a
Phil Brodie Band Info Page
"Births
& Deaths"
These
birthdates and death dates are unique to this site,
I have been working on them for over 10 years now.
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give credit or link if copied
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BIRTHDATES & PASSINGS & TRIBUTES
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December
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APRIL BIRTHDAYS
REGULAR
UPDATES
Born
~April ??
1943:
Enric Barbat
(Spanish Catalan language singer)*11.Dec.2011.
April 1st.
(April Fool's
Day)
1993:
Keito Okamoto (Japanese
singer)
1988: Sam
Mtukudzi
(Zimbabwean multi-musician, singer;
Ay Band/Oliver
Mtukudzi)*15.March.2010.
1986: Shunichi Miyamoto (Japanese singer, voice actor, pianist)
1983: Sergey Lazarev (Russian singer).
1981: Hannah Spearritt (UK singer; S Club 7).
1975:
John Butler (Australian
guitarist, multi musician, singer-songwriter; John Butler Trio).
1974: Richard Christy (US drummer, stand-up comedian; Death/Iced
Earth/Charred Walls of the Damned).
1972: Jesse Tobias (US guitarist; Red Hot Chili Peppers/Alanis
Morissette/Splendid/Morrissey
1971: Method Man/Clifford Smith (US rap artist; Wu-Tang Clan).
1967:
Phil Demmel (US guitarist;
Machine Head).
1968: Julia Boutros (Lebanese singer)
1969: Fadl Shaker (Lebanese singer)
1966: Chris Evans (UK disc jockey, radio-TV personality)
1965: Robert Steadman (UK composer)
1965: Peter O'Toole (Irish bassist, guitar; Hothouse Flowers/Black
Velvet Band).
1964: Leslie Langston (US bassist, vocals; Throwing Muses).
1963:
Teddy Diaz (Filipino rock guitarist;
The Dawn)*21.Aug.1988.
1962: Phillip Schofield (UK TV presenter, DJ, Singer, actor).
1961: Mark White (UK guitarist, keyboards; ABC).
1961: Susan Boyle (Scottish singer; winner 2009 Britain's Got Talent)
1958: D. Boon/Dennes Dale Boon (US singer, guitatist; The Minutemen)*22.Dec.1985
1954: Jeff Porcaro (US drummer; founder of Toto/top sessionist)*05.Aug.1992.
1952: Billy Currie (UK keyboards, violin, piano; Visage/ Ultravox).
1949: Gil Scott-Heron (US vocalist, electric piano, guitar, composer)*27.May.2011.
1948: Simon Cowe (UK guitar, mandolin, banjo, vocals; Lindisfarne).
1948: Jimmy Cliff/James Chambers (Jamaican singer, songwriter,
reggae artist).
1947: Robin Edmond Scott (UK singer; M).
1946: Ronnie Lane (UK bassist; Faces/Small Faces/Slim Chance/freelance)*04.June.1997.
1945: John Barbata (US drummer; The Turtles/Jefferson Airplane
& Starship/sessionist).
1945: Kenny Buttrey (US session drummer)*12.Sept.2004.
1944:
Vladimir Krainev (Russian pianist, professor)*01.April.1944.
1943: Michael Roland 'Mike' Ratledge (UK organist, pianist, flutist;
Wilde Flowers/Soft Machine/others).
1942: Phil Margo (US vocals; The Tokens)
1942: Annie Nightingale (British disc jockey)
1942: Alan David Blakley (UK drummer, rhythm guitar, keyboards,
vocals; Tremeloes)*10.June.1996.
1940: John St. John / John Gillard (UK guitar; Sounds Incorporated)
1939: Rudolph Isley (US singer, songwriter; Isley Brothers).
1935:
Arthur Crier
(US singer, songwriter, producer; Halos/others)*22.July.2004.
1935: Alan Haven (UK jazz organist, pianist, synthesizer player,
vocalist; The Alan Haven Band).
1934: Jim Ed Brown (US country singer; The Browns/solo)
1933:
Patrick
"Pecker" Dunne (Irish multi-musician, seanchaí)*20.Dec.2012.
1932: Debbie Reynolds (US singer, actress).
1929: Jane Powell/Suzanne Lorraine Burce (US dancer, actress, singer).
1927: Amos Milburn (US blues & boogie pianist, singer)*03.Jan.1980.
1926: Charles Bressler (American tenor)
1917: Dinu Lipatti
(Romanian pianist)*02.Dec.1950.
1909: Eddy Duchin
(US pianist and bandleader)*09.Feb.1951.
(some sourses give his birth April 10th 1910)
1906: Carl Martin (US conga, percussion, guitar; Four Keys/others/Own
Blues Trio)*10.May.1979.
1895: Alberta Hunter (US singer)*17.Oct.1984.
April
2nd.
1993: Aaron Kelly (US singer)
1986: Lee DeWyze (US singer)
1983: Yung Joc/Jasiel Robinson (US rapper)
1979: Jesse Carmichael (US keyboards; Maroon 5).
1975: Deedee Magno (US singer; New Mickey Mouse Club/The Party/musicals).
1974: Håkan Hellström (Swedish singer)
1973: Roselyn Sánchez (Puerto Rican singer, model, actress)
1972: Chico/Yousseph Slimani (Moroccoan-British singer)
1971: Zeebra/Hideyuki Yokoi (Japanese hip hop artist; King Giddra)
1967: Greg Camp (US lead singer, guitarist; Smash Mouth).
1966: Garnett Silk/Garnett Damoin Smith (Jamaican reggae singer)*09.Dec.1994.
1962: William Harold "Billy" Dean Jr (US country music
singer, songwriter).
1961: Keren Jane Woodward (UK singer; Bananarama).
1959: Dean Townson (US bass guitarist; Pirates of the Mississippi)
1956: Gregory Abbott (US singer).
1954: Susumu Hirasawa (Japanese electropop musician, keyboard,
guitar, amiga; Mandrake/ P-Model).
1952: Leon Wilkerson (US bassist, Lynyrd Skynyrd)*27.July.2001.
1952: Pat Drummond (Australian singer-songwriter; The Bushwackers/other
projects/solo)
1952: Dave Bronze (UK bassist; Robin Trower Band/Procol Harum/Eric
Clapton Band/freelance).
1951:
Kiyoshiro
Imawano (Japanese singer, lyricist-composer,
producer;
RC
Succession/solo)*02.May.2009.
1950:Khin
Maung Toe (Burmese singer songwriter;
Mizzima Hlaing)*15.Nov.2012.
1949: David Robinson (US drummer; The Modern Lovers/DMZ/The
Cars).
1948: Dimitris Mitropanos (Greek singer of Greek rebetika and popular
folk music)*17.Aptil.2012.
1947: Emmylou Harris (US country singer).
1946: Kurt Winter (Canadian guitarist; Guess Who)*14.Dec.1997.
1943: Caterina Bueno (Italian singer)*16.July.2007.
1943: Larry Coryell (US jazz fusion guitarist).
1942: Leon Russell/Claude Russell Bridges(singer,songwriter,multi-musician;solo/sessionist).
1942: Wilfred
"Wilfy" Rebimbus (Indian
musician, composer, singer)*09.March.2010.
1939: Marvin Gaye/Marvin Pentz Gay Jr (US singer, songwriter, pianist,
drums; Motown artist)*01.April.1984.
1938: Booker Little Jr (US jazz trumpeter; Max Roach/Eric Dolphy/others/own
quartet)*05.Oct.1961.
1932: James
Phelps (US gospel, R&B singer;
Clefs of Calvary/Holy Wonders/Soul
Stirrers/others)*26.Oct.2010.
1930: Stefka
Sabotinova
(Bulgarian
folk singer)*30.July.2010.
1928: Serge Gainsbourg/Lucien Ginsburg (French singer, pianist, guitarist)*02.March.1991.
1917: Lou Monte/Louis
Scaglione (Italian-American
singer)*12.June.1989.
1915: Gica Petrescu (Romanian
singer)*18.June.1915.
1912: Herbert Mills (US
singer; The Mills Brothers)*12.April.1989.
April
3rd.
1987: Julie Sokolow (US singer, guitarist)
1987:
Park Jung Min (Korean
singer; SS501)
1985: Leona Lewis (English singer)
1982: Fler/Patrick Losensky (German rapper)
1981: Aaron Bertram (US trumpeter; Suburban Legends)
1979:
Grégoire Boissenot (French singer-songwriter)
1974: Andrew (Drew) Shirley (US guitarist, vocals; Switchfoot)
1970: Mathew Priest (UK drummer; Dodgy/Lightning Seeds/Electric Soft
Parade/sessionist).
1968: Sebastian Bach/Sebastian Bierk (Canadian singer; Skid Row/Breeder/solo).
1965: Nazia Hassan (South Asian pop singer)*13.Aug.2000.
1963: Criss Oliva (US guitarist; Savatage)*17.Oct.1993.
1962: Mike Ness (US guitarist, vocalist, songwriter; Social Distortion)
1962: Simon Raymonde (UK bass, producer, mix; Cocteau Twins/solo).
1961: Eddie Murphy (US actor, singer).
1961:
Michalis Rakintzis (Greek
singer, songwriter)
1960: John Thomas Griffith (US singer-songwriter, guitarist; Cowboy
Mouth/Red Rockers)
1960:
Arjen Anthony Lucassen (Dutch guitarist, multi-musician; Bodine/Ayreon/others)
1960: Marie Denise Pelletier (Canadian singer)
1956:
Miguel Bosé/Luis Miguel González Borloni (Spanish/Italian
singer, actor)
1955: Mick Mars/Bob Alan Deal (US guitarist; Mötley Crüe).
1955: Hariharan (Indian singer)
1954:
Elisabetta Brusa (Italian composer)
1953: Craig Taubman (US singer-songwriter, music producer)
1951: Mel Schacher (US bassist; Grand Funk Railroad/? and the Mysterians/Flint).
1949:
Daniel Catán (Mexican composer)*10.April.2011.
1949: Richard Thompson (vocals, mandolin, guitar, Dulcimer; Fairport
Convention).
1946: Dee Murray/David Murray Oates (UK bassist, backing vocals;
Elton John band)*15.Jan.1992.
1945: Raymond ''Johnny'' Charlton (UK guitarist, vocalist; Shel
Carson/Colin Hicks-Cabin Boys/Rokes).
1944: Barry Pritchard (UK guitar; Fortunes)*11.Jan.1999.
1944: Tony Orlando/Michael Anthony Orlando Cassivitis (US singer;
Dawn/solo).
