Any Major Dude With Half A Heart

It’s a weird month when there are three separate murders of music people, one of them involving a former member of one of Germany’s biggest pop groups. The most horrible one involved a Mexican musician whose pregnant wife, toddler daughter and housekeeper were slain in the same crime. More on those below. Another murder victim in September was 22-year-old Chicago rapper BloodHound Q50, real name Mikquale T. Cooper, who was shot five times while seated in a car at a petrol station.

Also spare a thought for those associated with Canadian rock band Max Webster, whose big days were in the 190s and early 1980-s. In September drummer Gary McCracken died, seven months after keyboardist Terry Watkinson. The latter’s predecessor, Jim Bruton, also died this year, as did lyricist Pye Dubois, who died two days before McCracken.

The Vandella
Behind every Martha, there’s a great soprano. So it was in The Vandellas, in which Rosalind Ashford provided the high harmonies that made the trio’s sound so exhilarating.

Born in Detroit in 1943, Rosalind was still a teenager when she joined Annette Beard and Gloria Williams in a vocal group that became the Del-Phis. Martha Reeves subsequently joined them, and the quartet began working Detroit clubs, parties and local functions.

The Del-Phis recorded a few singles in 1960-61 with Gloria Williams on lead, but without commercial success. Nor did a name-change to The Vels help.

But their fortunes changed when Reeves was employed as Motown producer William “Mickey” Stevenson secretary. This led to studio work. In 1962, Ashford, Reeves and Beard — Williams had by then quit the group — provided backing vocals on Marvin Gaye’s early hits, including Stubborn Kind Of Fellow, Hitch Hike and Pride And Joy. Their work impressed Motown sufficiently for Berry Gordy to sign the trio, now named Martha & The Vandellas.

The group had an extraordinary run of singles, beginning with Come And Get These Memories in 1963, followed by classics like (Love Is Like A) Heat Wave, Quicksand, Dancing In The Street, Nowhere To Run, I’m Ready For Love, and Jimmy Mack.

Ashford remained with the Vandellas through their most successful period, through changes in personnel that saw Betty Kelley and later Lois Reeves join the group. She left in 1968, married and began working for a telephone company.

She later reunited with Reeves and Beard for performances, and in 1989 the three original Vandellas recorded Step Into My Shoes for Britain’s Motorcity label. They continued to make occasional appearances together.

In 1995, Ashford was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame alongside Reeves and the other Vandellas. The group was only the second all-female group to receive the honour.

Ashford is the first of the classic Martha & The Vandellas line-ups to pass away. Reeves, Beard and her successor Betty Kelly, and Kelly’s successor, Lois Reeves, are still alive. Gloria Williams died in 2000, and Sandra Tilley, who replaced Ashford in 1968, died in 1983.

The Jazz Singer
It is fair to say that Cassandra Wilson, who has died at 70, helped expand the boundaries of contemporary jazz, with her smoky contralto and adventurous choice of material.

Born in Mississippi in 1955, Wilson grew up in a musical household. After earning a university degree in mass communications, she moved to New York in the early 1980s. There she met the saxophonist Steve Coleman and became a founding member and principal vocalist of the experimental M-Base collective, whose music mixed jazz improvisation with complex rhythms and contemporary influences. Her first album as a leader, Point Of View, was released in 1986.

The major turning point came with her move to Blue Note Records. Blue Light ’Til Dawn, released in 1993, drew on blues, folk, country and rock, but always rooted in jazz. Follow-up New Moon Daughter won the Grammy for Best Jazz Vocal Performance. A second Grammy came for Loverly in 2009. She also appeared prominently on Wynton Marsalis’s Blood On The Fields, the first jazz work to win the Pulitzer Prize for Music.

Wilson covered songs by acts as diverse Joni Mitchell, The Stylistics, Van Morrison, Hank Williams, Robert Johnson and The Monkees, all in her own way.

Wilson released 20 albums under her name, aside from countless collaborations. Her last album, Coming Forth By Day, was released in 2015.

The Calypso King
Widely known as the King of Calypso, Mighty Sparrow made party music, but also established calypso as a vehicle for social commentary and popular storytelling.

Born in Grenada in 1935, he moved to Trinidad as a child and became fascinated by calypso as a teenager. He began performing at carnivals in the early 1950s and made his first recordings in 1955. By then he had dropped his pretty cool birth name — Slinger Francisco — to go by the stage name Mighty Sparrow, a nod to his hyperactive stage performance. If he didn’t want that birth name, could I have it, please?

Sparrow broke through in 1956 with Jean and Dinah (also known as Yankees Gone), which gave a social commentary on the situation of local prostitutes stripped of their business by the withdrawal of US troops from Trinidad.

His song Carnival Boycott was a protest against the poor prize money and working conditions for calypsonians, helping to make musicians’ treatment a public issue. Sparrow’s repertoire ranged from politics, race, relationships, migration, poverty, and religion to everyday Caribbean life, supporting Trinidad and Tobago’s independence and taking on politicians and social problems. Many of his songs are humorous, such as 1970s Sparrow Dead, which riffs on reports that he had died.

He also had a line in bawdy and X-rated sexual humour. In 1965 he caused controversy with Congo Man, which was accused of being misogynistic and anti-African — long before such things were a big issue.

For many years, starting in the 1950s, Sparrow ran a public beef with fellow calypso giant Lord Melody. They would attack one another in calypsos, then answer the attack with another song.  Sparrow called it a “longtime, affectionate musical ‘feud’” between serious competitors but also friends.

Sparrow toured extensively internationally, and incorporated elements of jazz, soul, gospel and reggae into his music. When soca supplanted calypso as the popular genre, he adapted to that style.

He recorded more than 70 albums and wrote more than 500 songs. He received an honorary doctorate from the University of the West Indies, an OBE and Trinidad and Tobago’s Order of the Republic.

The Singer-Composer
He seemed an unlikely candidate for pop stardom, and after his one big hit — 1996’s Barely Breathing — Duncan Sheik avoided repeating the formula that brought him success, despite a Grammy nomination for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance.

His subsequent albums, such as Humming, Phantom Moon, Daylight and White Limousine, featured orchestration, literary influences and more adventurous arrangements. He also began writing for film and theatre.

The latter brought his great second act with the rock musical Spring Awakening, which Sheik created with lyricist and playwright Steven Sater, based on Frank Wedekind’s controversial 1891 play about adolescents confronting sexuality, repression and the adult world in 19^th-century Germany. It won eight Tony Awards. Sheik won Tonys for Best Original Score and Best Orchestrations, while the cast album earned a Grammy for Best Musical Theater Album.

The success established Sheik as a significant theatre composer. He and Sater continued their collaboration on Alice By Heart, while Sheik also wrote the music for American Psycho, The Secret Life Of Bees and other stage productions.

He continued recording; his last album, Claptrap, came out in 2022.

Sheik died on September 17 aged 56 from heart failure.

The Hard Rocker
For many people, Australian hard rock singer Angry Anderson is best-known for being the voice behind the wedding song played on the popular soap Neighbours, when Kylie Minogue’s character marries Jason Donovan. On the strength of that scene, Anderson’s 1986 album track Suddenly became a huge hit in Australia and later in the UK. But many others know Anderson as the lead singer of hard rock band Rose Tattoo, a band whose reputation was never really reflected in record sales.

Born Gary Anderson in Melbourne in 1947, and nicknamed Angry Ant as a kid for his bad temper, Anderson began his recording career with Buster Brown, a blues-rock band whose drummer was Phil Rudd, later of AC/DC. Buster Brown released one album in 1974, before Anderson moved on to Rose Tattoo, formed in Sydney in 1976.

Rose Tattoo’s music was tough, blues-based Australian pub rock, driven by slide guitar and Anderson’s rough, powerful vocals. The band’s first four albums were produced by AC/DC associates Harry Vanda and George Young.

Rose Tattoo developed a strong international following overseas, but it was Anderson’s unlikely solo career that briefly made him a household name. The ballad Suddenly was first released on Anderson’s solo debut in 1986, but its use during the 1987 Neighbours wedding of Scott and Charlene turned it into an international hit.

Anderson kept touring and recording with Rose Tattoo, but also appeared in films and television, including as Ironbar Bassey in Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome. In 1992, Anderson played King Herod in an Australian arena-style revival of Jesus Christ Superstar.

The Bassist
In the story of rocksteady and ska becoming reggae, Jackie Jackson provided the bass on many key moments.

Jackson’s first major recording, barely out of his teens, was Alton Ellis’s 1967 classic Girl I’ve Got A Date. As a member of Reid’s Supersonics, he supplied the bass on a string of rocksteady standards, including The Techniques’ Queen Majesty and I Wish It Would Rain; The Melodians’ You’ve Caught Me Baby and Little Nut Tree; The Paragons’ On The Beach and Wear You To The Ball; The Jamaicans’ Ba Ba Boom; and Dobby Dobson’s I’m A Loving Pauper.

He also played on Desmond Dekker & The Aces’ international mega hit Israelites, The Melodians’ By The Rivers of Babylon; The Wailers’ Small Axe and Thank You Lord; and Ken Boothe’s Lady With The Starlight. Jackson appeared on Jimmy Cliff’s The Harder They Come soundtrack, including The Harder They Come and You Can Get It If You Really Want (Cliff and Dekker used the same backing track for their respective hit versions).

Jackson also played bass on Paul Simon’s 1972 hit Mother And Child Reunion, which was recorded in Jamaica with a largely local backing band.

As a long-time member of Toots & The Maytals, Jackson played on classics like on Pressure Drop, Sweet And Dandy, and Funky Kingston.

The Murder Victim
The death of Jonathan “Honas” Meléndez, keyboardist, composer and producer with Mexican indie band Camilo Séptimo, was shockingly horrific. The 38-year-old was found dead in his at his home in Atizapán de Zaragoza alongside his wife, Ana Paola, who was four months pregnant, their three-year-old daughter, and Aleyda Romero, a 21-year-old domestic worker. The family dog was also killed. Their six-year-old son survived, having hidden during the attack.

Meléndez was a founding member of the band, which emerged from Mexico City’s indie scene with a sound combining synth-pop, alt. rock and electronic music.

The investigation has produced two arrests, but there has been no publicly established final motive or conclusion about whether additional people were involved. The suspects are a business associate of Meléndez, and his driver. Investigators are examining a possible financial motive.

The Son of Mannheim
Another musician was murdered in September: Jamaican rapper Marlon B., who had been a member of the German pop collective Söhne Mannheims, was killed in a shooting attack on the bar he owned in Robin’s Bay, northern Jamaica. Marlon B. James was 60. Two others were killed.

Marlon B. was the rapper of Söhne Mannheims, and also served as a songwriter, from 1999-2017, when he relocated to his home country of Jamaica.

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.

 

Cassandra Wilson, 70, jazz singer, on Sept. 1
Cassandra Wilson – Death Letter (1995)
Luther Vandross feat. Cassandra Wilson & Bob James – I’m Only Human (1998)
Cassandra Wilson – Gone With The Wind (2009)

Edith Barr, 90, Peruvian Creole singer, on Sept. 1

Laurence Cook, 87, free jazz drummer, on Sept. 1

Jonathan Meléndez, 38, keyboardist of Mexican indie band Camilo Séptimo, murdered Sept. 1
Camilo Séptimo – Eres (2017)

He Yong, 57, Chinese rock pioneer, in Sept. 1

John Pickles, 84, co-initiator of remix outfit Jive Bunny & The Mastermixers, on Sept. 3

Craig Douglas, 85, English pop singer, on Sept. 4
Craig Douglas – Pretty Blue Eyes (1960)

Jon Small, 79, drummer of garage rock band The Hassles, music video director, on Sept. 4
The Hassles – I Can Tell (1968, written by Billy Joel)
Run DMC & Aerosmith – Walk This Way (1986, as video producer)

Andy Williams, 48, metalcore guitarist and professional wrestler, on Sept. 5

Richard Tesařík, 80, singer of Czech rock group Yo Yo Band, on Sept. 6

Mary Rude, 92, singer with vocal group The Dream Weavers, on Sept. 8
The Dream Weavers – A Little Love Can Go A Long Long Way (1956)

Pat Senatore, 91, jazz bassist, on Sept. 8

Christof Straub, 57, guitarist of Austrian duo Papermoon, on Sept. 9
Papermoon – Tell Me A Poem (1992)

Marlon B., 60, Jamaican rapper with German pop band Söhne Mannheims, shot on Sept. 9
Die Söhne Mannheims – Das hat die Welt noch nicht gesehen (2008, on rap and as co-writer)

Paddy Keenan, 76, uilleann piper of Irish trad. group Bothy Band, on Sept. 9

Giorgos Mazonakis, 54, Greek pop singer, on Sept. 9
Giorgos Mazonakis – Summer In Greece (2005)

Peter de Jong, 74, singer, guitarist, songwriter of Australian rock band Heroes, announced Sept. 10
Heroes – Baby’s Had A Taste (1980, also as writer)

Ray D. Rowe, 90, soul singer, early Gap Band member, announced Sept. 11

Lungskull, 20, French rapper, on Sept. 11

Tone Capone, 59, hip-hop producer, on Sept. 12
Luniz – I Got Five On It (1995, as producer)

Cheetah Chrome, 71, guitarist of punk bands Dead Boys, Rocket From The Tombs, on Sept. 13
Dead Boys – Sonic Reducer (1977, also as co-writer)

BloodHound Q50, 22, American rapper, shot on Sept. 13

Pete Byrne, 74, singer and songwriter of UK new wave band Naked Eyes, on Sept. 14
Naked Eyes – Promises, Promises (1983, also as co-writer)

Catherine Ringer, 68, French singer, songwriter, film composer, on Sept. 14
Les Rita Mitsouko – Marcia Baïla (1968, as lead singer and co-writer)

Marcus Andersson, 52, drummer of Swedish punk band Disfear, announced Sept. 15

Rosalind Ashford, 83, soprano of Martha & The Vandellas, on Sept. 15
The Del-Phis – I’ll Let You Know (1960, as member)
Marvin Gaye – Hitch Hike (1962, on backing vocals)
Martha & The Vandellas – Come And Get These Memories (1963)
Martha & The Vandellas – Jimmy Mack (1967)

Ben Saunders, 43, English-born Dutch singer, drowned on Sept. 15

Ronnie Dove, 91, pop and country singer, on Sept. 15
Ronnie Dove – A Little Bit Of Heaven (1965)

Gerrit Graham, 76, actor and songwriter, on Sept. 15
Bob Weir & Ratdog – Bury Me Standing (2000, as co-writer)

Pye Dubois, 77, Canadian lyricist (Rush, Max Webster, Kim Mitchell), on Sept. 15
Rush – Tom Sawyer (1981, as co-writer)

Gary McCracken, 75, drummer of Canadian rock band Max Webster, on Sept. 17
Max Webster – A Million Vacations (1979, also as co-writer, with Pye Dubois)

Duncan Sheik, 56, singer-songwriter and musical composer, on Sept. 17
Duncan Sheik – Barely Breathing (1996, also as writer)
Duncan Sheik – White Limousine (2006, also as writer)
‘Spring Awakening’ Original Broadway Cast – The Song Of Purple Summer (2006, as composer)

