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)

GET IT!

Previous In Memoriams

Keep up to date with dead pop stars on Facebook

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)

GET IT!

Previous In Memoriams

Keep up to date with dead pop stars on Facebook

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

GET IT!

Previous In Memoriams

Keep up to date with dead pop stars on Facebook

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

In March I made a special note of not including J.J. Barrie’s chart-topping song No Charge on the Any Major Hits from 1976 Vol. 1 mix. This month the Canadian singer forced me to feature his song…

May was a particularly nasty month for soul musicians, including two singers who released the originals of songs that would become huge hits for UK-based acts (well, one died on April 29, but you get the drift).

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

The Legend
With the death at 95 of the great tenor saxophonist Sonny Rollins, the last surviving musician from one of the most famous photographs in jazz history has taken his final bow.

Taken by Esquire photographer Art Kane in Harlem on 12 August 1958, the image known as “A Great Day in Harlem” brought together 57 jazz musicians for what became (to resort to an overused but here appropriate term), iconic group portrait. Among them were giants such as Count Basie, Thelonious Monk, Mary Lou Williams, Dizzy Gillespie, Charles Mingus, Coleman Hawkins and Lester Young. Rollins, then just 27, stood among the masters. Read more about that great photo.

Born Walter Theodore Rollins in New York City in 1930 to parents of Caribbean extraction, Sonny grew up in Harlem at a time when jazz was renewing its pivotal place in American music. Inspired by saxophonists such as Louis Jordan, Coleman Hawkins and Lester Young, and mentored by Theolonious Monk, Rollins began playing as a teenager and soon found himself performing alongside some of the leading figures of jazz.

He made his first recordings in 1949 as a sideman for bebop singer Babs Gonzales. But Rollins sabotaged his budding career by engaging in criminal activity. In early 1950 he was jailed on Rikers Island for armed robbery before being released on parole after ten months. In 1952, Rollins was re-arrested for violating the terms of his parole by using heroin.

The breakthrough came in 1954 as part of Miles Davis’ quintet, which also included Horace Silver, Percy Heath, and Kenny Clarke. In one session, they recorded three Rollins compositions which would become jazz classics: Doxy, Oleo, and Airegin. Rollins was such a standout talent that he received billing alongside Davis.

All the while he was addicted to heroin, a drug he believed aided his creative output — until he discovered that his art didn’t depend on being high. Off heroin, Rollins established himself as one of jazz’s most inventive improvisers, releasing landmark albums such as Saxophone Colossus and Way Out West.

Rollins was known for his relentless self-criticism. At the height of his success, in 1959 he famously retired from public performance, spending months practising alone on New York’s Williamsburg Bridge. The sabbatical became the stuff of jazz legend. When he returned in 1962, with an album titled The Bridge, his playing had become even more adventurous and confident.

Throughout a career spanning more than six decades, Rollins continued to record, perform and challenge himself artistically, often drawing from his own Caribbean heritage (most famously with his composition St Thomas), and even veering into funk in the late 1970s. He received many honours, including several Grammy awards and a Lifetime Achievement Grammy, the National Medal of Arts, the Kennedy Center Honors, and at least ten honorary doctorates, including from the Juilliard School in New York City and the Berklee College of Music.

The Soul Man
With the passing of Clarence Carter, how many giants of 1960/70s Southern soul are still around? I count Al Green, Candi Staton, William Bell, Ann Peebles and Bobby Rush… Of course, there are many other soul singers of the era still around.

Born in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1936, Carter was blind from infancy. Academically-minded, he earned a science degree in music from Alabama State College in 1960. A self-taught guitarist — it all began when he received a guitar as a Christmas gift — he teamed up with another blind student, Calvin Scott, to form the duo Clarence & Calvin. In 1965, they cut several songs at Rick Hall’s FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals. As a solo act, Carter also recorded at the legendary studios.

Carter was a constant presence on the R&B charts during the late 1960s and early 1970s, but crossed over into the pop Top 10 only twice, both with covers: 1968’s Slip Away and 1970’s Patches (on Any Major Fathers Vol. 1). The latter, originally recorded by The Chairmen of the Board, won the Grammy for Best R&B Song.

Patches has a country influence, and Carter occasionally flirted with the genre, such as when he covered Harper Valley P.T.A. (still, in his soulified version, the heroine “boogalooed to the blackboard”). Get it on In Memoriam – August 2021.

In the 1970s Carter’s career gradually diminished, and his output became increasingly libidinous. His 1986 track Strokin’ has become something of a cult classic, but Carter’s highpoint in that subgenre came earlier, in 1968, with Backdoor Santa (and, no, it’s not about backdoor sex). Find it on Any Major Soul Christmas Vol. 3.

Carter released his final album, Mr. Old School, in January 2020, and put out a new single in 2024 at the age of 88!

The Doctor
As the co-lead singer and a co-founder of Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show, Dennis Locorriere helped turn what began as a scruffy, humorous country-rock outfit into one of the 1970’s most commercially successful and beloved bands.

When Dr. Hook emerged in the early 1970s, initially under the guidance of the humorous songwriter Shel Silverstein, they stood apart from the polished pop acts of the era. Their image was shaggy and irreverent, but beneath the comedy songs and Ray Sawyer’s eye patch there was a very good band.

The group first became famous through novelty-tinged hits such as The Cover Of Rolling Stone and the intentionally overwrought Sylvia’s Mother, the latter with Locorriere on tear-jerking vocals. In 1975, the band shortened their name to Dr. Hook and found much success with a smooth sound that drew from soft-rock, country, soul and pop.

Locorriere sang lead on ballads and mid-tempo hits such as Sharing The Night Together, Better Love Next Time, Sexy Eyes, and When You’re In Love With A Beautiful Woman (the observation that “it’s hard” surely was a callback to the humour of the early days).

After Dr. Hook split in the mid-1980s, Locorriere continued performing and recording as a solo artist, particularly in the UK and Europe. He provided backing vocals for acts like Randy Travis, Travis Tritt, John Hiatt, Misato Watanabe, and others.

Locorriere wrote songs that were recorded by the likes of Bob Dylan, Crystal Gayle, BJ Thomas, Helen Reddy, Willie Nelson, Southside Johnny, Olivia Newton-John, Waylon Jennings, George Jones, Lou Rawls and others. He also continued to collaborate with Silverstein on various projects.

The Shooting Star
French-born singer, actress and model Claudine Longet glamorous image and marriage to Andy Williams made her one of the most recognisable celebrities of the late 1960s and early 1970s — until her public image collapsed dramatically in 1976 following a shooting death.

Born in Paris in 1942, she first came to public attention after marrying Williams in 1961. Their marriage was widely covered in magazines and television appearances. Longet began recording in the mid-1960s and achieved modest chart success with adult contemporary interpretations of pop songs. Her whispery style seemed to suit 1960s easy-listening.

She also acted in TV programmes such as McHale’s Navy, Combat!, The Name of the Game, Hogan’s Heroes and Alias Smith and Jones, and frequently appeared on The Andy Williams Show.

All that came to an end following the death of Olympic skier Spider Sabich, with whom she had been in a relationship after separating from Williams. Sabich was killed on March 21, 1976 when a gun held by Longet discharged, in the bathroom of his house. Longet claimed that Sabich had been showing her how a gun works when it went off.

Longet claimed the shooting was accidental, saying she did not understand how the firearm worked. In 1977 she was convicted of misdemeanour criminal negligence and fined a small amount and 30 days in prison, served at her convenience. The verdict was controversial, with many believing she had received lenient treatment because of her celebrity, and because of police procedural errors.

After that Longet withdrew almost entirely from public life.

 

The Philly Soul Man
As a composer, arranger, producer and keyboard player, Dexter Wansel helped define the lush sound of Philadelphia soul in the 1970s while also working in jazz-funk and cosmic experimentation.

Born in Philadelphia in 1950, Wansel studied music from an early age and became proficient on several instruments, though keyboards would become his principal tool. His talents soon brought him to the attention of the Philadelphia International Records team of Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff.

Wansel went in to become one of the label’s most important behind-the-scenes figures, contributing arrangements, compositions and production work for artists such as Teddy Pendergrass, Lou Rawls, Billy Paul, The Jones Girls, The O’Jays, Jean Carn, The Jacksons, Bunny Sigler, Evelyn ‘Champagne’ King, Melba King, Phyllis Hyman, Grover Washington Jr, Patti LaBelle, and many others.

He also co-wrote tracks like Nights Over Egypt for The Jones Girls, Patti Labelle’s If Only You Knew, and The Best Is Yet To Come for Grover Washington Jr

At the same time, he pursued an extensive solo career. Albums such as Life On Mars (1976), What The World Is Coming To (1977) and Voyager (1978) blended soul, jazz, funk and cosmic vibes. These records were respected in their own time, but later hip-hop producers discovered them, and Wansel’s music became widely sampled.

Derxter’s son Pop followed in his dad’s footsteps and has had a distinguished career himself as a producer.

The Commodore
The bass on the Commodores’ great funk records such as Machine Gun and Brick House was born in New Zealand, and also died there. Ronald LaPread, who was born in 1946, moved to the US where he ended up studying at the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. There he met a group of fellow students who shared his passion for music. Together they formed a band that would eventually become the Commodores.

The group achieved widespread success during the 1970s and 1980s, blending funk, soul, pop and even a touch of country into a commercially successful formula. Aside from laying down basslines, LaPread also contributed his songwriting skills and backing vocals.

Lionel Richie slowly became the frontman, and when he left the group in 1982 to go solo, many expected the Commodores to fade. Instead, the remaining members continued recording and touring successfully, scoring a mega hit in 1985 with Nightshift.

LaPread remained with the Commodores until 1986, and largely stepped away from the spotlight.

The Exciter
The biggest hit that Brenda Reid had was a cover, and a year later, she would sing lead on a song that would become a massive hit for another act.

Reid’s biggest hit was Tell Him, as lead singer of the soul group The Exciters. Released in 1962, it has become a 1960s classic. It was a gender-switched cover of Gil Hamilton’s Tell Her. The following year, The Exciters released Do-Wah-Diddy, which stalled at #78 in the US but later became a massive hit for Manfred Mann. Hear the original on The Orginals: 1960s Vol. 1.

The Exciters never repeated the success of Tell Him. Much later, in 1975, they had a Top 40 hit in the UK with Reaching For The Best, which had been aimed at the Northern Soul scene but managed to cross over. Peaking at #31, it did 15 places better in the UK charts than Tell Him had 12 years earlier.

In 1978, Reid and fellow Exciter (and husband) Herb Rooney formed a duo called, quite logically, Brenda & Herb. They released a solitary album in 1979.

Brenda and Herb divorced in the mind-1980s; Herb died in 1991. Their son, Cory Rooney, has had a successful career as an R&B producer and songwriter.

The Final Cookie
In January, I marked the death the death of Margaret Ross with the claim that all members of the soul-pop group The Cookies were gone. In doing so, I killed off lead singer Earl-Jean McCrea prematurely. Now she has died at 83, and the Cookies are now all gone.

The Cookies first appeared on the scene in 1954 as a trio that included Ethel Darlene McCrea, Earl-Jean’s sister. Ethel left in 1958, and Earl-Jean didn’t join until 1961. And when Earl-Jean left in 1964, she was replaced by Ethel.

As a Cookie, Earl-Jean sang lead on the Gerry Goffin/Carole King song Chains in 1962, the first Cookie hit since 1956. It was soon covered by The Beatles on their debut album. As a solo act, Earl-Jean also released a single titled I’m Into Something Good. It became a hit in the cover by Herman’s Hermits. On The Orginals: 1960s Vol. 1, it’s the track before Do-Wah-Diddy.

The Cookie’s biggest success was Don’t Say Nothin’ Bad (About My Baby), a #7 pop hit in 1963. But The Cookies also played a part in other people’s hits as backing singers, featured on hits like Little Eva’s The Loco-motion, Neil Sedaka’s Breaking Up Is Hard To Do and Next Door To An Angel, and Blame It On The Bossa Nova by Eydie Gorme.

After her career as a pop singer, McCrae — known later as Mother Reavis, after her married surname — sang gospel, worked in the community, founded a foundation to support students pursuing higher education, became an early childhood specialist and opened a day care centre near Raleigh, North Carolina.

The Rapper
With their 1988 hit It Takes Two, Rob Base & DJ E-Z Rock helped bring rap music into the mainstream in the late 1980s. Now both are gone: Rob Base died in May of cancer at the age of 59; E-Z went in 2014 (diabetes claimed him).

Born as Robert Ginyard in in 1967, Harlem-based Rob Base and his childhood friend Rodney Bryce (or, as we know him, DJ E-Z Rock) developed a style that appealed to club audiences, radio listeners and hip-hop fans.

Their big hit came in 1988 with It Takes Two, produced by Teddy Riley and built around the heavily sampled “Woo! Yeah!” vocal from Lyn Collins’ 1972 song Think (About It), with James Brown on “yeah” duties. It became an international hit, and Spin magazine in 1989 had it top its “100 Greatest Singles of All Time” in 1989. A little more soberly, Rolling Stone listed it at number 116 “Top 500 Best Songs of All Time”.

The pair followed It Takes Two with other hits, including Joy And Pain, and Base issued a few singles in his own right, but all to diminishing returns as more politically oriented rap and the New Jack Swing scene emerged around the same time.

The Guitarist
His name might not be widely known, but you probably have heard Swedish guitarist Georg Wadenius — as lead guitarist of Blood, Sweat & Tears from 1972-75, on countless Luther Vandross records including Never Too Much, or as a member of the Saturday Night Live houseband from 1979-85.

Among others, he backed as a session musician the likes of Steely Dan (on their 1995 Alive In America album), Donald Fagen (on Kamakiriad), Aretha Franklin, Peaches & Herb, Diana Ross, Dr John, David Sanborn, James Brown, Marianne Faithfull, George Benson, Paul Simon, Dionne Warwick, Anni-Frid from ABBA, Roberta Flack, Michael Franks, Anita Baker, Freddie Jackson, Jeffrey Osborne, Will Downing, Kenny Lattimore, Backstreet Boys (on Show Me The Meaning Of Being Lonely), and a whole lot of Swedish artists, some of whom he also produced.

Launching his career in 1968, “Jojie” Wadenius first had success in his homeland as a member of the jazz-rock band Made In Sweden, and for his children’s songs. His fluid guitar style and versatility attracted attention, and in the early 1970s he moved to the United States. His first big session gig was to back BJ Thomas, before in 1972 joining Blood, Sweat & Tears in one of the group’s line-up reshuffles.

In the mid-1990s, Wadenius moved back to Europe, living in Oslo. As a solo artist, Wadenius released many albums in his own right and in collaboration with others.