1943: Richard Manuel (Canadian singer, piano; Revols/The Hawks/The
Band)*04.Mar.1986.
1943: Mario Lavista (Mexican composer)
1943:
Leslie Dash (UK
drummer; The Trendsetters/Hedgehoppers Anonymous).
1942:
Billy Joe Royal (US singer)
1942: Wayne Newton (US singer).
1941: Phillipe Wynne/Phillip Walker (US lead singer, The Spinners/Solo)*14.July.1984.
1941: Jan Berry (US singer-songwriter; Jan and Dean)*26.March.2004.
1940: Moss Groves (UK saxophonist; Cliff Bennett and the Rebel
Rousers).
1939: François de Roubaix (French film score composer)*22.Nov.1975.
1938: Jeff Barry/Joel Adelberg (US singer-songwriter, producer;
The Raindrops/The Archies).
1937: Louis Satterfield (US bassist, trombonist; Earth,Wind &
Fire/solo)*27.Sept.2004.
1936: Harold Vick
(US hard bop and soul jazz saxophonist, flautist; freelance, sessionist)*13.Nov.1987.
1936: Scott LaFaro (US jazz bassist)*06.July.1961.
1936: Jimmy McGriff (US jazz organist; big bands/freelance)*24.May.2008.
1934: Jimmy Nolen (US
guitarist; James Brown's bands)*18.Dec.1983.
1928: Don Gibson (US legendary country singer, guitarist, songwriter)*17.Nov.2003.
1922: Doris Day/Doris von Kappelhoff (US singer/actress).
1921: Dario
Moreno (Turkish-Jewish singer-songwriter,
composer, guitarist)*01.Dec.1968.
1920: Stan Freeman (US composer, lyricist)*13.Jan.2001.
1919: Ervin Drake (US song writer and musical writer).
1918:
Louis Applebaum (Canadian conductor, conductor)*19.April.2000.
1917: Bill Finegan (American
jazz bandleader, pianist, arranger, and composer)*04.June.2008.
1895:
Mario
Castelnuovo-Tedesco
(Jewish-Italian composer, classical
and film scores)*16.March.1968.
1886: Arthur
"Dooley" Wilson (African
American actor and singer)*30.May.1953.
1885: Lucie Eddie Campbell
(African American composer of hymns)*1963.
1639: Alessandro
Stradella
(Italian composer)*25.Feb.1682.
April
4th.
1994: Risako Sugaya (Japanese singer; Berryz Kobo).
1992: Christina Metaxa (Cypriot singer)
1991: Jamie Lynn Spears (US actress, singer)
1986: Lee Hyuk Jae (Korean singer; Super Junior)
1980: Johnny Borrell (UK singer; Razorlight)
1979: Andy McKee (US fingerstyle guitarist)
1978: Aska Yang (Taiwanese singer)
1978: Lemar/Lemar Obika (UK R&B solo singer; successful uk fame
academy contestant).
1977: Adam Dutkiewicz (US guitarist, producer; Killswitch Engage)
1975: Philip Jimenez (US multi-instrumentalist; Wheatus)
1974: Andre Dalyrimple (US singer; Soul For Real).
1973: Kelly Price (US singer).
1972: Paul
Dedrick Gray (US bassist, primary songwriter; Slipknot)*24.March.2010.
1972: Jill Scott (US singer).
1972: Magnus Sveningsson (Swedish bassist; The Cardigans).
1971: Josh Todd Gruber (US singer; Buckcherry)
1970: Mix Master Mike/Michael Schwartz (US turntablist, DJ for
the Beastie Boys)
1968: Mark Yates (UK guitarist; Terrorvision).
1966: Mike Starr (US bassist; Alice In Chains/Sun Red Sun)*08.March.2011.
1963: David Gavurin (UK lead guitarist; Sundays).
1962: Craig Adams (UK bassist; Sisters of Mercy/The Cult/Alarm/Spear
of Destiny/Theatre of Hate).
1960: Jane Eaglin (English soprano)
1960:
Scott Miller (US singer-songwriter, guitarist; Game Theory/The Loud
Family)*15.April.2013.
1958: Cazuza/Agenor Miranda Araújo Neto (Brazilian poet,
singer, composer)*07.July.1990.
1957: Ali El Haggar (Egyptian singer, actor)
1957: Kuwa-man/Nobuyoshi Kuwano (Japanese trumpeter, vocals; Rats
& Star)
1957: Graeme Kelling (Scottish guitarist; Deacon Blue)*10.June.2004.
1952: Gary Moore (Irish guitar virtuoso, singer, songwriter; Skid
Row/Thin Lizzy/others/solo)*06.Feb.2011.
1951: Peter John Haycock (guitarist; Climax Blues Band).
1949:
Franklin "Junior" Braithwaite (Jamaican
singer; The Wailers)*02.June.1999.
1948: Pick Withers (drummer; Dire Straits/freelance).
1948:
Chris
Doig (New Zealand opera singer, sports administrator)*13.Oct.2011.
1948: Berry Oakley (US bassist; co-founder of the Allman Brothers
Band)*11.Nov.1972.
1946: Dave Hill (UK guitar, Slade).
1945: Ian "Knox" Carnochan (UK lead singer; Vibrators/solo).
1941: Major Lance (US soul singer, dancer;The Floats/solo)*03.Sept.1994.
1940: Sharon Sheeley (US songwriter)*17.May.2002.
1939: Danny Thompson (UK double bassist; sessionist/John Martyn/Richard
Thompson/Roy Orbison etc, etc).
1939: Hugh Masekela (South Africain vocalist, flugelhorn, trumpet;
jazzman).
1933: Malcolm
" Malky"
Higgins
(Scottish trumpet player; Clyde Valley Stompers/others)*25.July.2011.
1922: Elmer Bernstein (US composer)*18.Aug.2004.
1915: Muddy Waters/McKinley Morganfield (US blues guitarist,singer)*30.April.1983.
1913:
Julia Frances Langford (US
singer, entertainer)*11.July.2005.
1905: Eugene Bozza (French
modern composer)*28.Sept.1991.
April
5th.
1980: Lee Jae Won (South Korean actor, singer, rapper; H.O.T/JTL).
1974: Daniel "Sahaj" Ticotin (Puerto Rican-US guitar, singer,
producer; Ra)
1973: Pharrell Williams (US rapper, record producer, fashion designer.;
Neptunes).
1972: Pat Green (US singer and songwriter)
1971:
Dong Abay/Westdon Martin Abay (Filipino singer, songwriter;Yano/Pan/Dongabay)
1970: Miho Hatori (Japanese singer, songwriter; Cibo Matto)
1968: Paula Cole (US singer).
1966: Mike McCready (US guitarist; Mad Season/Pearl Jam).
1964: Princess Erika/Erika Dobong'na
(French singer).
1964: Kid/Christopher Reid
(US half of the hip-hop and comedy duo Kid 'N Play).
1960: Larry McCray (American blues guitarist, singer).
1955: Janice Long (UK radio presenter; Dream Ticket-BBC 6 Music)
1954: Stan Ridgway (US singer, multi-musician; Wall of Voodoo/Flesh
Eaters/solo).
1953: Christopher Franke (German keyboardist, synthesizer; Tangerine
Dream).
1951: Everett Morton (UK drummer; English Beat)?
1950: Agnetha Faltskog (Swedish pop singer, keyboards, piano; ABBA).
1948: Dave Holland (UK drummer; Judas Priest/Trapeze/others)
1948: James "Les" Binks (Nth Irish drummer; Judas Priest/David
Coverdale/others)
1944: Nicholas Caldwell (US singer; The Whispers).
1944: Evan Shaw Parker (UK tenor & soprano saxophonist; University
Group/Evan Shaw Quartet/others).
1942: John Mealing (UK organist, keyboardist; Don Rendell-Ian Carr
Quartet/If/The Strawbs).
1942: Alan Clarke (UK vocalist, guitar; Two
Teens/The Levins/The Guytones/The Fourtones/The
Hollies).
1941: Dave Swarbrick (UK vocalist, violin, mandolin, fiddle; Fairport
Convention).
1935: Peter Grant (UK manager,record exec;Yardbirds/Led Zeppelin/Bad
Company)*21.Nov.1995.
1939: Ronnie White (US singer, producer, songwriter; Chimes/Miracles/Ron&Bill)*26.Aug.1995.
1939: Crispian St Peters/Robin Peter Smith (UK singer)*08.June.2010.
1934: Stanley William Turrentine (US
jazz tenor saxophonist)*12.Sept.2000.
1932: Billy Bland (US singer and songwriter)
1929: Joe Meek (UK record producer; Tornados/many, many more)*03.Feb.1967.
1928: Tony Williams (US lead tenor singer; The Platters)*14.Aug.1992.
1922: Gale Storm/Josephine Owaissa Cottle
(US singer, actress)*27.June.2009.
1908: Herbert von Karajan (Austrian conductor)*16.July.1989.
1875: Mistinguett/Jeanne Bourgeois (French
vaudeville performer)*05.Jan.1956.
April
6th.
1995: Ryutaro Morimoto (Japanese actor, singer)
1984: Max Bemis (US lead singer, songwriter; Say Anything/Two Tongues).
1982: Michael Guy Chislett (Australian-American guitarist; The Academy
Is...).
1981: Kari Jobe (US singer-songwriter)
1978: Martin Mendez (Uruguayan-born bassist; Opeth)
1978: Myleene Klass (UK singer, classical pianist, TV presenter; Hear'Say).
1976: Georg "Goggi" Hólm (Icelandic bassist; Sigur
Rós).
1975: Damon Pampolina (singer, TV presenter; New Mickey Mouse
Club/The Party).
1973: Rie Miyazawa (Japanese actress, singer)
1968: Vanessa Lann (US composer)
1966: George McAnthony/Georg
Spitaler (Italian
country singer, multi-musician, songwriter)*08.July.2011.
1965: Frank Black/Black Francis/Charles Thompson IV (US guitar,
vocals; Pixies/Frank Black-Catholics).
1962: Stan Cullimore/Ian Peter Cullimore (UK guitarist; Housemartins/music
composer for childrens TV).
1961:
Gene Andrusco (Canadian actor, producer, singer, guitarist;
Adam Again/others)*20.March.2000.