Kevin Spencer, 71, soul and disco keyboardist, songwriter and producer, on Sept. 17
Shalamar – Take That To The Bank (1978, as co-writer)
Dynasty – Here I Am (1981, as member)

Sway, 44, British rapper, songwriter and producer, on Sept. 17
Sway feat. Kelsey – Level Up (2012, also as co-writer)

Peter Petrel, 86, German schlager singer, on Sept. 18
Windows – How Do You Do (1972, as half of the duo)

Rudy Cheeks, 76, singer-saxophonist of rock band The Young Adults, on Sept. 19

Carvin Jones, 60, blues musician, on Sept. 20

Chad Gilbert, 45, rock guitarist, songwriter and record producer, on Sept. 20
New Found Glory – All Downhill From Here (2004, as member and co-writer)

Chris Stifel, bluegrass singer, musician and songwriter, on Sept. 20

Rick Sollo, 59, half of Brazilian Sertanejo duo Rick & Renner, in helicopter crash on Sept. 21

Angry Anderson, 79, singer-songwriter of Australian metal band Rose Tattoo, on Sept. 21
Rose Tattoo – Rock ‘n’ Roll Outlaw (1978, also as co-writer)
Angry Anderson – Suddenly (1987, also as co-writer)

Vector Lovers, 57, British electronic music producer, announced Sept. 21

Jorge Palma, 76, Portuguese rock singer and songwriter, on Sept. 21
Jorge Palma – The Nine Billion Names Of God (1972, also as writer)

Roberto Müller, 89, Brazilian singer, on Sept. 22

Yoshio Suzuki, 80, Japanese jazz bassist and keyboardist, on Sept. 23
Yoshio ‘Chin’ Suzuki – Third Relation (1992, on keyboards)

Jackie Jackson, 79, Jamaican reggae bass player (Toots & The Maytals), on Sept. 23
Desmond Dekker & The Aces – Israelites (1968, on bass)
Paul Simon – Mother And Child Reunion (1972, on bass)
Toots & The Maytals – Reggae Got Soul (1976, as member on bass)

Moses Matovu, 77, leader of Ugandan rumba group Afrigo Band, in assault on Sept. 24
Afrigo Band – Speed (1989)

Roberto Müller, 89, Brazilian singer, on Sept. 24

Neil Henderson, 73, pop guitarist (BCR, Middle Of The Road), ann. Sept. 25
Bay City Rollers – Keep On Dancing (1971, as member)

Chuck Varga, 68, singer with metal band Gwar, ann. Sept. 25
Gwar – Rag Na Rok (1995, on lead vocals)

Bruno Kramm, 58, half of German electronic duo Das Ich, on Sept. 25

Liu Huan, 63, pioneering Chinese pop singer and songwriter, on Sept. 25
Liu Huan & Sarah Brightman – You And Me (2008, Beijing Olympics Theme Song)

Ronnie Golden, singer of UK new wave band Fabulous Poodles, comedian, Sept. 26
The Fabulous Poodles – Mirror Star (1978, co-writer and lead singer as Tony de Meur)

Frank Greathouse, 78, bluegrass mandolinist of New Deal String Band, on Sept. 26

Eduardo Rodríguez Rodway, 81, guitarist of Spanish prog band Triana, on Sept. 26
Triana – Luminosa Mañana (1975)

Kristina Safrany, 54, singer with German eurodance group First Base, on Sept. 26

Manuel Seal, 66, R&B songwriter and producer, on Sept. 27
Xscape – Just Kickin’ It (1993, as co-writer and co-producer)
Usher feat. Alicia Keys – My Boo (2004, as co-writer and co-producer)

Mighty Sparrow, 91, Trinidadian calypso singer, musician, songwriter, on Sept. 27
Mighty Sparrow – Jean And Dinah (1956)
Mighty Sparrow – Sparrow Dead (1969)
Mighty Sparrow – Dead Or Alive (1980)

Bob Davenport, 94, English folk singer, announced Sept. 28

Lieutenant Stitchie, 60, Jamaican reggae musician and DJ, on Sept. 28
Lt. Stitchie – Natty Dread (1987)

Margie Baker, 92, jazz singer, saxophonist and educator, announced Sept. 30

Gabino Palomares, 76, Mexican singer-songwriter, political activist, on Oct. 30
Gabino Palomares – La Maldición De Malinche (1975)

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Previous In Memoriams

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When Songs In The Key Of Life was released on September 28, 1976 — 50 years ago next week — Stevie Wonder was only 26 years old. After his time as a child star, teenage prodigy and soul pioneer, he had reached his zenith at an age when most of his peers were still building their careers.

By 1976, Stevie had already completed one of the most extraordinary creative runs in popular music history. Between 1972 and 1974 he had produced Music Of My Mind, Talking Book, Innervisions and Fulfillingness’ First Finale, making full use of the artistic freedom he had negotiated into his new Motown contract.

But after all that, he was exhausted by years of relentless recording and touring. Stevie seriously considered retiring from music altogether, at one point speaking publicly about moving to Ghana to work with disabled children, believing he could contribute more to society outside the music industry.

Happily, he reconsidered. After all that, he had another creative spurt, one so huge that even a double album couldn’t contain it. So he added a four-track EP to the set. Those four songs are not essential, but on the double LP there is not a single weak moment. Only the jazz-rock instrumental Contusion interrupts the flow, albeit early on Side 1.

Audaciously, he opens the album with a seven-minute mid-tempo track that might have been written by Burt Bacharach, the lovely Love’s In Need Of Love Today, and follows it with the overtly religious and wonderfully funky Have A Talk With God. The more obvious opener might have been Side 1 closer Sir Duke or Side 2 opener I Wish.

By my reckoning, the strongest side is Side 4, with Ngiculela – Es Una Historia – I Am Singing (Ngiculela is isiZulu for “I am singing”, not Swahili as is often claimed), If It’s Magic, the majestic As and the no less majestic Another Star. Going out on a high note!

Perhaps the most divisive track here is Isn’t She Lovely, a joyful hymn to fatherhood. Some find it mawkish. Unwilling to cut its length, Wonder didn’t released one of his best-known songs as a single in the US or the UK. Instead, a chap called David Parton recorded a cover version and had a big hit with it in the UK.

The album’s title captures Wonder’s ambition. Rather than producing another collection of songs, he wanted to create what he described as a musical portrait of life itself: love, childhood, religious faith, poverty, race, joy, disappointment, celebration, hope and, of course, music. From the exuberant celebration of Sir Duke, his tribute to Duke Ellington and other jazz pioneers, to the social commentary of Village Ghetto Land and Pastime Paradise, Wonder explored almost every facet of the human experience.

 

Critics immediately hailed Songs In The Key Of Life as a masterpiece, rightly so. A few contrarians aside, that admiration has not diminished in the 50 years since.

Some tracks from Songs In The Key Of Life appeared in the first two volumes of the Stevie Wonder Songbooks: covers of As (by Sister Sledge) and Pastime Paradise (Ray Barretto) on Volume 1, and on Volume 2 Isn’t She Lovely (Keb’ Mo’), If It’s Magic (Helen Reddy), Joy Inside My Tears (Thelma Houston & Jerry Butler) and Sir Duke (Stevie Wonder in a live version). More will follow on Volume 3.

Of all the tracks to recover, Sir Duke was the second most difficult. The most difficult to represent from the double album was Black Man. It appears here in a live rendition by Stevie at the 2009 NAACP Image Awards. Sir Duke doesn’t lack cover versions, but none of the vocal renditions I found is particularly good. And, in truth, how do you cover it well? Bob McGrath from Sesame Street gave it a game shot, making it accessible for children. It has charm, but it is hardly the musical high point of his generation. So it seemed wiser to go with Nathan East’s instrumental version. I’ll include the McGrath recording as a bonus.

For such a great album, there was a surprising reluctance to cover many of its songs, at least until the new millennium. And even then, not all the covers were very good. I Wish, a huge hit, has been recorded many times, but not always well. I do like the a cappella version by Cadence (the Canadian vocal group, not the rapper), who preserve the energy of the original.

Isn’t She Lovely might have presented a problem too. It is easy to lapse into mawkishness. As it turned out, I didn’t even have to resort to David Parton’s karaoke-style hit version. There were several contenders, and the rendition by Lee Ritenour with Bill Champlin on vocals won out.

Tulivu-Donna Lynn Cumberbatch, whose first name is Swahili, gives Ngiculela a fine jazz interpretation. The singer died in 2022 at the age of 71. Another jazz vocalist featured here is the Italian Stefania Rava, who delivers an excellent version of Ordinary Pain. She is preceded in the sequence by veteran jazz singer Jackie Paris, who introduces some scat into Summer Soft. The superb piano solo is by Argentinian pianist Carlos Franzetti.

One song that offered many options was As. The George Michael and Mary J. Blige version is by far the finest cover, but I’m holding that back for another mix later this year. Besides, George already features in this collection with his performance of Village Ghetto Land, recorded at the 1988 Nelson Mandela tribute concert. As features here instead in a 1978 version by Elkie Brooks, which starts very slowly before easing into a disco groove.

The mix will fit on two standard CD-Rs (end CD 1 with Ordinary Pain) and includes home-contusioned covers as well as the text above in an illustrated PDF. PW in comments.

Disc 1
1. Joan Osborne – Love’s In Need Of Love Today (2002)
2. Michele Thomas – Have A Talk With God (2012)
3. George Michael – Village Ghetto Land (live) (1988)
4. Najee – Contusion (1995)
5. Nathan East – Sir Duke (2014)
6. Cadence – I Wish (2000)
7. Luther Vandross – Knocks Me Off My Feet (1996)
8. Patti Smith – Pastime Paradise (2007)
9. Jackie Paris – Summer Soft (1981)
10. Stefania Rava – Ordinary Pain (2018)
Disc 2
01. Lee Ritenour feat. Bill Champlin – Isn’t She Lovely (1977)
02. Randy Crawford – Joy Inside My Tears (1995)
03. Stevie Wonder – Black Man (live) (2009)
04. Tulivu-Donna Cumberbatch – Ngiculela-Es Una Historia-I Am Singing (1992)
05. Linda Clifford – If It’s Magic (1977)
06. Elkie Brooks – As (1978)
07. Kathy Sledge – Another Star (1995)
A Something’s Extra EP
01. Gene Page – Saturn (1978)
02. Colby Beserra & Dan Lipton – Ebony Eyes (2006)
03. Scott Sharrard – All Day Sucker (2009)
04. Stevie Wonder – Easy Goin’ Evening (My Mama’s Call) (live) (2015)

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More Recovered albums:
What’s Going On (Marvin Gaye)
Tapestry (Carole King)
Blue (Joni Mitchell)
Blonde On Blonde (Bob Dylan)
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (Elton John)
Darkness On The Edge Of Town (Bruce Springsteen)
Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars (David Bowie)
Purple Rain (Prince)
Every Beatles album

Previous Albums Recovered
More Cover Mixes
More CD-R Mixes

 

Dolly Parton was one of the great singers in popular music, a fact that was long overshadowed by that image and, perhaps, prejudice against country music.

She had a lovely voice and wonderful phrasing, but what I think made her such a great singer was that, in her singing, she revealed herself. By every account, Dolly was the loveliest person, and her voice projects all that goodness, warmth, love and a big heart. And honesty. She was all country, but she had soul.

These qualities are there in the covers Dolly sang. She was a gifted songwriter — if Coat Of Many Colors doesn’t make you choke up, you need a transplant of emotions — but she recorded loads of covers. Many of them told her story, like Merle Haggard’s In The Good Old Days (When Times Were Bad).

But You Know I Love You was written by Mike Settle and first recorded by Kenny Rogers & The First Edition, but it might just as well be about her artistic separation from her mentor, Porter Wagoner. Of course, she wrote I Will Always Love You about Wagoner.

Some covers here could have turned out badly in the wrong hands. It takes guts to cover Stairway To Heaven, a song so tied to Led Zeppelin that an attempt at a cover might well turn out to be bad karaoke or terribly mannered. Dolly’s 2002 version deconstructs the song and becomes Dolly’s own. It is magnificent, even if it closes with that unfortunate cliché, the gospel choir.

Likewise, Dolly’s covers of The Great Pretender and I Get A Kick Out Of You are nothing like one might have expected, or feared.

Dolly recorded many covers with others; I’ve tried to keep away from them. That ruled out anything from those great Trio records she made with Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt, and the many duets with Porter Wagoner. I do include her collaboration with Lynyrd Skynyrd because who doesn’t want to hear Dolly do Free Bird? It features the now-late Gary Rossington, and archival vocals by Ronnie van Zandt. Ronnie’s gave special permission to use his original vocal tracks for this version, saying she wouldn’t allow it for the band itself, but “did it for Dolly”.

It comes from her Rockstar double CD in 2023, on which she collaborated with some very big names, including Paul McCartney & Ringo Starr, Debbie Harry and Elton John. I wonder if Prince would have agreed to collaborate on Purple Rain; in the event, it’s one of only two tracks on the set that has no featured artist. Her Purple Rain is overproduced and features the dreaded gospel choir, but the guitar work of session musicians Jerry McPherson and Rob McNelley is impressive, and Dolly’s vocals soar after a shaky start.

The only other credited collaboration here is with Ladysmith Black Mambazo, on Cat Stevens’ Peace Train. But that is not a duet; it incorporates the South African vocal group’s song Isitimela Sokuthula.

So Dolly Parton has had two tributes this year: the Dolly Parton Songbook on her 80^th birthday in January, and this one to mark her passing (a bit delayed; the In Memoriam – August 2026 took precedence) — so one mix of artists singing Dolly sings, and then Dolly singing other people’s songs. Previous Sings Covers mixes are listed below.

Rest in perfect peace, Dolly Parton.

As always, the mix is timed to fit on a standard CD-R (that is, everything till the bonus tracks), includes home-manycolourscoated covers, and the text here in PDF. PW in Comments.

1. Here You Come Again (1977 – B.J. Thomas)
2. But You Know I Love You (1980 – The First Edition)
3. In The Ghetto (1969 – Elvis Presley)
4. Elusive Butterfly (1984 – Bob Lind)
5. After The Goldrush (1996 – Neil Young)
6. Stairway To Heaven (2002 – Led Zeppelin)
7. Don’t Think Twice (2014 – Bob Dylan)
8. Something’s Burning (1996 – The First Edition)
9. The Story (2017 – Brandi Carlile)
10. Shine (2001 – Collective Soul)
11. Peace Train (feat. Ladysmith Black Mambazo) (1996 – Cat Stevens)
12. If (2002 – Bread)
13. Boulder To Birmingham (1976 – Emmylou Harris)
14. Dark As A Dungeon (1980 – Merle Travis)
15. Comes And Goes (1972 – Porter Wagoner)
16. In The Good Old Days (When Times Were Bad) (1969 – Merle Haggard)
17. As Soon As I Touched Him (1977 – Randy Crawford)
18. The Tracks Of My Tears (2008 – Smokey Robinson & The Miracles)
19. The Great Pretender (1984 – The Platters)
20. I Get A Kick Out Of You (2001 – Frank Sinatra a.o.)
21. When They Ring Those Golden Bells (2015 – The Imperial Quartet)
BONUS TRACKS:
22. Once In A Very Blue Moon (1985 – Nanci Griffith)
23. Just When I Needed You Most (1996 – Randy Vanwarmer)
24. Purple Rain (2023 – Prince)
25. Free Bird (feat. Lynyrd Skynyrd) (2023 – Lynyrd Skynyrd)

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Previously in Sings Covers:
Al Green Sings Covers
Aretha Franklin Sings Covers
Bruce Springsteen Sings Covers
Diana Ross Sings Covers
Gladys Knight Sings Covers
Luther Vandross Sings Covers
Roberta Flack Sings Covers
Tina Turner Sings Covers

More Mix CD-Rs
More Covers Mixes
More Sings Covers

It was another busy month for the Reaper. And what a shitty day it was when the universally loved Dolly Parton and Tim Curry die on the same day.