The Producer
On December 8, 1980, Jack Douglas was producing the song Walking On Thin Ice with Yoko Ono and John Lennon at the Record Plant studio in New York. Often Douglas went home with John and Yoko but that night he didn’t as he had another session on, a circumstance that caused him long-lasting guilt.

Douglas, who has died at 80, had struck up a friendship with John and Yoko when he engineered the Record Plant-based recordings and finishes on 1971’s Imagine album, including the title track. He also engineered on  their Sometime In New York album the following year. In 1980, he produced their Double Fantasy sessions.

The friendship with Yoko soured soon after John’s death. In 1984, Douglas sued Ono over unpaid royalties connected to Double Fantasy. A jury found that Ono had improperly withheld royalty payments and ruled that Douglas was entitled to $2,5 million from the album’s revenues.

Douglas’ greater achievement as a producer at the Record Plant — where he had started out as a janitor, albeit one who graduated from the Institute of Audio Research — was to mould the sound of Aerosmith between 1974-77, including the band’s most acclaimed albums, 1975’s Toys In The Attic and 1975’s Rocks. Among the classic songs he produced was Walk This Way.

His graduation from engineering to producing owed to his recording work for the New York Dolls’ 1973 debut album, encouraged by producer Bob Ezrin. Among others, he went on to produce acts such as Alice Cooper, Sha Na Na, Patti Smith, Crowbar, Artful Dodger, Starz, Cheap Trick (on their Live At The Budokan album), Frankie Miller, Graham Parker, Supertramp and more.
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.

Brenda Reid, 80, lead singer of soul group The Exciters, on April 29
The Exciters – Tell Him (1962)
The Exciters – Reaching For The Best (1975)
Brenda & Herb – Tonight I’m Gonna Make You A Star (1978)

Georg Wadenius, 80, Swedish guitarist (Blood, Sweat & Tears), on May 1
Made In Sweden – Lay Lady Lay (1969, as member on guitar)
Blood, Sweat & Tears – So Long Dixie (1972, as member on guitar)
Luther Vandross – Never Too Much (1981, on guitar)
Steely Dan – Kid Charlemagne (live) (1995, on guitar, incl. solo)

Michael Sollis, 40, Australian musician, on May 1

Danny Mixon, 76, jazz pianist and organist, on May 1

Kamal Abdul-Alim, 84, jazz musician, on May 2

Lee Allen Zeno, 71, bassist (Buckwheat Zydeco), on May 3
Buckwheat Zydeco – Lay Your Burden Down (2009, as member)

Hany Shaker, 73, Egyptian singer and actor, on May 3

Yūji Ōno, 84, Japanese jazz and funk pianist and film composer, on May 4
Yuji Ohno – Get Up All The People (1977, also as writer)

Evelyn Cox Hobbs, 66, member of bluegrass group The Cox Family, on May 5
Cox Family – I Am Weary (Let Me Rest)

Carlos Malcolm, 91, Jamaican ska trombonist and percussionist, on May 6
Carlos Malcolm & His Afro Jamaican Rythms – Jamaica Fiesta (1964)

Aimable Karasira, 48, Rwandan singer and political dissident, in jail on May 6

Jesse Hector, 78, frontman of English rock band The Gorillas, on May 6
The Gorillas – She’s My Gal (1976)

Earl-Jean McCrea, 83, singer of The Cookies, on May 7
The Cookies – Don’t Say Nothin’ Bad (About My Baby) (1963)
Little Eva – The Loco-Motion (1963, on backing vocals)
Earl-Jean – I’m Into Something Good (1964)

Ingo Koster, 76, (East) German schlager singer, writer and composer, on May 7

Luiz Sérgio Carlini, 73, songwriter, guitarist of Brazilian rock band Tutti Frutti, on May 7
Rita Lee & Tutti Frutti – Agora é Moda (1978)

Jo Ann Castle, 86, honky-tonk pianist on The Lawrence Welk Show, on May 8

Abdelwahab Doukkali, 85, Moroccan singer, musician and composer, on May 8
Abdelouahab Doukkali – Ma ana ila bachar

Warren Tipton, soul singer with The Chi-Lites (2018–23), on May 9

J.J. Barrie, 90, Canadian singer and songwriter, on May 10
J.J. Barrie – No Charge (1976)

Jack Douglas, 80, producer and engineer, on May 11
New York Dolls – Personality Crisis (1973, as engineer)
Aerosmith – Kings And Queens (1978, as co-producer and co-writer)
John Lennon – (Just Like) Starting Over (1980, as co-producer)

Peter Volkmann, 74, singer of German rock band Relax, announced May 11

Romuald Figuier, 88, French singer, on May 12
Romuald – Laisse-moi le temps (1973)

Clarence Carter, 90, soul singer-songwriter, on May 13
Clarence Carter – Funky Fever (1968, also as co-writer)
Clarence Carter – Say Man (1970, also as co-writer)
Clarence Carter – Strokin’ (1986, also as writer)

El Cabrero, 81, Spanish flamenco singer, on May 13

Claudine Longet, 84, French-American singer and actress, announced May 14
Claudine Longet – Small Talk (1967)
Claudine Longet – Who Broke Your Heart (And Made You Write That Song) (1974)

Peter Archer, 64, guitarist, singer and songwriter with Australian rock band Crow, on May 14
Crow – How And Why Wonder (1993)

Bengt Berger, 83, Swedish jazz drummer, composer and producer, on May 15

Dennis Locorriere, 76, co-lead singer and lead guitarist of Dr. Hook, songwriter, producer, on May 16
Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show – Sylvia’s Mother (1972, on lead vocals)
Dr. Hook – Better Love Next Time (1979, on lead vocals)
Dennis Locorriere – Underneath The Moon (2005, also as co-writer)

Ryan Porter, 46, jazz trombonist, on May 16

Ike Willis, 70, guitarist and singer (Frank Zappa), on May 17
Frank Zappa – Joe’s Garage (1979, on lead vocals; as the titular Joe)

Totó la Momposina, 85, Colombian singer, on May 17
Totó la Momposina – La Sombra Negra (1993)

Abomé l’Éléphant, 33, Ivorian singer and rapper, on May 18

Stig Møller, 80, Danish folk-rick singer-songwriter, on May 18
Stig Møller – People They Don’t Know (1966)

Al Hurricane Jr., 66, New Mexico music singer-songwriter, on May 19

Jacqui Chan, 91, Trinidadian actress, dancer and singer, on May 19
Simon Dupree & The Big Sound – Kites (1967, spoken interlude)

Gunter Hampel, 88, German free jazz multi-instrumentalist and composer, on May 19

Jimmy Hughes, 88, soul singer and songwriter, on May 20
Jimmy Hughes – Steal Away (1964, also as writer)
Jimmy Hughes – I’m So Glad (1969)

Ron Eschete, 77, jazz guitarist, on May 20

Denyse LePage, singer and musician with Canadian disco band Lime, on May 20
Lime – Babe, We’re Gonna Love Tonight (1982)

DJ Congélateur, Ivorian singer and artist, on May 21

Stephen Whiting, 80, bassist of UK-based psychedelic band The Misunderstood, on May 21
The Misunderstood – I Can Take You To The Sun (1966)

Jerry Andrews, 70, singer, musician and songwriter of bluegrass band Crandall Creek, on May 21

Rob Base, 59, rapper and songwriter, on May 22
Rob Base & DJ EZ Rock – It Takes Two (1988, also as co-writer)
Rob Base – Get Up And Have A Good Time (1990, also as writer)

Dick Parry, 83, English saxophonist, on May 22
Pink Floyd – Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Parts 4-5) (1975, on saxophone)

Jools Topp, 68, half of New Zealand folk, comedy and activism duo Topp Twins, on May 23
The Topp Twins – Untouchable Girls (2001)

Philip Aaberg, 77, jazz and classical pianist, on May 23

John Eaton, 91, jazz pianist, musicologist, humourist, on May 24
John Eaton And His Syn-Ket – Blues Machine (1967)

Betty Roe, 95, English composer and singer, on May 24

Sonny Rollins, 95, jazz saxophonist, on May 25
Miles Davis with Sonny Rollins – Doxy (1954, on tenor sax and as composer)
Sonny Rollins – Without A Song (1962)
Sonny Rollins – Don’t Stop The Carnival (Live) (1978)
Rolling Stones – Waiting On A Friend (1981, on tenor sax)

Bjørn Tidmand, 86, Danish schlager singer, on May 26

Lotte Rømer, 75, Danish rock singer, composer and author, on May 28

Geoff Keating, 88, member of UK comedy a cappella group Master Singers, announced May 29
The Master Singers – The Highway Code (1966, also as co-writer)

Doug Shaw, 42, UK-born guitarist of psychedelic band White Magic, announced May 29

Derek Ritchie, 66, drummer of punk band The Liars, announced May 29

Pedro Ortaça, 83, Brazilian musician, on July 29

Ronald LaPread, 75, bass player of the Commodores, songwriter, on May 30
Commodores – Machine Gun (1974)
Commodores – Brick House (1977, also as co-writer)

Foster Sylvers, 64, soul singer, songwriter, producer, on July 30
The Sylvers – Boogie Fever (1975, as member)

Joe Negri, 99, jazz guitarist, academic and actor on Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, on May 30
Joe Negri And His Guitar – So Blue (Tanto Blu) (1961)

Dexter Wansel, 75, soul keyboardist, songwriter, producer, arranger, bandleader, on May 31
Dexter Wansel – Life On Mars (1976, also on keyboards and as writer and producer)
Teddy Pendergrass – Love TKO (1980, as co-producer and arranger)
The Jones Girls – Nights Over Egypt (1981, as producer, arranger and co-writer)

GET IT!

Previous In Memoriams

Keep up to date with dead pop stars on Facebook

Did my Any Major Peace mix jinx featured acts? Last month we lost Country Joe McDonald; now Afrika Bambaataa… In the case of the latter, I had to think a bit about how to treat the man, a hip hop pioneer but also a sexual predator. Should he be relegated to the end of this article? Ignore his music? Write a do-not-speak-ill-of-the-dead hagiography? In the event, this is a series about musical legacies, so that must be honoured, but the sexual abuse may not be ignored. I call it the Michael Jackson Conundrum, and I’ll admit that there won’t be any consistency when future cases arise.

Otherwise, it was a busy month, but also with some great music, some to hear again in a new context and some to discover.

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

The Troubadour
After a restless career, Dave Mason died peacefully at his home in Nevada at the age of 79.

Born in Worcester, England, in 1946, Mason was a session musician by his mid-teens. Among his friends was Jimi Hendrix, whom he turned on to Bob Dylan’s All Along The Watchtower, on which he then played 12-string acoustic guitar. He also provided backing vocals to Crosstown Traffic. Around the same time he played the shehnai, an Asian woodwind instrument, and bass drum on The Rolling Stones’ Street Fighting Man.

By then, Mason had co-founded Traffic with Steve Winwood, Jim Capaldi and Chris Wood. He wrote and sang on two of the band’s most famous songs: Hole In My Shoe, which reached number two in the UK charts (and again in 1984 in neil’s cover), and Feelin’ Alright?, which would be widely covered, most famously by Joe Cocker. He wrote the latter about (temporarily) leaving Traffic before their debut album was even released.

By September 1968, Mason had left the band, briefly rejoining in 1971. His solo career took off only in 1970, with Only You Know And I Know, a US Top 50 hit and soon a bigger hit for his friends Delaney & Bonnie. His solo debut album, Alone Together, went gold.

Mason’s biggest hit as a solo artist would come in 1977, with the great break-up song We Just Disagree (featured on Not Feeling Guilty Vol. 6), which reached #12 in the US. 1978 saw two more hits, Let It Go Let It Flow (featured on Not Feeling Guilty Vol. 10) and a cover of Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow. In 1980, he had a minor hit with Save Me, which featured Michael Jackson on prominent backing vocals (it features on the Michael Jackson Backing Vocals Collection).

A part of the Laurel Canyon scene (he featured on Any Major Laurel Canyon with the wonderful Just A Song), Mason briefly joined up with Traffic alumnus Eric Clapton in Derek & The Dominoes in 1970 (he played only on one released track, Roll It Over), played on George Harrison’s All Things Must Pass, and later on Paul McCartney’s 1975 hit Listen To What The Man Said.

In the 1990s, Mason joined Fleetwood Mac to replace Lindsey Buckingham. In 2018 he toured with the recently late Steve Cropper.

Mason joined up with his old Traffic colleagues when the band was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2004. His final album, A Shade Of Blue, was released in 2023.

The Hip Hop Pioneer
One of the chief pioneers of hip hop, Afrika Bambaataa was not just a rapper and DJ but also an organiser, ideologue and ambassador for what the movement would become. Emerging from the Bronx in the 1970s, he helped shift hip hop from a loose collection of neighbourhood parties into a self-conscious cultural force and identity.

Known to his mother as Lance Taylor, Bambaataa was the founder of the Universal Zulu Nation, a collective that channelled the energy of street culture away from gang violence — he co-opted his own street gang, the Black Spades into the Zulu Nation — and into music, dance and creative expression. Drawing on his own gangster past, he advocated unity, knowledge and respect as core principles.

Lance renamed himself after the early 20th-century Zulu chief Bhambatha. The name symbolised strength and leadership — you’d be less likely to pick a fight with Bambaataa than with a guy called Lance — but also reflected a deliberate black consciousness and alignment with Afrocentric currents in early hip hop culture.

Bambaataa was among the first to incorporate electronic music and European influences into hip hop. For example, his 1982 track Planet Rock fused hip hop with the electronic sounds of Kraftwerk and the Japanese electropop group Yellow Magic Orchestra. He was a keen collaborator with other artists.

Afrika Bambaataa’s legacy has been clouded by accusations of long-term sexual abuse of teenage boys. Bambaataa denied the allegations, but they led to a reassessment of his reputation within the hip hop community, within which many voices acknowledged that the abuse was widely known. In May 2016, he yielkded to pressure and quit as head of the Universal Zulu Nation, which soon distanced itself from its founder.

The Outlaw’s Outlaw
He was one of the most controversial figures in outlaw country, a genre associated with defiance of the Nashville mainstream. Born in 1939 in Akron, Ohio, the self-described “longhaired redneck” David Allan Coe cultivated a larger-than-life persona built on stories of prison time (for burglary, not murder, as he once claimed), hard living, drug use, and a ferociously independent streak.

Musically, Coe was a fine songwriter and performer who got into country by detour. “I didn’t really care for some of the country music until people like Kris Kristofferson and some of those people started writing songs,” he once said. “Once I got into country music, I went back and researched it, and learned everything there was to know about it.” He went on to find his niche.

