Any Major Dude With Half A Heart

This is the second part of songs about the USA, following Any Major USA Vol. 1 last week, to coincide with the 250th anniversary of the federation’s independence on July 4.

As in the first mix, some songs here celebrate the USA, while others are critical. French disco legend Patrick Juvet is pretty uncritical of the US, largely because he just likes funky music. Linda Ronstadt, covering Chuck Berry, clearly prefers the USA to the rest of the world, while Norah Jones’ American Anthem sees the best in the country.

Kim Wilde’s 1981 hit Kids In America is a romanticised projection of the USA as a land of drive-in movies, diners, and a more vibrant lifestyle than what the British record-buying public knew. At the time, Wilde had never actually been to the US.

Matthew Wilder’s catchy The Kid’s American from 1983 mirrors Wilde’s projection. The titular Kid is an edgy go-getter who is determined to succeed at all costs. In the 1980s, he was probably seen as admirable; in 2026, the Kid is likely an insufferable character.

On the critical side, Nina Simone’s Mississippi Goddam and Eugene McDaniels’ Love Letter To America are the most potent critiques across both mixes. Following those, I let James Brown break my one-artist-per-theme rule with his call for reconciliation and common purpose.

Opening track Back In The USA features a few name-checks of places, while a couple of other songs tell of journeying through the States. Simon & Garfunkel’s America represents a road trip on Greyhound buses and hitched rides, while The City Of New Orleans is about a train journey. The latter is included here in a live version by the song’s writer, Steve Goodman. Why not the studio original or Arlo Guthrie’s famous cover? Because soon we’ll have a Song Swarm dedicated to the track.

Talking of road trips, the American Road Trip series of mixes might make for a good companion during this time of commemoration — a coast-to-coast-and-back journey in songs through many US cities in an imaginary itinerary over seven volumes. Every song was about the city or town visited.

Oddly enough, The Pogues could have featured a few times. Their Thousands Are Sailing, a song about Irish migration, was on the shortlist, but I opted for the more obscure (except, maybe, to fans of The Wire) The Body Of An American. Migration is also the topic of Neil Diamond’s America, from the 1980 version of The Jazz Singer. The migrants are coming to America, where freedom’s light apparently burns warm. Different times.

The commemoration of the USA’s 250 years closes with Jimi Hendrix’s rendition at Woodstock of the Star Spangled Banner, which was at once a patriotic gesture and an anti-war protest, with the ferocious guitar distortions representing bombs in Vietnam.

One obvious track missing here is American Pie. For one thing, it’s too long for CD-R capacity; for another, it has been overplayed. You probably already have it in your collection and can easily add it to your own playlist.

There will be many more obvious omissions. The Ritchie Family’s American Generation narrowly missed the cut (it featured on A Life In Vinyl: 1979), as did Madness’ Uncle Sam. I also had The Proclaimers’ Letter From America shortlisted, but I don’t really like that song much. You will doubtless have your own suggestions, which you are most welcome to share in the Comments.

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

1. Linda Ronstadt – Back In The U.S.A. (1978)
2. David Bowie – Young Americans (1974)
3. Simon & Garfunkel – America (1968)
4. Grateful Dead – U.S. Blues (1974)
5. Eugene McDaniels – Love Letter To America (1970)
6. Nina Simone – Mississippi Goddam (1964)
7. James Brown – Hey America (1970)
8. Patrick Juvet – I Love America (1978)
9. Kim Wilde – Kids In America (1981)
10. Matthew Wilder – The Kid’s American (1983)
11. Neil Diamond – America (1980)
12. Norah Jones – American Anthem (2007)
13. The Highwaymen – American Remains (1999)
14. Steve Goodman – City Of New Orleans (live) (1983)
15. Steve Miller Band – Living In The U.S.A. (1968)
16. The Guess Who – American Woman (1969)
17. The Pogues – The Body Of An American (1986)
18. Green Day – American Idiot (live) (2005)
19. Jimi Hendrix – Star Spangled Banner (Live at Woodstock) (1969)

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I remember the celebrations of the bicentenary of the United States in 1976 as a time of easy-going cheer. Maybe it was the feeling that with the chapters of Watergate and Vietnam closed, the USA could breathe out and let the sun in. Certainly, in Europe the USA was respected and, by some, even loved. As the US marks 250 years since independence, that respect and love has disintegrated.

Still, the 250 years anniversary is significant, an opportunity to stop and review all the good and all the bad that the US has brought to the world and to itself. And there are extremes on both ends of the scale.