1960: Warren Haynes (US guitarist, song writer)
1960: John Pizzarelli (US jazz guitarist, song writer, singer,
bandleader)
1957: Jaroslava Maxova (Czech opera singer)
1955: Blind Mississippi Morris/Morris Cummings (US delta blues
harmonica, guitar)
1953: Christopher Franke (German drums, keyboards, synthesizers;
Tangerine Dream/Sessionist/Solo)
1952: Udo Dirkschneider (German singer)
1951: Ralph Cooper (Australian drummer; Air Supply).
1947: Tony Connor (UK drummer; Lloyd Alexander Real Estate/Audience/Hot
Chocolate).
1944: John Stax/John Edward Lee Fullegar (UK bassist; Pretty Things).
1944: Felicity Palmer (English soprano).
1943: Noah
Howard (US
free jazz alto saxophonist)*03.Sept.2010.
1943:
Gerry Niewood (American
jazz saxophonist; Chuck Mangione Band,
freelance)*12.Feb.2009.
1943: Julie Rogers (UK singer).
1941: Gheorghe Zamfir (Romanian pan flute musician)
1937: Merle Haggard (US country singer, guitar, fiddle; songwriter).
1933: Bill Hardman Jr (US hard bop/jazz trumpeter, flugelhornist)*05.Dec.1990.
1929: André Previn/Andreas Ludwig Priwin (German-American
pianist, conductor, composer)
1927: Gerry Mulligan (US multi-musician, one of the all time greatest
baritone sax players)*20.Jan.1996.
1926: Sergio Franchi (Italian-born singer and actor)*01.May.1990.
1924: Charlie Rouse (US jazz saxophonist; Thelonious Monk Quartet/&
greats)*30.Nov.1988.
1921: Andrew
Imbrie (US
composer of contemporary classical
music)*05.Dec.2007.
1900: Leo Robin
(US songwriter)*29.Dec.1984.
April
7th.
1992: Alexis Jordan (US singer)
1981: Watanabe Kazuki (Japanese guitarist and of founder Raphael)*31.Oct.2000.
1981: Kelli Young (UK singer; Liberty X /
Solo).
1978: Duncan James Inglis (UK singer;
Blue /solo).
1975: Karin Dreijer Andersson (Swedish
singer, guitarist; Honey is Cool /solo)
1970: Leif Ove Andsnes (Norwegian pianist)
1967: Artemis Gounaki (Greek-German singer, composer, writer, music
producer)
1965: Dave "Yorkie"
Palmer (UK
bassist, keyboards, vocals; Space).
1957: Simon Climie (UK
singer, songwriter, producer; Climie Fisher Duo).
1951: Bruce Gary (US drummer; The Knack)*22.Aug.2006.
1951: Janis Ian/Janis Eddy Fink (US singer,
guitar, piano, songwriter).
1950: Steve Ellis (UK vocals; Love Affair
/Simply Ellis/Ellis Group/solo/Widowmaker/New Amen Corner).
1949: John Oates (US vocals, keyboards, guitar;
Hall & Oates).
1949: Wells
Kelly (US drummer; Orleans/others/sessions/Meatloaf/Clarence
Clemmons)*30.Oct.1984.
1948: Carol Douglas (US singer).
1947: Florian Schneider- Esleben (German
flutist; Kraftwerk).
1947: Pat Bennett (US singer; The Chiffons).
1946: Bill Kreutzmann (US drums; Warlocks/Grateful
Dead).
1945: Megas/Magnús
Þór Jónsson
(Icelandic singer, songwriter,
writer; Megakukl/freelance)
1944: Pat LaBarbera/Pascel Emmanuel (Canadian jazz tenor-alto-soprano
saxophonist, clarinet, flute).
1944: Carol Grimes (UK smooth jazz singer,
composer, percussionist; The Race/London Boogie Band).
1943: Mick Abrahams (UK vocals, guitar; Blodwyn
Pig/Jethro Tull).
1943: Alan Buck (UK drummer; Four Pennies/Johnny
Kid/Joe Brown 's Bruvvers).
1942: Joel
Dorn
(US
jazz, R&B music producer and record label serial entrepreneur)*17.Dec.2007.
1941: James Di Pasquale (US composer)
1939:
Gary Kellgren (US
audio engineer, co-founder of The Record Plant)*20.July.1977.
1938: Freddie Hubbard (US award winning trumpet player; Jazz artist)*29.Dec.2008.
1938: Spencer Dryden (US drummer, Jefferson
Airplane)*11.Jan.2005.
1938:
Pete La Roca/Peter Sims (US jazz drummer;
own band/many greats)*19.Nov.2012.
1937: Charlie Thomas (US singer; Drifters).
1935: Bobby Bare (The All-American Boy country
singer).
1932: Cal
Smith/Calvin Grant Shofner (US country singer, guitarist).
1927:
Babatunde Olatunji (Nigerian drummer)*06.April.2003.
1924: Nick
Perito (US
composer, arranger; Perry Como/others)*04.Aug.2005.
1920: Ravi Shankar (Indian sitar player)*11.Dec.2012.
1917:
Ramón "Mongo" Santamaría (Afro-Cuban Latin
jazz percussionist)*01.Feb.2003.
1915: Billie Holiday (American legendary
female jazz singer)*17.July.1959.
1914: Ralph Flanagan/Ralph Elias Flenniken
(US big band leader)*30.Dec.1995.
1912: Jack
Lawrence (US Academy Award-nominated songwriter)*16.March.2009.
1908:
Percy Faith (Canadian pianistist, band leader)*09.Feb.1976.
1899: Robert Casadesus (French classical pianist)*19.Sept.1972.
April
8th.
1990: Kim Jonghyun (South Korean singer; SHINee)
1989: Alex DeLeon (US singer, songwriter; The Cab)
1989: Hitomi Takahashi (Japanese singer)
1986: Erika Sawajiri (Japanese actress, model, singer)
1980: Manuel Ortega (Austrian singer)
1979: Alexi "Wildchild" Laiho (Finnish guitarist; Children
of Bodom/Sinergy/Kylähullut).
1974: Chino XL/Derek Keith Barbosa (American rapper)
1974: Nayden Todorov (Bulgarian conductor)
1975: Anouk Teeuwe (Dutch rock singer).
1972: Stretch/Randy Walker
(US rapper and hip hop producer)*30.Nov.1995.
1972: Paul Gray (US bassist; Slipknot)
1971: Darren Jessee (US drums; Ben Folds Five/Hotel Lights).
1968: Tracy Grammer (US folk singer)
1968: Andy
Szabo/Andy Sabo
(UK singer).
1964: Salt/Cheryl James (US rap, hip-hop artist; Salt n Pepa).
1964: Biz Markie/Marcel Hall (US rap artist).
1963: Julian Lennon (UK singer, keyboards, John Lennon's 1st son).
1963: Donita Sparks (US guitarist, vocals; L7).
1962: Jem Kelly (UK guitarist; Lotus Eaters).
1962: Izzy Stradlin/Jeffrey Isbell (US guitarist; Guns N' Roses/Izzy
Stradlin & the Ju Ju Hounds).
1962: Adam Mole (UK keyboardist; Pop Will Eat Itself)?
1956: Yoshiko
Tanaka (Japanese
singer, actress)*21.April.2011.
1956: Justin Sullivan (UK lead singer, guitar, lyricist; New Model
Army).
1949: Brenda Russell (US singer, songwriter)
1947:
Larry David Norman (US musician, singer, songwriter "father
of Christian rock music")*24.Feb.2008.
1947: Steve Howe (UK guitar; Yes/Flash).
1944:
Keef Hartley
(UK drummer, bandleader;
Rory Storm/John Mayall/Keef Hartley Band)*26
Nov. 2011.
1942: Dave Georgeson
(UK lead guitarist,
vocals; Wump and the Werbles/The Chuckles).
1942: Roger Chapman (UK vocals; Family/Rockin' R's/The Exciters/Streetwalker/others).
1941: Peggy Lennon (US singer; The Lennon Sisters)
1929: Jacques Brel (Brlgium singer, major world songwriter)*09.Oct.1978.
1929: Walter Berry (Austrian opera singer; Vienna Music Academy)*27.Oct.2000.
1928: Fred
Ebb (US
musical theatre lyricist; Kander and Ebb)*11.Sept.2004.
1928: Monty Sunshine (English
jazz clarinetist)
1921: Franco Corelli (Italian opera singer; New York's Metropolitan
Opera)*29.Oct.2003.
1920:
Carmen Mercedes McRae
(US international jazz singer,
pianist)*10.Nov.1994.
1904:
Raoul Jobin/Joseph Roméo (French-Canadian
operatic tenor)*13.Jan.1974.
1896: Yip Harburg (US lyricist)*05.March.1981.
1889: Sir Adrian Boult (British conductor)*22.Feb.1983.
April
9th.
2000: Jackie Evancho (US
classical crossover lyric mezzo-soprano; America's Got Talent)
1988: Uee/Kim Yu-jin (South Korean actress,
singer; After School).
1987: Jazmine Sullivan (American R&B
singer).
1987: Jesse McCartney (US singer, actor)
not related to Sir Paul.
1987: Craig Mabbitt (American singer; Escape the Fate).
1986: Leighton Meester (US singer, actress)
1986: Brian Larsen (US musician, record producer; Twilight’s
Moon + more).
1985: Tomohisa Yamashita (Japanese
singer,
songwriter,
actor; NEWS/Shuuji to Akira/solo).
1984: Linda Chung (Canadian/Hong Kong actress, singer).
1980: Clueso/Thomas Hübner (German singer, rapper, songwriter,
producer).
1980: Albert Hammond Jr (US guitar, rhythm guitar, singer, songwriter;
Strokes/solo).
1978: Vesna Pisarovic (Croatian singer).
1978: Rachel Stevens (UK pop singer; S Club 7).
1977: Gerard Way (US singer; My Chemical Romance).
1970: Chorão/Alexandre
Magno Abrão (Brazilian lead singer;
Charlie Brown Jr)*06.March.2013.
1969: Kevin Martin (US vocalist, guitar; Candlebox)?
1964: DJ Alice/Soyo Oka (Japanese composer, musician, author; Nintendo
games/more).
1961: Mark Kelly (UK keyboardist, guitar; Chemical Alice/Marillion).
1953: Hal Ketchum (US country music singer, songwriter, guitarist).
1950: Peter John Wood (UK
organist, keyboard; top
sessionist/Sutherland Brothers/others)*Dec.1993.
1949: Alex
Sadkin (US record
producer; Compass Point Studio/Island
Records)*25.July.1987.
1948: Phillip Wright (UK drummer, lead singer; Paper Lace).
1947: John R. Shell (Anglo-American
bassist; The Hideaways)*01
Feb 1968.