His compositions were recorded by major country artists — most famously Johnny Paycheck’s Take This Job And Shove It — and his own hits balanced humour with the deep empathy of the country tradition. He was associated with leading outlaw figures such as Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings, though he never quite achieved their level of mainstream acceptance.

Part of the reason lies in Coe’s habit of courting controversy. His “Underground Albums” in the 1970s (collated on 1990’s bootleg X-rated album) featured sexually explicit material that placed him well outside the boundaries of commercial country music. The recordings circulated largely as bootlegs and were never part of his official mainstream catalogue, but they nevertheless became central to his reputation.

To some the material was gratuitous and damaging, while others claimed it was intended as shock-humour or satire — and both claims have merit. Certainly the use of the N-word, whatever its purpose, is deeply troubling. Other tracks are genuinely clever, if one gets past the explicit imagery.

While Coe denied being racist, the presence of racially offensive language in underground material and his use of the Confederate flag on an album cover has complicated any attempt to assess his legacy. Conversely — a word that does hard work in any assessment of Coe — he also slammed the Klan and condemned the US government’s treatment of Native Americans. He also stood up for LGBT rights.

Unambiguously, David Allan Coe was his own man who saw little reason to justify himself to the public or the country music community — and if that isn’t truly outlaw, what is?

The Osmond Leader
While the girls screamed at Donny and the others, oldest brother Alan Osmond held the family enterprise together — organising, writing (mostly with brother Merrill), producing, choreographing, playing piano and guitar. But he never sang more than backing vocals, and kept out of the spotlight.

Born in 1949, Alan was the third-oldest of the seven Osmond siblings who could sing — elder brothers Virl and Tom were hearing impaired. To raise money for hearing aids for those brothers, Alan and his younger siblings Wayne (who died in January 2025), Merrill and Jay began singing at various events. They were discovered at Disneyland by Jay Emerson Williams, father of Andy Williams, which led to a seven-year stint as performers on The Andy Williams Show. By the late 1960s, the boys sought to shed their variety show image and become pop stars.

The run of hits and ascent to teen idoldom came in the early- and mod-1970s with hits like One Bad Apple, Yo Yo, and the Alan & Merrill-written Down By The Lazy River and Crazy Horses (with Wayne joining the writing team), Love Me For A Reason and Let Me In.

Alan was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1987, and became a motivational speaker, founded the OneHeart Foundation with his wife Suzanne, and adopted the motto “I may have MS, but MS does not have me”. He and Merrill also co-founded Stadium of Fire, now one of the largest Independence Day celebrations in the United States.

The Hot Chocolateer
In 1968, Trinidad-born musician Tony Wilson and his neighbour in London, Errol Brown, decided to join forces and formed the soul-funk band Hot Chocolate.

By then, 21-year-old Wilson had already had a few single releases under his belt, as part of the group Soul Brothers. Considered the better singer, Wilson’s expectation was that he’d front the band. But producer Mickey Most pushed for the more charismatic Brown to be the lead singer. On some records, Wilson and Brown shared lead vocals.

Wilson encouraged Brown to write lyrics, and together they wrote most of Hot Chocolate’s early hits, such as You Sexy Thing, Brother Louie, Emma, and Love Is Life. Brother Louie became a chart-topper in the US in a cover by the band Stories (which was also used as the theme of Louis C.K.’s TV sitcom Louie).

Wilson and Brown also wrote the 1970 Herman’s Hermits single Bet Yer Life I Do and the Mary Hopkin hit Think About Your Children. Hot Chocolate’s 1970 song You Could’ve Been A Lady later became April Wine’s first hit.

But just as Hit Chocolate was breaking big in 1975 with You Sexy Thing, Wilson left the band, frustrated by Brown’s dominance. Alas, his solo career never took off, and Wilson retired to his native Trinidad, where died at the age of 78. He and Brown, who died in 2015, never reconciled.

The Great Drummer
A few days after his death, I posted a mix of great tracks on which legendary session drummer James Gadson played. Look at that list, add the four tracks here, and know that there were many more songs you know to which Gadson.

Some of the artists he backed were — big breath now — The Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band (as member), Bill Withers, Mike James Kirkland, The Temptations, Jerry Butler, Tavares, Eddie Kendricks, David Ruffin, The Undisputed Truth, Quincy Jones, Martha Reeves, Boz Scaggs, The Miracles, Herbie Hancock, Kenny Rankin, Bobby Womack, Marvin Gaye, Jimmy Cliff,  The Supremes, Phoebe Snow, Johnny Bristol, Bloodstone, Letta Mbulu, Blue Mitchell, Randy Crawford, Lamont Dozier, Albert King, Leon Ware, The Impressions, Leon Haywood, Margie Joseph, Patrick Juvet, The Emotions, Aretha Franklin, Marilyn McCoo & Billy Davis Jr, Pointer Sisters, Syreeta, Donny Osmond, Yvonne Elliman, Marlena Shaw, Four Tops, Natalie Cole, Rose Royce, Lenny Williams, Patrice Rushen, Norman Connors, Minnie Riperton,  The Memphis Horns, Willie Bobo, The Whispers, Patti Labelle, Maxine Nightingale, Edwin Starr, G.C. Cameron, Benny Golson, Herb Alpert & Hugh Masekela, Tata Vega, Nancy Wilson, Cheryl Lynn, Peaches & Herb, Melissa Manchester, Sylvester, Roy Ayers & Wayne Henderson, Smokey Robinson, Demis Roussos, BB King, Wilton Felder, Terry Callier, Wilton Felder, Ben E. King, The Originals, Cuba Gooding, Prince Phillip Mitchell, Natalie Cole & Peabo Bryson, Tom Jones, Elkie Brooks, Billy Preston & Syreeta, High Inergy, Gloria Gaynor, Paulinho Da Costa, Ramsey Lewis, Freda Payne, Stanley Turrentine, Les McCann, Addrisi Brothers, Alessi Brothers, Mighty Clouds Of Joy, Webster Lewis, Helen Reddy, The Gap Band, Barbra Streisand & Donna Summer….

And that is just the 1970s!! By the 2010s, he was backing Beck, Lana Del Rey, Kelly Clarkson and Damien Rice.

More about him in the linernotes for The James Gadson Collection.

The Last Ronette
With the death at 80 of Nedra Talley, all three Ronettes are now gone. Her cousins Ronnie and Estelle Bennett left us in 2022 and 2009 respectively (Ronnie Spector’s In Memoriam entry is here)

Nedra and the Bennett sisters began singing together at Sunday family dinners at their grandmother’s. That developed into stage gigs after Ronnie formed the trio, named after herself, in 1957. By 1961, the trio had a recording contract.

The breakthrough came when they signed with Phil Spector, Ronnie’s future husband. Be My Baby hit No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1963. Further hits followed, such as Baby I Love You; (The Best Part Of) Breakin’ Up; Do I Love You?; and Walking In The Rain. In the meantime, they also did backing vocals for the still-unknown Jimi Hendrix. In 1966, The Ronettes supported the Beatles on their US tour (without Ronnie; Spector had forbidden her participation).

By 1965, the hits were drying up. In 1967, Nedra left the group, in part because of Spector’s interference, and in part because she wanted to sing Christian material. She went on to release two Christian music albums in the 1970s, under her married name, Nedra Ross.

The Ronettes’ entry into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame was long blocked by the vengeful Spector, following the trio’s lawsuit against him and his bitter divorce from Ronnie. They were finally inducted in 2007, while Spector was otherwise occupied with his murder trial.

The Irish Voice
Irish folk group Clannad achieved something singular in 1982: taking a song sung entirely in Gaelic to #5 in the UK charts. It had not been done before, and it hasn’t been done since. The distinctive, haunting voice of the Theme From Harry’s Game belonged to lead singer Moya Brennan (or Máire Brennan, as she was known then), who has died at the age of 72.

U2 used to play a recording of Harry’s Theme at the end of their concerts in the 1980s. In 1986, Clannad returned to the higher reaches of the UK charts with In A Lifetime, on which Moya duetted with Bono.

Born as Máire Ní Bhraonáin in County Donegal, Moya grew up in a deeply musical family rooted in the Irish tradition. As a founding member of Clannad in the early 1970s, Brennan and siblings Ciarán and Pól created a sound that blended traditional Irish music and Gregorian chant with contemporary elements, including electronic keyboards, rock, new age music and jazz. In front of the ancient but modern sound were Moya’s ethereal vocals.

Her harp playing also played a central role in the group’s sound. Rather than treating the instrument as purely traditional, she integrated it into layered arrangements, alongside synths and other modern production techniques. This fusion helped pave the way for later Celtic and new-age artists, including Moya’s sister Enya, who began her career with a brief stint with Clannad.

Moya also pursued a successful solo career, which often reflected her Christian faith. In 2000 she performed her song Perfect Time at the Catholic World Youth Day in Rome, in front of Pope John Paul II and a crowd of 2,1 million people. Her 1999 album Whisper To The Wild Water was nominated for a Best New Age Album Grammy — a category she was uncomfortable with due to her Christian beliefs.

She recorded with many singers, including Shane McGowan, Paul Young, Robert Plant, Van Morrison, Michael McDonald, Hazel O’Connor, Bruce Hornsby, Joe Jackson, and others.

The Country Hit Writer
Two of my favourite country songs of the 1980s were co-written by Don Schlitz: When You Say Nothing At All by Keith Whitley (covered to superb effect by Alison Krauss and less good effect by Ronan Keating) and Randy Travis’ Forever And Ever Amen.

And Schlitz also wrote the Kenny Rogers hit The Gambler. It was first recorded by Bobby Bare and first released by Charlie Tango, then by Schlitz himself who had a minor hit with it in 1978 before Rogers took it into the stratosphere. It earned Schlitz a Grammy for Best Country Song. Altogether he scored 24 Country #1 hits.

Schlitz has also contributed to musical theatre, notably co-writing the score for the musical The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. He was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Country Music Hall of Fame, and as a member of the Grand Ole Opry.

Schlitz also released three albums as a performer, in 1980, 2010 and 2011.

The Sessions Man
Operating behind the scenes in Nashville, guitarist Wayne Moss played on hits like Tommy Roe’s Sheila, Roy Orbison’s Oh Pretty Woman and Dolly Parton’s Jolene (the steel guitar part that comes in at the second refrain), and on Bob Dylan’s 1966 Blonde On Blonde album, on tracks such as Just Like A Woman, I Want You, Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again, Visions Of Johanna, Sad Eyed Lady Of The Lowlands, and Rainy Day Women #12 & 35 (on bass).

Born in 1938 in West Virginia, Moss moved to Nashville in 1959 at the age of 21 and became a founding member of two of Nashville’s earliest rock & roll bands, The Casuals and The Escorts. With band mate Charlie McCoy, he owned a nightclub in the city. When that went out of business in 1961, they used the equipment to build a recording studio in Moss’ garage and named it Cinderella Sounds.

Moss worked as a session musician for many acts on the country scene and beyond, including Nancy Sinatra (also on her version of Jackson), Joan Baez, Jerry Reed, Charley Pride, Al Kooper, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Jerry Jeff Walker, Steve Miller Band, The Monkees, Leo Kottke, Linda Ronstadt, Joe Simon, Waylon Jennings, Alex Harvey, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, The Oak Rudge Boys, and his old friend Charlie McCoy. For some of them he also did engineering and production work.

He also co-founded two bands with fellow Nashville session players, Area Code 615 and southern rock band Barefoot Jerry.

The Sugar Hill Rapper
Bambaataa wasn’t the only hip hop pioneer we lost in April. Blondy of rapping trio The Sequence dropped the mic at the age of 66. The Sequence’s Funk It Up was the second record to be released by Sugar Hill Records (after Rapper’s Delight) in December 1979, and the first rap record by a female group. Funk You Up was a mid-size hit.

Ironically, one of the first hip hop records not to feature any samples has been widely sampled, including on the mega hit Uptown Funk by Mark Ronson & Bruno Mars. In 2016, The Sequence sued them for plagiarism; I couldn’t find any outcome.

The Sequence released several records and toured (mostly with The Sugar Hill Gang) until their split in 1985. Blondy, real name Gwendolyn Chisolm, worked at a telemarketing firm and with Sugar Hill Records co-founder Joe Robinson, until she left that scene after witnessing Robinson getting pistol-whipped during a meeting.

The most famous Sequence member was Angie B., who as Angie Stone would become a soul star. She died on March 1 last year (the 1979 version of Funk You Up featured in that In Memoriam), leaving Cheryl the Pearl as the sole surviving member.

The Hit Engineer
As a producer, Don Landee’s main credits included Van Halen as of their 1986 album 5150, which was named after the studio which Landee helped Eddie van Halen build. Before that Landee had served the band as engineer and mixer, starting in the 1970s, with Ted Templeman as producer. His other main clients as engineer were The Doobie Brothers, for whom he recorded hits like Long Train Runnin’, Listen To The Music, Black Water, Rockin’ Down The Highway, Takin’ It To The Streets, What A Fool Believes, and Minute By Minute, also with Templeman.

Landee also engineered on records by the likes of Neil Young, Phil Ochs, Jackie DeShannon (including Put A Little Love In Your Heart), Larry Carlton, Eric Burdon & The Animals (including Sky Pilot), Van Morrison, Arlo Guthrie (The City Of New Orleans), Randy Newman, Captain Beefheart, Van Dyke Parks, Claudia Lennear, Little Feat (Willin’; Sailing Shoes version), Maria Muldaur (Midnight At The Oasis), James Taylor (How Sweet It Is),  Carly Simon, Nicolette Larson (It’s Gonna Take A Lotta Love),  Lowell George, Michael McDonald (I Keep Forgetting), Michael Jackson (Beat It was recorded by Landee), and others.
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.