The tracks on these two volumes of Any Major USA reflect a bit of that. There are songs here that celebrate the USA, but not in the jingoistic ways of a Toby Keith. There are also songs that are critical. Ironically (or maybe not), one of them was released in 1976, coinciding with the bicentenary. Gil Scott-Heron’s Winter In America should be the national anthem of the disaffected.

Volume 1 deliberately kicks off with the often misunderstood Born In The USA, presented here in a live version from 1985. Readers of this little corner of the Internet needn’t be told that the song isn’t a flag-waving nationalism-rouser but an angry lament for the betrayal of Americans by America. But could you blame the Reagans of the world for thinking it was a patriotic number when the cover of the album by the same name featured Bruce being cool in front of the Stars and Stripes?

And since we are nothing if not a balanced blog, we’ll follow Springsteen’s cri de coeur with James Brown’s 1980s bombast patriotism which namechecked a bunch of US cities. Let’s say that Brown’s politics were complicated. Other songs roll-call cities as well, most gloriously perhaps in Martha & The Vandella’s Dancing In The Streets.

 

The playlist sequence throws up nice contrasts: at one point we have Jay & The Americans cheerfully push the narrative of the USA as the land of opportunities, the next MC5 call bullshit on that idea. For all those who believe that the USA is a paradise, there are many who think the US is run by parasites.

A couple of songs are from the outside looking in. The Clash obviously are not filled with admiration, and Supertramp, in their often misunderstood song, satirise an idealised American culture, issuing clichés of the American Dream as it mocks the British fascination with America.

So here’s the USA, the bitter and the sweet. Volume 2 will follow next week.

The American Road Trip series of mixes might make for a good companion during this time of commemoration. Posted ten years ago, it was a coast-to-coast-and-back journey in songs through many US cities in an imaginary itinerary over seven volumes. Every song was about the city or town visited.

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

1. Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band – Born In The U.S.A. (live) (1985)
2. James Brown – Living In America (1985)
3. Sister Sledge – All American Girls (1981)
4. Supertramp – Breakfast In America (1979)
5. Talking Heads – The Big Country (1978)
6. Los Lobos – One Time, One Night (1987)
7. The Impressions – This Is My Country (1968)
8. Swamp Dogg – God Bless America For What (1971)
9. Gil Scott-Heron – Winter In America (1976)
10. Z.Z. Hill – Clean Up America (1974)
11. Zulema – Hail, Hail America (1972)
12. Martha & The Vandellas – Dancing In The Street (1964)
13. The Beach Boys – Surfin’ U.S.A. (1963)
14. Chuck Berry – Promised Land (1964)
15. Trini Lopez – A-me-ri-ca (1962)
16. Jay & The Americans – Only In America (1963)
17. MC5 – The American Ruse (1970)
18. The Clash – I’m So Bored With The U.S.A. (1977)
19. John Mellencamp – R.O.C.K. In The U.S.A. (1985)
20. Willie Nelson – Living In The Promiseland (1986)
21. Woody Guthrie – This Land Is Your Land (1940)
22. Elvis Presley – An American Trilogy (1972)

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On Thusday, the football World Cup will kick off in Mexico City. But this mix is not really about football, and none of the songs are about sport. You don’t have to like football to enjoy this mix. I’ve used the World Cup as a pretext for compiling 48 songs from the 48 competing nations, as a way of hearing music from some countries which we might otherwise never encounter. Have you ever explored the popular music of Uzbekistan or Curaçao?

I can’t say that I’m amped for the World Cup. The commercialisation, corporatisation and gentrification of football, and the lack of ethics and aggressive expediency exhibited by the voldemordian governing body over the past decades, have stripped the World Cup of almost all of the few virtues it still had. Add to that the bizarre prevailing political circumstances, and I’m one of the many who are verging on giving up on the whole thing. But then there’s the football. If it’s exciting, I might still get into the spirit of the whole thing.

The research for this mix took ages (so long that Colombia’s recently late Toto La Momposina and Ghana’s Ebo Taylor were still alive when I compiled it). I had to sit through some indifferent music, but I also discovered a whole lot of great music I never even knew existed. There were many surprises. For some countries, the choices of suitable and great tracks were vast — how to decide which song should represent the USA, England or France? For other countries, the pickings were rather slimmer.