 

The Dolly
I had my say about Dolly Parton in January, when I posted the Dolly Parton Songbook to mark her 80^th birthday. In my notes, I wrote: “Parton’s range is astonishing. She can write persuasively about heartbreak (I Will Always Love You), social conditions (The Grass Is Blue, Down From Dover), and humour (Applejack, The Bargain Store). Her genius lies in her clarity and economy. She once said she likes songs that ‘say a lot with a little’, and that finds expression in her lyrics.”

It’s remarkable how the appreciation of Dolly Parton, the person, crossed all ideological lines, despite her words and deeds locating her on the more liberal side of things. Even Donald Trump took time out from his usual routine of celebrating the deaths of people whose views he dislikes.

In South Africa, a mayoral candidate for Johannesburg felt moved to include in a brief social media tribute the observation that Parton “looked like a complete floozy”. The candidate, a prominent politician whose sartorial style might be called aggressively frumpy, received backlash for that misjudged attempt at levity. It turns out that even in South Africa, people love Dolly Parton.

The Sweet Transvestite
Generations of movie-goers knew Tim Curry as the sweet transvestite from transsexual Transylvania or the snooty hotel concierge in Home Alone 2. I first got to know about him in 1980 through his song I Do The Rock, which referred to John and Yoko living in the Dakota — information that would become chillingly relevant later that year. It was an eccentric record, with a glorious riff, theatrical vocal performance, and name-dropping lyrics. It would be Curry’s only solo hit outside Rocky Horror.

But British-born Curry was a serious musician, and for a few years in the late 1970s and early 1980s he tried to establish a career as a rock singer, alongside his acting.

He had received classical vocal training as a boy soprano. A prolific stage actor, he made his debut in Hair in 1968 and became well-known for portraying Dr Frank-N-Furter in The Rocky Horror Show from 1973-75, and in its 1975 film adaptation. In 1980, he was the original Mozart in the stage play Amadeus.

After The Rocky Horror Picture Show turned him into an international star, A&M Records signed him and released his first solo album, Read My Lips, in 1978. It was an eclectic record, mixing rock, reggae and standards. Curry covered material like The Beatles’ I Will, Joni Mitchell’s All I Want, and Bacharach & David’s Anyone Who Had A Heart, while also recording more theatrical material.

His second album, Fearless, followed in 1979 and was more rock-oriented, with most of the songs written by Curry, often in collaboration with guitarist and songwriter Dick Wagner. I Do the Rock was the standout, reaching #91 on the Billboard Hot 100 in November of that year. After John Lennon was murdered outside the Dakota in December 1980, Curry dropped the song’s John-and-Yoko verse from his live performances. Curry followed it with Simplicity in 1981, his third and final studio album.

Curry spent the last 13 years of his life in a wheelchair following a stroke in 2012.

The Beard
Here’s a piece if irony you probably haven’t heard before: you see, the only member of ZZ Top who… oh, you have? Anyway, with the death of occasional shaving-enthusiast Frank Beard, there is only one member of ZZ Top left, Billy Gibbons. Bassist Dusty Hill left us in 2021.

Born in Frankston, Texas, in 1949, Beard at one time was a member of a fake iteration of UK band The Zombies. He met guitarist Gibbons in the late 1960s and introduced him to Hill, with whom Beard had already played in several bands. The three became ZZ Top in 1969.

They had some success with the hits Tush and I Thank You, but the huge commercial breakthrough came with the 1983 album Eliminator. The record introduced synthesizers and even drum machines to the band’s blues-rock formula. Gimme All Your Lovin’, Sharp Dressed Man and Legs became big international hits, while their tongue-in-cheek videos turned the trio into MTV stars.

In 1976, ZZ Top took a hiatus to let Beard deal with his substance abuse problems, returning with the 1979 album Degüello. Beard kept touring with the band until 2025. A concert planned for August 5 at Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles was cancelled due to Beard’s bad health. He died 12 days later, reportedly in hospice care.

ZZ Top was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2004. At the request of Hill and Beard, Gibbins will continue the band with their replacements.

The All-Rounder
By her own admission, Jaye P. Morgan was one of music’s bawdiest voices. A husky-voiced singer, her uninhibited humour was as famous as her more conventional hit records.

Born Mary Margaret Morgan in Mancos, Colorado, in 1931, she grew up in California and began singing young, joining the Frank DeVol Orchestra as its lead female singer from 1950 to 1953. That year, her recording of Life Is Just A Bowl Of Cherries for the independent Derby label reached #26 on the Billboard charts, earning her a contract with RCA Victor.

Within a year she had five hits, including That’s All I Want From You (#3), The Longest Walk (#6) and Danger! Heartbreak Ahead.

Morgan’s recording success led to television and stage work. She appeared regularly on variety shows, and in 1956 presented her own musical-variety series, The Jaye P. Morgan Show, alongside several of her brothers. She later took to musical theatre, appearing in Annie Get Your Gun, Guys And Dolls, Nunsense and Sugar Babies.

In the 1970s she found a new generation of fans as a panelist on The Gong Show, and she kept recording, even venturing into the field of soft rock with a David Foster-produced and Bill Champlin-produced LP.

The Prince Mixer
Producer and recording engineer David Z — known to his mom and the IRS as David Rivkin — is regarded as one of the key architects of the Minneapolis Sound, helping to mould the music of Prince and many other artists associated with the city’s vibrant funk and rock scene. These included The Time, featuring Morris Day and future production giants Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis.

Born in 1953, he was the older brother of Bobby Z, Prince & The Revolution’s original drummer. After working as a recording engineer, David Z became one of the first people outside Prince’s inner circle to understand the young artist’s fusion of funk, rock, pop and new wave in the recording studio. The Paisley Park documentation is sketchy about what David Z contributed to Prince’s records, but his work in recording his material and things like programming drum machines is widely acknowledged.

David Z had chart success in his own right, as guitarist of Lipps Inc., who had a global hit with the disco classsic Funkytown. As a songwriter, he contributed to Gram Parson’s GP album with the song ow Much I’ve Lied, co-written with the singer.

David Z produced or engineered recordings by the likes of The Jets (including Crush On You), Fine Young Cannibals (including She Drives Me Crazy), Jody Watley (including Looking For A New Love), Janice Jackson, Surface, Neneh Cherry, a-ha, Bananarama, Johnny Lang (including Lie To Me, which he also co-wrote), John Mayall, Joe Cocker, Leo Kottke, Angélique Kidjo, Buddy Guy, and more.

The Soul Man
One of Southern soul’s great voices, singer and pianist Latimore racked up a five-decade career.

Born in Charleston, Tennessee, in 1939, Benny Latimore grew up on country radio, Baptist hymns and Delta blues, singing his first solo in church at age 13. He abandoned university studies to pursue music, eventually settling in Miami, where he first worked as a backing pianist.

Latimore began recording around 1965, but he broke through only in the early 1970s. His first big hit was a gender-flipped cover of Gladys Knight’s If You Were My Woman in 1973. Then came the career-defining song: Let’s Straighten It Out, a self-written slow-burn plea (and not a ditty about his remarkable hair) that topped the R&B chart in 1974 and crossed into the pop charts. Two more R&B Top 10 hits followed, 1975’s Keep The Home Fire Burnin’ and Somethin’ ‘Bout ‘Cha” in 1976, before the hit streak cooled.

All the while he kept backing singes like Gwen McCrae (including on her hit Rockin’ Chair) and Betty Wright on piano.

Latimore kept releasing soul and blues albums over two decades, and later launched his own label, LatStone.

The Singing Actress
Best known as an actress, Hayden Panettiere, who has died at only 36, was also a talented singer, though her recording career was largely an extension of her acting. That talent was especially showcased in the country industry-based TV series Nashville.

Panettiere began singing professionally while still a child, recording songs for films and Disney-related projects. Among her early credits were My Hero Is You for the Disney Channel film Tiger Cruise (2004), I Fly for Ice Princess (2005), Try for Bridge To Terabithia (2007), Cruella De Vil for Disneymania 5, and I Still Believe for Cinderella III: A Twist in Time.

Her first serious attempt to establish herself as a recording artist came after her breakthrough as Claire Bennet in Heroes. She released the reggae-tinged Wake Up Call in 2008, which was promoted through a major advertising campaign with Candie’s. A debut album was planned for 2009, but it was never completed or released.

In Nashville, which premiered in 2012, Panettiere played a young, ambitious country singer, and performed all of her character’s songs herself.

Her first major country single, Telescope, was released in 2012, reaching #36 on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart. More singles followed, many also appearing on Nashville’s various soundtrack albums, while several were issued as singles. Panettiere also performed with the Nashville cast in live appearances and a television special Nashville.

The Keyboardist
In the 1980s, Nick Glennie-Smith was on the keyboards in a string of big hits, for acts like Tina Turner (What’s Love Got To Do With It, We Don’t Need Another Hero, Typical Male, I Don’t Wanna Lose You, Foreign Affair), Miquel Brown (So Many Men, So Little Time), Katrina & The Waves (Walking On Sunshine), Phil Collins (Separate Lives), Five Star (System Addict, Rain Or Shine), Chris de Burgh (Lady In Red), Roger Daltrey (After The Fire), Paul McCartney (Back On My Feet, Love Come Tumbling Down), and others.

He also played on Roger Waters’ The Wall – Live in Berlin and toured with Cliff Richard.

In the 1990s he moved towards composing film and television music, becoming a frequent collaborator with the great Hans Zimmer.

Glennie-Smith was the Oscar-nominated composer, producer and conductor on The Rock (1996), and subsequently wrote or co-wrote scores including Home Alone 3, The Man in the Iron Mask, The Lion King II: Simba’s Pride, We Were Soldiers and Secretariat. His film work also included orchestration, additional music and conducting on productions such as Crimson Tide, Pirates Of The Caribbean and Transformers.

The Producer
He died on July 23, but the death at 69 of William Orbit was announced only on August 7. The man born in London as William Mark Wainwright was one of the most inventive British producers, composers and electronic musicians of his generation.

Orbit emerged in the early 1980s with the electronic group Torch Song, beginning a career that would veer between underground dance music, ambient electronica, pop and classical music. His own Strange Cargo series developed a distinctive sound built from atmospheric synthesizers, samples and spacious arrangements. He also founded Guerilla Records, an influential label associated with the emerging progressive-house scene and artists including Underworld and Leftfield.

His big breakthrough came when Madonna asked him to work on what became her acclaimed 1998 album Ray Of Light. Orbit combined electronic rhythms, atmospheric textures and dance production with Madonna’s songwriting and vocals. He won Grammy Awards for his work on the album and its title track. In 1999 he produced Madonna’s hit Beautiful Stranger, which he also co-wrote with the singer.

Orbit also produced and remixed recordings for artists including Blur, U2, All Saints, Pink, Britney Spears, Robbie Williams, Prince, Beth Orton, Chris Brown, Belinda Carlisle, Mel C, Katie Melua, Ricky Martin, Sarah McLachlan, Queen, Robbie Williams, Sugababes, and others.

In 2014, Orbit re-produced an unreleased 1981 recording of a Freddie Mercury and Michael Jackson duet, There Must Be More to Life Than This, released on a Queen record.

Orbit also had a fascination with classical music. His 1995 album Pieces In A Modern Style, reimagined works by classical composers through electronic production. His version of Samuel Barber’s Adagio For Strings became particularly successful, and the album reached #2 on the UK album chart. A second volume followed in 2010.

The Soul Singer
The name Ann Bogan may be known only to soul aficionados, but the soul singer and songwriter packed quite a bit into her decade-long career.

Born in Cleveland in 1941, she was discovered by the great Harvey Fuqua after he had heard her singing in church. Bogan, who had grown up singing on the gospel circuit, first recorded for Fuqua in the early 1960s as a member of The Challengers, In 1964 she was given the lead on The Andantes’ (Like A) Nightmare, which later would become big on England’s Northern Soul scene.

In 1967, Bogan replaced Gladys Horton in The Marvelettes, and sang on the group’s late-Motown recordings. She took the lead on I’m Gonna Hold On As Long As I Can, another Northern Soul classic.

After The Marvelettes disbanded, Bogan became part of The New Birth and its subsidiary band Love, Peace & Happiness. She also appeared on New Birth records.

By the mid-1970s, Bogan chose family life, retiring from music to raise her two children.

The Dutch Star
The Dutch group Earth and Fire was absolutely huge in the Netherlands in the 1970s, but remained unknown in the UK and US. The band’s frontwoman was Jerney Kaagman, who has died aged 79.

She joined Earth and Fire in 1969, when she was 22, when the band was a prog rock outfit. That sound progressively became more pop-oriented, culminating in the disco-inflected European hit Weekend in 1979.

Before that international success, Earth and Fire had accumulated a remarkable run of Dutch Top 5 hits with songs like Seasons, Ruby Is The One, Memories, and Maybe Tomorrow Maybe Tonight.

Earth and Fire broke up in 1983, after which Kaagman embarked on a solo career. She also returned for Earth and Fire’s reunion from 1987 to 1990.

Kaagman subsequently became an important figure behind the scenes in Dutch music, including a stint as president of the musicians’ union BV Pop. She was also a judge on the Dutch version of Idols.

In 2012, Kaagman announced that she had Parkinson’s disease and gradually withdrew from the public eye.

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.