Tony Rivers, 85, English pop singer-songwriter, on March 30
Harmony Grass – Move In A Little Closer (1968)

Bill Leader, 96, English producer and engineer, on March 31
Pentangle – When I Get Home (1971, as producer)

Suki Lahav, 74, Israeli violinist, singer and lyricist, on April 1
Bruce Springsteen – Jungleland (1975, on violin)

Bo Lueders, 39, guitarist of punk band Harm’s Way, announced April 2

James Gadson, 86, session drummer, singer and producer, on April 2
Bill Withers – Lean On Me (live) (1973, on drums and as co-producer)
Tavares – Heaven Must Be Missing An Angel (1976, on drums)
Gadson & Washington – Ain’t No Way To Live (1988)
Lana Del Rey – Ride (2012, on drums)

Conley ‘Coy’ Abrams, R&B and hip hop engineer, mixer, producer, songwriter, on April 2
Ithaka – Stay Strong Little Brother (1998, as writer and producer)

Wojciech Morawski, 76, drummer of Polish rock band Breakout, on March 3

Fred Simon, 74, singer with soul group The Lost Generation, on April 3
The Lost Generation – The Sly, Slick & The Wicked (1970)

Allan Dent, 91, British jazz musician, on April 3

Donn Landee, 79, producer and engineer, announced April 5
Claudia Lennear – Two Trains (1973, as engineer)
Doobie Brothers – What A Fool Believes (1978, as engineer)
Van Halen – Why Can’t This Be Love (1986, as co-producer)

Alvin L, 67, Brazilian singer-songwriter, on April 5

David Wiffen, 84, UK-born Canadian folk singer-songwriter, on April 5
David Wiffen – Lost My Driving Wheel (1971, also as writer)

Albert Mazibuko, 77, singer with South African group Ladysmith Black Mambazo, on April 5
Ladysmith Black Mambazo – Nansi Imali (1981)
Ladysmith Black Mambazo – Homeless (1992)

Blondy, 66, rapper and songwriter with Hip Hop pioneers The Sequence, on April 6
The Sequence – Funky Sound (Tear The Roof Off) (1981, also as co-writer)
The Sequence feat. Kory-O – Funk It Up ‘85 (1985, also as co-writer)

Mario Adorf, 95, German actor, writer and singer, on April 8
Mario Adorf – Was ich an dir mag (1994)

Afrika Bambaataa, 68, rapper, songwriter and DJ, on April 9
Afrika Bambaataa & Soulsonic Force – Planet Rock (1982)
Afrika Bambaataa & Family feat. UB40 – Reckless (1988, also as co-writer)

Ray Monette, 79, guitarist of soul band Rare Earth, on April 9
Rare Earth – I Just Want To Celebrate (live) (1971)

Björgvin Halldórsson, 74, Icelandic pop singer, on April 9

Harry Kim, 74, session trumpeter and flugelhornist (Phil Collins), on April 10
Phil Collins – Something Happened On The Way To Heaven (live) (1990, on trumpet)

Rowli, 23, German rapper and singer, on April 11

Mike Westbrook, 90, English jazz pianist and composer, on April 11
The Mike Westbrook Concert Band – Love Song No. 1 (1970)

Doug Winstead, 67, singer, trumpeter of beach music group Band of Oz, car crash on April 11

Asha Bhosle, 92, legendary Indian playback singer, on April 12
Asha Bhosle – Dum Maro Dum (1971)

Al Gunn, bassist of Canadian new save group Men Without Hats (1984-86), announced April 13

Patrick Campbell-Lyons, 82, Irish member of psych-rock duo Nirvana, announced April 13
Nirvana – Rainbow Chaser (1968, also as co-writer)

Felipe Staiti, 64, guitarist of Argentine rock band Los Enanitos Verdes, on April 13

Moya (Máire) Brennan, 73, Irish lead singer and harpist with Clannad, on April 13
Clannad – Theme From Harry’s Game (1982, on lead vocals)
Shane MacGowan & Máire Brennan – You’re The One (1995)

Donald K. Tarlton, 82, Canadian music producer and promoter, on April 13

Taylor Kirk, 44, singer and musician with Canadian blues-rock band Timber Timbre, on April 14
Timber Timbre – Magic Arrow (2009, also as writer)

Dan Wall, 72, jazz pianist and organist, on April 14

Barbara Carr, 85, blues singer, on April 15
Barbara Carr – Private Fishing Hole (2011)

Lucha Moreno, 86, Mexican singer and actress, on April 15
Lucha Moreno – Anoche estuve llorando (1957)

Don Schlitz, 73, country songwriter, on April 16
Don Schlitz – The Gambler (1978, also as writer)
Randy Travis – Forever And Ever, Amen (1987, as co-writer)
Alison Krauss & Union Station – When You Say Nothing At All (live) (1995, as co-writer)

Craig Krampf, 80, session drummer, songwriter and producer, on April 16
Kim Carnes – Bette Davis Eyes (1981, on drums, including the electronic snare)
Steve Perry – Oh Sherrie (1984, as co-writer)

Mike Emerson, keyboardist of blues-rock band Tommy Castro & The Painkillers, on April 16

Ernie Smith, 80, Jamaican singer-songwriter, on April 16
Ernie Smith – Life Is Just For Living (1972)

Shiran Kaïdine, 44, guitarist of French doom metal band Monarch, on June 17

Stanton Davis, 80, jazz trumpeter, composer, on April 18
Stanton Davis’ Ghetto Mysticism – Nida (1977, also as co-composer)

Dave Mason, 79, English singer, musician and songwriter (Traffic), on April 19
Traffic – Feelin’ Alright (1968, as writer and on lead vocals)
Dave Mason – Only You Know And I Know (1970)
Dave Mason – Mystic Traveler (1977)
Fleetwood Mac – Blow By Blow (1995, as member, co-writer and lead singer)

Billy Gault, 84, jazz pianist and composer, on April 19

Wayne Moss, 88, guitarist, songwriter, producer and engineer, on April 20
Bob Dylan – Just Like A Woman (1966, on guitar)
Dolly Parton – Jolene (1974, on steel-string guitar)
Barefoot Jerry – Smokies (1976, also as writer)

Alan Osmond, 76, leader of The Osmonds, songwriter and musician, on April 20
The Osmonds – Down By The Lazy River (1972, also as co-writer)
The Osmonds – Let Me In (1973, also as co-writer)

Moogie Canazio, 70, Brazilian engineer and producer, on April 21

Gregg Foreman, 53, multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, producer, DJ, on April 21
The Delta 72 – Rich Girls Like To Steal (1996, as member)

Evelyne Lenton, 80, lead singer with French disco group Belle Epoque, on April 22
Belle Epoque – Black Is Black (1977)

James Valentine, 64, saxophonist with Australian rock band Models, on April 22
Models – Out Of Mind, Out Of Sight (1985)

Kim ‘Wikky Malone’ Bowers, Australian musician, on April 24
Spdfgh – Wikky’s Ode. (1995, as member)

Keith Hale, 75, English rock keyboardist, songwriter and producer, on April 24

Tony Wilson, 78, Trinidadian bassist of Hot Chocolate, singer, songwriter, on April 24
The Soul Brothers – I Keep Ringing My Baby (1965, also as co-writer)
Hot Chocolate – Love Is Life (1970, also as co-writer)
Hot Chocolate – Emma (1974, also as co-writer)

Jesper Thilo, 84, Danish jazz saxophonist, on April 26

Daniel Huck, 78, French jazz musician and singer, on April 25

Nedra Talley, 80, singer with The Ronettes, on April 26
The Ronettes – I’m Gonna Quit While I’m Ahead (1962)
The Ronettes – Walking In The Rain (1964)
Nedra Ross – Full Circle (1978; Ross was her married name)

Jerry.K, 42, South Korean rapper and label owner, on April 27

Derwin Hinson, 67, bluegrass musician, on April 27

Beverley Martyn, 79, English folk singer, songwriter and guitarist, on April 27
John Martyn & Beverley Martyn – Sweet Honesty (1970, also as writer)

Cleetis Mack, rapper with hip hop group Digital Underground, on April 28

Paul McKee, c.66, jazz musician and academic, on April 28

David Allan Coe, 86, American country singer and songwriter, on April 29
David Allen Coe – Longhaired Redneck (1975, also as writer)
Johnny Paycheck – Take This Job And Shove It (1977, as writer)
David Allen Coe – Cum Stains On The Pillow (1978, also as writer)
David Allen Coe – Mona Lisa Lost Her Smile (1984, also as writer)

Donald MacRae, 84, Scottish folk singer, on April 29

Alexander Ligerton, 79, Scottish lead singer of Santana (1979-94), on April 30
Santana – Winning (1981, on lead vocals)
Brunky Music feat. Alex Ligertwood – Live It Up (2018)

Bobby Murray, 72, blues guitarist, songwriter and producer, on April 30
Bobby Murray – The Future Is Now (1996, also as co-writer, co-producer)

GET IT!

Previous In Memoriams

Keep up to date with dead pop stars on Facebook

March was a pretty hectic month for the Reaper, who claimed the last of a great trio and a great duo.

Outside music deaths, we lost Stephen Hubbert, the actor and TV writer who played the masked Gimp who had to be brought out in Pulp Fiction. Apparently his role inspired the name for the image manipulation software GIMP. Also leaving us was actor James Tolkan, who played principal Mr Strickland in Back To The Future. Many people, good people, also paid their respects to Robert Mueller.

And I lost one of my dogs on March 30. He was 12 and riddled with arthritis. He had the sweetest character but was also a fierce protector. Putting down a dog is never easy, but that day doing so was an act of mercy…

The Last Walker
With the death at 83 of Gary Walker (or Gary Leeds), all three Walker Brothers are now gone. John left us in 2011, Scott in 2919. Gary was the youngest member of the trio, none of whom were actually brothers.

Born in California in 1942, Gary had already gained experience as a member of The Standells (leaving them before they had hits) and touring with major acts such P.J. Proby. In 1965 he joined the Walker Brothers, joining vocalists Scott Engel and John Maus. The group soon became one of the biggest pop sensations of the era, particularly in the UK, where their orchestral pop sound, dramatic image and good looks attracted a strong teenage following, without losing credibility.

The Walker Brothers scored several hits, including Make It Easy On Yourself, My Ship Is Coming In, and especially The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine Anymore (which featured just recently on Any Major Hits from 1966). Scott Walker’s powerful baritone dominated the group’s songs; Gary contributed as drummer/percussionist and occasional vocalist.

He had more outings as a solo singer, even during the Walker Brothers era. Many of them were produced by Scott Walker. Two of them reached the UK Top 30 in 1966.

After the Walker Brothers first split in 1967, Gary Walker formed his own band, Gary Walker & The Rain, which enjoyed some success in Japan. The Walker Brothers reunited in the mid-1970s, and had a big UK hit with No Regrets in 1975.

The Other Half
And talking of acts wiped out by the Reaper, both of soft-rock duo Seals & Crofts are now gone. Dash Crofts has died at the age of 85, Jim Seals departed in June 2022.

Born as Darrell George Crofts in Texas, in 1940, Dash grew up in a musical family and became proficient mullti-instrumentalist. His played with local bands when he met Seals. The two first worked together in The Champs, who had a global instrumental hit with Tequila before the two joined.

Seals and Crofts formed their own partnership in the late 1960s, with Crofts’ high tenor complementing Seals’ lower register. Both men also played instruments on their records; Crofts contributed drums, mandolin and keyboards.

Seals & Crofts found success in the early and mid-1970s with laid back hits like Summer Breeze (later covered to superb effect by The Isley Brothers), Diamond Girl, We May Never Pass This Way (Again), I’ll Play For You, Get Closer and the discofied You’re The Love, which featured on Any Major Disco Vol2. Pop Edition.

Both men were adherents of the Baháʼí faith, and their lyrics often reflected themes of unity, peace and spiritual searching.

By the end of the 1970s, their chart success had declined. They split amicably in 1983, and reunited in the 1990s and in 2004. Crofts released one solo album, titled Today, in 1998.

Crofts found a career outside music in breeding Arabian horses on his Texas farm, while Seals became a coffee farmer in Costa Rica.

The Activist
No sooner had I finished preparing the Any Major Peace anti-war mix than closing performer Country Joe McDonald died at the age of 84.

McDonald was one of the most distinctive protest voices of the 1960s, blending his folk, rock and blues with astute political satire. His defining moment was at Woodstock in 1969, where he and his band, The Fish (named after lead guitarist) Barry Melton), performed the anti-war anthem I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin’-to-Die Rag. Introduced with his infamous “Fish Cheer”, now adapted to an expletive, the song was both witty and scathing in its condemnation of war and the political leadership that made war.

Born Joseph Allen McDonald in 1942 in Washington, D.C., and raised in California, he first gained prominence as the leader of Country Joe & The Fish, a band that emerged from the San Francisco psychedelic scene. They were among the nine acts who performed at both the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival and at Woodstock.

After the breakup of his band in 1971, McDonald pursued a solo career that explored folk, country and historical themes, including tributes to soldiers and reflections on American identity. He was a dedicated activist for veterans, making it clear that his anti-war position targeted politicians, generals and the arms manufacturing complex, not the guys in the trenches.

McDonald was also an activist for environmental causes, such as Geenpeace and Save the Whale.

Throughout his career, McDonald had a reputation for independence, resisting commercial pressures in favour of artistic and political authenticity. In that way, he was the Boomer generation’s version of Woody Guthrie, the man to whom McDonald dedicated his debut solo album in 1969.

And that nickname, Country Joe? Apparently McDonald was thus dubbed because his namesake, Joseph Stalin, was known as “Country Joe” during World War II.

The Keys Man
Though he wasn’t the most visible member of Ambrosia, Christopher North’s keyboard work was central to Ambrosia’s blend of prog-rock and radio-friendly AOR.

North was a founding member of the band, alongside David Pack, Joe Puerta and Burleigh Drummond. Ambrosia broke through in 1975 with their eponymous debut album, which spawned the hit single Holdin’ On To Yesterday.

It won a Grammy for the sound engineering by Alan Parsons, who went on to produce their follow-up. In return, all four members of Ambrosia, including North, appeared on Parson’s debut album, Tales Of Mystery And Imagination. North also played organ and piano on Chuck Girard’s hit songs Galilee and Rock ‘n’ Roll Preacher (we lost Girard in August last year).

During the recording in 1977 of the Life Beyond L.A. album, North left the band, due to burnout, family obligations, and musical differences. The break didn’t last long — North re-joined in 1978 — but it meant that he didn’t play on the hit How Much I Feel.

He did, however, play on other Ambrosia classics, such as the majestic Biggest Part Of Me, with its lovely keyboard intro, and You’re The Only Woman, which features a nice organ solo by North.

Ambrosia split in 1982 and reunited in 1989; North remained a member until his death on March 30 at the age of 75.

The Producer
Born in London in 1944, producer Mike Vernon was one of the most influential figures in the development of British blues and blues-rock during the 1960s and 1970s, also as a label executive and recording studio owner.

Among his most notable early productions were recordings by John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers, including the landmark 1966 album Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton, which became a defining record of the genre and helped establish Clapton as a notable guitarist.

In 1968 Vernon founded the pioneering blues label Blue Horizon Records, which quickly became a platform for British and US blues artists. The label released influential recordings by acts such as Fleetwood Mac in its original Peter Green era, a young David Bowie, as well as American blues figures whom Vernon admired and championed.

