-rock band Druids Of Stonehenge, on Oct. 20
Druids Of Stonehenge – Six Feet Down (1968)
Saúl Blanch, 75, singer of Argentine metal band Rata Blanca, announced Oct. 21
John Anderson, 71, country singer and songwriter, on Oct. 21
John Anderson – Your Lying Blue Eyes (1980)
John Anderson – Seminole Wind (1992, also as writer)
Rosie Hardman, 81, English folk singer, on Oct. 23
Dónal Lunny, 79, Irish folk musician, on Oct. 23
Planxty – The West Coast Of Claire (1973, as member)
Nigel Durham, 61, ex-drummer of metal band Saxon (1987-88), ann. Oct. 24
Derrick Harriott, 87, Jamaican ska/reggae singer, songwriter, producer, on Oct. 24
Derrick Harriott – The Loser (1967, also as writer)
Derrick Harriott – Skin To Skin (1985, also as writer)
Roxana Amed, 63, Argentine jazz singer, on Oct. 25
Peggy King, 96, jazz singer and actress, on Oct. 25
Peggy King – Make Yourself Comfortable (1954)
Phil McDonald, 80, engineer and producer, on Oct. 25
The Beatles – Oh! Darling (1969, as co-engineer)
Deep Purple – Bloodsucker (1970, as engineer)
Linda Lewis – Not A Little Girl Anymore (1975, as engineer)
Squeeze – Black Coffee In Bed (1982, as producer)
Misha Mavashi, 41, Russian rapper and political activist, on Oct. 25
Donnie Iris, 83, rock singer, guitarist and songwriter, on Oct. 26
The Jaggerz – The Rapper (1970, as member and writer)
Donnie Iris – Ah! Leah! (1980, also as co-writer)
Valery Lysenko, 65, drummer-singer of Russian rock & roll band Mister Twister, on Oct. 27
Eddie Gray, 78, guitarist of Tommy James & The Shondells, on Oct. 27
Tommy James & The Shondells – I Think We’re Alone Now (1967)
Tommy James & The Shondells – Crystal Blue Persuasion (1969, also as co-writer)
Bobby Wright, 84, country singer, son of Kitty Wells, TV actor, on Oct. 27
Bobby Wright – Here I Go Again (1971)
Pino Presti, 83, Italian arranger, producer, composer, multi-instrumentalist, on Oct. 28
Mina – Grande, grande, grande (1972, as arranger and conductor)
Elke Sommer, 85, German actress and singer, on Oct. 28
Elke Sommer – Heartache, Heartache, Go Away (1965)
Patrick Stewart, 86, English actor and occasional singer, on Oct. 28
Patrick Stewart – Ringo (2016)
Sandra Kerr, 84, English folk singer, songwriter and musician (Bagpuss), on Oct. 29
Melvin Sephus, singer with R&B band The Rude Boys, announced Oct. 29
The Rude Boys – Written All Over Your Face (1990)
Cevin Fisher, 63, pioneering house DJ and producer, on Oct. 29
Cevin Fisher feat. Loleatta Holloway – (You Got Me) Burnin’ Up (1998)
Jimmy Madison, 72, jazz drummer, on Oct. 29
James Brown – Talking Loud And Saying Nothing (Part 1) (1972, on drums)
Phyllis Nelson – Move Closer (1985, on drums)
Bill Clifton, 95, bluegrass musician and singer, on Oct. 30
Steve Ellis, 76, singer of English pop group Love Affair, on Oct. 30
Love Affair – Rainbow Valley (1968)
Love Affair – Bringing On Back The Good Times (1969)
Juan Atkins, 64, techno musician, DJ and producer, on Oct. 31
PW = amdwhah
https://trauer.nordsee-zeitung.de/traueranzeige/41062/george-b-miller-haupt
George B. MIller died on October 12th