1946: Les Gray (UK vocalist, trumpet; The Mourners/Mud/solo)*21.Feb.2004.
1945: Steve Gadd (American international session drummer).
1944:
Robert Newton Calvert (African born-UK
singer, poet; Hawkwind/others)*14.Aug.1988.
1944: Emil Stucchio (US lead singer; Classics).
1943: Terry Knight/Richard Terrance Knapp (US producer, singer;
Grand Funk Railroad)*01.Nov.2004.
1941: Kay Adams (American country singer).
1936: Néstor Zavarce
(Venezuelan
actor, singer, composer)*26.Aug.2010.
1932: Carl Perkins (US rockabilly singer, songwriter, guitarist)*19.Jan.1998.
1932: Armin Jordan (Swiss conductor)*20.Sept.2006.
1928: Tom Lehrer (US
singer-songwriter, satirist, pianist, mathematician).
1928:
Monty Sunshine (UK
jazz clarinetist; Chris Barber/many others/own band)*30.Nov.2010.
1921:
George David Weiss
(US
songwriter, President of the Songwriters Guild of America)*23.Aug.2010.
1920: Art Van Damme (US
jazz accordionist; Art Van Damme Quintet)*15.Feb.2010.
1920:
Roberto Silva (Brazilian
singer, composer of samba)*09.Sept.2012.
1906: Antal Dorati (Hungarian conductor)*13.Nov.1988.
1904: Joseph "Sharkey" Bonano (American jazz trumpeter,
band leader, vocalist)*27.March.1972
1898: Paul Robeson (US
actor, bass-baritone singer)*23.Jan.1976.
1890:
Efrem Zimbalist (Russian violinist)*22.Feb.1985.
April
10th.
1991: Amanda Michalka (US actress, singer).
1987: Hayley Westenra (New Zealand soprano)
1984: Mandy Moore (US singer).
1981: Elizabeth McClarnon (uk singer; Atomic Kitten).
1980: Bryce Soderberg (US bassist, backing vocals; Lifehouse).
1979: Sophie Ellis-Bextor (UK singer, songwriter, model)
1979: Shemekia Copeland (US blues singer)
1978: Sir Christus/Jukka Kristian Mikkonen (Finnish guitarist,
vocalist; SnoWhite/Negative)
1975: Chris Carrabba (US singer, guitarist; Dashboard Confessional
/ Further Seems Forever)
1973: Aidan Moffat (Scottish singer, songwriter; Arab Strap)
1970: Q-Tip/Jonathan Davis (US hip-hop mc, actor, hip hop producer;
Tribe Called Quest).
1970: Kenny Lattimore (US singer; Maniquin/solo).
1969: Mike Mushok (US lead guitarist, songwriter; Staind).
1968: Kenediid "Diid" Osman (UK bassist, artist management;
Sleeper/Dubstar).
1964: Reni/Alan John Wren (UK drummer; Stone Roses).
1965: Tim "Herb" Alexander (US drummer, multi-musician;
Primus/Laundry/others)
1967: David Rovics (US folksinger)
1963: Carlos Varela (Cuban singer, songwriter).
1963: Torch/Warren DeMartini (US guitarist; Ratt/Whitesnake)
1961: Joe Cole (US roadie, author; Black Flag / Rollins Band)*19.Dec.1991.
1959: Katrina Leskanich (US singer; Katrina & The Waves).
1959: Brian Setzer (US singer, guitar; Stray Cats/Brian Setzer
Orchestra/solo).
1959: Davy Carton (Irish singer, songwriter, rhythm guitarist;
Saw Doctors).
1958: Yefim Bronfman (Russian-born pianist)
1958: Babyface/Kenneth Edmonds (US singer, keyboards, guitar).
1957: Afrika Bambaataa (US hip hop artist).
1957: Steve Gustafson (US bassist; 10,000 Maniacs).
1955: Lesley Garrett (British soprano)
1953: Mean
Gene Kelton (US
blues-rockabilly singer, guitarist, harmonica player; Die Hards)*28.Dec.2010.
1953: Terre Roche (UK folk singer, songwriter, composer; Roches).
1950: Akiko Wada (Japanese singer, television performer).
1950: Eddie Hazel (American guitar; Parliament/Funkadelic)*23.Dec.1992.
1950: Dave Peverett (UK guitarist, vocals; Savoy Brown/Foghat)*07.Feb.2000.
1950: Ernest Stewart (US bassist, KC and the Sunshine Band)*26.April.1997.
1948: Fred Smith (US bassist; Blondie/Television/others).
1948: Bernd Clüver (German singer)*28.July.2011.
1948: Stephen Louis ''Steve''
Nardelli (Uk guitarist, lead vocalist;
The High Court/The Syn).
1947: Burke Shelley (Welsh bass guitarist, vocalist; Budgie)
1947: Bunny Wailer/Neville Livingston (Jamaican singer-songwriter,
percussionist; Bob Marley/Wailers).
1947: Karl Russell (US vocalist; Hues Corporation).
1945: Philip ''Phil'' Chugg
(UK Drummer; The City Blues Jug Blowers/
c0-founder Roxy Music).
1943: Peter Langford (UK bassist, vocalist; Barron Knights)
1943: Bo Hansson (Swedish keyboardist,
guitarist; The Merrymen/solo/Karlsson)*23.April.2010
1942: Hayedeh/Masoumeh Dadehbala (Legendary Persian Pop and classical
singer)*20.Jan.1990.
1940: Ricky Valance/David Spencer (Welsh pop singer).
1936: Robert "Bobby" Smith (US lead singer; Spinners
aka Detroit Spinners)*16.March.2013.
1934: Paul Brodie (Canadian saxophonist founded the World Saxophone
Congress in Chicago)*19.Nov.2007
1933: Rokusuke Ei (Japanese lyricist, author).
1932: Nate Nelson (US tenor and lead singer; Flamingos/Platters)*01.June.1984.
1930: Claude Bolling (French jazz composer, pianist)
1929: Barbara Lea /Barbara LeCoq (US singer)*28.Dec.2011.
1921: Sheb Wooley (US actor, singer)*16.Sept.2003.
1911: Martin Denny (US legendary easy listening pianist)*02.March.2005.
1910:
Eddy Duchin (US pianist, orchestra leader; Leo Reisman
orchestra)*09.Feb.1951.
(some
sourses give his birth April 1st 1909)
April
11th.
1987: Lights/Valerie Anne Poxleitner (Canadian
singer-songwriter, synthesizer, keyboard)
1987: Joss Stone/Joscelyn Eve Stoker (UK singer).
1982: Danja/Floyd Nathaniel Hills (US record producer, composer,
songwriter)
1979: Chris Gaylor (American drummer; The All-American Rejects).
1979: Sebastien Grainger (Canadian multi-musician; Death from Above
1979/part owner of Giant Studios).
1978: Brown Tom/Tom Thacker (Canadian singer, guitarist, keyboards;
Gob/Summit 41).
1974: David Jassy (Swedish R&B, hip-hop singer, songwriter,
music producer)
1971: Oliver Riedel (German bassist; The Inchtabokatables/Rammstein).
1970: Dylan Keefe (bassist; Marcy Playground).
1970: Delroy Pearson (UK singer; Five Star).
1969: Cerys Matthews/Cerys Elizabeth Philip (Welsh singer; Catatonia).
1969: Chisato Moritaka (Japanese singer).
1966: Lisa Stansfield (UK singer; Blue Zone/solo).
1964: Johann Sebastian Paetsch (American concert cellist).
1964: Steve Azar (US country music singer-songwriter, rhythm guitar).
1963: Nigel Pulsford (Welsh guitarist; Bush/solo).
1961: Doug Hopkins
(American guitarist; Gin Blossoms/The Chimeras)*05.Dec.1993.
1958: Stuart Adamson (UK guitar, vocals, songwriter; The Skids/Big
Country/Raphaels)*16.Dec.2001.
1957: Jim Lauderdale (US Country singer, songwriter)
1955: Neville Staple (UK-Jamaican singer, producer; Fun Boy Three/Specials/others/solo).
1955: Michael Callen (US singer, songwriter, composer, author)*27.Dec.1993.
1954:
Teo Peter (Romanian
rock bassist; Compact)*04.Dec.2004.
1952: Terry Ollis (UK drummer; Group X/Little
Wing/Hawkwind/Space Ritual).
1951: Paul Fox (British guitarist; The Ruts/Dirty Strangers)*21.Oct.2007
1950:
Maria Dimitriadi
(Greek
singer)*06.Jan.2009.
1950: Tom Hill (UK bass guitarist; Geordie)
1946: Bob "Whispering" Harris (DJ, radio host; Old Grey
Whistle Test/BBC Radio 2).
1948: Maurice Commander (US soul singer; Chicago Soul 7).
1943: Tony Victor (US singer; The Classics)
1939: Luther
"Guitar Junior" Johnson
(US blues singer, guitarist)
1939: Freddie Gorman (US singer,
songwriter, producer; Motown/The Originals/solo)*13.June.2006.
1938: Kurt Moll (German Grammy Award winning concert/operatic bassist,
celloist, singer).
1936:
Jimmy
Sabater Sr (US Latin singer, timbales player; Joe
Cuba Sextet/others)*08.Feb.2012.
1935: Richard Berry (American singer, composer, songwriter)*23.Jan.1997
1934:
Cleotha Staples (US gospel singer; The
Staple Singers)*21.Feb.2013.
1932: Joel Grey (American singer and actor).
1931: Koichi Sugiyama (Japanese composer).
1926: Victor Bouchard (Canadian pianist and composer)*22.March.2011.
1918: Jimmy Lewis (US bassist, double & electric; Count Basie/King
Curtis/many others)*?
1916: Alberto Ginastera (Argentine composer)*25.June.1983.
1913: John Lee Granderson (US blues singer, guitarist)*22.Aug.1979.
1914:
Catherine
Basie
nee Morgan (Wife of Count Basie)*11.April.1983.
1897: Henry Stuckey
(US guitarist; founder Bentonia country blues)*09.March.1966.
1889:
Nick LaRocca (US jazz cornetist, trumpeter,
leader; The Original Dixieland Jass Band)*22.Feb.1961.
April
12th.
1994: Airi Suzuki (Japanese singer; C-ute/Aa!, Hello!/Project Kids/Buono!).
1987: Brendon Urie (American singer; Panic At The Disco).
1985: Olga Seryabkina (Russian singer; Serebro).
1985: Hangry/Hitomi
Yoshizawa (Japanese singer; Morning Musume/Hangry & Angry).