Among the recordings he produced were Fleetwood Mac’s Albatross (a UK #1) and Black Magic Woman, Chicken Shack’s I’d Rather Go Blind (with future Mac star Christine McVie on lead vocals), and Dutch band Focus’ Hocus Pocus.

Later he produced acts like the Dr Feelgood, The Climax Blues Band, Level 42, and Roachford (including their 1989 hit Cuddly Toy)

Vernon was a member (as Eric Rondo) and producer of rock & roll revivalists Rocky Sharpe & The Replays, who had a hit in 1978 with a cover of The Edsel’s Rama Lama Ding Dong, and played percussions as a member of the funk band The Olympic Runners. In 1972, Vernon released a solo album, Moment Of Madness.

In the early 1970s, Vernon established his own recording facility, Chipping Norton Recording Studios, which went on to become a hit factory, with UK chart-toppers like Bay City Rollers’ Bye Bye Baby, Gerry Rafferty’s Baker Street, Kajagoogoo’s Too Shy, Fairground Attraction’s Perfect and more.

The Hit Writer
The younger brother of actor Jon Voight and uncle of Angelina Jolie, Chip Taylor wrote two stone-cold pop classics: Wild Thing, the three-chord anthem made famous by The Troggs, and Angel Of The Morning, a hit first for Merrilee Rush and in 1981 for Juice Newton. Interestingly, he wrote the songs not for the acts who had the hits with them (see The Originals: The Classics and The Originals: The 1980s for more info on those songs).

Born James Wesley Voight in 1940, Chip first tried his hand at becoming a golfer, like his father, Elmer Voight. But he soon realised that he didn’t have dad’s talents, so Chip turned to music instead. He released a string of singles, as Wes Voight and as Chip Taylor, throughout the late 1950s and early ’60s, to little commercial success.

But he did get a job as a songwriter for a New York publisher, and in that capacity he wrote those two classics, originally recorded by Jordan Christopher & The Wild Ones and Evie Sands respectively. Other hits he wrote included The Troggs’ Any Way That You Want Me, The Hollies’ I Can’t Let Go, and Cliff Richard’s On My Word.

In the 1970s, Taylor had a moderately successful recording career of his own as a country singer before taking up professional gambling. He was a successful gambler, but the addiction was also destructive. He later founded a self-help programme for gambling addicts.

Decades later he returned with a string of critically well-received albums, and collaborated with artists such as Carrie Rodriguez.

Major Tom’s Drummer
The creator of the martial drums and dramatic high hats on David Bowie’s Space Oddity has checked out. Terry Cox was already making himself a name as the drummer of the seminal British folk band Pentangle when he backed David Bowie on his self-titled 1969 album.

Born in 1937 in London, Cox first emerged on the British jazz scene in the early 1960s. He worked with leading figures such as Tubby Hayes and John Renbourn, as well as with blues great Alexus Korner. It was through Renbourn that Cox became a founding member of Pentangle in 1967.

As the drummer of Pentangle, Cox helped create a sound that fused traditional folk with jazz sophistication and improvisational flair. He would later back the band’s singer Bert Jansch and Renbourne on some solo efforts. Pentangle double-bassist Danny Thompson died in September last year.

After Pentangle’s initial split in 1973, Cox continued his work as a session drummer. He backed the likes of The Bee Gees, Elton John, the recently late Tucker Zimmerman, Linda Lewis, Scott Walker, Long John Baldry, Lynsey de Paul, Rick Springfield, Charles Aznavour, Gilbert O’Sullivan, Cleo Laine and others.

The Metal Axeman
There were ten Motörhead members over the band’s existence of 40 years. With the death of long-time guitarist Phil Campbell, only four of them are still alive, and only one of them with a service of more than four years (drummer Mikkey Dee).

Campbell, variously also known as Zööm or Wizzö, joined the heavy metal legends in 1984, alongside fellow guitarist Michael “Würzel” Bursto, and remained till their break-up following Lemmy’s death in 2015. Their first appearance with Motörhead was in a February 1984 appearance in the British comedy TV series The Young Ones, which also was Phil Taylor’s final appearance in his first stint with the group.

Previously Campbell had founded a heavy metal band Persian Risk in 1979. After Motörhead he released some solo material and led Phil Campbell And The Bastard Sons, which included his three presumably legitimate sons.

The Rock & Roll Revivalist
On stage and TV appearances by British rock & roll revivalists Showaddywaddy, Trevor Oakes was seen playing the saxophone, but on record that instrument was played by a session musicians — Oakes played the guitar.

Oakes was a founding member of the band, which scored ten UK Top 10 hits between 1974-78 — one of many. Showaddywaddy was a fusion of two bands, Choise (which included Oakers and frontman Dave Bartram) and the Golden Hammers, which resulted in an eight-member band, with two lead singers, two guitarists, two bassists and two drummers.

Showaddywaddy’s thing was to revive old rock & roll hits with a glam sensibility, but their original material was written mostly by Oakes and Bartram, though their 1975 #13 hit Sweet Music was credited to the whole band.

Oakes retired from the band in 2009, due to ill health.

The Session Singer-Songwriter
In the late 1970s, session singer Tom Bahler wrote a song intended for Frank Sinatra, titled She’s Out Of My Life (which was not, he insisted about his ex-girlfriend Karen Carpenter). Sinatra never recorded it, but Michael Jackson did, and had a massive hit with it.

Before that, Bahler had written the Bobby Sherman hit Julie, Do Ya Love Me and Cher’s Living In A House Divided.

As a session singer, Bahler moved in the Wrecking Crew circles, most notably doing backing vocals for The Partridge Family. He and brother John tried their luck at a band called The Love Generation, with little success.

By the mid-1970s, Bahler was in Quincy Jones’ circle (hence the Jackson connection), and as such he arranged a couple of tracks on the Off The Wall album (Girlfriend and It’s The Falling In Love), and on some Quincy Jones albums, wrote for Quincy client George Benson, and was an associate producer of the We Are The World single.

The Nearly Stone
He might have become a Rolling Stone, but Ronnie Wood got the nod over Wayne Perkins to replace Mick Taylor. Still, Perkins got to play on a number of Stones tracks on the Black And Blue sessions, including Fool To Cry, Memory Motel, Hand Of Fate and Worried About You. The latter two featured his guitar solos; Worried About You would be held over for the 1981 Tattoo You album.

Alabama-born Perkins got to know the Stones through Eric Clapton, with whom he had become friends during his time with Leon Russell in the mid-1970s.  Although still only 23-24 when he recorded with the Stones, Perkins was already experienced.

Starting out on the Muscle Shoals scene, he was invited by his friend Ronnie van Zandt to join Lynyrd Skynyrd. Perkins declined. Instead he formed the Smith Perkins Smith band (with brothers Steven and Tim Smith), releasing an album in 1972 and becoming Island Records’ first US act.

For label mates Bob Marley & The Wailers, Perkins did guitar overdubs on the 1973 album Catch a Fire, including on the classics Stir It Up and Concrete Jungle.

While having a fling with Joni Mitchell, he played on her 1974 album Court And Spark, most memorably providing the guitar solo on Car On A Hill (Larry Carlton did the bulk of the guitar work on the album).

Throughout the 1970s and ’80s Perkins did session work for the likes of P.F. Sloan, The Gap Band, Millie Jackson, John Prine, Dr Hook, Lynyrd Skynyrd (on one track, after all), Mac Davis, Delbert McClinton, Levon Helm, Glenn Frey, The Oak Ridge Boys, Al Green, Albert King, and others.

He released solo albums in 1995 and 2006.

The Tex-Mexer
As far as I can tell, the death at 85 of Augie Meyers has now wiped all members of the classic line-up of the Sir Douglas Quintet as well as Tex-Mex superband Texas Tornados.

As a member of the Sir Douglas Quintet, which Meyers co-founded with frontman Doug Sahm, his distinctive organ can be heard on hits like She’s About A Mover, Mendocino and Nuevo Laredo.  After the band ended, Meyers recorded a string of solo albums. Over the years he backed acts like Bob Dylan, Tom Jones, Raul Malo and Tom Waits as a studio musician.

In 1990, Meyers co-founded the critically acclaimed Texas Tornados with Sahm, Freddy Fender, Flaco Jiménez and Miller “Speedy” Sparks. The latter two died last year.

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.

 

Gary Walker, 83, singer, drummer, percussionist of The Walker Brothers, on March 1
The Walker Brothers – My Ship Is Coming In (1965)
Gary Walker – You Don’t Love Me (1966)
The Walker Brothers – No Regrets (1975)

Yukkie B, 56, Dutch rapper, on March 1

Bob Power, 74, hip hop and nu-soul producer and engineer, on March 1
Lonnie Liston Smith – Obsession (1990, as engineer)
Erykah Badu – On And On (1997, as co-producer)

J. Strauss, singer and musician with Swedish alt.rock band Morlocks, on March 1

Mike Vernon, 81, English producer, label executive and recording studio owner, on March 2
Fleetwood Mac – Albatross (1968, as producer)
Chicken Shack – I’d Rather Go Blind (1969, as producer)
Rocky Sharpe & The Replays – Rama Lama Ding Dong (1978, as member and producer)
Roachford – Cuddly Toy (1988, as producer)

Tom Bahler, 82, songwriter, arranger, session singer and author, on March 2
Partridge Family – I Think I Love You (1970, on backing vocals)
Gram Parsons – Kiss The Children (1973, on backing vocals)
George Benson – Love X Love (1980, on backing vocals)

Len Garry, 84, English musician with Beatles precursor The Quarrymen, on March 2

Cicero Blake, 90, soul singer, on March 3
Cicero Blake – Sad Feeling (1964)

Roy Book Binder, 82, blues musician, on March 3
Roy Book Binder – Waiting For A Train (1988)

Denney Goodhew, 73, jazz multi-instrumentalist, on March 4

Jacques Michel, 84, Canadian singer- songwriter, on March 5

Lee Turner, 89, pianist with vocal group The Dream Weavers, on March 5
The Dream Weavers – It’s Almost Tomorrow (1955, on piano)

Benjamin Biller, 46, bassist of German metal band Darkness, on March 5

Franco Vito Gaiezza, 66, Italian musician and writer, on March 6

Country Joe McDonald, 84, singer, songwriter, film composer, on March 7
Country Joe & The Fish – I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin’-To Die Rag (1967, also as writer)
Country Joe & The Fish – Hang On (1970, also as writer)
Country Joe McDonald – I’m So Tired (1973, also as writer)

Walter Martino, 72, drummer of Italian rock band Goblin Legacy, on March 7

David Brigati, 85, pop singer, on March 7
Joey Dee & the Starliters – Peppermint Twist (Part 1) (1961, as member on lead vocals)
The Rascals – Finale-Once Upon A Dream (1968, as unofficial member on lead vocals)

Donny Fattah, 76, bassist of Indonesian rock band God Bless, songwriter, on March 7

Augie Meyers, 85, musician, songwriter, producer, label owner, on March 7
Sir Douglas Quintet – She’s About A Mover (1965, as member on organ)
Sir Douglas Quintet – Mendocino (1969, as member on organ)
Texas Tornados – (Hey Baby) Que Paso (1990, as member and co-writer)

Dilworth Karaka, 75, guitarist of NZ reggae band Herbs, songwriter, announced March 8
Dave Dobbyn with Herbs – Slice Of Heaven (1986)

Shane Rout, 53, drummer of Australian metal band Blood Duster, on March 8

Zeph Ellis (Dot Rotten), 37, British rapper, on March 8
Ed Sheeran feat. Dot Rotten – Goodbye To You (2011)

Gabba, guitarist of British punk band Chaos UK, announced March 9

Tommy DeCarlo, 60, singer of Boston (2007-26), on March 9

Blake Emmons, 81, Canadian country singer and TV presenter, on March 9

Zalek, 30, Colombian reggaeton singer, traffic collision on March 10

Fred Vigorito, 82, jazz musician and composer, on March 10

Bernie Lynch, 72, singer, musician, songwriter of Australian pop band Eurogliders, on March 12
Eurogliders – Heaven (Must Be There) (1984, also as co-writer and co-producer)

Iulian Vrabete, 70, bassist of Romanian rock band Holograf, on March 12

Keith Ingham, 84, British jazz pianist and bandleader, on March 12

John Alford, 54, British actor, singer, convicted sex offender, on March 13

Nashi Young Cho, 46, German jazz-folk musician and composer, traffic collision on March 13

Phil Campbell, 64, Welsh metal guitarist (Motörhead 1984-2015), on March 13
Persian Risk – Calling For You (1981, as member)
Motörhead – Deaf Forever (1986)

Wayne Perkins, 74, rock and R&B session guitarist, on March 14
Smith Perkins Smith – Save Me (1972, as member)
Joni Mitchell – Car On A Hill (1974, on guitar)
Rolling Stones – Worried About You (1981, guitar solo)

Paul Geremia, 81, blues musician, on March 14

Cinzia Oscar, 63, Italian singer and stage actress, on March 15

Dick Foley, 85, member of folk group The Brothers Four, on March 15
The Brothers Four – Greenfields (1960)

Irmeli Mäkelä, 83, Finnish pop singer, on March 15

Dolores Keane, 72, Irish folk singer, founding member of De Dannan, on March 16
John Prine with Dolores Keane – In A Town This Size (1999)

Bettina Köster, 66, German musician, singer, songwriter, producer, on March 17
Mania D. – Track 4 (as member [sort of] on saxophone)

Trevor Oakes, 79, the co-founder and guitarist of UK pop band Showaddywaddy, on March 18
Showaddywaddy – Sweet Music (1974, also as co-writer)
Showaddywaddy – When (1977)

Terry Cox, 89, British folk and rock drummer, on March 19
Pentangle – Travelling Song (1968, as member)
David Bowie – Space Oddity (1969, on drums)
Elton John – Rotten Peaches (1971, on drums)

Louie Louie, 63, Puerto Rican singer, musician, producer and actor, on March 20
Louie Louie – Sittin’ In The Lap Of Luxury (1990)

Daniel Buira, 54, drummer of Argentine rock band Los Piojos, on March 21

Steve Houben, 76, Belgian jazz saxophonist and flautist, on March 21

Ronnie Bowman, 64, bluegrass singer and bassist, traffic collision on March 22
Lonesome River Band – Sittin’ On Top Of The World (1991, as member)

Jerry Dee Lewis, rapper with hip hop pioneers Cold Crush Brothers, on March 23
Cold Crush Brothers – At The Dixie (1983)

Chip Taylor, 86, songwriter, singer, label owner, on March 23
The Troggs – Anyway That You Want Me (1966, as writer)
Merillee Rush & The Turnabouts – Angel Of The Morning (1968, as writer)
Chip Taylor – Early Sunday Morning (1975, also as writer)

Shinichiro Sato, 61, drummer of Japanese alt.rock band The Pillows, on March 23

Gino Paoli, 91, Italian singer-songwriter and politician, on March 24
Mina – Il Cielo In Una Stanza (1960, as writer)
Gino Paoli – Sapore di Sale (1963, also as writer)

Gameboy Tetris, 40, rapper with Estonian hip hop group 5miinust, suicide on March 24

Dash Crofts, 87, half of Seals & Crofts, songwriter, on March 25
Seals & Crofts – See My Life (1969)
Seals & Crofts – Diamond Girl (1973, also as co-writer)
Seals & Crofts – Goodbye Old Buddies (1976)

Mick Roberts, 57, singer of English indie-rock band Bridewell Taxis, on March 25
The Bridewell Taxis – Honesty (1990)

Ross the Boss, 72, heavy metal guitarist (Manowar, The Dictators), on March 26
Manowar – Gloves Of Metal (1983, as founding member and co-writer)

Ahmad Kaabour, 70, Lebanese singer, on March 26
Ahmad Kaabour – Ounadikom (2009)

Jon Dee Graham, 67, rock singer, guitarist and songwriter (The Skunks), on March 27
Jon Dee Graham – Big Sweet Life (1999)

Marinella, 87, Greek singer, on March 28

DJ Dan, 57, house music DJ and producer, on March 28

Matt Krupanski, drummer of hardcore band BoySetsFire, on March 28

Greg Elmore, 79, drummer of Quicksilver Messenger Service, on March 29
Quicksilver Messenger Service – Fresh Air (1970)
Quick Silver Messenger – Gypsy Lights (1975)

David Riondino, 73, Italian singer-songwriter, actor, comedian, on March 29

Christopher North, 75, keyboardist of soft-rock band Ambrosia, on March 30
Ambrosia – Holdin’ On To Yesterday (1975)
Chuck Girard – Rock n’ Roll Preacher (1975, on piano)
Ambrosia – You’re The Only Woman (1980)
Ambrosia – I Just Can’t Let Go (1997)

Walt Maddox, 88, singer with doo wop band The Marcels, on March 30
The Marcels – Summertime (1961)

GET IT!