 

William Orbit, 69, English musician, songwriter and producer, on July 23
Madonna – Beautiful Stranger (1999, as co-producer and co-writer)
Finley Quaye & William Orbit – Dice (2003)
Queen & Michael Jackson – There Must Be More To Life Than This (2014, as producer)

Terry Slater, 85, songwriter, bassist, producer, manager (a-ha), announced July 29
Everly Brothers – Bowling Green (1967, as co-writer)

Jerney Kaagman, 79, lead singer of Dutch rock-pop band Earth and Fire, on July 31
Earth And Fire – Ruby Is The One (1970)
Earth And Fire – Weekend (1979)

David Z, 78, record producer, engineer and musician, on Aug. 2
Gram Parsons – How Much I’ve Lied (1974, as co-writer)
Lipps, Inc – Funkytown (1979, as member on guitar, and as mixer)
Prince And The Revolution – Kiss (1976, as engineer)
Fine Young Cannibals – She Drives Me Crazy (1989, as producer)

Luis Gasca, 86, jazz trumpeter and flugelhornist, composer, on Aug. 2
Van Morrison – Wild Night (1971, on trumpet)

John Douglas, 63, guitarist, songwriter with Scottish indie band Trashcan Sinatras, on Aug. 3
Trashcan Sinatras – Even The Odd (1990)

Pepe Habichuela, 82, Spanish flamenco guitarist, on Aug. 4

Tristam Nada, 68, French punk singer and painter, on Aug. 4

Jean-Paul Dréau, 73, French songwriter and composer, on Aug. 4
Richard Cocciante – Le Coup de Soleil (1979, as writer)

Terry Trotter, 85, jazz pianist, singer and composer, on Aug. 4
Larry Carlton – Sleepwalk (1982, on electric piano)
Rick Marotta – Theme of ‘Everybody Loves Raymond’ (1996)

Terry Buffalo Ware, 76, country/folk guitarist, singer and songwriter, on Aug. 5
Terry Buffalo Ware – Fine, Fine Day (2017)

Nathan Smith, 45, bassist of English rock group MFK, in traffic accident on Aug. 5

Ann Bogan, 85, soul singer (Andantes, Marvelettes, New Birth), on Aug. 6
The Andantes – (Like A) Nightmare (1964)
Love Peace & Happiness – (Only You) Message To The Establishment (1971, also as co-writer)

Tony Scott, 54, Surinamese-born Dutch rapper and musician, on Aug. 6

Francesco Guccini, 86, Italian folk singer-songwriter and author, on Aug. 6
Francesco Guccini – La Locomotiva (1972)

Bill Armstrong, 97, Australian jazz producer, on Aug. 7

Cat Dowling, 54, Irish singer-songwriter, on Aug. 7
Cat Dowling – Freedom (2021)

Randy Burns, 78, folk singer-songwriter, on Aug. 8
Randy Burns – I’m A Lover, Not A Fool (1972, also as writer)

Mike Milford, singer of metal group Scars of Tomorrow, announced Aug. 8

Gary Dwyer, drummer of UK post-punk and The Teardrop Explodes, on Aug. 9
The Teardrop Explodes – Reward (1981)

Sensational (Colin Julius Bobb), 51, Guyana-born rapper, announced Aug. 11

Gary ‘Gazza’ Johnson, 68, bassist of China Crisis, on Aug. 12
China Crisis – Wishful Thinking (1983)

Derry Brownson, 55, keyboardist of English alt.rock and EMF, on Aug. 13
EMF – Unbelievable (1990, also as co-writer)

Ruby Andrews, 79, American soul singer, on Aug. 13
Ruby Andrews – Just Loving You (1972)
Ruby Andrews – My Imaginary Eye (1977)

Johnny Young, 79, Dutch-born Australian singer, songwriter, TV producer, ann. Aug. 14
Russell Morris – The Real Thing (1969, as writer)

Nikki Ross, 54, gospel singer, on Aug. 14

Claude Antonini, 80, French chanson singer-songwriter, on Aug. 15

Thelma Stubbs-Mitchell, singer with soul band The Stubbs Girls, announced Aug. 16
The Stubbs – All Is Well (2009)

Nick Glennie-Smith, 74, English film composer and keyboardist, on Aug. 16
Katrina & the Waves – Walking On Sunshine (1985, on organ)
Phil Collins & Marilyn Martin – Separate Lives (1985, on keyboard)

Hayden Panettiere, 36, actress and singer, on Aug. 16
Hayden Panettiere – Hypnotizing (2013)

Martin Paul, 71, German keyboardist and songwriter, on Aug. 17

Frank Beard, 77, drummer of ZZ Top, on Aug. 17
ZZ Top – La Grange (1973, also as co-writer)
ZZ Top – I Thank You (1979)
ZZ Top – Sharp Dressed Man (1983, also as co-writer)

Barry Mitchell, 76, bassist of Queen (1970-71), on Aug. 17

Curt-T-T, guitarist of funk band Full Force, on Aug. 17
Full Force – Alice, I Want You Just For Me (1986)

Dean Stylette, member of Mexican punk band Size, on Aug. 17

Keith Keith, 64, rapper with pioneering hip hop group Funky 4 + 1, on Aug. 21
Funky 4+1 – That’s The Joint (1980, also as co-writer)

Janie Bradford, 87, Motown songwriter, on Aug. 21
Barrett Strong – Money (That’s What I Want) (1959, as co-writer)
Marvin Gaye – Too Busy Thinking About My Baby (1969, as co-writer)

Latimore, 86, American soul singer, on Aug. 22
Latimore – Let’s Straighten It Out (1974, also as writer)
Latimore – Something ‘Bout ‘Cha (1977, also as writer)
Denise LaSalle & Latimore – Right Place Right Time (1984)

Jaye P. Morgan, 94, singer, actress, TV personality, on Aug. 24
Jaye P. Morgan – That’s All I Want From You (1954)
Eddy Arnold And Jaye P. Morgan – Mutual Admiration Society (1956)
Jaye P. Morgan – Keepin’ It To Myself (1976)

Dolly Parton, 80, country singer-songwriter and actress, on Aug. 25
Dolly Parton & Porter Wagoner – The Last Thing On My Mind (1967)
Dolly Parton – Touch Your Woman (1972, also as writer)
Dolly Parton – Do I Ever Cross Your Mind (1982, also as writer and producer)
Dolly Parton – Shine (2001)

Tim Curry, 80, English singer and actor, on Aug. 25
Tim Curry – Sweet Transvestite (1974; stage soundtrack version)
Tim Curry – Anyone Who Had A Heart (1978)
Tim Curry – I Do The Rock (1979, also as co-writer)

James Fairs, guitarist and songwriter with pop band The Cryan’ Shames, on Aug. 25
The Cryan’ Shames – I Wanna Meet You (1966, also as writer)

Rubén Rada, 83, Uruguayan singer-songwriter, on Aug. 26

Granville Straker, 86, calypso producer and label owner, on Aug. 27

Wacko, 52, rapper with hip hop group UTP, on Aug. 28

David Fair, 74, member of art-punk band Half Japanese, artist, on Aug. 29
Half Japanese – Said And Done (1988)

Frankie Miller, 95, country singer, on Aug. 29

Gene Bertoncini, 89, American jazz guitarist, on Aug. 29

Miguel Zavaleta, 71, singer of Argentine rock group Sueter, songwriter, on Aug. 30
Sueter – Amanece en la Ruta (1984)

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I was not going to do an Any Major Soul 1986, given the absence of comments over the past few years. But at the end of the year, a reader asked that I continue the series. I’m glad he did, and I loved putting this mix together. 1986 was not a year of transition and innovation, but it was a fine vintage for soul music.

Maze, led by the late, great Frankie Beverley, released their second live double-album, Live In LA. It was every bit the equal of their classic Live In New Orleans set from 1981. The Manhattans, (featuring here in a duet with Regina Belle), The Temptations and George Benson were still around, as were Beau Williams (whose Elvina was a big soul hit in 1982), and the Crown Heights Affair, whose recording career was nearing its end.

Luther Vandross finally hit the big time with his glossily-produced Give Me The Reason album. Much of it was likable soul-pop and superb soul balladry; the featured track, See Me was a true soul groove number.

Freddie Jackson consolidated his success in 1985 with five consecutive US R&B #1 hits from his Just Like The First Time album, including his lovely duet with Melba Moore, A Little Bit More, which features here. In the UK, he had a breakthrough in 1986 with Rock Me Tonight, a US Top 20 hit the previous year.

The breakout star of 1986 was Anita Baker. Her sophomore album, Rapture, was flawless, with Baker fusing her naturally jazzy vocals with a soul sensibility. The other soul singer making it big in 1986 was Alexander O’Neal, but since his debut album was issued in 1985, as was his hit with Cherelle, Saturday Love, he doesn’t feature here (of course, he was on Any Major Soul 1985 as well as on Any Major Albums 1985). Well, he actually does feature here — unmistakably as a backing vocalist on The S.O.S. Band’s The Finest, produced by Jam & Lewis, who also produced O’Neal.

Other soul acts broke big in 1986, but few followed on from that success. Oran Jones, inevitably nicknamed “Juice”, turned out to be a one-hit wonder with his spectacularly misogynistic The Rain, which one must hope is a parody rather than an expression of Mr Jones’ character. Either way, it has a great groove, and some fabulous one-liners (“you without me is like corn flakes without the milk!”), delivered with relish (“You gotta get on outta here with that alley-cat-coat wearin’ Hush-Puppy-shoe-wearing crumb cake I saw you with”). Don’t touch that coat!

Gregory Abbot, ex-husband of soul legend Freda Payne, gave up a career as a professor in English at the University of Berkeley to pursue his vocation as a soul singer-songwriter. He had a huge hit in 1986 with Shake You Down, and his debut album of the same name was a best-seller. But after that, Abbot largely disappeared from the charts. Abbot’s last album, his fifth, came out in 2011.

Another soul act that broke through in 1986 was the trio Surface. Happy was their first pop hit, reaching #20 in the US (written by the members of Surface, it had first been recorded by UK funk group Hi-Tension in 1984). They went on to have more success, especially with the US #1 hit The First Time in 1990, and a #5 the previous year with Shower Me With Your Love, both sweetly-soppy ballads.

Two acts here represent UK soul. The wonderful Ruby Turner features with her magnificent cover of I’d Rather Go Blind, apparently issued on single “by popular demand”. Jaki Graham duets with Derek Bramble. Her partner was no lucky hanger-on. Bramble wrote all but one of the tracks on Jaki’s Breaking Free album, produced it, arranged it, co-engineered it, played bass on all tracks, and keyboards and guitar on some, and contributed vocals on two duets and backing vocals on most. Previously he had co-produced David Bowie’s Tonight album.

As always, this mix is timed to fit on a standard CD-R and includes home-raptured covers and the above text in PDF format. PW in Comments.

1. Maze Featuring Frankie Beverly – Happy Feelings (live)
2. Luther Vandross – See Me
3. Anita Baker – Same Ole Love
4. Freddie Jackson & Melba Moore – Just A Little Bit More
5. Gregory Abbot – I Got The Feelin’ (It’s Over)
6. The Manhattans feat. Regina Belle – Where Did We Go Wrong
7. The Temptations – Lady Soul
8. Surface – Happy
9. Oran ‘Juice’ Jones – The Rain
10. Epicenter feat. Sandra Feva – You Can’t Come Up In Here No More
11. Beau Williams – All Because You
12. Gwen Guthrie – You Touched My Life
13. Jaki Graham & Derek Bramble – Let’s Get Blue
14. Ruby Turner – I’d Rather Go Blind
15. George Benson – Kisses In The Moonlight
16. Crown Heights Affair – Make Me The One
17. S.O.S. Band – The Finest

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The 60th anniversary on June 20 passed me by, but it’s never too late to pay tribute to Bob Dylan’s epochal Blonde On Blonde double album. This Recovered set slides in nicely with the five-part Bob Dylan Songbooks. In my song selection for this Blonde On Blonde Recovered set, I’ve tried not to duplicate any of the Songbook tracks, other than one for which there were no alternatives.

Blonde On Blonde was recorded in Nashville in February and March 1966. By then, Dylan was already one of the most influential songwriters of his generation. Within four years he had evolved from the earnest folk singer of The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan into the gone-electric provocateur whose performance at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival had, charitably put, split opinion.

Highway 61 Revisited had yielded the folk-and-rock fusion of Like A Rolling Stone — “Judas!” — so expectations for what would come next were immense.

Dylan delivered an album quite unlike anything before it. Blonde On Blonde was the first widely recognised double album in rock consisting entirely of new material. At the time, double LPs were generally live recordings or collections of jazz or classical music. Dylan wasn’t the first artist to demonstrate that rock, like jazz, could use the long-playing record as an artistic canvas rather than just a collection of songs, but he nevertheless broke new ground by doing so on a double album — and one on which a single song, Sad Eyed Lady Of The Lowlands, filled an entire side (after an hour and 13 minutes of music, you wouldn’t quibble that he might have fit another track to Side 4).

It took a lot of self-confidence to omit both artist’s name and album title from the front cover, and even the back, which also features no track-listing, nor did the inside gatefold. If you wanted to know the title playing, you had to be able to read a label at 33 rotations per minute.

Dylan didn’t just go electric, but also eclectic, drawing on folk, rock, blues, country and pop. On Fourth Time Around he openly copies The Beatles’ Norwegian Wood — whether as a droll dig at a band that had been inspired by him or as an affectionate homage is unclear, but it reportedly freaked out John Lennon when he first heard the song, seeing it as a dig.

Dylan’s lyrics became increasingly stream-of-consciousness, making songs such as Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again and Visions Of Johanna difficult to interpret. But when it came to love, Dylan could also be direct, as he was on I Want You, reportedly written for his wife Sara. The eleven-minute Sad Eyed Lady Of The Lowlands was a meditation on his relationship with Sara, with the title playing on her maiden name, Lownds.

Initial reviews of the album reflected both admiration and bafflement. It was not long before it came to be regarded as a masterpiece. Whether it is Dylan’s greatest album is a matter of personal preference (though perhaps less so if you reduce Blonde On Blonde to a single LP!), but it is undeniably one of the defining albums in the history of popular music.

When it comes to covers of Dylan songs, it is usually pointless to argue whether they are better or worse than the originals. Of course, some are really bad (none here, of course), but much depends on how one can bear Dylan’s voice and delivery. Some people can’t abide by it; for others, the voice is an inseparable part of the package. And others still — I hope including the readers of this blog — can delight in both.

The Recovered set kicks off with perhaps the least unexpected cover: bluegrass legends Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs doing Rainy Day Women #12 & #35, with its chant, “Everybody must get stoned”, a double entendre referring both to public stoning and getting high. It must have been quite a thing for the conservative Lester Flatt to be involved in. Yet on the duo’s 1968 album Nashville Airplane, four of the 11 tracks are Dylan songs, alongside the Dylan-inspired protest songs Universal Soldier and Catch The Wind.

Three covers here stand out in particular. Richie Havens, that superb interpreter of songs, gives Sad Eyed Lady Of The Lowlands a lovely 1970s pop sensibility. I’d play this ahead of Dylan’s version any time. Nina Simone brings Just Like A Woman a raw emotional vulnerability, and a quite wonderful arrangement. And Australian singer-songwriter Emma Swift (no relation to the other Swift) turns the rather overlooked One Of Us Must Know (Sooner Or Later) into one of the highlights of this set. It comes from her superbly titled 2020 Dylan tribute album Blonde On The Tracks.

As always, the mix is timed to fit on a standard CD-R and includes home-leopardskinned covers as well as the text above in an illustrated PDF. PW in comments.

1. Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs – Rainy Day Women #12 & #35 (1968)
2. Luther Johnson – Pledging My Time (1995)
3. Marianne Faithfull – Visions Of Johanna (1985)
4. Emma Swift – One Of Us Must Know (Sooner Or Later) (2020)
5. Cher – I Want You (1966)
6. Grateful Dead – Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again (live) (1988)
7. Beck – Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat (2009)
8. Nina Simone – Just Like A Woman (1971)
9. Rita Coolidge – Most Likely You Go Your Way (And I’ll Go Mine) (1971)
10. Deborah Coleman – Temporary Like Achilles (2003)
11. The Flamin’ Groovies – Absolutely Sweet Marie (1979)
12. The Sports – Fourth Time Around (1981)
13. Toni Price – Obviously 5 Believers (1995)
14. Richie Havens – Sad Eyed Lady Of The Lowlands (1974)

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More Recovered albums:
What’s Going On (Marvin Gaye)
Tapestry (Carole King)
Blue (Joni Mitchell)
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (Elton John)
Darkness On The Edge Of Town (Bruce Springsteen)
Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars (David Bowie)
Purple Rain (Prince)
Every Beatles album

More Cover Mixes
Previous Albums Recovered
More CD-R Mixes

Many tracks featured in this series made a great impact, but rarely do they qualify as being the first to do something. This month, one track did: English power-pop band Koopa’s 2007 song Blag Steal & Borrow was the first to make the UK top 40 on strength of digital downloads alone in January 2007, following a change in rules the week before that made all legally downloaded singles chart-eligible. They did so without a record label, also a first (that is, even without a self-release label). So one could add this to the Any Major Firsts mix.

A quick reminder that all In Memoriams going back to January 2017 are back up. You can find them HERE!

The Rasper
She had one of the most instantly recognisable voices in pop music — thanks to a surgery and disobeying her doctor. Bonnie Tyler, born as Gaynor Hopkins in Wales, was singing in local clubs before she won a talent contest in 1969. She adopted the stage name Bonnie Tyler soon afterwards.

After surgery on her vocal chords, Tyler ignored doctor’s orders not to speak for several weeks — and thus she was left her with her trademark gravelly voice.

Tyler’s breakthrough came in late 1976 with Lost in France. In early 1978 she had a huge hit with It’s A Heartache, which topped the charts in several countries and reached the top 5 in both the UK and the United States.

For a few years after that, things became quiet until she teamed up with producer Jim Steinman. Their first collaboration, the wonderfully overblown Total Eclipse Of The Heart, became a worldwide mega hit 1983, helped along by the most inexplicable video (which inspired this “literal video” masterpiece).

In 1984 she had a hit with a duet with Shakin’ Stevens, the amiable but inessential A Rockin’ Good Way. The same year she reunited with Steinman for Holding Out For A Hero, featured in the 1984 film Footloose, another 1980s pop classic. The Steinman-produced follow-up Loving You’s A Dirty Job But Somebody’s Gotta Do It, with Todd Rundgren on guest vocals, deserved a little better than flopping badly. Steinman also produced her on 1986’s If You Were A Woman (And I Was A Man), a terrible 1980s production that was a hit in Europe but flopped in the UK and the US. It was later repurposed as You Give Love A Bad Name by Bon Jovi.

Tyler continued recording and touring, but never resumed chart success. She represented the United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2013 with Believe In Me. She was awarded an MBE in 2022 for services to music. By all accounts, she was a most lovely, grounded person.

The Sax Legend
Chances are that at some point in your life, you have whistled the saxophone lines of Plas Johnson, who has died at the age of 94. When Henry Mancini wrote The Theme Of The Pink Panther, he had his long-time collaborator Johnson in mind for that instantly recognisable tenor sax lead. It has become one of the best-known saxophone recordings ever made.

Born Eugene Johnson in 1931 in Louisiana, he was nicknamed Plas as a child. Raised in a musical family, he moved with them to Los Angeles, where his older brother, Ray Johnson, was a saxophonist piano player.

Starting out as a jazz musician, Johnson released several records under his own name in the late 1950s and early 1960s, while also backing the likes of Nat King Cole, Ella Fitzgerald (on several of her “Songbook” albums), Frank Sinatra and Bobby Darin, as well as acts like The Coasters, Sam Cooke and The Drifters.

By the early 1960s he was in the circle of session musicians who would become known as The Wrecking Crew, though he stood out among them as his name was already fairly well-known. Johnson played on many of the Phil Spector productions and some other Wrecking Crew sessions — record-keeping of who played on what were poor — and also played on countless film and TV scores.

The list of artists he backed over a 40-year career is endless. He played on The Beach Boys’ Wouldn’t It Be Nice, Nancy Sinatra’s These Boots Are Made For Walking, and, it seems, on Marvin Gaye’s Let’s Get It On. He also played the gorgeous flute on Nicolette Larson’s Lotta Time.

Johnson appeared on Steely Dan’s Pretzel Logic, The Royal Scam and Aja albums, but rather as part of horn sections than as a soloist.

Johnson died a couple of days after I finalised the Any Major Albums Of 1976. He played on four of the featured albums: by Steely Dan, Boz Scaggs (on the featured track, What Can I Say), Rod Stewart, and Deniece Williams.

The Girl Power Pioneer
The Chantels were a pioneering group of the golden age of girl groups, paving the way for acts like The Shirelles, The Cookies, The Ronettes, The Crystals and many others, and by extension of Motown girl groups such as the Marvelettes, Velvelettes, Vandellas and ultimately Supremes. The leader of The Chantels was Arlene Smith, their lead singer and principal songwriter.

Born in 1941 in New York City, Smith grew up in the Bronx, where she and classmates — Sonia Goring, Jackie Landry, Rene Minus and Lois Harris — sang in the choir of St Anthony of Padua School, where they were also taught he intricate harmonies of Gregorian Chant. Formed in the mid-1950s, The Chantels — the moniker was inspired by a rival school named after the Catholic saint Frances de Chantal — soon became one of the first successful black female vocal groups of the rock & roll era.

Their breakthrough came in 1957 with Maybe, a ballad written (probably with the help of mentor and producer Richard Barrett) and sung by the teenage Smith. It became one of the defining recordings of 1950s doo-wop. The group followed up with hits such as Every Night (I Pray), I Love You So and Look In My Eyes. In 2002, Rolling Stone ranked Maybe at #199 in their Top 500 pop sings of all time.

Unusually for their time, Smith wrote much of the group’s early material, although she did not always receive the songwriting credit or royalties she deserved — sadly, a common story in the 1950s. On some records, label boss George Goldner (an associate of the notorious Morris Levy) claimed the credit. More recently, Smith’s role as the creative force behind The Chantels’ classics has become increasingly recognised.

After leaving The Chantels in 1959, the same time Goldner’s label went bust, Smith pursued a solo career, recording for several labels, with the young Phil Spector among her producers, but she never repeated the commercial success of The Chantels. She later reunited with various line-ups of The Chantels for concerts and released one further single in 1970.

The Hit Busker
One of the remarkable things about the wonderful 1991 film The Commitments is that the actors were chosen largely because they could sing or play their instruments, rather than as established actors. One of them was guitarist Glen Hansard, who has died at 56 in a motorbike accident.

Hansard played Outspan Foster, the quiet guitarist in Alan Parker’s acclaimed adaptation of Roddy Doyle’s novel. Already fronting his band The Frames, Hansard would become one of Ireland’s most respected singer-songwriters.

Born in Dublin in 1970, Hansard left school at 13 and began busking on the city’s streets. After meeting fellow buskers who were Hare Krishnas, he joined their religion. It is as a busker that we meet his character Outspan as he is recruited into The Commitments.

In 1990 Hansard formed the rock band The Frames, which went on to become one of Ireland’s most influential rock bands. They had their biggest commercial success in the 2000s.

Hansard achieved worldwide recognition in 2007 with the independent film Once, in which he starred opposite Czech-Icelandic musician Markéta Irglová. Made on a modest budget, the film became an international hit, and they won an Oscar for Best Original Song for Falling Slowly. The film later inspired the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical Once.

His partnership with Irglová — including a slightly controversial two-year romantic relationship that begun when he was 35 and she 17 — continued as the folk duo The Swell Season, while Hansard also established a successful solo career. He also collaborated with people like Bono and Bruce Springsteen, both of whom paid tribute to Hansard after his death.

Hansard was socially engaged. For many years he organised Dublin’s annual Christmas Eve busk on Grafton Street, raising substantial funds for charities serving homeless people. He also supported other social and humanitarian causes.

At Shane MacGowan’s funeral service in December 2023, Hansard sang Fairytale Of New York with Lisa O’Neill, backed by The Pogues.

The Beaky
There is now only one survivor of 1960s hitmakers Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich — drummer Mick. Dave Dee left us in 2009, Dozy in 2015, and Tich in 2024. Now Beaky has died.

Born in 1944 in Salisbury, England, as John Dymond, he was nicknamed Beaky because of his prominent nose, which was probably funnier in the 1960s than it is now.

Formed in Salisbury in the early 1960s, Dave Dee, Dozy et al broke through internationally in 1966 with their theatrical performances, colourful costumes and adventurous productions, including cracking whips in the glorious The Legend of Xanadu. Beaky was the band’s rhythm guitarist (it featured on Any Major Teen Dreams).

The band enjoyed a remarkable run of hit singles, including Hold Tight, Bend It, Hideaway, Save Me, Zabadak, Last Night in Soho, The Legend of Xanadu, and Don Juan, becoming one of the UK’s biggest-selling singles acts of the 1960s.

Following the group’s original break-up in 1969, Beaky remained active in music, performing in later reunions and touring versions of the band. At the time of his death, he was the last original member still performing with an iteration of the band whose line-up includes successors to Dave Dee, Dozy, Mick & Tich, going by those stage names.

The Hit Backing Singer
One of the oddest things in pop music history must be that Stevie Wonder let two session singers sing the first lines of You Are The Sunshine Of My Life, an instant classic. The male voice we hear first is that of Jim Gilstrap, who has died at the age of 79.

Gilstrap is no stranger to this little corner of the Internet. Mostly recently, he featured on Any Major Hits From 1975 Vol. 2 with his hit Swing Your Daddy. He was on Any Major Soul 1975 Vol. 1 (with the superb House Of Strangers), and on Covered With Soul Vol. 9 and Vol. 19 (the Motown edition), while his Put Out The Fire appeared in Any Major Flute Vol. 5.

The Texan began his music career after returning from action in the Vietnam War. He first sang with an easy-listening group called the Doodletown Pipers before joining the soul vocal group The Cultures, whose work backing established artists led him into the world of session work.

Gilstrap’s big break came when he became a member of Stevie Wonder’s backing vocal group, Wonderlove, contributing to the albums Talking Book, Innervisions and Fulfillingness’ First Finale. He also backed acts like at the time.

In 1974 he recorded the theme to the sitcom Good Times, a duet with Blinky Williams. His solo career kicked off with Swing Your Daddy, a UK top 10 hit written by Kenny Nolan. Follow-up singles such as House of Strangers and Put Out the Fire had modest success, and Gilstrap’s solo career fizzled out after just two albums.

But he made a good career as a backing singer. Gilstrap sang on many hits. Among them were Quincy Jones’ Ai No Corrida (among many other Quincy tracks), Boz Scaggs’ Lowdown, Michael Jackson’s Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough, George Benson’s Give Me The Night  and Love X Love, The Jacksons’ Can You Feel It), Anita Baker’s Sweet Love, Whitney Houston’s I Wanna Dance With Somebody and Where Do Broken Hearts Go, Peabo Bryson & Kenny G’s By The Time This Night Is Over (which featured last month in In Memoriam – June 2026), Luther Vandross’ Love The One You’re With, Aretha Franklin’s Freeway Of Love and I Knew You Were Waiting (with George Michael), Jermaine Stewart’s We Don’t Have To Take Our Clothes Off, Stacy Lattisaw’s Jump To The Beat, Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway’s The Closer I Get To You… and those are the hits I could find a credit for!

Gilstrap also backed the likes of Syreeta, Martha Reeves, Peggy Lee, Elkie Brook, Ringo Starr, Neil Diamond, Bill Withers, Jose Feliciano, Brothers Johnson, Boz Scaggs, Roberta Flack, Barbra Streisand, Minnie Riperton, Candi Staton, Olivia Newton-John, Patrice Rushen, Leonard Cohen, Dolly Parton, Elton John, Kenny Loggins, Narada Michael Walden, James Ingram, DeBarge, Crowded House, Patti LaBelle, Santana, Teddy Pendergrass, Gladys Knight, Aaron Neville, Celine Dion, George Duke, Joe Cocker, Natalie Cole, and many others.

He also backed Rodney Franklin, who died this month (see below), and the Boz Scaggs tracks he appeared on include What Can I Say, on which the above-mentioned Plas Johnson played sax.

The Writing Producer
One of those behind-the-scenes names that only the keen students of production credits notice was that of British-born songwriter and producer Brian Potter, who co-produced such hits as Glen Campbell’s Rhinestone Cowboy, Players’ Baby Come Back, and Don’t Pull Your Love by Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds

Born in England, Potter wrote the Small Faces’ debut single, Whatcha Gonna Do About It. He then found global success after teaming up with US-born Dennis Lambert. Among their best-known compositions are Don’t Pull Your Love, the Four Tops’ Ain’t No Woman (Like The One I’ve Got), Keeper Of The Castle and Are You Man Enough, Tavares’ It Only Takes A Minute (later a big hit for Take That), One Tin Soldier by Coven, Ashes To Ashes by The 5th Dimension, Rock And Roll Heaven by the Righteous Brothers, and Campbell’s Country Boy

Potter and Lambert co-produced these, as well as the likes of The Grass Roots, Dusty Springfield, Santana, Cuba Gooding, Evie Sands and Player.

The Mini-drama Writer
Although he never achieved the fame of the artists who recorded his songs, singer and songwriter Joe Melson helped create some of the defining hits of the early 1960s, most notably through his long partnership with Roy Orbison.

Born in 1935 into a family of sharecroppers in Texas, Melson grew up with country, gospel and R&B. After serving in the US Navy, he moved to Nashville and into songwriting at a time when rock & roll was transforming into popular music.

One day he spotted Roy Orbison sitting in a car, trying to write a song. Melson tapped on the window — and a fertile songwriting team was born. With Orbison he wrote mini-dramas that showcased Roy’s soaring voice and emotional intensity such as Only The Lonely, Crying, Blue Bayou, Running Scared, Blue Angel, I’m Hurtin’, and Blue Bird.

Only The Lonely was rejected by both Elvis Presley and the Everly Brothers, and so became Orbison’s breakthrough hit. Crying later became a hit for both Don McLean, and Blue Bayou for Linda Ronstadt.

Melson also enjoyed modest success as a recording artist in his own right. His biggest hit was Hey Mr Cupid (written by Boudleaux Bryant), and he continued writing and producing for other performers throughout the 1960s and beyond.

The Groover
One of those instantly uplifting jazz fusion numbers is the appropriately-titled The Groove from 1980, whose creator, the jazz pianist Rodney Franklin, has died at age 68.

As a teenager, Franklin attended the prestigious Berkeley High School, whose music programme has produced many distinguished jazz musicians. At the age of 14, he led his own band, In One Piece, and he was only 20 when he released his debut album in 1978.

Franklin was only 21 or 22 when he wrote and recorded that The Groove, a true fusion classic and a Top 10 hit in the UK which started a dance craze there called “The Freeze”.

Franklin had a solid fan base, but further crossover success eluded him. He also backed several acts, including the Isley Brothers on their 1993 live album.

The Guitar Virtuoso
One of the most respected guitarists in the jazz-rock fusion movement of the 1970s, Ray Gómez had a dazzling technique and an ability to move effortlessly between jazz, rock, blues and Latin music. Yet, his best-known contribution is as member of the Spanish group Pop-Tops, who recorded the first version of the global hit Mamy Blue.