1982: Deen/Fuad Backovic (Bosnian singer; Seven Up/ solo).
1980: Erik Mongrain (Canadian composer, guitarist).
1980: Bryan McFadden (Irish singer; Westlife).
1978: Guy Berryman (UK bassist, Coldplay).
1977:
Charles Cooper (US musician, one half of Telefon Tel Aviv)*22.Jan.2009.
1974:
Shakir Stewart
(US
record executive;
Def Jam/others)*01.Nov.2008.
1972: Sebnem Ferah (Turkish singer; Volvox/solo).
1970: Nicholas Lofton Hexum (US vocalist, rhythm guitarist; 311/Pepper/Zack
Hexum).
1967: Sarah Cracknell (UK lead singer; Saint Etienne).
1967: Mellow Man Ace/Ulpiano Sergio Reyes (Afro-Cuban rapper; Cypress
Hill).
1965: Sean Welch (UK bassist; Beautiful South).
1964: Amy Ray (US singer, guitar, mandolin, harmonica; Indigo Girls).
1962: Arthur Paul "Art" Alexakis (US vocalist, guitar;
Everclear).
1961: Lisa Gerrard (Australian singer, composer; Dead Can Dance/solo).
1958: Will Sergeant (UK guitarist; Echo & The Bunnymen/Electrafixion).
1958: Les Pattinson (bassist; Echo & The Bunnymen).
1957: Vince Gill (US country singer).
1956: Herbert Grönemeyer (German singer).
1954: Pat Travers (Canadian rock guitarist, keyboardist, singer;
Pat Travers Band/guest).
1951: Alexander Briley (singer; G.I.-Military Man Village People)
1950: David Cassidy (US singer, actor; Partridge Family/solo).
1948: Sandra "Lois" Reeves (US singer; Martha Reeves &
the Vandellas/Al Green).
1945: Ann Rabson (US blues vocalist, pianist, guitarist)*30.Jan.2013.
1945: Homer Joy (US country music singer-songwriter, musician;
Homer & Okie Road)*11.Sept.2012.
1944: John Kay/Joachim Fritz Krauledat (German-Canadian guitarist;
Steppenwolf/solo)
1943: Geoffrey Owen 'Geoff'
Brook (UK Bassist; The Brook Brothers).
1940: Herbie Hancock (US keyboard player, composer; Miles Davis/ bandleader).
1937: Gulshan Bawra/Gulshan Kumar Mehta (Indian songwriter)*07.Aug.2009.
1935: Jimmy Makulis (Greek singer)*28.Oct.2007.
1933: Montserrat Caballé (Spanish soprano).
1931: Leonid Derbenyov (Russian poet-songwriter)*22.June.1995.
1932: Tiny Tim/Herbert Buckingham Khaury (US singer, ukulele)*30.Nov.1996.
1930: Carol Lindsey Young (vocals; Kaye Sisters).
1927: Thomas Jeffrey Hemsley CBE (English baritone)*11.April.2013.
1920: Robert
Fizdale
(US
pianist;
Gold & Fizdale)*06.Dec.1995.
1919:
István Anhalt (Hungarian-born Canadian composer)*24.Feb.2012.
1919: Billy Vaughn (US singer, multi-instrumentalist, bandleader)*26.Sept.1991.
1917: Helen Forrest/Bonnie
Blue/Helen Fogel (American jazz singer)*11.July.1999
1892: Johnny Dodds (US jazz clarinetist, alto saxophonist, bandleader;
many bands)*08.Aug.1940.
1898: Lily
Pons (French-born soprano)*13.Feb.1976.
1888: Heinrich Neuhaus (Soviet pianist)*10.Oct.1964.
April
13th.
1982: Yak Ballz/Yashar Zadeh (US hip
hop artist)
1982: Nellie McKay (US singer-songwriter,
pianist, ukulele player, comic, actress).
1982: Janice Vidal (Hong
Kong singer, twin of Jill).
1982: Jill Vidal (Hong Kong singer, twin
of Janice).
1979: Toni Lundon (vocals; Liberty X).
1975: David Philip Hefti (Swiss composer, conductor)
1975: Lou Bega/David Loubega (German singer, producer).
1972: Aaron Lewis (US vocalist, acoustic guitar; Staind)
1971: Valensia/Aldous Byron Valensia Clarkson (Dutch singer, multi-musician).
1967: Olga Tañón (Puerto Rican multi-award winning
singer).
1966: Marc Ford (US lead guitarist; Black Crowes/Uninvited/freelance).
1966:
Mando/Adamantia Stamatopoulou (Greek singer)
1962: Hillel Slovak (Israeli-US guitarist, founder member; Red
Hot Chili Peppers)*25.June.1988.
1961: Hiro Yamamoto (US rock bassist; Soundgarden/Truly).
1959: Kim McAuliffe (guitar, singer; Girlschool)?
1957: Wayne Lewis (singer, keyboardist; Atlantic Starr)
1955: Mark
Kamins (US record producer, disc jockey)*14.Feb.2013.
1955: Louis Johnson (bassist; Brothers Johnson).
1954: Niels Olsen (Danish singer)
1954: Jimmy Destri (keyboards; Blondie/solo).
1952: Sam Bush (US bluegrass mandolin player)
1951: Max Weinberg (US drummer; E Street Band/freelance)
1951: Peabo Bryson (US singer).
1948: Arty Davies (UK drummer; Farons Flamingos/Lee Curtis/Kingsize
Taylor Cavern Band/Wheels On Fire)
1947: Thanos Mikroutsikos (Greek composer, former minister)
1947: Michael Donald ''Mike'' Chapman (Australian born UK musician,
record producer, songwriter).
1946: Roy Loney (US singer, guitar; Flamin Groovies/solo).
1946: Al Green (US soul singer)
1945: Rúnar Júlíusson
(Icelandic bassist with Thor's Hammer)*05.Dec.2008.
1945: Lowell George (US singer, songwriter, guitarist; Little Feat)*29.June.1979.
1944: John Styles (UK keyboards, piano; The Presidents-UK 60s band).
1944: Jack Casady (US bassist; Jefferson Starship/SVT/Jefferson
Airplane/Hot Tuna).
1944: Brian Pendleton (UK rhythm guitarist, lead guitar, vocals;
Pretty Things/So What)*16.May.2001.
1943: Eve Graham (Scottish singer; New Seekers).
1943: Guy Stevens (English record producer, manager)*29.Aug.1981.
1943: Artie Traum (US folk singer, award-winning guitarist, producer
and songwriter)*20.July.2008.
1942: Bill Conti (US singer, producer, conductor, composer).
1941:
Dame
Margaret Price (Welsh soprano)*28.Jan.2011.
1940: Lester Chambers (singer; Chambers Brothers).
1938: Eddie Marshall (US jazz drummer)*07.Sept.2011.
1936: Tim Field (singer; Springfields)?
1934: Horace Kay (singer; Tams).
1933:
Bobby Poe (US pop singer, songwriter, promoter; The Poe Cats)*22.Jan.2011.
1928:
Teddy Charles/Theodore Cohen
(US
jazz mult-musician; sessionist)*16.April.2012.
1920: John LaPorta (US jazz clarinetist, saxophonist)*12.May.2004.
1919: Howard Keel/Harry Clifford Leek (US singer, actor)*07.Nov.2004.
1906: Bud Freeman/Lawrence Freeman (US jazz
musician, bandleader, composer)*15.March.1991.
April
14th.
1984: Adán Sánchez (Mexican-American singer)*27.March.2004.
(car crash)
1980: Kieran Mahon (UK keyboard, piano, synthesizer; The Cooper Temple
Clause).
1980: Win Butler (American/Canadian vocalist, mandolin, guitar, keyboards,
Bass, songwriter; Arcade Fire).
1976: Christian Älvestam (Swedish singer, multi-musician; Scar
Symmetry).
1975: Avner Dorman (Israeli composer of contemporary classical
music).
1974: Da Brat/Shawntae Harris (US rap artist).
1973: David Miller (American tenor; Il Divo).
1972: Pete Kirtley (UK multi-platinum and Ivor Novello Award winning
songwriter,record producer)
1970: Shizuka Kudo (Japanese singer; Onyanko Club/Ushirogami Hikareta/soloi).
1970: Emre Altug (Turkish singer, actor; TV/Films/Musicals).
1969: Martyn LeNoble (Dutch bassist; Porno For Pyros/The Cult/Jane's
Addiction).
1967: Barrett Martin (US drummer, composer; Screaming Trees/Mad
Season/solo/sessionist).
1965: Carl Hunter (UK bassist; The Farm).
1965: Kirk Windstein (US lead guitarist, bassist, singer; Valume
Nob/Crowbar/Down)
1965: Sheila Chandra (Indian-British singer; Monsoon/solo).
1962: Joey Pesce (US keyboardist; 'Til Tuesday)
1958: Ronnie Grieco (US saxophone player; Joey Dee and the Starlighters/freelance/solo).
1957: Mikhail Pletnev (Russian award winning pianist, conductor,
composer).
1951: Julian Lloyd Webber (English cellist; classical, brother
of Sir Andrew).
1949: Sonja Kristina Linwood (UK vocalist, songwriter; Curved Air/the
musical Hair).
1949: Dennis Bryon (Welsh drummer; Amen Corner/Bee Gees/Blue Weaver/freelance)?
1948: Larry Ferguson (UK keyboardist; Hot Chocolate).
1949: June Millington (Philippine-American guitarist, vocals, guitar;
Fanny).
1943: Nikolai Arnoldovich Petrov (Russian pianist)*03.Aug.2011.
1943: Patrick Fairlie (Scottish bassist, rhythm guitarist; Marmalade).
1945: Ritchie Blackmore (UK guitarist; Rainbow/Deep Purple/sessionist/freelance).
1942: Tony Burrows (UK singer; The Kestrels/First Class/sessioned
with many bands).
1938: Walid
Gholmieh (Lebanese
composer, conductor, musicologist)*07.June.2011.
1932: Loretta Lynn/Loretta Webb (US country singer, songwriter).
1929:
Inez Andrews (US gospel singer; The Caravans/solo)*19.Dec.2012.
1929:
Paavo Berglund (Finnish conductor, violinist)*25.Jan.2012.
1925: Gene "Jug" Ammons (US jazz
saxophonist; Billy Eckstine/Woody Herman/more)*06.Aug.1974
1924:
Shorty Rogers/Milton Rajonsky (US jazz trumpeter,
flugelhorn)*07.Nov.1994.