Some choices seemed obvious to me (Pelé for Brazil; the song that is played when Germany score a goal; the French song that scored the Paris Olympics two years ago; Waterloo in Swedish and French); others I had to chew over (no A-ha for Norway?). I’m quite prepared for it that my choices might not be those of others, of course.

The whole thing provides us with a journey around the world. I have ordered the playlist according to the tournament schedule, in the sequence in which the respective countries first play. So the mix begins with Mexico and South Africa, who will play the opening match on June 11, and ends with Uzbekistan and Colombia, who will play the last of the opening group games. That way, one can play the selected songs before the match, like alternative national anthems.

I have also made a playlist of the same songs in a less random sequence. Let me know if some songs here provided you with a happy discovery or complete surprise.

Enjoy this journey around the world!

1. El Chicano – Que Sera (Mexico) (1976)
2. Hugh Masekela – Thuma Mina (Send Me) (South Africa) (2006)
3. Dean – Instagram (South Korea) (2018)
4. Karel Gott – Rot und schwarz (Czechia) (1969)
5. Barenaked Ladies – Call And Answer (Canada) (1998)
6. Letu Štuke – Mjesto Za Dvoje (Bosnia-Herzegovina) (2005)
7. Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson – Winter In America (Live) (USA) 1976)
8. La Pimentada – Negra Tomasa (Paraguay) (2016)
9. Dana Al Fardan with the Doha String Quartet – Layla (Qatar) (2016)
10. Double – The Captain Of Her Heart (Switzerland) (1985)
11. Pelé & Elis Regina – Perdão, Não Tem (Brazil) (1969)
12. Manal – Call Me (Morocco) (2021)
13. Tabou Combo – Tu as volé (Haiti) (2000)
14. Big Country – In A Big Country (Scotland) (1983)
15. Bettie Serveert – Palomine (Netherlands) (1992)
16. Bob Evans – Sadness & Whiskey (Australia) 2006)
17. Ajda – Yakar Geçerim (Turkey) (2011)
18. Peter Schilling – Major Tom (Germany) (1983)
19. Izaline Calister – Mi Pais (Curacao) (2009)
20. Towa Tei – Luv Connection (Japan) (1994)
21. Ernesto Djédjé – Ziboté (Cote d’Ivoire) (1977)
22. Julio Jaramillo – Nuestro Juramento (Ecuador) (1972)
23. Abba – Waterloo (French/Swedish) (Sweden) (1974)
24. Emel Mathlouthi – Ma Lkit (Tunisia) (2011)
25. Mocedades – Eres Tu (Spain) (1972)
26. Cesária Évora – Nho Antone Escaderode (Cape Verde) (1999)
27. K’s Choice – Almost Happy (Belgium) (2000)
28. Cairokee – James Dean (Egypt) (2022)
29. Mishaal Tamer – Itty Bitty (Saudi Arabia) (2024)
30. Jaime Roos – Amándote (Uruguay) (1987)
31. Googoosh – Hamsafar (Iran) (1990)
32. Max Merritt & The Meteors – Slipping Away (New Zealand) (1975)
33. Edith Piaf – L’hymne à l’amour (France) (1950)
34. Ismaël Lô – Dibi Dibi Rek (Senegal) (1994)
35. Ilham Al-Madfai – Khuttar (Iraq) (1999)
36. Marit Larsen – Solid Ground (Norway) (2026)
37. Carlos Gardel – La Cumparsita (Argentina) (1958)
38. Khaled – Aïcha (Algeria) (1996)
39. Falco – Der Kommissar (Austria) (1982)
40. Zeyne – liya (Jordan) (2025)
41. Ana Moura – Desfado (Portugal) (2012)
42. Papa Wemba – Le Voyageur (DR Congo) 1992)
43. Black Box Recorder – England Made Me (England) (1998)
44. Oliver Dragojevic – Cesarica (Croatia) (1996)
45. Ebo Taylor – Atwer Abroba (Ghana) (1978)
46. Camilo Azuquita – Borombon (Panama) (1969)
47. Shahzoda – Xasta (Uzbekistan) (2016)
48. Toto La Momposina – Prende La Vela (Colombia) (2002)

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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)

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Previous In Memoriams

Keep up to date with dead pop stars on Facebook

 

 

One thing this Not Feeling Guilty series has an abundance of is singers with names like school teachers whose solo careers were brief. That wasn’t necessarily a consequence of the quality of their music; I suspect many got lost because their record companies didn’t promote them in an oversaturated field of AOR and soft rock. Some recorded as a side project while doing session work. Others simply had poor luck, as the random roll of the dice left their LPs stuck on the shelves.