Previous In Memoriams

Keep up to date with dead pop stars on Facebook

 

First up: I lied a bit with the title of this mix. The “Any Major” bit is accurate, but the playlist looks more at war than peace, even if all the songs agitate for peace. There certainly are no ballads of green berets in this collection.

I recall the existential fears many had in the 1980s of a nuclear way; some of the tracks here appeared in the context of those anxieties. Perhaps I was naïve, but I didn’t really share these fears. I trusted in the principle of Mutually Assured Destruction, even as I scratched CND signs into wooden benches.

I trusted that none of the world’s leaders, unappealing and corrupt though they were, would be crazy and stupid enough to take us the verge of nuclear conflict. Unappealing and corrupt and stupid as our present world leaders are, today fears of a nuclear conflict are reasonable and, indeed, conscientious.

This mix of songs looks at war from various perspectives; I’ve tried to give a broad sweep of them. Which means that I had limited place for songs about soldiers, of which there are many. The key number here is Richie Havens’ Handsome Johnny (it was either that or Universal Soldier) and The Pogues’ great version of Eric Bogle’s The Band Played Waltzing Matilda, which is set in the First World War but nevertheless represents the inhuman experience of the battle. (I don’t want to think of soldiers who love the killing for the sport of it, especially when their victims are civilians.)

There are many more songs about war I might have included. In the end I added just two as bonus tracks, one of which doubles the number of present Dylan songs. The other, Feel Like I’m Fixing To Die Rag, I had included before Country Joe McDonald’s death on Saturday. His big Fuck You to war — of course, the Woodstock version — serves as a great closer to this mix and as a fitting epitaph, letting the writer of one of the great anti-war anthems have the last word. Whoopee, we’re all gonna die.

This mix can serve as an extension to the mixes about songs against the Vietnam War I posted a long time ago. They are up again: Volume 1 and Volume 2.

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

1. Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band – War (live) (1985)
What the War? “Blind faith in leaders will get you killed.”

2. Frankie Goes To Hollywood – Two Tribes (1984)
What the War? “Are we living in a land where sex and horror are the new gods?”

3. Bruce Cockburn – If I Had A Rocket Launcher (1984)
What the War? Bruce is going all Falling Down on the merchants of war…

4. Gil Scott-Heron – Work For Peace (1994)
What the War? Who profits from war? Who loses? Gil lays it all out for us.

5. Randy Newman – Political Science (1972)
What the War? Remember when verses like this were satire, not speeches from the Oval Office? “We give them money, but are they grateful? No, they’re spiteful and they’re hateful. They don’t respect us, so let’s surprise them. We’ll drop the big one and pulverize them”

6. Della Reese – Compared To What (1969)
What the War? “President he’s got his war, folks don’t know just what it’s for. Nobody gives us rhyme or reason, have one doubt they call it treason.”

7. Richie Havens – Handsome Johnny (1967)
What the War? Soldiers through history. “And, here comes a guided missile.”

8. Phil Ochs – I Ain’t Marching Anymore (1965)
What the War? Handsome Johnny is done with marching for The Man.

9. The Fugs – Kill For Peace (1966)
What the War? “If you don’t want America to play second fiddle, kill, kill, kill for peace.”

10. The Pogues – The Band Played Waltzing Matilda (1985)
What the War? Australia’s youth sent to its bloody graves in WW1

11. Tracy Chapman – Why? (1988)
What the War? The double-speak of “Love is hate, war is peace, no is yes, and we’re all free.”

12. Willie Nelson – Whatever Happened To Peace On Earth? (2006)
What the War? “We believe everything that they tell us. ‘They’re gonna kill us, so we gotta kill them first.”

13. Bob Dylan – Masters Of War (live) (1984)
What the War? The real beneficiary of war is the arms industry.

14. Pink Floyd – Goodbye Blue Sky (1979)
What the War? What it’s like to be bombed.

15. XTC – Generals And Majors (1980)
What the War? Generals and Majors always seem so unhappy unless they got a war.

16. John Lydon & Afrika Bambaataa – World Destruction (1984)
What the War: “Brainwash mentalities to control the system, using TV and movies, religions…” In 1984 as in 2026.

17. Black Sabbath – War Pigs (1970)
What the War: “Making war just for fun, treating people just like pawns in chess. Wait till their Judgment Day comes!”

18. Plastic Ono Band – Give Peace A Chance (1969)
What the War: Yeah, all we are saying…

BONUS TRACKS:
19. Bob Dylan – With God On Our Side (1963)
What the War: “I can’t think for you, you’ll have to decide whether Judas Iscariot had God on his side.”

19. Country Joe McDonald – Feel Like I’m Fixing To Die Rag (Live) (1969)
What the War: “Be the first one on your block to have your boy come home in a box.”

GET IT!

More Mix-CD-Rs

After taking it fairly easy in the new year, in February The Reaper swung his scythe with fresh abandon (and not only in the world of music).

Numerologists might have had a bit of a freak out in February. In the space of just five days, we lost members of Three Dog Night, 3 Doors Down and Tres Chicas — and a member of the 5^th Dimension.

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

The Sedaka
In 1959, young Neil Sedaka wrote a song inspired by his school friend Carole King called Oh Carol. Both went on to become legends in the Brill Building scene of hitmakers. Unlike many Brill Building writers who stayed behind the scenes, Sedaka insisted on performing most of his own material, thus opening a door for other Brill Bld writers with singing ambitions, most notably Neil Diamond.

Sedaka’s slightly nasal high tenor was instantly recognisable, as was his rhythmic piano (he had been trained in classical piano at the Juilliard School’s Preparatory Division) and his light yet often deceptively intricate compositions. Sedaka also worked as a session pianist, including on Bobby Darin’s 1959 hit Dream Lover.

His breakthrough came through a teenage partnership with lyricist Howard Greenfield. The pair worked in tiny offices alongside other songwriting teams, writing songs for the new teen market of the late 1950s and the 1960s. Among their great hits, aside from Sedaka’s run of hits, were Connie Francis’ Stupid Cupid and Where The Boys Are.

With the advent of the British Invasion, Sedaka’s chart presence faded in the US, and by 1966 he had lost his recording contract, but he remained popular as a touring act, especially in the UK and Australia.

In the early 1970s Sedaka reinvented himself. Collaborating with younger musicians, including Elton John — whose Rocket Records label released Sedaka’s comeback recordings — he embraced contemporary pop with hits like Laughter In The Rain, Bad Blood (the latter featuring uncredited backing vocals by Elton John), and a superb reworking of his earlier hit Breaking Up Is So Hard To Do. The latter features here; his 1962 original was included in last month’s In Memoriam, in tribute of backing singer Margaret Ross.

After his first retirement as a performer and following his comeback, Sedaka continued writing hits for others, such as The 5th Dimension’s Workin’ On A Groovy Thing, (Is This The Way To) Amarillo by Tony Christie, Andy Williams’ and the Carpenters’ Solitaire (a cover of Sedaka’s original, it features on Any Major Originals: Carpenters edition), and Love Will Keep Us Together by Captain & Tennille (also first recorded by Sedaka and featured on Any Major Originals: The 1970s Vol. 2). On the outro of the latter, Toni Tennille riffed on the album the original had appeared on as she ad libbed: “Sedaka is back.” Sedaka also helped with the English lyrics of ABBA’s Ring Ring.

Neil was a thoroughly uncontroversial man. Only once did Sedaka dip his musical toe into political waters. The Immigrant, written and sung by the grandson of immigrants, was inspired by John Lennon’ immigration troubles under Nixon, but spoke to a situation that has become even more acute in the intervening 50 years. “Now he arrives with his hopes and his heart set on miracles, come to marry his fortune with a hand full of promises; to find they’ve closed the door, they don’t want him anymore.”

The Snapping Singer
Before he became a singer in The 5th Dimension, Lamonte McLemore was the first African American to try out for the St Louis Cardinals. He later played briefly in the minor league with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

More important was his career as a photographer. He was the first African American photographer employed by Harper’s Bazaar magazine, and created the photographer for Stevie Wonder’s debut album cover. Even as a singer in a hit band, he photographed for Jet and Ebony magazines over decades.

At a photo shoot for the Miss Black Beauty pageant in 1963, the part-time doo wop singer met young singer Marilyn McCoo, an encounter that led to the formation of a jazz vocal group called The Hi-Fi’s. They were discovered by Ray Charles and toured with him, and then operated as The Vocals.

The Vocals soon split, and McLenmore roped in two of his friends from St Louis, gospel singer Billy Davis Jr and opera singer Ron Townson, to join McCoo and another new recruit, Florence LaRue. They went by the name The Versatiles.

Motown — for whom McLemore had been doing photo work — turned them down, but Johnny Rivers’ new Soul City Records signed them, and gave the five-some a new name: The 5th Dimension.

With their blend of pop, soul, jazz and psychedelia, their polished harmonies and sophisticated arrangements, The 5th Dimension soon started a streak of hits such as Up, Up and Away, Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In, Stoned Soul Picnic, Wedding Bell Blues, and One Less Bell To Answer.

Behind his role as the group’s tenor voice, McLemore shaped the group’s image, shooting many of the band’s promo photos and album covers.

As musical tastes shifted in the 1970s, The 5th Dimension’s commercial appeal faded, and in 1975 McCoo and Davis, by then married, went solo. McLemore and LaRue continued to perform with versions of the group for many years, while he also pursued photography and visual art.

After the death of Townson in 2001, Lamonte McLemore is only the second member of The 5th Dimension to die. He was 90.

The Three Dog Nighter
Three Dog Night was one of the most successful US bands of the late 1960s to the mid-1970s, with a knack for interpreting songs by other writers and turning them into big hits. Now Chuck Negron, the voice of many of these hits is gone.

As one of the band’s three lead singers, Negron took the lead on hits such as Joy To The World, Easy To Be Hard, One, Old Fashioned Love Song, Pieces Of April, The Show Must Go On, and ’Til The World Ends. On other songs he shared lead vocals or provided harmonies.

During their peak years, Three Dog Night scored more than 20 US Top 40 hits and was one of the most commercially successful acts of the era.

Behind the success, however, Negron struggled with heroin addiction. He achieved sobriety by 1991 and released several solo albums in the 1990s and into the new millennium. Negron later chronicled his experiences in the memoir Three Dog Nightmare.

His fellow co-lead singer Rory Wells died in 2015.

The Salsa King
Apparently the best-selling salsa artist of all time, Willie Colón is considered one of the architects of modern salsa. The trombonist, bandleader, singer and producer helped define Latin music in his home city of New York from the late 1960s into the new millennium.

Born in the Bronx in 1950 to Puerto Rican parents, Colón grew up immersed in Caribbean rhythms but also exposed to pop, rock & roll, R&B and jazz, He was just 17 when he signed with the famous salsa label Fania Records.

Colón first found success in a partnership with singer Héctor Lavoe in the early 1970s. Songs like Calle Luna, Calle Sol and Che Che Colé became anthems of the urban movement that incorporated jazz, rock and R&B into the Latin sounds and would be labelled “salsa dura”.

In the mid-1970s Colón began working with Panamanian singer-songwriter Rubén Blades, producing socially conscious albums such as 1978’s Siembra, one of the best-selling salsa records of all time. By the 1980s Colón became a vocalist in his own right, with his 1989 hit El Gran Varón becoming his signature hit.

Beyond music, Colón was also a social and political activist, especially in the areas of Latino rights, HIV/AIDS, ecological issues, and foreign debt relief. He worked for New York City mayors Dinkins and Bloomberg, and endorsed Hilary Clinton in the 2008 Democratic primaries. He actively campaigned against Venezuela’s presidents Chavez and Maduro.

In 2014, at the age of 64 he graduated from the police academy was sworn in as a deputy sheriff. Colón attained the rank of deputy-lieutenant by the time he retired in 2022.

The Hitmaker
As a teenager, Jerry Kennedy attended an Elvis Presley gig on the Louisiana Hayride circuit, and was annoyed that he couldn’t hear the music amid all the pubescent screaming. And as a guitarist, his attention was more on Scotty Moore than on the budding King of Rock & Roll and his pelvis. Just a few years later, Jerry would play for Presley, including on the hit single Good Luck Charm, and even for Scotty Moore himself.