Born in Casablanca, Morocco, in 1953, Gómez’s family moved to Spain in 1965. A guitar prodigy, he soon became one of the country’s leading young musicians, performing with pop and rock groups including Los Pekenikes and the Pop-Tops before relocating first to the UK, where he met George Harrison, and then to the United States in the mid-1970s, where he became friends with John Lennon.

There Gómez’s big breakthrough came when he joined bassist Stanley Clarke’s band, playing on the seminal School Days (including superb guitar work on the title track) and other Clarke albums. He also worked with the likes of Herbie Hancock, Joe Zawinul, Cat Stevens, Chaka Khan, Aretha Franklin, Jack DeJohnette, Narada Michael Walden, Alphonso Johnson, Billy Cobham, Hall & Oates, Melba Moore, Deodato, and many others. And, a recurring theme this month, he also played with the aforementioned Rodney Franklin.

As a bandleader, Gómez also released several solo albums.

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.

 

Barry Dransfield, c.78, English folk singer and multi-instrumentalist, on June 14
Barry Dransfield – Be My Friend (1972, also on guitar and violin)

Brian Potter, c.86, UK-born songwriter and producer, on June 30
Four Tops – Ain’t No Woman (Like The One I’ve Got) (1973, as co-writer and co-producer)
Tavares – It Only Takes A Minute ) (1973, as co-writer and co-producer)
Player – Baby Come Back (1977, as co-producer)

Joe Melson, 91, singer and songwriter, on July 1
Roy Orbison – Only The Lonely (1960, as co-writer)
Joe Melson – Hey, Mister Cupid (1961)
Linda Ronstadt – Blue Bayou (1978, as co-writer)
Roy Orbison & kd lang – Crying (1992, as co-writer)

Shaun Glass, 57, heavy metal guitarist and bassist, on July 1

Tommy Hunter, 89, Canadian country singer, on July 2

Bill Vanhoy, 89, bluegrass singer and guitarist, on July 3

Sparky D, 61, rapper, on July 4
Sparky D – Sparky’s Turn (Roxanne You’re Through) (1985)

Roger ‘B. War’ Svensson, 60, bassist of Swedish metal group Marduk, on July 4

Beaky (John Dymond), 81, English member of Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich, on July 5
Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich – You Make It Move (1965)
Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich – Save Me (1966)

Christian Moran, 42, English-Korean drummer, on July 5

Rahel Yohannes, 79, Ethiopian singer and musician, on July 5

Paul Wheatbread, 80, drummer of Gary Puckett & The Union Gap, on July 6
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap – Woman, Woman (1967)

Earle Dumler, woodwind player (mostly oboe), on July 6
Carpenters – For All We Know (1971, on oboe)

Lauren Bennett, 36, singer with UK girl group G.R.L., announced July 6
LMFAO feat. Lauren Bennett & GoonRock – Party Rock Anthem (2011)

Kevin Chown, 56, bass guitarist, on July 6

Joe Murphy, 46, bassist of UK rock band Koopa, announced July 7
Koopa – Blag, Steal & Borrow (2006, also as co-writer and co-producer)

Megas, 81, Icelandic rock singer and songwriter, announced July 7
Megas – Við sem heima sitjum (1977, also as writer)

Football World Cup, 96, sporting event, of terminal corruption, on July 7

Bonnie Tyler, 75, Welsh pop and rock singer, on July 8
Bonnie Tyler – It’s A Heartache (1977)
Bonnie Tyler – If You Were A Woman (And I Was A Man) (1986)
Bonnie Tyler – Believe In Me (2013)

Ella Laboriel, 81, Mexican singer and actress, on July 8

Rodney Franklin, 67, jazz fusion pianist and composer, on July 8
Rodney Franklin – I Like The Music Make It Hot (1978)
Rodney Franklin – The Groove (1980, also as writer)

Sylvie Grare, French heavy metal singer, on July 8

Anette McLennan, 63, drummer of South African rock band No Friends of Harry, on July 9
No Friends Of Harry – On The Beach (1987)

Calvin Hayes, 63, member of UK band Johnny Hates Jazz, producer, on July 9
Johnny Hates Jazz – Shattered Dreams (1986, also as co-producer)

John Defferary, 86, British jazz musician, on July 10

Andrew Bickers, Australian saxophonist (Cold Chisel, Midnight Oil), on July 10
Midnight Oil – Say Your Prayers (2000)

Jimmy Nichols, 64, country pianist and musical director (Nichols Brothers), on July 11
Faith Hill – Fireflies (2005, on accordion)

Rodney Holmes, 59, jazz and rock drummer, on July 11
Santana feat. Rob Thomas – Smooth (1999, on drums)

Bob Farrell, 77, Christian musician and songwriter, on July 11

Dave Redmonds, 66, trombonist with punk band UK Snuff, on July 11
Snuff – Caught In Session (1996)

Lenzman, 47, Dutch drum and bass producer, on July 11

Peppino di Capri, 86, Italian singer, on July 11
Peppino di Capri – Champagne (1973)

Vernon Taylor, 88, rockabilly singer, on July 12
Vernon Taylor – Sweet And Easy To Love (1959)

Mike Browning, 62, heavy metal drummer (Morbid Angel, Nocturnus), on July 13

Melaine Favennec, 75, French singer, on July 13

Little Gerhard, 92, Swedish rock & roll singer and songwriter, on July 14
Little Gerhard – What You’ve Done To Me (1958)

Fantan Mojah, 49, Jamaican reggae singer and songwriter, on July 14
Fantan Mojah – Rasta Got Soul (2016)

Plas Johnson, 94, soul and jazz saxophonist, flautist, on July 15
Plas Johnson – Too Close For Comfort (1959)
Henry Mancini – The Pink Panther Theme (1963, on tenor sax)
Rita Coolidge – Seven Bridges Road (1971, on alto sax)
Nicolette Larson – Lotta Love (1978, on flute)

Takeshi Shibuya, 86, Japanese jazz pianist, on July 16

René Urtreger, 92, French jazz pianist, on July 16

Cleveland Still, 91, first tenor of doo wop group The Dubs, on July 17
The Dubs – Chapel Of Dreams (1957)

Freddy Cannon, 89, rock & roll singer, on July 17
Freddy Cannon – Palisades Park (1962)

Tony Thorpe, 80, guitarist of English pop band The Rubettes, announced July 18
The Rubettes – Ooh La La (1977)

Jim Gilstrap, 79, soul singer, on July 18
Stevie Wonder – Too High (1973, on backing vocals)
Jim Gilstrap & Blinky Williams – Theme from ‘Good Times’ (1974)
James Gilstrap – One More Heartache (1974)
James Gilstrap – Move Me (1976)

Gianni Cazzola, 88, Italian jazz drummer, on July 18

Jennifer Finch, 59, bassist of punk band L7, songwriter, photographer, on July 18
L7 – Pretend We’re Dead (1992)

Patrick Gleeson, 91, jazz musician, producer, film composer, on July 19
Bennie Maupin – Water Torture (1977, on synthesizer)

Alley Boy, 42, rapper, announced July 20

Vibert Cornwall, 87, Vincentian jazz singer, on July 20

Kevin Keegan, 75, English football player and singer, on July 20
Kevin Keegan – Head Over Heels In Love (1979)

Claudio Strunz, 59, Argentine thrash metal drummer, on July 20

Brian Doerksen, 61, Canadian Christian music singer-songwriter, on July 21

Oliver Jones, 91, Canadian jazz pianist, on July 22
Oliver Jones Trio – Hymn To Freedom (1991)

Luís Represas, 69, Portuguese singer and composer, on July 22

Curtis Blackwell, 83, bluegrass guitarist and singer, on July 23

Bill Oddie, 85, English comedian, TV presenter, musician, on July 23
Bill Oddie – Ilkley Moor Baht At (1970)

Lou Koller, 59, singer of punk band Sick of It All, on July 24

Louie Romero, salsa percussionist, on July 24
Willie Colón & Héctor Lavoe – El Día De Mi Suerte (1975, on timbales)

Marie-Paule Belle, 80, French singer, pianist and songwriter, on July 25

Frank Tusa, 79, jazz double-bassist and composer, on July 26

Ray Gómez, 73, jazz-rock and pop guitarist and singer, announced July 28
Pop-Tops – Mamy Blue (1971, as member; original version of the global hit)
Stanley Clarke – School Days (1976, on guitar)
Ray Gomez – Make Your Move (1980, also on vocals)

Kavinsky, 50, French DJ, musician, film composer and actor, discovered on July 28
Kavinsky – Nightcall (2010, also as co-writer and co-producer)

Geraldine Bey, 91, American jazz singer, on July 28
Andy Bey & The Bey Sisters – Willow Weep For Me (1964)

Javier Martín del Campo, 75, Mexican musician (Revolución de Emiliano Zapata), ann. July 29
La Revolución de Emiliano Zapata – Nasty Sex (1971, also as co-writer and co-producer)

Arlene Smith, 84, singer and songwriter with girl group The Chantels, on July 29
The Chantels – He’s Gone (1957, also as co-writer and on lead vocals)
The Chantels – Maybe (1957, also as co-writer and on lead vocals)
Arlene Smith – Love Love Love (1961)

Glen Hansard, 56, Irish musician and actor, motorcycle accident on July 29
The Frames – Finally (2004, also as lead co-writer)
Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova – Falling Slowly (2006, also as co-writer, producer)
The Frames – Revelate (2008, also as lead co-writer)

Gunnar Þórðarson, 81, Icelandic guitarist, producer and songwriter, announced July 30

Jeff Connolly, 69, frontman of garage rock group Lyres, on July 31

Vicki Wickham, 87, English manager (Dusty Springfield, LaBelle), on July 31
Dusty Springfield – You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me (1966, as co-lyricist)

Pepe Villalobos, 96, Peruvian musician and composer, on July 31

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Previous In Memoriams

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It would overstate things to say that 1976 was a great year for music, the release of a few absolute classics notwithstanding, but it was a satisfying year. So here are my 20 favourite albums of the year.

Some undeniable classics feature here: Boz Scaggs’ majestic Silk Degrees, Frampton Comes Alive! (though its inclusion here may be due mostly to happy memories) and Hotel California (which just scraped in).

The obvious standout is Stevie Wonder’s Songs In The Key Of Life, an explosion of creativity that even four sides couldn’t contain, so he added an EP to the package.

On Turnstiles, Billy Joel started to find his voice. It features my (nominal) favourite song by him — Summer, Highland Falls — as well as the superb New York State Of Mind. Joel wasn’t entirely satisfied with the album, though. When he put together his live album Songs In The Attic in 1981 — Joel described it as an exercise in improving recordings he wasn’t happy with — he included half of Turnstiles’ eight tracks. All four were vastly improved, but Turnstiles remains a very good album.

Some of the albums here are only half good. Take Rod Stewart’s A Night On The Town: Side 1 is Rod at his balladeering, lascivious finest; on Side 2 he rocks out. I don’t even know whether Side 2 is good or not. The sensational slow Rod is all I need to hear.

I have the same feeling about Bob Seger — I prefer the night moves ballads to the old-time rock and roll. The latter can be entertaining; Night Moves closes on a good rockin’ note with Mary Lou, but if I listen to the album, I might edit the playlist down to the slow jams.

With my love for South African jazz-funk, there are two exponents of the genre represented here. Remember District Six — a reference to an area of Cape Town that was being ethnically cleansed and razed at the time — was a project by local jazz legends Monty Weber, Sammy Hartman and Lionel Beukes. The album also included contributions by fellow jazz greats Basil “Manenberg” Coetzee, Winston “Nkunku” Ngozi and Errol Dyers. The album is now a rarity. Coetzee also appears on Pacific Express’ Black Fire, alongside more jazz legends, including Robbie Jansen, Chris Schilder and singer Zayn Adams. The great guitar solo on the featured track is by Issy Ariefdien.

A more recent discovery is Brazilian soul singer Cassiano, a pioneer of Brazil’s rich soul scene. Sadly, he suffered serious respiratory problems in the late 1970s, resulting in the loss of part of his lungs. Besides making it difficult to continue performing, his already troubled relationship with the record industry deteriorated further. He released his last album in 1990 and died in 2021.

Finally, one may argue whether Blondie’s debut album belongs here. It was first released in December 1976, when it made little impression, before being re-released in September 1977 to much better effect. I’ve decided to hold it over for 1977.

Another dating conundrum is AC/DC. The international release of High Voltage came in 1976, but it comprised tracks from the band’s two 1975 Australian albums, High Voltage and T.N.T.. I could have chosen AC/DC’s proper 1976 release, Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap, but that is a rather patchy effort (though the bluesy Ride On is a favourite of mine), whereas the international High Voltage release is packed with gems.

So which 1976 LPs didn’t make my cut? Those under consideration included This Is Niecy by Deniece Williams, the Ramones’ eponymous debut, Jackson Browne’s The Pretender and Marvin Gaye’s I Want You. After compiling this, I regretted dumping Deniece, so a track from her album is included as a bonus track.

I also considered Al Stewart’s Year Of The Cat, Queen’s A Day At The Races, Thin Lizzy’s Jailbreak and Wings’ Wings At The Speed Of Sound. All of them contain some great tracks, but I never really connected with any of them.

Other acclaimed releases from 1976 that miss out because I don’t know them well enough include David Bowie’s Station To Station, Joni Mitchell’s Hejira (though I love Coyote), Jean-Michel Jarre’s Oxygène, and the eponymous debuts by Boston and Joan Armatrading.

As for the track selection, I’ve varied things a bit between the obvious, well-known tracks and deep cuts. I might like Dancing Queen better than the featured This Is Me (which was also the b-side of Dancing Queen; and in Japan the A-side to Money Money Money on the B-side), but it’s not really necessary to feature that mega hit. Likewise, say, Hotel California or Breezing. Above all, all of these are songs I enjoy hearing when I play this collection.

The sequencing does not imply any ranking of albums. If it did, Stevie Wonder’s Another Star would open the playlist. If I was forced to keep only three albums from this lot, it would be those by Stevie, Boz Scaggs and Warren Zevon.

This mix covers 50 years ago; the 20 albums of 1986 (or 40 years ago) featured earlier this year.

So, what are your albums of 1976?

1. AC/DC – It’s A Long Way To The Top (If You Wanna Rock ‘N’ Roll) (High Voltage)
2. Steely Dan – The Fez (The Royal Scam)
3. Warren Zevon – Mohammed’s Radio (Warren Zevon)
4. Rod Stewart – Fool For You (A Night On The Town)
5. Al Jarreau – Rainbow In Your Eyes (Glow)
6. Aretha Franklin – Something He Can Feel (Sparkle)
7. George Benson – This Masquerade (Breezin’)
8. Billy Joel – Summer, Highland Falls (Turnstiles)
9. Bob Dylan – Sara (Desire)
10. Eagles – Try And Love Again (Hotel California)
11. Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band – Main Street (Night Moves)
12. Cassiano – Coleção (Cuban Soul)
13. Monty Weber & Friends – Love Song (Remember District Six)
14. Pacific Express – Love Your Baby Right (Black Fire)
15. Stevie Wonder – Another Star (Songs In The Key Of Life)
16. Earth, Wind & Fire – On Your Face (Spirit)
17. Diana Ross – I Thought It Took A Little Time (Diana Ross)
18. Boz Scaggs – What Can I Say (Silk Degrees)
19. Peter Frampton – Show Me The Way (Frampton Comes Alive!)
20. Abba – That’s Me (Arrival)

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Previous Albums of the Year mixes:
1971 Vol. 1
1971 Vol. 2
1972
1973
1974
1975
1982
1983
1984
1985
1986

More Albums of the Year
More CD-R Mixes

In 1970, the folk singer-songwriter Steve Goodman took a long overnight train journey on the Illinois Central line that ran from Chicago to New Orleans. Goodman had recently been diagnosed with leukaemia, and friends later said the trip took on deeper meaning for him. The passing landscapes, his fellow travellers, the labourers at successive stations, and the fading romance of American rail travel all found their way into the lyrics.