One of the many one-or-two-album acts in this series was Hal Bradbury, whose solitary solo album, You Win, I Lose, is a favourite among the “yacht rock” (that awful term) cognoscenti. The title track, featured here, was a cover of a recently released song by British singer Lulu. Issued in 1981, Hal’s album didn’t set the charts alight. But he had a happy outcome: he went on to become the lead singer of the popular Hawaiian band The Krush.

For 46 years, Dane Donohue had one album on his resumé, until he returned in 2024 with a new set. His eponymous 1978 debut had the backing of some big hitters: Bill Champlin produced it, and Stevie Nicks, JD Souther, Don Henley and Timothy B. Schmitt contributed backing vocals. The first two sang on the featured track, on which Larry Carlton plays guitar, Jai Winding piano, and Steve Gadd drums. Despite such stellar friends, the album wasn’t a hit, and Donohue was dropped by his label. Instead of shopping for a new label, he moved into behind-the-scenes work as a session and backing vocalist, and doing commercial and jingle work.

Briefly popular in their native South Africa, Stingray released two albums in 1979 and 1981. They featured on Any Major Band Vol. 1 with the great The Man In My Shoes. Their biggest hit, however, was the hard-rocker Better The Devil You Know. The featured track here is a deep cut from their debut album. For their sophomore album, the band had to replace drummer Shaun Wright after he lost a leg in a shark attack. Lead singer Dennis East went on to have a long solo career in South Africa. He died in 2022.

The group Airplay also released only one album, but they had bigger fish to fry than soft-rocking the West Coast. Their line-up included Bill Champlin and session backing singer Tommy Funderburk on vocals; the great producer, songwriter and guitarist Jay Graydon; and the legendary David Foster on keyboards. Backing musicians included almost all of Toto, and Ray Parker Jr. on rhythm guitars. Airplay were also the first to record the Earth, Wind & Fire hit After The Love Has Gone (written by Champlin and Foster), but their version was released after EWF’s, on that solitary 1980 Airplay album.

Graydon delivers a lovely little solo on the featured track, and also played on Dusty Springfield’s album, from which a track appears here too. Graydon also did that great guitar solo on Steely Dan’s Peg, which featured on Any Major Guitar Vol. 3.

One act that had a very long career was The Imperials, one of the biggest names in gospel music. The featured track, a breezy number called Living Without Your Love, came from their 26th album. Founded in 1963, an iteration of the group is still going. Russ Taff, lead singer on Living Without Your Love, was part of the group from 1977–81 — the first Black member of The Imperials at a time when multiracial bands were still uncommon. His stint was the group’s most commercially successful, and Taff went on to have a strong solo career in contemporary Christian music.

Frankie Bleu featured already on Vol. 14. That time, he dedicated his song to Vanessa; this time around the recipient of his devotion is Suzanne. The singer-songwriter, erstwhile guitarist of Seattle band Gabriel, released one album in 1982, having contributed to the soundtrack of the 1979 film The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh, including the excellent Moses’ Theme — yacht rock’s answer to Theme From Shaft. And that’s about all I know of Frankie.

Also featuring on Vol. 14 were Jolis & Simone, another one-album act. They were songwriter James Jolis and singer-songwriter-keyboardist Kevin DiSimone, who did a lot of session work for Barry Manilow and the likes of Bob James. On their one outing together, the pair created an album of jazz-funk grooves. They wrote Manilow’s 1982 hit Stay, which had first been released by soul trio Goodman Ray Brown.

Two of the more obscure acts here were introduced in previous volumes: Dick St. Nicklaus in Vol. 11 (which also introduced Michael Johnson), and the Little River Band’s Birtles & Goble in Vol. 14.

All previous NFG mixes are live. As always, this mix is timed to fit on a standard CD-R, and includes home-fifteen-albumed covers and the above text in a PDF. PW in comments.