1919:
Shamshad Begum (Indian singer)*23.April.1919.
April
15th.
1992: Amy Diamond (Swedish
singer)
1991: Daiki Arioka (Japanese actor, singer).
1984: Benjamin Kasica (US guitarist;
Christian rock band Skillet)
1983: Matt Cardle (UK singer-songwriter)
1982: Anthony Green (US singer; Circa
Survive/Saosin/many others)
1978: Francesco Fareri (Italian guitarist,
shred guitarist, composer).
1975:
Phil Labonte (US
lead vocalist; All That Remains).
1972: David Wrench (Welsh singer, musician,
studio producer, sound engineer)
1968: Ed O'Brien (UK guitar, harmony
vocals; Radiohead).
1967: Frankie Poullian (UK bassist; Darkness)
1966: Samantha Fox (UK model; singer).
1966: Graeme Clark (Scottish bassist; Wet Wet Wet/Maggie Pie &
The Impostors).
1965: Linda Perry (US singer, producer, guitar, engineer; 4 Non
Blondes/solo).
1965: Oscar Harrison (UK drummer, pianiast; Ocean Colour Scene)
1962: Surjit Bindrakhia (Punjabi Bhangra singer)
1962: Nick Kamen (UK model, singer).
1949: Alla Pugacheva (Russian singer)
1949: Tonio K/Steven M. Krikorian (US singer)
1948: Michael Kamen (US oboe
player; film, rock & classical
music composer)*18.Nov.2003.
1947: Stuart "Wooly"
Wolstenholme (UK organist, multi-musician;
Barclay James Harvest)*13.Dec.2010.
1947: Michael Chapman (UK producer, somgwriter; Chinnichap productions).
1947: David "Jaxon"
Jackson (UK
rock saxophonist, flautist, composer/Van der Graaf Generator/others)
1944: Dave Edmunds (Welsh guitar, keyboard, vocals, producer; Love
Sculpture/Rockpile).
1940:
Marian Zazeela (US light-artist, designer,
painter, musician)
1940:
Clarence
"Satch" Satchell (American
saxophonist, flutist;
Ohio Players)*30.Dec.1995.
1939: Marty Wilde (UK pop singer).
1937:
Bob Luman
(American country and rockabilly singer)*27.Dec.1978.
1933: Roy Clark (US country singer, guitar, fiddle, banjo).
1930: Herb Pomeroy
III (US jazz trumpeter; many greats/own bands)*11.Aug.2007.
1924: Sir Neville Marriner (English conductor)
1919:
Robert Trumble (Australian
writer and musician)*02.Jan.2011.
1916: Lee
Vincent/Vincent Michael Cerreta (US bassist, band leader, radio personality)*11.Dec.2007.
1908: Eden Ahbez/George Alexander Aberle (US singer-songwriter)*04.March.1995.
1894: Bessie Smith (US blues singer)*26.Sept.1937.
April
16th.
1985:
Benjamín Rojas (Argentine actor,
singer, guitarist; Erreway)
1983: Marié Digby (US singer,
pianist, guitar)
1979: Sean Costello (American blues guitarist,
singer)*15.April.2008.
1977: Akon/Aliaune Damala Dakha Bouga Time Puru Nacka Lu Lu Lu Badara
Akon Thiam (US R&B, rap singer). (some sourses
give Akon's birthdate as April 30th 1973 and others October 14th 1981)
1976: Sean Maguire (UK actor, singer).
1975: Kelli O'Hara (US singer, actress)
1975: Euros Childs (Welsh singer-songwriter, keyboardist; Gorky's
Zygotic Mynci/solo).
1974: Mat Devine (US singer; Kill Hannah)
1974: Xu Jinglei (Chinese actress, singer, director)
1973: Bonnie Pink/Kaori Asada (Japanese singer)
1971: Max Beesley (UK percussionist, pianist, drummer, actor)
1971: Selena Quintanilla-Pérez (US singer known as "The
Queen of Tejano music")*31.March.1995.
1970: Gabrielle/Louise Gabrielle Bobb (UK singer).
1970: Dero Goi (German drummer, singer; Oomph).
1969: Sean Cook (UK bassist; Spiritualized).
1967: Grooverider/Raymond Bingham (UK drum, bass DJ; Fabio)
1964: Esbjörn Svensson (Swedish jazz pianist; Esbjörn
Svensson Trio aka E.S.T)*14.June.2008.
1964: David Pirner (US guitar, vocals, trumpet; Murphy & Pirfinkle/Soul
Asylum).
1963: Little Jimmy Osmond (US singer; The Osmonds/solo).
1963: Nick Berry (UK singer, actor).
1962: Ian MacKaye (US singer, songwriter, guitarist, label owner;
Fugazi/Minor Threat)
1961: Doris Dragovic (Croatian singer)
1956: Paul Buchanan (Scottish vocals, producer, acoustic guitar;
Blue Nile).
1953: Peter Garrett (Australian singer, politician; Midnight Oil)
1951: John Bentley (UK bass; Squeeze).
1951: Björgvin Halldórsson (Icelandic singer)
1951: Mordechai Ben David/Mordechai Werdyger (US Hebrew singer)
1949: Bill 'Sputnick' Spooner (guitar; Tubes/Folk-Ups).
1948: Ammar
El-Sherei (Egyptian keyboardist, pianist,
accordion
player,composer)*07.Dec.2012.
1948: Robert
Kirby
(UK
keyboardist, arranger of string sections for rock & folk music)*03.Oct.2009.
1947: Lee 'The Bear' Kerslake (UK drummer; The Gods, Toe Fat, The
National Head Band, Uriah Heep).
1947: Gerry Rafferty (UK singer, guitar, songwriter; Stealers Wheel/Humblebums/solo)*04.Jan.2011.
1945: Stefan Grossman (US guitarist; Even Dozen Jug Band/Fugs/co-founded
Kicking Mule Records).
1944: Richard Bradshaw (UK opera conductor)*15.August.2007.
1943: Dave Peverett (UK singer, rhythm guitarist; Foghat/Savoy
Brown)*07.Feb.2000.
1942: Colin Manley
(UK lead guitarist, vocalist; Remo Four/Swinging Blue Jeans/freelance)*April
9th 1999.
1942: Edward 'Eddy' Patterson (UK
drummer; The Classics/The Presidents-UK 60s band).
1939: Dusty Springfield/Mary O'Brien (UK husky-voiced soul singer)*02.March.1999.
1937:
Artie "Blues Boy" White (US soul singer)*20.April.2013.
1936: Tom Lodge (UK author, radio deejay)*25.March.2012.
1936: Šaban Bajramovic (Serbian Romani singer, songwriter)*08.June.2008.
1936:
Judy Lynn Kelly (US
country music singer)*26.May.2010.
1935: Bobby Vinton/Stanley Robert Vintula (US pop singer).
1934: Robert Stigwood (Australian entertainment entrepreneur, manager;
Cream/BeeGees/others)
1930:
Herbie Mann/Herbert Jay Solomon
(American jazz flutist)*01.July.2003.
1929: Ed Townsend (US singer, songwriter)*13.Aug.2003.
1929: Roy Hamilton (US singer)*20.July.1969.
1927: Edie Adams (American singer, Broadway, television and film
actress)*15.Oct.2008.
1924: Rudy Pompilli (US saxophone, clarenet; Bill Haley & His
Comets)*05.Feb.1976.
1924: Henry Mancini (US composer and conductor)*14.June.1994.
1917: Bobby Robinson (African-American independent record producer)
1918: Spike Milligan/Terence Seán Milligan (UK
comedian, singer, musician, poet, actor)*29.Feb.2002.
1919: Nilla Pizzi (Italian singer)*12.March.2011.
1908:
Ray Ventura (French jazz bandleader; Ray Ventura and His Collegians)*30.March.1979.
1889: Charlie Chaplin (English composer, comedy actor, actor, producer)*25.Dec.1977.
April
17th.
1981: Hanna Pakarinen (Finnish singer)
1979:
Bilal Abdulsamad (US singer; The Boys)
1977: Phil Jamieson (Australian singer; Grinspoon)
1974: Posh Spice/Victoria Beckham nee Adams (UK singer; Spice Girls/solo).
1974: Mikael Åkerfeldt (Swedish guitarist, singer; Opeth)
1970: Redman/Reggie Noble (US rapper).
1967:
Bud Mills
(US drummer, founder member; Insanity)*16.Nov.2007.
1967: Liz Phair (US singer, guitarist).
1964:
Bart Van den Bossche (Belgian singer
and TV presenter)*06.Jan.2013.
1964: Maynard James Keenan (US singer; A Perfect Circle/Tool).
1959:
Stephen Singleton (UK saxophonist; Vice
Versa/ABC/Bleep/Booster).
1957: Afrika Bambaataa/Kevin Donovan (US DJ, hip-hop artist).
some sources have his birthdate as April 10th and 19th and some have October
4th 1957. New York residency records give it as April 17th 1957.
1955: Pete Shelley/Peter Campbell McNeish (UK guitarist; Buzzcocks)
1954: Michael Sembello (US guitarist, composer; Stevie Wonder band/sessionist/solo)
1954: Lester Square/Thomas Hardy (Canadian guitarist, keyboard;
Monochrome Set/Adam & the Ants)
1948: Jan Hammer (Czechoslovakian keyboard player; Mahavishnu Orchestra/solo).
1948: Graham Bell
(UK vocalist; Graham Bell Trend/Skip Bifferty/Heavy
Jelly/ Belland Arc)*02.May.2008.
1947: David
Sanger (UK classical organist)*27.May.2010.
1947: Linda Martin (Irish singer)
1945: Anthony ''Tony''
Crane (UK guitarist, vocalist; The Mavericks/The
Pacifics/The Merseybeats).
1943: Roy Estrada (US bassist; Frank Zappa/Captain Beefheart)
1943:
Erling Kroner (Danish trombonist, bandleader)*02.March.2011.
1942: Aziz
Mian/Abdul Aziz (Pakistani
singer)*06.Dec.2000.
1941: Billy Fury/Ronald Wycherley (UK singer mega popstar)*28.Jan.1983
1940: Anja Silja (German soprano)
1934: Don Kirshner (US composer, producer)*17.Jan.2011.
1932: Joe Romano (US jazz saxophonist; Woody Herman/Freelance).
1930: Chris Barber (UK jazz band leader, trombonist)
1929: James Last (German orchestra leader).
1926:
Whitney Lyon Balliett (US jazz
critic, book reviewer; the New Yorker)*01.Feb.2007.