Goodman reportedly wrote much of City Of New Orleans in one session after the journey, with the upbeat chorus: “Good morning America, how are you?” The train itself — the City of New Orleans — is a narrator, an actual setting and a metaphor for a country in transition.

Chicago-born Steve Goodman was a folk singer, guitarist and gifted songwriter known for his warm wit and storytelling. Though he never attained major commercial success, he was highly regarded among fellow musicians and by a loyal fan base. Besides City of New Orleans, he also wrote You Never Even Called Me by My Name (a country hit for David Allan Coe) and many songs set around Chicago life and baseball culture.

City Of New Orleans appeared on his debut album in 1971, produced by Kris Kristofferson, who also provided backing vocals. As did John Prine, who 27 years later featured on Randy Scruggs’ version of the song.

Goodman battled leukaemia for much of his adult life, performing and recording between treatments. His career was cut short when he died in 1984 at the age of 36.

 

Soon after Goodman’s recording of City of New Orleans it was covered by John Denver on his Aerie album, but it was Arlo Guthrie who scored a huge hit with the song.

According to Goodman, he had relentlessly played the song for his friend Guthrie — at one point even performing it in Arlo’s kitchen. Eventually Guthrie agreed to record it for his 1972 album Hobo’s Lullaby. As a single, his version was a hit, first in the United States and then around the world. It is Guthrie’s recording that most people associate with the song.

City Of New Orleans has been covered many tines — the 50 versions here don’t represent an exhaustive list. It quickly became especially popular among country acts such as Hank Snow, Sammi Smith, Lynn Anderson, The Seldom Scene, Chet Atkins (in an instrumental), Jerry Reed and Johnny Cash, who recorded the song several times, first with June Carter.

In 1984, Willie Nelson recorded City Of New Orleans, and his version became a # 1 country hit in the US and won a Grammy for Best Country Song, awarded to Goodman posthumously as songwriter.

In Europe, the song also found success in translation. Joe Dassin was an early adopter in 1972, rendering it as Salut les amoureux (Hello Lovers), reworking the lyrics as a bittersweet farewell between lovers. In the Netherlands the following year, Gerard Cox topped the charts with ’t Is Weer Voorbij, Die Mooie Zomer (It’s over again, that beautiful summer).

In Germany, the summer theme was popular. A middle-aged chap called Ronny (who had a way of crooning about the Wild West and adventures at sea) took the cue from Cox with his Einmal vergeht der schönste Sommer (Every beautiful summer must end). Dutch entertainer Rudi Carrell, an all-time legend of German television, had a big hit in 1975 by sticking with a summer theme on his record Wann wird’s mal wieder richtig Sommer (When are we going to have a proper summer again), which expressed the timeless cliché of “in my day everything was better” by way of unintended reference to climate change. Much later there was a version in the Kölsch dialect of Cologne titled Wann ward dat Wäder wedder better (When will the weather get better) by De Plattfööt. Even by the loose measures of quality control in Song Swarms, I couldn’t get myself to force that on to you.

Before Rudi was bemoaning the early effects of climate change, the fairly recently late Jack White tried his hand, with less success and no great sparkle, at a more faithful translation, Der Zug genannt die ‘City of New Orleans’ (The train called the ‘City of New Orleans’). White, a former professional footballer, soon dropped his singing career to become a hugely successful producer.

The best of the quartet of German versions here is more recent. Veteran German country singer Tom Astor in 2013 returned the song to its original spirit on Hallo Old Germany, wie geht’s dir (Hello Old Germany, how are you), with the singer taking to the Autobahn instead of the Eisenbahn. Finnish band Karma did something similar in 1976 with Hyvää huomenta Suomi (Good Morning Finland), as did Norwegian singer Lillian Askeland in 1984 with her less than brilliant Hei Mamma Norge (Hello, Mother Norway).

In 1976, Icelandic rock band Brimkló covered the song to good effect as Síðasta sjóferðin, which I invite you to say fast four times in a row. The title means The Last Voyage. Their version is very good.

In 1981, Czech crooner Karel Gott released an album of covers of country songs, performed in Czech. It included a version of City Of New Orleans under the title Vstávej, ty tuláku (quickly, five times in a row), which means “Get up, you vagabond”. Gott — whose name must have seemed ironic in aggressively atheistic Czechoslovakia — was hugely popular in Germany, but he decided to re-record his country set in English.

Polish band Lonstar just sang the song in English in 1999, seven years before Texan country band Lonestar got around to it.

Of the foreign languages on show, other than Dassin’s French, I think Icelandic has the nicest sound for this song, though German suits the chugging rhythm of the song. And let’s say that Czech is not the perfect tongue for folk-rock.

City Of New Orleans has invited no soul covers and little attention from rock acts. The closest to rock we get here is an irreverent hard rock take by Me First And The Gimme Gimmes. And while soul ignored the song, there were a couple of early reggae versions, with Byron Lee transferring the setting to Jamaica. Commendably, he gave himself no writer’s credit for the switcheroo. The other reggae version here is by Hopeton Lewis, who used to be a singer with Byron Lee’s Dragonaires.  Also unusual is the Dixieland jazz treatment by the Fourth Street Five Jazz Band.

More recently, covers of City Of New Orleans have come from the Americana and alt.country genre. But the whole thing ends with a celtic take on the City Of New Orleans.

So, here are 50 different versions of Steve Goodman’s song.  A PDF of the text above is included.

1971:  Steve Goodman, John Denver • 1972: Arlo Guthrie, The Seldom Scene, Byron Lee & The Dragonaires (as Good Morning Jamaica), Joe Dassin as (Salut les amoureux), Kirk Felix • 1973: Lynn Anderson, Johnny Cash & June Carter Cash, Chet Atkins, Sammi Smith, Hank Snow, Hopeton Lewis, Gerard Cox (as ‘t Is Weer Voorbij, Die Mooie Zomer), Jack White (as Der Zug genannt die ‘City of New Orleans’), Lisle, Le Grand Orchestre De Paul Mauriat (as Salut les amoureux), Bluegrass Alliance • 1974: Ronny (as Einmal vergeht der schönste Sommer) • 1975: Johnny Cash, Judy Collins, Jerry Reed, Pete Seeger & Arlo Guthrie, Rudi Carrell (as Wann wird’s mal wieder richtig Sommer) • 1976: Brimkló (as Síðasta sjóferðin), Karma (as Hyvää huomenta Suomi) • 1981: Karel Gott (as Vstávej, ty tuláku) • 1982: Karel Gott. 1984: Willie Nelson, Lillian Askeland (as Hei Mamma Norge) • 1987: Suzanne Klee & Harry Shannon, The Country Gentlemen • 1988: Richard Clayderman • 1989: Lloyd Mabrey • 1998: Randy Scruggs with John Prine • 1999: Lonstar • 2002: Willie Nelson & Sheryl Crow • 2003: Fourth Street Five Jazz Band • 2004: David Hasselhoff • 2006: Jimmy Buffett, Lonestar, Luther Wright & The Wrongs, Mary-Lou • 2007: Me First And The Gimme Gimmes • 2008: Roch Voisine • 2012: Moon Dancer, Sarah Maisel • 2013: Tom Astor (as Hallo Old Germany, wie geht’s dir?) • 2014: Chuck Potthast & Lynne Jones • 2018: Derek Warfield & The Young Wolfe Tones

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Previous Song Swarms:
Blue Moon
By The Time I Get To Phoenix
Georgia On My Mind
Gonna Get Along Without You Now
Hound Dog
Light My Fire
Like A Rolling Stone
Over The Rainbow
Papa Was A Rolling Stone
Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer
Sunday Morning Coming Down
Sunny
These Boots Are Made For Walking

The most shocking music deaths in June must be that of all members of the Venezuelan alt.rock band Van Der Dijs in the Venezuelan earthquake on June 24. The band, formed in Caracas in 2024, was rehearsing in a building what collapsed in the quake. Also, two inclusions this month died in the Rio plane collision on June 14.

A quick reminder that all In Memoriams going back to January 2017 are back up. You can find them HERE!

The Hitmaker
Without Clive Davis, how different might pop history have been? Over six decades, the super-executive, label founder and talent-spotter substantially shaped, launched, revived or strategically guided the careers of Janis Joplin, Santana, Donovan, Lynn Anderson, Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel, Barry Manilow, Aerosmith, Chicago, Aretha Franklin, Patti Smith, Earth, Wind & Fire, The Grateful Dead, Air Supply, Ray Parker Jr, Jermaine Stewart, Gil Scott-Heron, Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, Alicia Keys, Jennifer Hudson, Kelly Clarkson, Monica, Usher, Dionne Warwick, Rod Stewart, Leona Lewis, and many others.

New York-born Davis did not begin his career in music but as a lawyer. Joining Columbia Records in the mid-1960s, he rose rapidly through the ranks to become president in 1967. Although he lacked a musical background, Davis had an extraordinary instinct for recognising talent and identifying songs that could become hits. Under his leadership, Columbia/CBS embraced the growing rock movement, signing or nurturing rock legends such as Joplin, Santana, Chicago and Springsteen.

After getting fired by Columbia in 1973 — let’s call it an accountancy disagreement — Davis founded Arista Records, where he enjoyed an even more remarkable run of success (until he got fired there too). He revitalised the careers of Aretha Franklin and Dionne Warwick, turned Barry Manilow into one of the decade’s biggest-selling entertainers and developed Patti Smith and others into major recording artists.

Davis embraced pop, soul, rock and R&B with equal enthusiasm. In 1983 he signed the then-unknown Whitney Houston. Working patiently rather than rushing her debut, Davis was pivotal in the career of a legend. A decade later he repeated the trick with Mariah Carey. He also guided one of the great comeback stories, Carlos Santana’s 1999 album Supernatural. And for Rod Stewart’s “American Songbook” series, you can blame Davis too.

With L.A. Reid and Babyface, Davis founded LaFace Records, whose roster included TLC, Toni Braxton, Outkast and Pink. Less admirably, he also helped Sean “Puffy” Combs set up the self-awarely-named of Bad Boy Records.

With the establishment of J Records in 2000, Davis — by now at post-retirement age — again showed his eye for talent, launching or developing the careers of Alicia Keys, Kelly Clarkson, Jennifer Hudson and Usher.

The Voice
Trivia question: Which album beat The Beatles’ Abbey Road to the Album of the Year Grammy? Answer: Blood, Sweat & Tears’ self-titled album, with David Clayton-Thomas on soulful and gritty lead vocals.

It was his first BW&S album after replacing Al Kooper, and it yielded stone-cold classics like You’ve Made Me So Very Happy, And When I Die, and Spinning Wheel, the latter written by Clayton-Thomas.

Born as David Henry Thomsett in England in 1941, the singer grew up in Toronto, Canada. Leaving home in his teens due to his abusive father, David spent time living on the streets and had several run-ins with the law before discovering music as a way to turn his life around.

In the mid-1960s Clayton-Thomas established himself on the Toronto club circuit, before he was recruited to join Blood, Sweat & Tears (who had actually already split). The band’s fusion of rock, soul, jazz, blues and brass arrangements was revolutionary in its day, and made BS&W one of the most successful acts of the late 1960s and early 1970s, with hits like Hi-De-Ho and the Clayton-Thomas compositions Lucretia MacEvil, Go Down Gamblin’, and Lisa Listen To Me.

Exhausted by the constant touring, Clayton-Thomas left the band in 1972, but returned in 1974, sticking around till 1981, and again from 1984–2004. All the while he pursued a productive solo career, recording 17 albums between 1972 and 2019.

The Soul Crooner
It seems an injustice that Peabo Bryson should be remembered mostly as the “Disney singer”, on account of his mega hits with the theme tunes of The Beauty And The Beast and Alladin. The man was a superb soul singer.

Both Disney hits were duets — with Céline Dion  and Regina Belle — and it was in duets that Peabo really shone. Before the Disney hits, his biggest success was 1983’s Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You, a lovely duet with Roberta Flack. But the real highpoint of their Born To Love album was the Side 2 opener Maybe (featured on Any Major Soul 1983).

It was Bryson’s second album with Flack. Before that, he recorded an album with Natalie Cole. The standout track is their cover of Bobby Caldwell’s What You Won’t Do For Love, a version that stands up to the original (find it on Covered With Soul Vol. 24). That track, and several others on the album, was produced and arranged by Bryson, who also played keyboards and percussions on them.

Bryson also dueted with the likes of Minnie Riperton, Melissa Manchester, Deniece Williams and Angela Bofill.

Of course, he was a fine singer in his own right. His biggest solo successes included If Ever You’re In My Arms Again (on Any Major Soul 1984), 1991’s Can You Stop The Rain (on Any Major Rain Vol. 1) and 1992’s By the Time This Night Is Over (with Kenny G).

The singer was born as Robert Peapo Bryson; the professional name Peabo was a corruption of his French West-Indian middle-name.

The Village Person
When Victor Willis wrote The Village People’s mega-hit YMCA, he claimed not to have realised the gay subtext of the song. He said that “hanging out with all the boys” was black urban slang for male friendship, rather than homosexual activity. He had no objection to the LGBTQ+ community embracing the song, but objected to the media claiming that he had intentionally written it as a gay anthem.

Who knows what his intended message was with songs like So Macho…

Born in 1951 in Dallas, Willis grew up in a religious household and initially considered becoming a minister before turning to music and acting. After studying at New York’s High School of Performing Arts, he appeared in several stage productions, including the original Broadway cast of The Wiz.

In 1977, French disco producers Jacques Morali and Henri Belolo recruited Willis to front the newly-formed Village People, in which he adopted the group’s cop character (later he became an admiral). Willis also co-wrote many of the group’s biggest hits.

Willis left the group in 1979 after struggling with drug addiction and personal difficulties. Following years of recovery, he rebuilt his life and eventually resumed performing with the Village People.

The Jazz Icon
Along with Hugh Masekela, few musicians have done more to place South African jazz on the world stage than Abdullah Ibrahim, the pianist and composer who first became known as Dollar Brand. Over a career spanning more than seven decades, Ibrahim blended jazz, African musical traditions and spiritual reflection to create a distinctive sound that was very much is own.

He was born as Adolph Johannes Brand in Cape Town on October 9, 1934, in the multicultural District Six neighbourhood, which in the 1970s was completely razed by the apartheid regime, and its residents forcibly removed into ghettos.