1. Rick Springfield – Don’t Talk To Strangers (1982)
2. Alan Parsons Project – Eye In The Sky (1982)
3. George Duke – You (1982)
4. Robbie Dupree – Nobody Else (1980)
5. Michael Johnson – This Night Won’t Last Forever (1979)
6. David Gates – Goodbye Girl (1978)
7. Dusty Springfield – You Can Do It (1978)
8. Hal Bradbury – You Win, I Lose (1981)
9. Frankie Bleu – Just For You (Suzanne’s Song) (1981)
10. Carly Simon – Tranquillo (Melt My Heart) (1978)
11. Dane Donohue – Woman (1978)
12. Air Supply – Even The Nights Are Better (1982)
13. Stingray – How Much (1979)
14. Melissa Manchester – Party Music (1975)
15. Eric Carmen – Change Of Heart (1978))
16. Airplay – It Will Be Alright (1980)
17. The Imperials – Living Without Your Love (1979)
18. Dick St. Nicklaus – Born To Love You (1979)
19. Bruce Hibbard – You’re So Good To Me (1980)
20. Birtles & Goble – Last Romance (1980)
21. Jolis & Simone – I Love Makin’ Love To You (1979)

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Not Feeling Guilty Mix 1
Not Feeling Guilty Mix 2
Not Feeling Guilty Mix 3
Not Feeling Guilty Mix 4
Not Feeling Guilty Mix 5
Not Feeling Guilty Vol. 6
Not Feeling Guilty Vol. 7
Not Feeling Guilty Vol. 8
Not Feeling Guilty Vol. 9
Not Feeling Guilty Vol. 10
Not Feeling Guilty Vol. 11
Not Feeling Guilty Vol. 12
Not Feeling Guilty Vol. 13
Not Feeling Guilty Vol. 14

ALL IN ONE PLACE

 

 

Following the first Stevie Wonder Songbook, posted for his 75^th birthday last year, here is the second of three volumes, to mark his birthday tomorrow, May 13. It sort of carries on from where we left off with Volume 1: versions of the classics and a few songs Stevie wrote but let others have.

Stevie was so prolific in the 1970s that he could afford the luxury of giving songs away, much as Lennon/McCartney did in their early years and Prince in the 1980s. And it wasn’t potential album fillers and b-sides which Stevie gave away. Those were hits.

One of them, Jermaine Jackson’s Let Get Serious, opened Volume 1. It would have been an even bigger hit for Stevie had he released it. On the present mix, there are:

• The Spinners’ It’s A Shame, co-written with Lee Garrett and wife Syreeta Wright. It’s a pity (or indeed a shame), that Stevie Wonder never recorded this track himself at some point. Garrett was also a co-writer of Let’s Get Serious, and before that, with Syreeta and Lula Mae Hardaway, of Signed, Sealed, Delivered.
• Tell Me Something Good was a hit for Rufus & Chaka Khan, but is covered here by Maceo Parker.
• Third World’s superb Try Jah Love, was written, with lyrics by backing singer and friend Melody McCully, after Stevie performed with Third World at Jamaica’s Sunsplash Festival in 1981. It was held that year in tribute to the recently late Bob Marley, and Stevie performed his song Master Blaster (Jammin’) with the band.
• Betcha’ Wouldn’t Hurt Me, from Quincy Jones’ The Dude album, featured lead vocals by Patti Austin. It was co-written with Stephanie Andrews, who coordinated the technical set-up for Wonder’s recordings. Stevie wrote several other songs with her, including Treat Myself, which appeared on Wonder’s 1995 Conversation Peace album.
• Stevie recorded Until You Come Back To Me, co-written with Clarence Paul and Morris Broadnax, in 1967 but mysteriously never released it until a until the superb triple anthology album Looking Back in 1977. In the interim, it became a big hit for Aretha Franklin. Later Luther Vandross incorporated it into a medley with the Carpenters’ Superstar. The song is covered here by the great British soul singer Ruby Turner. Stevie’s long-languishing original recording is still the best.
• I Can See The Sun In Late December wasn’t a single release but at over 12 minutes it dominated Roberta Flack’s 1975 Feel Like Makin’ Love album. It’s included here as one of two bonus tracks.

Volume 3 will include a few more songs Stevie Wonder gave away: Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway’s You Are My Heaven (co-written with Canadian soul singer Eric Mercury), and Michael Jackson’s I Can’t Help It, which would have been a hit if it hadn’t appeared on the singles goldmine that was Off The Wall. The latter also credits Susaye Greene, whose other big co-writing credit is Deniece Williams’ Free (which sounds like a Stevie Wonder number, but isn’t. He released his own song with that title in 1987).

Another one that will feature on Volume 3 is the Syreeta classic Harmour Love. Syreeta and Stevie wrote many songs together, some recorded by her, some by him (such as If You Really Love Me, Never Dreamed You’d Leave in Summer, Do Yourself A Favor, Blame It On The Sun) — but Harmour Love was written by Stevie alone.