1923: Gianni Raimondi (Italian international operatic tenor)*19.Oct.2008.
1922:
Paul Smith (US jazz pianist).
1919: Chavela Vargas/Isabel
Vargas Lizano (Costa
Rican-Mexican singer)*05.Aug.2012.
1912: Marta Eggerth (Hungarian-born US citizen actress and singer).
1903: Gregor Piatigorsky (Russian cellist)*06.Aug.1976.
1882:
Artur
Schnabel (Austrian classical pianist,
composer, teacher)*15.Aug.1951.
April
18th.
1989: Jessica Jung (US-born South Korean singer; Girls' Generation)
1987: Sandra Lyng Haugen (Norwegian singer)
1985: Elena Temnikova (Russian singer; Serebro)
1982: Marie-Élaine Thibert (Canadian singer)
1979: Nuria Fergó (Spanish singer)
1976: Fayray (Japanese singer, acter)
1974: Mark "Tru" Tremonti (US lead guitar; Alter Bridge/Creed).
1974: Millie Corretjer (Puerto Rican singer)
1972: Rosa Clemente (US activist, hip-hop artist)
1971: Fredro Starr (US rapper; Onyx)
1970: Greg Eklund (US drummer; Everclear).
1965: Rob Stenders (Dutch radio discjockey).
1964: Zazie / Isabelle de Truchis de Varennes (French singer).
1964: Bez/ Mark Berry (UK dancer, percussion, mascot; Happy Mondays).
1964: Jim Ellison (US singer, frontman; Material Issue)*20.June.1996.
1962: Shirley Holliman (UK vocalist; Pepsi & Shirlie/Wham!).
1961: Kelly Hansen (US vocalist, drummer; Foreigner/Hurricane/sessionist/guest).
1958: Les Pattinson (UK bass guitarist; Echo & the Bunnymen).
1958: Andy Kyriacou (UK drummer; Modern Romance).
1950: Zeke Willett (US country singer)??
1950: Kenny Craddock
(UK organist, guitarist, composer, producer; Lindisfarne/others)*30.May.2002.
1946: Lennie Baker (US saxophone; Danny & the Juniors/Sha Na
Na).
1946: Alexander "Skip" Spence (Canadian-US drummer, guitarist;MobyGrape/JeffersonAirplane)*16.Apr.1999.
1943: Clyde Stubblefield (US drummer; James Brown/The
Clyde Stubblefield Band)
1942: Robert Christgau (US music critic, 'Dean of American Rock
Critics')
1941:
Hortense Ellis (Jamaican singer, younger sister of Alton
Ellis; Dragonaires)*19.Oct.2000.
1940: Mike Vickers (UK saxophone, guitar, flute, clarinet; Manfred
Mann/sessoinist/freelane).
1939: Gus Galbraith
(UK trumpet player; Original Climax Jazz Band/Gus Galbraith Sextet/NYO/others).
1939: Glen D.Hardin (US pianist, guitar; Crickets/sessionist/freelance).
1938: Harold "Hal" Galper (US jazz pianist, composer,
arranger, bandleader, educator writer).
1935: Paul A. Rothchild
(US music
producer; Doors/Paul
Butterfield/many others)*30.March.1995.
1934: George Shirley (American tenor)
1928: Kenneth Colyer (UK
jazz trumpeter, cornetist; Ken Colyer and
his Jazzmen)*08.March.1988.
1925:
Leo Parker (American
jazz baritone saxophonist)*11.Feb.1962.
1924: Clarence 'Gatemouth' Brown (US blues artist, multi musician)*10.Sept.2005.
1919: Virginia O'Brien (US singer and actress)*16.Jan.2001.
1918: Tony Mottola (US guitarist)*09.Aug.2004.
1906: Little Brother Montgomery/Eurreal Montgomery (US jazz-blues
pianist, singer)*06.Sept.1985.
1907: Miklós Rózsa (Hungarian-born composer)*27.July.1995.
1882: Leopold Stokowski/Antoni Boleslawowicz (UK born US symphonic
conductor)*13.Sept.1977.
1882:
Gian
Francesco Malipiero (Italian composer)*01.Aug.1973.
April
19th.
1989: Fiona MacGillivray (Canadian vocalist;
The Cottars).
1988: Haruna Kojima (Japanese actress and singer; Angel Eyes/AKB48)
1987: Daniel Schuhmacher (German singer)
1976: Ruud Jolie (Dutch guitarist; Within Temptation)
1970: Luis Miguel (Mexican pop singer).
1968:
Pascal Kleiman (Spanish DJ, producer, musician)
1967: Dar Williams (US singer, guitarist, songwriter).
1966: Julia Neigel (German singer and songwriter).
1966:
Véronique Gens (French soprano)
1965: Natalie Dessay (French soprano)
1965: Suge Knight (American record producer)
1962: Juan Diego Calleros (Mexican bassist; Maná).
1960: Ara Gevorgyan (Armenian pianist, keyboards, composer, musical
producer).
1957:
Tony Martin Harford (UK
lead vocalist, multi-musician; Black Sabbath/other
projects)
1956:
Gary Langan (UK electronic musician,
producer; Art Of Noise/ZTT Records label).
1954: Bob Rock (Canadian record producer, guitarist; The Payola$)
1953: Rod Morgenstein (US drummer; Winger/Dixie Dregs/sessionist).
1949: Big
Youth/Jah Youth/Manley Augustus Buchanan
(Jamaican
deejay)
1947: Mark Volman/Phlorescent Leech (US singer; Turtles/Mothers
of Invention/Flo & Eddie).
1947: Murray Perahia (US pianist, conductor)
1944: Bernie Worrell (US keyboards, piano, synthesizer, organ;
Parliament/Funkadelic).
1943: Eve Graham (Scottish singer; The New Seekers)
1942: Alan Price (UK vocals, piano, keyboards,composer; Animals/Jade
Warrior/own band).
1942: David
Fanshawe (English composer, ethnomusicologist)*05.July.2010.
1942: Larry Ramos/Hilario Ramos (Hawaiian singer; The Association/New
Christy Minstrels)
1941: Roberto Carlos Braga
(Brazilian Grammy Award-winning MPB singer).
1940: Bobby Russell (US songwriter)*19.Nov.1992.
1940:
Genya Ravan (US vocalist; Goldie & the Gingerbreads/Ten Wheel
Drive).
1935: Dudley Moore (UK actor,pianist,comedian,composer; John Dankworth/own
trio)*27.March.2002.
1928: Alexis Korner (French jazz, blues guitarist,"the father
of British blues")*01.Jan.1984.
1920: Gene Leis (US jazz guitarist, educator)*15.March.1993.
1917: Johnny Hoes (Dutch
singer, lyricist, composer and producer)*23.July.2011.
1892:
Germaine Tailleferre
(French composer; Les Six)*07.Nov.1983.
April
20th.
1983: Sebastian Ingrosso (UK-Swedish DJ, producer, electronic musician;
Swedish House Mafia).
1980: Jasmin Wagner (German singer)
1979: Quinn Weng (Taiwanese singer; Seraphim)
1974: Tina Cousins (UK singer-songwriter, model)
1972: Željko Joksimovic (Serbian singer, songwriter, producer)
1972: Marko Kon (Serbian singer, composer, songwriter, producer)
1972: Carmen Electra/Tara Leigh Patrick (US singer, actress; Pussycat
Dolls).
1972: Stephen Marley (Jamaican singer, guitarist; Melody Makers).
1971: Mikey Welsh (US bassist, artist; Weezer/The Rivers Cuomo
Band/others)*08.Oct.2011.
1970: Saraa/Sarantuya Batmonkh (Mongolian singer)
1967: Michael Stephen Portnoy (US drummer; Dream Theater/Transatlantic/Avenged
Sevenfold/many more)
1965: April March/Elinor Blake (US singer-songwriter)
1961: Barry Smolin (US radio host, writer, composer)
1951: Phillip Taylor
(US 2nd tenor lead vocals; Eric & the Vikings aka The Vikings
aka Motown Vikings).
1951: Luther Vandross (US singer)*01.July.2005.
1948: Craig Frost (US keyboardist; Silver Bullet Band/Grand Funk
Railroad).
1947: Björn Skifs (Swedish singer; Blue Swede)
1947: Ken Scott (UK record producer, recording engineer)
1947: Del Dettmar
(UK synthesizer player; Hawkwind).
1946: Iris Williams OBE (Welsh singer).
1945: Jimmy Winston (UK organist, keyboards; the Moments/Small
Faces).
1944: Billy Ritchie (Scottish keyboard player, organist, composer;The
Premiers/1-2-3/Clouds).
1943: John Eliot Gardiner (UK conductor)
1938: Johnny Tillotson (US singer).
1936: William Godvin "Beaver" Harris (American jazz drummer)*22.Dec.1991.
1934: David
"Pop" Winans
(US gospel singer; Mom & Pop Winans/David & Delores)*08.April.2009.
1929: Bob Braun (US television host)*15.Jan.2001.
1923:
Tito Puente (US musician; influential
Latin jazz and mambo musician)*01.June.2000.
1908: Lionel Hampton (American jazz vibraphonist,
percussionist, bandleader)*31.Aug.2002.
1895: Emile Christian (US jazz trombonist,
cornet, string bass)*03.Dec.1973.
April
21st.
1988: Mia Permanto (Finnish
pop singer and radio host)*19.March.2008
1978: Jukka Nevalainen (Finnish drummer;
Nightwish)
1978: Branden Steineckert (US drummer;
Rancid/The Used)
1977: Doseone/Adam Drucker (US rapper)
1975: Tha Trademarc/Marc Predka (US hip
hop artist)
1972: Severina Vuckovic (Croatian singer)
1970: Glen Hansard (Irish songwriter
and actor)
1966: Michael Franti (US singer, songwriter,
poet; Michael Franti & Spearhead)
1963:
Peter Jones (UK
-born Australian drummer; Crowded House/sessionist)*18.May.2012.
1963: Johnny McElhone (Scottish bassist;
Altered Images/Texas/Hipsway).
1959: Jerry Only/Gerald Caiafa (US bassist, vocals; The Misfits)
1959: Michael Timmins (Canadian guitarist; Cowboy Junkies).
1959: Robert James Smith (UK guitarist, keyboards, vocals; Siouxsie&The
Banshees/The Cure).
1958: Mike Barson (Scottish keyboardist, multi-musician; Madness).