As a guitarist, Kennedy was part of Nashville’s elite session community, contributing to countless recordings during the height of the “Nashville Sound” era. Among the many acts he played for are Faron Young, Brenda Lee, Dave Dudley, Hank Williams Jr., Roy Drusky, Johnny Paycheck, Ray Stevens, Skeeter Davis, David Allan Coe, Jody Miller, The Statler Brothers, Jerry Lee Lewis, Ray Price, Tom T. Hall, Carl Perkins, and many others,

He played guitar on Roy Orbison’s Oh Pretty Woman, The Statler Brothers’ Flowers On The Wall (which he also produced), on Charlie Rich’s The Most Beautiful Girl, and the dobro on Jeannie C. Riley’s Harper Valley P.T.A.

He played on Bob Dylan’s Blonde On Blonde album, including on Just Like A Woman, and on Kris Kristofferson’s string of early-1970s album, on tracks such as Sunday Morning Coming Down, For The Good Times, Me And Bobby McGee, Help Me Make It Through The Night, Loving Her Was Easier (Than Anything I’ll Ever Do Again), Josie, and From The Bottle To The Bottom.

He also played for non-country acts like Johnny Halliday, Clyde McPhatter, Joan Baez, Ringo Starr, and Al Kooper.

But Kennedy is perhaps even better remembered for his long association with Mercury Records. As a producer (and later head of the label’s Nashville division), he produced several albums by major acts like Tom T. Hall, The Statler Brothers, Jerry Lee Lewis, Roger Miller, Dave Dudley, Bobby Bare, Roy Drusky, Faron Young, Johnny Rodriguez, Mickey Newbury, Reba McEntire and Moe Bandy.

Among the big hits he produced — and, on some, played — were Roger Miller’s King Of The Road and England Swings, Faron Young’s It’s Four In The Morning, Tom T. Hall’s I Love and Old Dogs, Children And) Watermelon Wine, and a long list of Country Chart hits.

The Hitwriter
The lyrics of the Madonna hit Like A Virgin were written by a man who had been going through a break-up and really felt like he had been “beat, incomplete” and having “made it through the wilderness”. Billy Steinberg, who has died at 75, co-wrote an impressive string of hits.

These hits also include True Colors by Cyndi Lauper, Alone by Heart, So Emotional by Whitney Houston, I Drove All Night by Roy Orbison (and Lauper), Eternal Flame by The Bangles, Look Me In The Heart by Tina Turner, I Touch Myself by Divinyls, I’ll Stand By You by the Pretenders, Falling Into You by Celine Dion, Too Little Too Late by JoJo, All About Us by t.A.t.u., Over It by Katharine McPhee, Don’t Hold Your Breath by Nicole Scherzinger, and Give Your Heart A Break by Demi Lovato.

Steinberg’s first break came when he was the lead singer and guitarist of the group Billy Thermal, whose Steinberg-written song How Do I Make You, initially only a demo, was covered by Linda Ronstadt and became a US Top 10 hit in 1980. Soon he and long-time writing partner Tom Kelly were writing songs for the likes of Pat Benatar, Rick Springfield, Air Supply, Belinda Carlisle and Peabo Bryson.

Steinberg also produced some records, including the songs mentioned by Orbison, Dion, McPhee, Scherzinger and Lovato, as well as tracks by acts like The Corrs, Chynna Philips, The Veronicas, JoJo, Leona Lewis, Ashley Tisdale, and Melanie C.

The Funky Trumpet
Best known as the trumpeter and leader of the funk band Slave, multi-instrumentalist Steve Washington went on to have success as founder of soul-funk band Aurra.

Slave was one of the tightest funk outfits in the late 1970s. Before the group adopted the name Slave, Washington and his bandmates performed as Black Satin. Their brand of Mid-West funk was harder than its coastal counterparts.

With Aurra, an off-shoot of Slave, the hard edges were smoothed. The band was especially popular in the UK, where their single You and Me Tonight reached #12 in 1986.

The Afrobeat Pioneer
As one of the founding architects of Ghana’s highlife genre and a pivotal figure in the evolution of Afrobeat in general, Ebo Taylor was one of Africa’s unheralded greats.

Born in 1936, Taylor grew up immersed in local musical forms before studying music in London in the late 1950s. There he absorbed jazz, and the early stirrings of funk, soul and reggae. He would later fuse these influences with West African rhythms.

On returning to Ghana in the 1960s, Taylor worked as a guitarist, composer, arranger and bandleader, performing with groups such as the Stargazers and later forming his own ensemble, The Pelikans. His collaborated with other greats of African music, especially Nigeria’s Fela Kuti, with whom he shared ideas during the formative years of Afrobeat, and South Africa’s Hugh Masekela, whose Pan-African outlook reflected Taylor’s own musical philosophy.

Taylor’s layered guitars, punchy horn arrangements, and hypnotic grooves scored lyrics that often addressed social justice, political consciousness and African identity.

Taylor was huge in West Africa but never achieved widespread international fame. Some recognition came in the 2000s, when Taylor met the Berlin-based Afrobeat Academy band, an association that resulted in the 2010 release of his first internationally distributed album, Love And Death on Strut Records.

Subsequently international reissue labels introduced Taylor’s back catalogue to new audiences. His recordings gained cult status among hip hop DJs, collectors and younger musicians, leading to performances and collaborations into his later years.

The Clobberer
Nicknamed “The Clobberer”, Andrew Ranken’s powerful, sometimes quasi-martial drumming propelled the sound of The Pogues, whom he joined in 1982 and stayed with until the split in 1996. He was also part of the 2001-14 regrouping.

He was working towards a degree in media and sociology when his neighbours Shane MacGowan and Jem Finer, having heard him practising in his flat, asked Ranken to join their embryonic band Pogue Mahone (Irish for “kiss my arse”). With The Pogues, he played on UK hits like Sally MacLennane, Fairytale Of New York, The Irish Rover (with The Dubliners), Fiesta, and Tuesday Morning.

More recently, he fronted a blues-rock band called The Mysterious Wheels.

Ranken is the fifth Pogue to die, after Shane MacGowan, Phil Crevron, Darryl Hunt, and Joe Strummer (a member from 1991-92).

The Drummer Down Under
Australian drummer Mark Kennedy, who has died at 74, played with some of his country’s best known bands. As a teenager in 1969, he co-founded the prog-rock band Spectrum, but by 1970 left the group. Still, he appeared on their debut single, appropriately titled I’ll Be Gone, which topped the Australian charts.

He followed that by founding another prog band, King Harvest (not to be confused with the US band of that name), which he also left within two years. He then co-founded jazz-fusion outfit Ayers Rock, with whom he played from 1973–76, and then drummed for the band’s backing singer Marcia Hines from 1976–83. For one album, in 1985, he drummed for Men At Work. Subsequently, he worked extensively with Renée Geyer, whom we lost in August 2923.

Kennedy also played percussions alongside Rafael de Jesus on Duran Duran’s 1983 album Seven and the Ragged Tiger.
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.

Wolfgang Heichel, 75, singer with German disco-schlager group Dschinghis Khan, on Jan. 20
Dschinghis Khan – Moscow (1979)

Wes McGhee, 77, English country guitarist and songwriter, on Jan. 30
Wes McGhee – Whiskey Is My Driver (1980)

Don Adams, 85, country singer, on Feb. 1
Don Adams – I Just Lost My Favorite Girl (1964)

Steve Washington, 67, funk and soul musician, announced Feb. 1
Slave – Slide (1977, as member, also as co-writer)
Aurra – In My Arms (1982, as member, co-writer, producer)

Chuck Negron, 83, co-lead singer of Three Dog Night, on Feb. 2
Three Dog Night – One (1969, on lead vocals)
Three Dog Night – Joy To The World (1970, on lead vocals)
Three Dog Night – ‘Til The World Ends (1975, on lead vocals)

Ken Peplowski, 66, jazz clarinetist and tenor saxophonist, on Feb. 2

Bob Beeman, bassist of punk band Stick Men With Ray Guns, announced Feb. 2

James Moschello, 88, singer with doo wop band The Elegants, on Feb. 2
The Elegants – Little Star (1958)

Pete Devine, drummer of blues-rock band Howell Devine, announced Feb. 3

Lamonte McLemore, 90, singer with The 5th Dimension, on Feb. 3
The 5th Dimension – Working On A Groovy Thing (1969, co-written by Neil Sedaka)
The 5th Dimension – The Singer (1971, also as co-writer)
The 5th Dimension – (Last Night) I Didn’t Get To Sleep At All (1972)

Ron Kenoly, 81, worship music singer and songwriter, on Feb. 3

Tommy Crook, 81, country guitarist, on Feb. 4

Fred Smith, 77, bassist of Television (and originally of Blondie), on Feb. 5
Television – Guiding Light (1977)

Helen Micallef, 75, half of Maltese duo Helen & Joseph, on Feb. 5

Lynn Blakey, singer, guitarist of alt.country group Tres Chicas, announced Feb. 6
Tres Chicas – Sweetwater (2004, also as writer)

Kåre Grøttum, 92, Norwegian jazz pianist and composer, on Feb. 7

Greg Brown, alt.rock guitarist and songwriter with Cake, Deathray, announced Feb. 7
Cake – The Distance (1996, also as writer)

Brad Arnold, 47, singer of alt.rock band 3 Doors Down, songwriter, Feb. 7
3 Doors Down – Here Without You (2203, also as co-writer)

Ebo Taylor, 90, Ghanaian highlife singer, guitarist, songwriter, producer, on Feb. 7
Ebo Taylor & The Pelikans – Come Along (1976, also as writer)
Ebo Taylor – Heaven (1977, on guitar, as co-writer and arranger)
Ebo Taylor – Nga Nga (2010, on guitar and as co-writer)

Rafael Amador Fernández, 65, singer, guitarist of Spanish flamenco band Pata Neta, on Feb. 8

Matti Caspi, 76, Israeli singer-songwriter, on Feb. 8

Garland Green, 83, soul singer and pianist, announced Feb. 9
Garland Green – You Played On A Player (1969)

Ernesto Colon, guitarist of metalcore band Merauder, on Feb. 9

Andrew Ranken, 72, drummer of The Pogues, on Feb. 10
The Pogues – Streams Of Whisky (1984)
The Pogues – Bottle Of Smoke (1988)
The Pogues – My Baby’s Gone (1993, also as lead singer and writer)

Des de Moor, 64, English singer, musician and songwriter, on Feb. 10

Jerry Kennedy, 85, producer, songwriter and guitarist, on Feb. 11
Elvis Presley – Good Luck Charm (1962, on guitar)
Roger Miller – King Of The Road (1965, as producer)
Kris Kristofferson – From The Bottle To The Bottom (1973, on guitar)

Saúl Cornejo, 79, Peruvian singer, songwriter of rock band We All Together, on Feb. 12

Michel Portal, 90, French jazz composer, saxophonist and clarinettist, on Feb. 12
Michel Portal – African Wind (2021, also as composer)

Ken Walker, 66, jazz musician and composer, on Feb. 12

Milkman, 36, Mexican rapper and producer, on Feb. 12

Simon Harris, 63, British producer, DJ and electronic musician, on Feb. 13
The Real Thing – You To Me Are Everything (Decade Mix) (1986, as co-remixer)
Simon Harris – Bass (How Low Can You Go) (1988)

Wayne Proctor, guitarist of garage rock band We The People, on Feb. 13
We The People – My Brother, The Man (1966)

Tim Very, 42, drummer of indie-rock band Manchester Orchestra, on Feb. 14
Manchester Orchestra – The Gold (2017)

Anna Ranalli, 84, Italian singer, model and actress, on Feb. 14

Marzio Mazzanti, 80, bassist of Italian pop band Homo Sapiens, announced Feb. 16
Homo Sapiens – Tornerai, tornerò (1975)

Billy Steinberg, 75, pop songwriter, producer, singer, guitarist, on Feb. 16
Billy Thermal – How Do I Make You (1980, as member, co-writer, on lead vocals)
Cyndi Lauper – I Drove All Night (1989, as co-writer)
Katharine McPhee – Over It (2007, as co-writer and co-producer)

Shinya Yamada, 56, drummer of Japanese rock band Luna Sea, on Feb. 17

Lil Poppa, 25, rapper, suicide on Feb. 18

Nikolai Komyagin, 39, singer of Russian rock band Shortparis, on Feb. 19

Mark Kennedy, 74, Australian pop, rock and fusion drummer, producer, on Feb. 21
Spectrum – I’ll Be Gone (1971, as member on drums)
Doug Parkinson & The Southern Star Band – Now You’re On Your Own (1978, as member on drums and as producer)
Duran Duran – New Moon On Monday (1983, on percussions)

Pete Dello, 83, English singer and songwriter, on Feb. 21
The Honeybus – I Can’t Let Maggie Go (1968, as member on lead vocals and co-writer)

Willie Colón, 75, salsa legend, actor, and social activist, on Feb. 21
Willie Colón – The Hustler (1968)
Willie Colón feat. Héctor Lavoe – Che Che Cole (1971)
Celia Cruz & Willie Colón – Pun Pun Catalú (1977, also as producer)
Willie Colón – El Gran Varón (1989)

Luci4, 23, rapper, songwriter and producer, on Feb. 22

Sondra Lee, 97, musicals actress and singer, on Feb. 23

Monti Rock III, 86, disco singer, on Feb. 23
Disco-Tex and the Sex-O-Lettes – Get Dancin’ (1974, as Disco-Tex on vocals)

Héctor Zamorano, 47, Mexican pop singer, on Feb. 24

Brett Jones, 69, country songwriter, on Feb. 24

Rostislav Gepp, 74, pianist of Russian pop group Ariel, on Feb. 24

Jiří Valenta, 66, keyboardist of Czech band Olympic, suicide in Feb. 24

Oliver ‘Power’ Grant, 52, Wu Tang Clan co-founder, executive producer, on Feb. 25

Roscoe Robinson, 97, gospel and soul singer and songwriter, on Feb. 26
Roscoe Robinson – Do It Right Now (1966, also as writer)

Neil Sedaka, 86, singer, songwriter and producer, on Feb. 27
Neil Sedaka – Oh, Carol (1959, also as co-writer)
Neil Sedaka – Next Door To An Angel (1962, also as co-writer)
Neil Sedaka – The Immigrant (1974, also as co-writer and co-producer)
Neil Sedaka – Breaking Up Is Hard To Do (1975 also as co-writer and co-producer)

Travis Wammack, 81, rock guitarist and singer, on Feb. 27
Travis Wammack – Scratchy (1964, also as co-writer)
Travis Wammack – (Shu-Doo-Pa-Poo-Poop) Love Being Your Fool (1975)

Boncana Maïga, 77, Malian composer and musician, on Feb. 28

Terry Watkinson, 85, keyboardist of Canadian rock band Max Webster, on Feb. 28

John P. Hammond, 83, blues singer and guitarist, on Feb. 28
John Hammond – I Can Tell (1967)

GET IT!