Both wrote the wonderfully grooving Smokey Robinson & The Miracle’s We Had A Love So Strong, which in turn was covered to good effect ten years later, in 1982, by Randy Crawford. It will also feature in Volume 3.

Smokey Robinson & The Miracle’s Tears Of A Clown, incidentally, was co-written by Smokey with Stevie. But it won’t feature in this trilogy because it really is Smokey’s song.

All writing credits are noted in the MP3tag.

Finally — because some people will, ahem, wonder — the vocalists on the Sergio Mendes cover of Lookin’ For Another Pure Love are Bonnie Bowden and Sondra Catton, members of Sergio Mendes & Brasil ’77. The former went on to become a Grammy-nominated jazz singer.

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

1. Stevie Wonder – Sir Duke (live) (1995)
2. Joe Cocker – You Haven’t Done Nothing (2007)
3. Dillard-Hartford-Dillard – Boogie On Reggae Woman (1980)
4. Arrival – He’s Misstra Know-It-All (1973)
5. Three Dog Night – I Never Dreamed You’d Leave In Summer (1971)
6. Sergio Mendes – Lookin’ For Another Pure Love (1975)
7. The Spinners – It’s A Shame (1970)
8. White Heat – I Love Every Little Thing About You (1975)
9. Thelma Houston & Jerry Butler – Joy Inside My Tears (1975)
10. Barbra Streisand – You And I (1977)
11. Helen Reddy – If It’s Magic (1975)
12. Quincy Jones – Betcha’ Wouldn’t Hurt Me (1977)
13. Michael McDonald – Higher Ground (2000)
14. Third World – Try Jah Love (1982)
15. Keb’ Mo’ – Isn’t She Lovely (2001)
17. Ruby Turner – Until You Come Back To Me (That’s What I Am Gonna Do) (1988)
18. Macy Gray – Tuesday Heartbreak (2012)
19. Vanessa Williams – Send One Your Love (2005)
BONUS TRACKS:
20. Roberta Flack – I Can See The Sun In Late December (1975)
21. Dave Valentin – Love Light In Flight (1985)

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

More Songbooks
More Cover Mixes

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)

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Previous In Memoriams

Keep up to date with dead pop stars on Facebook

 

I think the Any Major Morning series is turning out to be my favourite — the three previous mixes (Vol. 1, Vol. 2 and last year’s Vol. 3) are on frequent rotation at Dude Towers. I’ve even created a playlist of favourites from the three compilations. The present volume will add to that playlist.

Most songs here welcome the morning, though a few meet the start of the new day with a cloud. Kris Kristofferson has a beer for breakfast and one more for dessert; Charlie Rich and Faron Young wake up with self-inflicted heartbreak; The Feminine Complex find their lover gone at six in the morning; and for Jackson Browne rising from bed represents another round of drudgery in the pursuit of money.

But none of them open their eyes to as bleak a scenario as The Byrds: in a war zone. “Take my time this morning, no hurry to learn to kill and take the will from unknown faces…”

Some tracks here are well-known, or by well-known people. Perhaps the most obscure here is The Feminine Complex, an all-women garage rock trio from Nashville who released four singles and one album in 1968-69. The folkie sound of the featured track — originally the b-side of their debut single — is very lovely but not really representative of the band’s sound, which was harder, even using feedback and guitar solos.

Archie Roach was an Australian singer-songwriter and Aboriginal activist. We sadly lost him in 2022. Jesse Colin Young was the lead singer of the 1960s folk-rock band The Youngbloods; he died last year. His featured song speaks of domestic bliss with the woman he loves (an antidote to the dejection of Kris, Charlie and Faron). The setting is a house from which “I walk out on the ridgetop”. That house burnt down in a 1995 wildfire.

At last, one-night-stand anthem Angel Of The Morning gets a run-out. Of all the great versions, I opted for the one by Nina Simone, by as sliver ahead of the one by P.P. Arnold. All this was done before the song’s writer, Chip Taylor died. A story told in the Comments section by Barrie Minney makes me regret that I didn’t go for Arnold. He recalls seeing Chip Taylor in concert 20 years ago. “The highlight of the evening was when he played Angel Of The Morning. Unbeknown to us PP Arnold was pretending to serve drinks behind the bar, when she suddenly joined in. Hairs on the back of your neck thing.”

My shortlist of morning songs keeps growing, so I’m quite confident that there will be a fifth volume. In the meantime, I hope you’ll enjoy this fourth mix, alongside the three that preceded it.As always, the mix is timed to fit on a standard CD-R and includes home-boiledegged covers. PW in comments.