Exposed from an early age to church music, Cape Malay traditions, African rhythms and American jazz records, his style reflected the rich cultural diversity of his hometown.

The story is told that the young Brand received his currency-related moniker from the time he used to hang out at the city’s port to buy jazz albums from visiting US sailors. Another version suggests that he was called Dollar by fellow jazz musicians on account of his sharp dress sense, which cost money to sustain.

In the 1950s, Brand was a leading figure in the country’s vibrant jazz scene. In 1959-60 he performed with The Jazz Epistles, a pioneering group that included such future stars as Hugh Masekela, Jonas Gwangwa and Kippie Moeketsi. The ensemble made history by recording one of the first modern jazz albums by black South African musicians.

Following the Sharpeville massacre in 1960 and the tightening grip of apartheid, Brand left South Africa. A turning point came when Duke Ellington heard him perform in Zürich and helped launch his international career.

Brand converted to Islam in 1968, and took the name Abdullah Ibrahim. For some years he continued to be billed as Dollar Brand, but by the 1980s he phased that moniker out and became known by his adopted name.

Throughout the years of exile, Ibrahim remained deeply connected to South Africa, often expressing through music a longing for home and a vision of freedom. His best-known composition, 1974’s Mannenberg (titled after one of the ghettos built by the apartheid regime for forcibly removed mixed-race people), became an unofficial anthem of resistance during the struggle against apartheid. Mannenberg was played at Cape Town-educated Zohran Mamdani’s inauguration as mayor of New York City.

Ibrahim also wrote the scores for several films, including Chocolat (1988), and No Fear, No Die (1990).

The Woodwinder
When 21-year-old Walter Parazaider first heard the brass fanfare of The Beatles’ Got To Get You Into My Life in 1966, he was inspired by the possibilities of blending rock and brass arrangements. Parazaider got together with guitarist Terry Kath and drummer Danny Seraphine — and the band that would become Chicago was born.

Born in Maywood, Illinois, in 1945, Parazaider began playing the clarinet at age the age of nine, inspired by watching Benny Goodman on The Ed Sullivan Show. He went on to receive formal classical training, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in classical clarinet performance from DePaul University. He later switched to saxophone, joking it was “a cool way to meet girls”. It wasn’t really — Walter had married his wife JacLynn in 1966.

With the addition of fellow woodwind players Lee Loughnane and James Pankow, keyboardist Robert Lamm, and bassist Peter Cetera, the Chicago Transit Authority, later just Chicago, became a a jazz-influenced rock outfit, operating alongside Blood, Sweat & Tears..

The group went on to become one of the most commercially successful groups in rock history, with more than 100 million records sold, 21 Top 10 singles, five consecutive Number One albums, and 47 gold and platinum awards.

Parazaider’s contributions were central to the band’s sound — capable of a gorgeous melody, as on the famous flute solo of Color My World and the sax on Just You ‘N’ Me, as well as dissonant, Coltrane-like improvisations.

Parazaider retired from touring in 2017 due to a heart condition, and died on June 17 at the age of 81, after having lived with Alzheimer’s disease in his later years.

The Motown Producer
After Motown relocated from Detroit to LA, a new generation of producers emerged. Among them was James Anthony Carmichael, a Grammy-winning producer, arranger and musician, whose death on May 23 was announced only on June 4.

Having cut his teeth as a session musician and producer on LA’s soul scene, Carmichael joined Motown as an arranger in the late 1960s, and worked on records by acts like The Miracles, The Jackson 5, Michael Jackson, Marvin Gaye, Rare Earth, Gladys Knight & The Pips, Eddie Kendricks, GC Cameron, and others.

His big break came when he was given charge of a funk group by the name of the Commodores in 1974. He produced their first hit, the instrumental Machine Gun, and every record after until 1981, including that stunning trio of ballads: Easy, Three Times A Lady, and Still. When Lionel Richie left, Carmichael co-produced, with the singer, his albums Lionel Richie in 1982, Can’t Slow Down in 1983 (which earned him his two Grammys), and Dancing On The Ceiling in 1986. I needn’t go into the number of mega-hits he was party to in that 12-year period with the Commodores and Richie. He co-produced two further Richie albums in the 1990s.

Carmichael also inspired Richie’s Hello. The story goes that Carmichael was watching for Lionel in the hall of the singer’s mansion. Richie greeted him with the words, “Hello. Is it me you’re looking for?” Carmichael told him to write a song around these words. Richie gave him a co-writing credit for the idea.

In 1986 Carmichael returned to produce the Commodores one more time in 1986, which was also the final outing of bassist Ronald LaPread, who died a week after Carmichael (see In Memoriam – May 2026).

Carmichael also produced three Atlantic Starr albums between 1981-83, including their classics Circles (on Any Major Soul 1982-83), Touch A Four Leaf Clover (like Richie’s Love Will Find A Way on on Any Major Soul 1983), Send For Me, and Am I Dreaming. He produced Diana Ross’ 1985 eulogy to Marvin Gaye, Missing You. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, he also produced ex-Manhattans singer Gerald Alston, Regina Belle, Pointer Sisters and others.

Carmichael took a break from music in the early 1990s, which turned into a rarely interrupted retirement.

The Calypso Sir
Best known as the co-founder, lead singer, whistler and principal songwriter of the legendary Barbadian folk and calypso group The Merrymen, Emile Straker helped introduce Caribbean music to audiences around the world and became a defining figures of Barbadian popular culture.

The Merrymen recorded around 40 albums and performed across the globe, playing prestigious venues such as the Royal Albert Hall, Madison Square Garden and Carnegie Hall. In 1979, they performed during the halftime show of the Super Bowl.

Straker’s contributions were recognised with numerous honours, and he was knighted in 2019, becoming Sir Emile Straker.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.

James Anthony Carmichael, 84, soul arranger and producer, on May 23
Michael Jackson – I Wanna Be Where You Are (1972, as arranger)
Commodores – Too Hot Ta Trot (1978, as producer)
Lionel Richie – Love Will Conquer All (1986, as co-producer and co-writer)
Gerald Alston & Brenda Russell – Tell Me This Night Won’t End (1990, as producer)

Areski Belkacem, 86, French singer, musician, and composer, on June 1
Areski – Les émigrants (1968)

Master Parrot, c.47, Ugandan Afro-pop musician, traffic accident on June 1

Anthony Head, 72, English actor and musician, Murray’s brother, on June 1
Anthony Stewart Head & George Sarah – Owning My Mistakes (2002, also as co-writer)

Kenny Rice, 81, soul drummer and composer, on June 2
Labelle – Sunday’s News (1972, on drums)

Peabo Bryson, 75, soul singer, songwriter, musician, arranger, producer, on June 2
Peabo Bryson – Reaching For The Sky (1978, also as writer and co-producer)
Natalie Cole & Peabo Bryson – Love Will Find You (1989, as writer, producer, on keyboards)
Kenny G & Peabo Bryson – By The Time This Night Is Over (1992)

Giorgia Moll, 88, Italian singer and actress on, June 2

James Blood Ulmer, 86, jazz guitarist, singer, songwriter, on June 3
James Blood Ulmer – Are You Glad To Be In America? (1983 version, also as writer)

Margriet Hermans, 72, Belgian singer, TV personality and politician, on June 3

Sterling Betancourt, 96, Trinidadian steel pan player and builder, on June 3
Sterling Bettancourt – Blue Basin Samba (1953)

Carroll Swam, 85, bluegrass singer and guitarist, on June 4

Ian Hampton, 79, Scottish bassist of the Sparks (1974-75), on June 4
Sparks – Never Turn Your Back On Mother Earth (1974, as member on bass)

Sadanori Nakamure, 94, Japanese jazz guitarist, on June 4

John B. Williams, 86, jazz bassist, on June 4

Steve Almaas, 69, punk and rock singer, guitarist (Suicide Commandos, Beat Rodeo), on June 5
Beat Rodeo – Just Friends (1984, on lead vocals)

Indio Solari, 77, Argentine rock musician and singer, on June 5
Patricio Rey y sus Redonditos de Ricota – Ji Ji Ji (1986, as lead singer and co-writer)

Marion Fossett, 71, singer with Irish girl band Sheeba, on June 5
Sheeba – Horoscopes (1981)

Talay Riley, 35, British R&B singer-songwriter, killed on June 5
Chipmunk feat. Talay Riley – Look For Me (2009)

Tony Wilson, 66, Canadian jazz guitarist, on June 6

Jimbo Borkowitz, bassist of surf rock band The Gillbillies, announced June 7

Sylwia Rajchert, 82, singer with Polish pop band Alibabki, on June 8

Robert Greenidge, 76, Trinidadian steel drummer, composer and arranger, on June 8
John Lennon – Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy) (1980, on steel drums)
Robert Greenidge & Michael Utley – Love Is Made Of This (1996)

Nikke Ström, 75, bassist Swedish rock band Nationalteatern, on June 8

Floyd Brown, 79, swamp-pop/country singer-songwriter, guitarist, on June 9
Floyd Brown – I Can’t Sleep If I Can’t Sleep With You (1979)

Brian McFie, 65, Scottish guitarist and painter, announced June 10
Big Dish – Miss America (1990, as member)

Manu Lann Huel, 77, French singer-songwriter and poet, on June 10

Stranger Cole, 83, Jamaican reggae singer, on June 11
Lester Sterling & Stranger Cole – Bangarang (1968)

Philip Adrian Booth, 66, British-Canadian guitarist and keyboardist, on June 11

Zack Roach, guitarist of post-hardcore band Senses Fail, on June 11

Frank Michael, 79, Italian-born Belgian singer, announced June 12

Dee Palmer, 88, English keyboardist with Jethro Tull, arranger, composer, announced June 13
Jethro Tull – Moths (1978)

Dave Greenslade, 83, keyboardist, songwriter with UK jazz-rock band Colosseum, ann. June 14
Colosseum – Walking In The Park (1969)

Ronell Johnson, 49, trombonist pf New Orleans’ Preservation Hall Jazz Band, on June 14

Oliver Tree, 32, singer-songwriter, rapper, comedian, in plane crash on June 14
Oliver Tree – Life Goes On (2018, also as co-writer and co-producer)

Lucas Frota, 21, Brazilian producer, in plane crash on June 14

Abdullah Ibrahim/Dollar Brand, 91, South African jazz pianist and composer, on June 15
The Jazz Epistles – Dollar’s Moods (1960, as member)
Dollar Brand – Mannenberg (1974, also as composer)
Dollar Brand – Whoza Mtwana (1980, also as composer)
Abdullah Ibrahim Trio – Water From An Ancient Well (live) (2000, also as composer)

Fred Alexander, drummer of funk band Lakeside, on June 15
Lakeside – Fantastic Voyage (1980)

Lennie Petze, 84, member of rock & roll band The Rondels, music exec (Epic), on June 16
The Rondels – Back Beat No.1 (1961, also as co-writer)

Rayse Biggs, 72, jazz and soul trumpeter, engineer, producer, on June 16
Bob Dylan – Cat’s In The Well (1990, on trumpet)

Walter Parazaider, 81, woodwind musician, co-founder of Chicago, on June 17
Chicago – Colour My World (1970, flute solo)
Chicago – Just You ‘N’ Me (1973, soprano saxophone solo)
Chicago – Thunder And Lightning (1980)

Beau Williams, 76, soul and gospel singer, on June 17
Beau Williams – Elvina (1983)
Beau Williams – Been Too Long (1986)

Toney Lee, 72, house singer, songwriter and producer, on June 17
Toney Lee – Reach Up (1982)

Teddie Beverley, 99, singer of UK vocal trio The Beverley Sisters, on June 17
The Beverley Sisters – Sisters (1955)

Alex Bueno, 62, Dominican singer and guitarist, on June 18

Justin Cary, 50, bassist of Sixpence None The Richer, on June 18
Sixpence None The Richer – Kiss Me (1997)

Tay Keith, 29, hip hop producer, on June 18
Travis Scott feat. Drake – Sicko Mode (2018, as co-producer, co-writer)

Kirsti Sparboe, 79, Norwegian singer and actress, on June 19

Emile Straker, 90, singer, songwriter of Barbadian calypso band The Merrymen, on June 19
The Merrymen – The Guns (1966, also as co-writer)
The Merrymen – Gary Sobers (1973, also as writer)

Akihiro Miwa, 91, Japanese chanson singer, composer, actor, author, on June 20

Noël Deschamps, 83, French singer, on June 21
Noël Deschamps – Oh la hey (1966, also as co-writer)

Guesch Patti, 80, French pop singer, announced June 22
Guesch Patti – Etienne (1987, also a co-writer)

Clive Davis, 94, music executive (CBS), label founder (Arista), producer, on June 22
Aerosmith – No Surprize (1979, name-check)
Air Supply – All Out Of Love (1980, as co-lyricist)
Whitney Houston – My Love Is Your Love (1998, as co-producer)
Luther Vandross – Take You Out (2001, as co-producer)

Bruce Tull, 71, member of alt-country band Scud Mountain Boys, on June 22

Jani Wickholm, 48, Finnish pop singer, on June 23

Manuel van Der Dijs, singer of Venezuelan nu-metal band Van Der Dijs, in earthquake on June 24
Abraham Foucault, drummer of Venezuelan nu-metal band Van Der Dijs, in earthquake on June 24
Gabriel Gómez, guitarist of Venezuelan nu-metal band Van Der Dijs, in earthquake on June 24
Xander Hernández, bassist of Venezuelan nu-metal band Van Der Dijs, in earthquake on June 24

David Clayton-Thomas, 84, Canadian singer, songwriter (Blood, Sweat & Tears), on June 24
David Clayton-Thomas – Walk That Walk (1965, also a co-writer)
Blood, Sweat & Tears – Spinning Wheel (1969, also as writer)
David Clayton-Thomas – Sing A Song (1972)
Blood, Sweat & Tears feat. Chaka Khan – Dreaming As One (1977)

Roger Rettig, British guitarist of Eden Kane’s backing band The Downbeats, on June 24

Tullio Možina, 91, Italian-born Slovenian guitarist and singer, on June 24

Harold Wheeler, 82, musicals orchestrator, composer, pianist, on June 24
Bruce Springsteen – Blinded By The Light (1973, on piano)

James Monroe, 85, bluegrass singer and bassist, son of Bill Monroe, on June 24
Bill Monroe & James Monroe – I Haven’t Seen Mary In Years (1973)

Hillard Blankenship Jr, 66, bluegrass guitarist (Ralph Stanley), on June 24

Ann Blyth, 98, actress and singer, on June 24
Ann Blyth – Baubles, Bangles And Beads (1955)

Oshim Ottawa, member of Canadian band Red Rockerz and actor, on June 25

Günter Lenz, 87, German jazz bassist and composer, on June 26

Teruki Gotō, 43, Japanese musician and political activist, on June 28

Donna Stoneman, 92, bluegrass mandolin player the Stoneman Family Band, announced June 29
The Stonemans – Bottle Of Wine (1967)

Victor Willis, 74, singer of the Village People and songwriter, on June 30
Village People – In The Navy (1979, also as co-writer)
Village People – Go West (1979, also as co-writer)

Daniel Melingo, 68, Argentine musician with Los Twist; Los Abuelos de la Nada, on June 30