Previous In Memoriams

Keep up to date with dead pop stars on Facebook

Last year I planned to scale back the amount of monthly write-ups of departed musicians, a time-saving plan that failed decisively. This year, I’ll try again to pull through this new year’s resolution. There were a few others people this month about whom I normally would have written, but I was strict with myself. Let’s see how it goes.

Outside music there was the death at 99 of Hessy Levinsons. In 1935 a Nazi propaganda contest selected a photo of a blue-eyed, fair-haired infant as the “perfect Aryan baby” — unaware that the child was, in fact, Jewish. The photographer had secretly submitted the photo to expose the Nazi’s racial ideology. The family, with the “perfect Aryan baby”, later fled Germany to survive the Holocaust.

By the way, if you missed the announcement, all previous In Memoriams going back to January 2017 are back up, and the linking-errors I have been made aware of have been fixed (special thanks to eagle-eyed reader Herminio)

The Master Drummer
Drummer Sly Dunbar, who died this month at the age of 73, and bass player Robbie Shakespeare, whom we lost in 2021, were a formidable rhythm section, exceptional producers, and a fine recording act as Sly & Robbie.

From 1979 to 1987 they were part of the seminal reggae band Black Uhuru, during its peak years, played on five albums each Peter Tosh and Jimmy Cliff, and 14 by Dennis Brown. They played on reggae classics like Junior Murvin’s 1976 hit Police And Thieves, and Lee Perry’s Night Doctor.

Recording as Sly & Robbie, they had one of the finest hits of 1987 with the great Boops. (That and the Murvin track mentioned above featured in In Memoriam – December 2021.

Dunbar was also a pioneer in the use of drum machines and electronic rhythms in reggae, helping to usher in the digital dancehall era of the 1980s.

Sly and Robbie made their mark as producers, too. They worked with artists like Grace Jones (including Pull Up To The Bumper), Gwen Guthrie, Joe Cocker, Ian Dury, Bob Dylan, Mick Jagger, Jackson Browne, Cyndi Lauper, Yoko Ono, Serge Gainsbourg, No Doubt, and Simply Red, among others.

They also produced and played with reggae greats such as Peter Tosh, Gregory Isaacs, Bunny Wailer, Sugar Minott, Jimmy Cliff, Ini Kamoze, Yellowman, The Mighty Diamonds, Chaka Demus & Pliers (whose hit Tease Me they wrote and produced), Shabba Ranks, and Beenie Man. Many of them appeared on Dunbar and Shakespeare’s Taxi Records label, which they had founded in 1980.

The Grateful Dead
Born in 1947 and adopted as an infant, Bob Weir met the older Jerry Garcia in 1963 as a teenager in Palo Alto, California. Their partnership became the core of the Grateful Dead, which redefined what a rock group could be: part folk ensemble, part blues-rock band, part psychedelic experiment, and part jam band; sometimes only one of these and other times the whole menu at once.

As a rhythm guitarist, Weir drew from jazz as well as folk fingerpicking, which allowed the band to innovate, especially on stage as their performances grew longer and more experimental. Weir was also one of the band’s primary lead vocalists, particularly in their later years.

As a songwriter, Weir often collaborated with lyricists John Perry Barlow (his childhood friend) and Robert Hunter. After Garcia’s death in 1995, Weir continued the Grateful Dead legacy, and was pivotal in several post-Dead projects, including RatDog, Furthur, Dead & Company, and Wolf Bros.

After Phil Lesh in October 2024 and Donna Jean Godchaux in November 2025, Weir is the third Grateful Deed member to die within the past 15 months. Both Lesh and Godchaux appeared on his featured solo track. Of the Dead, only Bill Kreutzmann, Mickey Hart and Tom Constanten are still alive.

The Cookie
With the death of Margaret Ross, all members of soul-pop group The Cookies are gone. Ross had joined the second iteration of the group, which in the 1950s had backed Ray Charles.

With The Cookies, Ross had crossover hits in 1962/63 with Don’t Say Nothin’ Bad (About My Baby), which reached #7 on the Billboard Top 100; Chains, which The Beatles covered on their debut album (it featured on The Originals: Beatles edition); and Girls Grow Up Faster Than Boys.

The Cookies also recorded the first version of the later Drifters hit On Broadway, but The Crystals’ version was the one that was released. The Cookies’ recording is a bonus track on The Originals: Soul Vol. 1.

More than that, they were prolific session singers, especially on Brill Building numbers such as The Loco-Motion by Little Eva, Blame It On The Bossa Nova by Eydie Gorme, and Neil Sedaka’s hits Breaking Up is Hard To Do, Next Door To An Angel, and Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen.

After lead singer Earl-Jean McCrea left the group on 1965, Ross assumed most lead vocal duties as The Cookies carried on, under their own as well as a string of other names.

The Wiz
As a 16-year-old, Bryan Loren — aka Bryan “The Wiz” Hudson — unofficially joined the Fat Larry’s Band on the synth, and promptly contributed to a global hit, Zoom, a mid-tempo ballad on which his synth sparkles, and the dance classic Act Like You Know It (which featured on Party Like It’s 1982). By then, he had already played with Nona Hendryx, Tavares and Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes.

Bryan was too young to tour with Fat Larry’s Band, so he joined the soul band Cashmere, showing skills not only on the keys but also as a vocalist and songwriter. The prodigy soon got a contract as a solo singer, and in 1984 released his eponymous debut album, which he wrote, produced, and played all instruments. It produced a couple of hits mid-chart R&B hits in Lollipop Luv and Do You Really Love Me.

Loren wouldn’t record another album for eight years, and moved behind the scenes, as a producer, songwriter and session player. His production clients in the 1980s and ’90s included (in roughly chronological order) Meli’sa Morgan, Con Funk Shun, Vesta Williams, Sting, Barry White, Shanice, The Brothers Johnson, Najee, Michael Jackson and Chanté Moore, among others. On many of his productions he also contributed instrumental work.

One hit on which he just played, on the Moog bass, was Michael Jackson’s hit Black Or White (he also played on other tracks on the Dangerous album). And with Jackson he created his biggest hit: The Simpsons cash-in Do The Barman, a New Jack Novelty number which Loren and Jackson co-wrote and co-produced (Jackson was uncredited). Of course, Loren also played most instruments on it and, with Jackson, provided backing vocals. The song was a global hit in 1991.
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.

Hayden Thompson, 87, rockabilly singer, on Dec. 31
Hayden Thompson – Love My Baby (1957)

Andrew Ure, 41, singer of Scottish band The Ray Summers, on Dec. 31

Johnny Legend, 77, rockabilly musician, film producer, on Jan. 2
Johnny Legend & His Skullcaps – Rockabilly Rumble (1980)

Tony Carr, 98, Maltese session drummer and percussionist, on Jan. 2
Hot Chocolate – You Sexy Thing (1975, on percussion)

Tom Timberlake, 75, member of bluegrass group Kevin Prater Band, on Jan. 2

Michael Kemner, 72, bassist of German new wave band Fehlfarben, on Jan. 3
Fehlfarben – Ein Jahr (Es geht voran) (1980, also as co-writer)

Calbo, 52, French-Congolese rapper with hip hop duo Ärsenik, on Jan. 4

Zeethewizard, rapper, after shooting on Jan. 5

Andrew Bodnar, 71, bassist of UK rick band The Rumour, songwriter, on Jan. 5
Elvis Costello – Watching The Detectives (1977, on bass)
Nick Lowe – I Love The Sound Of Breaking Glass (1978, on bass and as co-writer)

Mike Embro, 63, drummer of Canadian metal band Razor, announced Jan. 5

Jim McBride, 78, country songwriter, on Jan. 6
Alan Jackson – (Who Says) You Can’t Have It All (1993, as co-writer)

Richard Kersten, 76, British-German musician (Beatles Revival Band) on Jan. 6

Guy Moon, 63, movie & TV composer, traffic collision on Jan. 7

Rebecca Kilgore, 76, jazz singer, on Jan. 7
Rebecca Kilgore – No Love, No Nothing (1996)

Matthew Taylor, c.57, bassist of indie rock band Bellini, artist, on Jan. 8

Dave Hitchcock, 76, English prog-rock producer, on Jan. 8
Camel – Freefall (1974, as producer)

Terry Sullivan, 87, drummer of British prog-rock band Renaissance, on Jan. 9
Renaissance – Carpet Of The Sun (1973)
Renaissance – The Vultures Fly High (1975, produced by Dave Hitchcock)

Álvaro Peña-Rojas, 82, Chilean punk singer and songwriter, on Jan. 8

Dieudonné Larose, 80, Haitian singer, on Jan. 8

Bob Weir, 78, guitarist, singer, songwriter with the Grateful Dead, on Jan. 10
Grateful Dead – Sugar Magnolia (1970, on lead vocals and as co-writer)
Bob Weir – Cassidy (1972, also as co-writer)
Bob Weir – Bombs Away (1978, also as co-writer)
Grateful Dead – Throwing Stones (1987, on lead vocals and as co-writer)

Yeison Jiménez, 34, Colombian pop singer, plane crash on Jan. 10

Bill Ramal, 88, rock & roll saxophonist, songwriter, producer, announced Jan. 12
The Ravels – Gonna Have Some Fun (1963, as member on sax, co-writer, arranger, producer)

Pammy Lassiter, 79, bluegrass musician, on Jan. 12

John Forté, 50, rapper (Refugee Camp All-Stars) and producer, on Jan. 12
Fugees feat. John Forté and Omega – Family Business (1996, also as co-writer, co-producer)
John Forté – Ninety Nine (Flash The Message) (1998, also as co-writer)

Sheila Bernette, 94, English singer and actress, on Jan. 12

Matt Kwasniewski-Kelvin, 26, guitarist of UK experimental rock group Black Midi, on Jan. 12
Black Midi – Speedway (2019)

Kenny Morris, 68, first drummer of Siouxsie And The Banshees, on Jan. 15
Siouxsie And The Banshees – Hong Kong Garden (1978)

Tony Dallara, 89, Italian singer, on Jan. 16
Tony Dallara – Come Prima (1957)

Marikena Monti, 82, Argentine actress and singer, on Jan. 17

Tucker Zimmerman, 84, folk-rock singer-songwriter and author, in a fire on Jan. 17
Tucker Zimmerman – Bird Lives (1969)

Gary Burke, 77, rock and jazz drummer (Joe Jackson), on Jan. 17
Joe Jackson – Slow Song (live) (1988, on drums)

Ralph Towner, 85, jazz musician and composer, on Jan. 18
Ralph Towner & Gary Burton – Icarus (1975, also as composer)

Anders Möller, 63, Swedish rock singer and guitarist, on Jan. 18

Stephen ‘Cat’ Coore, 69, guitarist and cellist of Third World, on Jan. 18
Third World – 1865 (96 Degrees In The Shade) (1977)
Third World – Ride On (1982)

Billy Parker, 88, country singer and radio DJ, on Jan. 19

Rob Hirst, 70, drummer of Midnight Oil and songwriter, on Jan. 20
Midnight Oil – Beds Are Burning (1987, also as co-writer)
Midnight Oil – Forgotten Years (1990, also as co-writer)

Zimi Shabanay, 37, bassist of metal band Schoenberg Automaton, announced Jan. 21

Angelika Mann, 76, German singer and actress, on Jan. 21

Christoph Stiefel, 67, Swiss jazz musician, composer, bandleader, on Jan. 21

Francis Buchholz, 71, bassist of German hard rock band Scorpions (1973-92), on Jan. 22
Scorpions – Rock You Like A Hurricane (1984)
Scorpions – Wind Of Change (1990)

Guy Hovis, 84, TV show crooner, on Jan. 22

Stefania Stella, Italian actress and singer, on Jan. 22

Kristinn Svavarsson, 78, saxophonist of Icelandic jazz fusion band Mezzoforte, on Jan. 23
Mezzoforte – Gazing At The Clouds (1983, also as composer)

Margaret Ross, 83, singer with The Cookies, on Jan. 23
Neil Sedaka – Breaking Up Is Hard To Do (1962, on backing vocals)
The Cookies – Will Power (1963)
The Cookies – Wounded (1967)

Yuri Rymanov, 69, guitarist of Russian rock band Lyube, on Jan. 24

Gabe Lopez, 31, pop singer, songwriter and producer, on Jan. 25
Gabe Lopez feat. Belinda Carlisle – California Blues (2015)

Jean Cussac, 103, French baritone with UK vocal group The Swingle Singers, on Jan. 25

Marie Rouanet, 89, French singer-poet and writer, on Jan. 25

Sly Dunbar, 73, Jamaican drummer (Sly & Robbie), producer, and songwriter, on Jan. 26
Mighty Diamonds – Right Time (1975, on drums)
Peter Tosh feat. Gwen Guthrie – Nothing But Love (1981, on drums)
Bob Dylan – Sweetheart Like You (1983, on drums)
Sly & Robbie – Fire (1986)

Riccardo Bray, funk guitarist (Zapp), announced Jan. 26

Hardy Hepp, 81, Swiss rock singer, songwriter, musician, on Jan. 26
Krokodil – Get Your Personality Together (1970, as member on vocals)

Richie Beirach, 78, jazz pianist and composer, on Jan. 26
Richie Beirach Trio – Flamenco Sketches (2001)

Ian McDougall, 87, Canadian jazz trombonist, on Jan. 26

Danny ‘Crybaby’ Coughlan, 55, British singer-songwriter and guitarist, on Jan. 26
Crybaby – When The Lights Go Out (2012)

Mingo Lewis, 72, percussionist, drummer and songwriter, announced Jan. 28
Billy Joel – Say Goodbye To Hollywood (1976, on percussions)
Al Di Meola – Flight Over Rio (1977, as writer and on percussion, synth and organ)

Bryan Loren (‘The Wiz’ Hudson), 59, soul singer, songwriter, producer, on Jan. 28
Fat Larry’s Band – Zoom (1982, as Bryan “The Wiz” Hudson on synthesizer)
Bryan Loren – Do You Really Love Me (1984, also as writer, producer, all instruments)
The Simpsons – Do The Bartman (1990, as co-writer and co-producer)

Nilton César, 86, Brazilian singer, on Jan. 28

Parthenon Huxley, 70, musician, singer, songwriter and producer, on Jan. 30
Parthenon Huxley – Chance To Be Loved (1988)

Billy Bass Nelson, 75, original bassist of Funkadelic, on Jan. 31
Funkadelic – I Wanna Know If It’s Good To You (1970, also as co-writer)
Funkadelic – Hit It And Quit It (1971, also as co-writer)

GET IT! or HERE!

Previous In Memoriams

Keep up to date with dead pop stars on Facebook