1. The Spiral Starecase – Good Morning New Day (1969)
2. Neil Young – Till The Morning Comes (1970)
3. Julie Felix – Windy Morning (1972)
4. Kris Kristofferson – Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down (1970)
5. Charlie Rich – The Most Beautiful Girl (1973)
6. Faron Young – It’s Four In The Morning (1971)
7. Jesse Colin Young – Morning Sun (1973)
8. Jackson Browne – The Pretender (1976)
9. The Smithereens – Groovy Tuesday (1986)
10. Archie Roach – Love In The Morning (1993)
11. Doja Cat – Morning Light (2018)
12. Mary J. Blige – Good Morning Gorgeous (2022)
13. Will Downing – That Good Morning Love (1988)
14. Bettye Crutcher – Sunday Morning’s Gonna Find Us In Love (1974)
15. Nina Simone – Angel Of The Morning (1971)
16. Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazlewood – Some Velvet Morning (1967)
17. Claudine Longet – Good Day Sunshine (1967)
18. The Feminine Complex – Six O’Clock In The Morning (1968)
19. The Left Banke – In The Morning Light (1969)
20. Strawberry Alarm Clock – Good Morning Starshine (1969)
21. Vanity Fare – Early In The Morning (1969)
22. Grateful Dead – ’Till The Morning Comes (1970)
23. Nick Drake – From The Morning (1971)
24. The Byrds – Draft Morning (1968)

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More Any Major Mornings
More Mix CD-Rs

 

James Gadson, the drummer behind many soul and disco hits, from Lean On Me to Got To Be Real, died on April 2 at the age of 86.

Bill Withers once said he didn’t need a click track when James Gadson was behind the drums because the man was the click track. Gadson’s groove sat in a place that drummers call “the pocket”. Few drummers lived in the pocket for as long as Gadson. One of the most-recorded drummers in the history of soul music, he started his recording career in the 1960s and kept going until a final release in 2020.

Born on June 17, 1939 in Kansas City, Gadson’s father Harold was a drummer who brought him and brother Thomas cornets. As a youngster, Gadson preferred singing doo wop to playing an instrument, but when he was in the air force in the 1960s, he discovered funk. He learned to play piano and then drums, obsessively.

The effort paid off. In the 1960s he played with acts like Hank Ballard & The Midnighters, Jimmy Reed, Sam Cooke, and Otis Redding at various gigs. Then he met Charles Wright and joined his Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band, with whom he recorded three albums, including the hit Express Yourself. He also released a few records as a singer, but they went nowhere.

 

Gadson fared better as a session drummer. Notably, he played and co-produced on Bill Withers’ Still Bill LP, with classics like Lean On Me, Who Is He (And What Is He To You), and Use Me. The latter is a masterclass in laying down a hypnotic groove, residing just behind the beat. A year later, he backed Withers on his great Live At Carnegie Hall album. He also played on the legendary Bill Withers at the BBC gig.

From there on, the hits kept on coming: Jackson 5’s Dancing Machine, Tavares’ Heaven Must Be Missing An Angel, Marvin Gaye’s I Want You, Diana Ross’ Love Hangover, Thelma Houston’s Saturday Night Sunday Morning and Don’t Leave Me This Way, Yvonne Elliman’s If I Can’t Have You, Cheryl Lynn’s Got To Be Real, Rose Royce’s Wishing On A Star, Peaches & Herb’s Reunited and Shake Your Groove Thang, Barbra Streisand & Donna Summer’s No More Tears, Donald Fagen’s I.G.Y., Womack & Womack’s Love Wars, and many more.

I won’t even get into all the acts he backed in the 1970s and ’80s. The list is long and illustrious! Maybe I’ll do that in his In Memoriam entry.

In the new millennium, which he entered as a 60-year-old, Gadson played the drums or percussions for the likes of Beck, Lana Del Rey, Norah Jones, Justin Timberlake, Simply Red, Paul McCartney, Joe Cocker, Ray Charles, Amos Lee, Kelly Clarkson, D’Angelo, Harry Styles, The Vanguard, Michael Kiwanuka, Nikki Costa, Keith Urban,Charlotte Gainsbourg, Was (Not Was), Corinne Bailey Rae, Florence + The Machine, and more.

The Roots’ Questlove, a man who knows his way around the sticks, eulogised Gadson: “Some drummers are soulful. Some drummers are funky. Some drummer are a rockin’. Some drummers are swinging — but NO drummer, has impacted the art of breakbeat drummer (danceable drums) like James Gadson.”

 

This collection includes some of these hits and tracks by only a small fraction of the many acts he drummed for, or produced, or both. With this, Gadson joins other drummers in this series of session musician. Before him, there were Bernard Purdy (Vol. 1 and Vol. 2), Steve Gadd (Vol. 1, Vol. 2 and Vol.3), Hal Blaine (Vol. 1 and Vol.2), Jim Gordon (Vol. 1 and Vol. 2), Ricky Lawson (Vol. 1 and Vol. 2), Jim Keltner (Vol. 1 and Vol. 2), Bobby Graham, and Ringo Starr (Earl Palmer is still to come!).

Quincy Jones’ If I Ever Lose This Heaven features the vocals of Leon Ware (who co-wrote it) and Minnie Riperton, both of whom Gadson also backed on solo efforts, and vocal effects by Al Jarreau.

The backing vocals on Ramsey Lewis’ Whisper Zone is credited to Maurice White of Earth, Wind & Fire, but I think I can hear some Philip Bailey in there too. The band’s Larry Dunn produced and arranged the track, and contributed the superb electric piano part.

And if it’s brilliant keyboard solos you’re after, check the one out by Patrice Rushen on her own Remind Me.

Finally, the drum beat and the slide whistle sound at around 2:22 on Vernon Burch’s 1979 funk track Get Up were sampled to prominent effect by Deee-Lite for their 1990 hit Groove Is In The Heart. Gadson also produced the Burch song.

I’ve aimed at keeping the collection at a length of about two hours, with tracks 1-18 filling the CD-R length. The text here is included as a PDF file as well as self-high-hatted covers.

1. James Gadson – Got To Find My Baby (1971)
2. Charles Wright & The Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band – Express Yourself (1970)
3. Bill Withers – Use Me (1972)
4. Quincy Jones – If I Ever Lose This Heaven (1974)
5. Diana Ross – Love Hangover (1976)
6. Thelma Houston – Saturday Night, Sunday Morning (1978)
7. Cheryl Lynn – Got To Be Real (1978)
8. Ramsey Lewis – Whisper Zone (1980)
9. Patrice Rushen – Remind Me (1982)
10. Sherrick – Just Call (1987)
11. Womack & Womack – Love Wars (1983)
12. Marlena Shaw – Yu Ma/Go Away Little Boy (1977)
13. Randy Crawford – Don’t Let Me Down (1976)
14. Rose Royce – Wishing On A Star (1977)
15. Marvin Gaye – I Want You (1976)
16. Boz Scaggs – You Make It So Hard (To Say No) (1974)
17. Yvonne Elliman – If I Can’t Have You (1977)
18. Barbra Streisand & Donna Summer – No More Tears (Enough Is Enough) (1979)
BONUS TRACKS
19. Vernon Burch – Get Up (1979)
20. Heat – It’s Up To You (1980)
21. Peaches & Herb – Reunited (1978)
22. Wilton Felder feat. Bobby Womack – (No Matter How High I Get) I’ll Still Be Looking Up To You (1985)
23. Anita Baker – Angel (1983)
24. Donald Fagen – I.G.Y. (1982)
25. Leonard Cohen – Be For Real (1992)
26. Norah Jones – Back To Manhattan (2009)
27. Amos Lee – Flower (2011)
28. Justin Timberlake – (Another Song) All Over Again (2006)

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Previous Session Musicians:
Any Major Backing Singers Vol. 1
The Roy Bittan Collection
The Larry Carlton Collection
The Hal Blaine Collection Vol. 1
The Hal Blaine Collection Vol. 2
The Steve Gadd Collection Vol. 1
The Steve Gadd Collection Vol. 2
The Steve Gadd Collection Vol. 3
The Jim Gordon Collection Vol. 1
The Jim Gordon Collection Vol. 2
The Bobby Graham Collection
The Nicky Hopkins Collection
The Louis Johnson Collection
The Jim Keltner Collection Vol. 1
The Jim Keltner Collection Vol. 2
The Bobby Keys Collection
The Ricky Lawson Collection Vol. 1
The Ricky Lawson Collection Vol. 2
The Joe Osborne Collection
The Bernard Purdie Collection Vol. 1
The Bernard Purdie Collection Vol. 2
The Ringo Starr Collection

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)

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