1954: Ebiet G. Ade (Indonesian singer)
1951: Nicole Barclay (US keyboards, vocals; Fanny/freelance)
1949: Patti LuPone (US singer and actress)
1948: Paul Davis (US singer)*22.April.2008.
1947: John Weider (US guitarist, bass, violin; Family/The Animals/Stud/sessionist).
1947: Alan Warner (UK guitarist, vocals; Foundations).
1947: Iggy Pop/James Newell Osterburg (US singer; The Phsycodelic
Stooges/Stooges).
1945: Diana Darvey/Diana Magdalene Roloff (UK actress, singer,
dancer)*11.April.2000.
1945: Andrew 'Andy' Cavell (Greek born UK lead vocalist; The Saints/solo).
1938:
Eddie King/Edward Lewis Davis Milton (US
blues guitarist, singer, songwriter)*14.March.2011.
1938: Ernie Maresca (US singer, record executive)
1938: Brian James Hudson (UK drummer; The Big Three/Cass and the
Casanovas).
1933: Ian Carr (Scottish trumpeter, composer and writer; Nucleus/others/sessionist)*25.Feb.2009.
1925:
Bob Kames
(US polka musician, songwriter)*09.April.2008.
1924: Ira Louvin/Ira Lonnie Loudermilk (US
country music singer, songwriter, musician)*20.June.1965.
1919: Don Cornell/Luigi Varlaro (US singer)*23.Feb.2004.
1919: Roger Doucet CM
(French-Canadian
tenor)*19.July.1981.
1911:
Leonard Warren (American
baritone)*04.March.1960.
1904: Leo
Adde (US
jazz drummer, Melody
Masters/othes)*March.1942.
1907: Wade
Mainer (US
bluegrass singer, banjoist; Sons of
the Mountaineers)*12.Sept.2011.
1893:
Issy
Bonn/Benjamin Levin (British
Jewish actor, singer, comedian)*21.April.1977.
April
22nd.
1985: Matt Ballinger (US singer; Dream Street)
1984: Amelle Berrabah (UK singer; Sugababes)
1980: Ginger Sling/Ginger Reyes/Ginger A. Pooley (US bassist; Smashing
Pumpkins/solo).
1979: Daniel Johns (Australian vocalist, composer, pianist, guitarist;
Silverchair).
1978: Jason Stollsteimer (US singer; The Von Bondies)
1977: Aaron Fink (US guitarist; Breaking Benjamin)
1974: Diego Costa (Brazilian singer-songwriter)
1974: Shavo Odadjian (Armenian/American bassist (System of a Down)
1970: Regine Velasquez (Filipino singer, actress)
1966: Fletcher Dragge (US guitarist; Pennywise)
1969: Craig Logan (Scottish singer; member of the trio Bros).
1956: Kenny Lyons (US bassist; Lemonheads).
1953: Juhani Komulainen (Finnish composer)
1951: Paul Carrack (UK singer, keyboardist; Ace/Squeeze/Mike &
the Mechanics/solo).
1950: Peter Frampton (UK guitar, vocals; the Herd/Humble Pie/solo).
1948: Larry Groce (US singer, songwriter)
1947: Barry Guy (UK jazz double bassist, composer, arranger; Pete
Robinson's Hot Four/many others).
1945: Demetrio Stratos/Efstratios Demetriou (Italian singer, multi-musician,
lyricist; AreA)*13.June.1979
1944: Howard Wyeth (US drummer, pianist; freelance/sessionist)*27.March.1996.
1943: Daniel Boone/Roy Daniels/Roy Spreadborough (UK vocalist;
Blackjacks/the Renagades/others).
1939: Glyn Thomas (UK drummer; The Bo Street Runners/top sessionist).
1939: Simon Napier-Bell (UK manager of Wham!, T Rex, Japan + more).
1939: Mel Carter (US singer, actor)
1937: Jack Nitzche (US producer, songwriter, composer, film scores)*25.Aug.2000.
1936: Glen Campbell (US singer, guitarist, banjo player; Beach
Boys/solo).
1936: Pierre Hétu (French Canadian conductor, pianist)*03.Dec.1998.
1936: Lucho
Barrios/Luis Barrios Rojas
(Peruvian bolero singer)*05.May.2010.
1935: Paul Chambers (US jazz bassist)*04.Jan.1969
1929: Erkki Junkkarinen (Finnish singer)*09.April.2008.
1927: Laurel Aitken/Lorenzo
Aitken
(Jamaican singer)*17.July.2005.
1922: Charles Mingus (US jazz musician/bandleader)*05.Jan.1979.
1922: Elden C. 'Buster' Bailey (US percussionist; New York Philharmonic)*13.Apr.2004.
1922: Eugene Smith
(US gospel
baritone/tenor singer;
Roberta Martin Singers/solo)*09.May.2009.
1916: Yehudi Menuhin (US-born violinist)*12.March.1999
1912: Kathleen Ferrier (UK singer)*08.Oct.1953
1910: Jenny Alpha (Martinique-born French
actress and singer)*08.Sept.2010.
April
23rd.
1982: Taio Cruz (UK singer-songwriter, occasional
rapper, music producer)
1979: Lauri Ylönen (Finnish singer; The Rasmus)
1979: Barry Fratelli/Barry Wallace (Scottish bassist; The Fratellis)
1975:
Jón Þór Birgisson (Icelandic guitarist, vocalist;
Sigur Rós)
1974:
Carlos Dengler (US bassist; Interpol)
1972: Patricia Manterola (Mexican singer)
1970:
Dennis Bayne Culp (US singer/songwriter)
1968: Stan Frazier (US drummer; Sugar Ray).
1968: Paul Clifford (UK bass, Wonder Stuff)?
1966: Neil Wathey (UK drummer; Bitter
Suite/TNT/Suite FA/sessionist).
1964: Simon "Gen" Matthews (drummer, percussion; Jesus
Jones).
1960: Steve Clark (UK guitarist;
Def Leppard)*08.Jan.1991.
1960:
David Gedge (UK vocalist, guitar, producer; Cinerama/The Wedding Present).
1958: Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson (Icelandic music composer)
1957: Kenji Kawai (Japanese composer)
1955: Mark Schatz (US bassist, banjo; The Bluegrass Album Band/freelance).
1955: Captain Sensible/Raymond Burns (UK vocals, guitar, bass;
King/The Damned/solo).
1953:
Richard
Joseph (British games soundtrack composer)*04.March.2007.
1952: Narada Michael Walden (vocals, drums; Mahavishnu Orchestra/freelance).
1949: David Cross (UK violinist; King Crimson/others/solo)
1949: John Miles (UK vocalist, guitarist and keyboards; The Influence/solo/freelance).
1947: Stu Middleton (UK guitarist, keyboards;
Prisoner/Bitter Suite).
1945: John Allen (UK guitarist; Nashville
Teens).
1941: Jacqueline Boyer (French singer)
1939: Patrick Williams (US composer of jazz, popular music, concert
music, music for film & television).
1939: Ray Peterson (US pop singer)*25.Jan.2005.
1936: Roy Orbison
(US pop and country singer, songwriter)*06.Dec.1988.
1934: George
Canseco
(Filipino song composer)*19.Nov.2004.
1925: Johnny
McCauley (Irish singer-songwriter)*22.March.2012.
1924: Bob Rosengarden (US drummer; band leader/many
bands/session-studio musician)*27.Feb.2007.
1921: Janet Blair/Martha
Jane Lafferty
(US actress, singer; stage/TV/film)*19.Feb.2007.
1919: Little Benny Harris (US trumpet, composer;
many jazz bands and sessionist)*11.May.1975.
1918: Augusto
Bracca (Venezuelan songwriter, composer, singer)*25.Dec.2012.
1915: Joe Lippman (US jazz pianist, composer;
band leader/many big bands)*????
1903: Bob Garber (US pianist; bandleader)*06.March.1988.
1895: Jimmy Noone (US jazz clarinet player;
many bands/bandleader)*19.April.1944.
1894: Cow Cow Davenport/Charles Edward Davenport
(US boogie-woogie pianist)*03.Dec.1955.
1891:
Sergei
Prokofiev (Russian
composer)*05.March.1953.
April
24th.
1984: Matthew Lane Jones (US singer-songwriter, guitarist; Brothers
In Arms/solo)
1984: Tyson Ritter (US lead vocalist, bass guitarist; The All-American
Rejects)
1982: Kelly Clarkson (US singer; winner of the US TV show Pop Idol).
1980: Danny Gokey (US singer)
1977: Eric Balfour (US singer, actor of film and television; Born
As Ghosts).
1973: Brian Marshall (US bass guitar; Creed/Alter Bridge).
1971: Alejandro Fernández (Mexican singer)
1971: Mauro Pawlowski (Belgian guitarist, singer)
1968: Aaron Comess (US drummer; Spin Doctors).
1968: Shannon Larkin (US drummer; Godsmac/Amen/Candlebox/Ugly Kid
Joe/others)
1967: Patty Schemel (drums; Hole/freelance).
1964: Witold Smorawinski (Polish musician, composer)
1963: Paula Frazer (US singer/songwriter)
1963: Tony Blackplait/Tõnu Trubetsky (Estonian singer, guitarist;
Vennaskond/several others)
1963: Mano Solo/Emmanuel Cabut (French singer; les Chihuahuas/solo)*10.Jan.2010.
1963: Horacio 'El Negro' Hernandez (Cuban drums/percussion; Yerba
Buena)?
1963: Billy Gould (US bass guitarist; Faith No More).
1960: Paula Yates (UK music presenter, TV host)*17.Sept.2000.
1957: David J/David Jay Haskins (UK bass; Bauhaus/The Jazz Butcher/Love
& Rockets).
1954:
Jack Blades (US bassist; Night Ranger/others)
1952: Boris Williams (UK-French born drummer; Thompson Twins/The
Cure).
1949: Véronique Sanson (French singer, songwriter)
1948: Steve York (UK bassist; Graham Bond Organisation/Manfred
Mann/Earth Band/others)?
1947: Claude Dubois (Canadian singer, songwriter)
1947: Glen Cornick (UK bassist; Jethro Tull/Wild Turkey/Paris).
1947: Hubert Ann Kelly (US singer; Hues Corporation).
1945: TBT/Beverley Turner (UK music researcher; BT ~That's Me!).
1945: Dick Rivers/Hervé Forneri (French singer, actor)
1945: Robert Knight (US singer)
1945: Doug Clifford (US drums;Creedence ClearwaterRevival/Creedence
Clearwater Revisited).
1945: Linda Stein (US rock music manager, real estate broker)*30.Oct.2007.
1945: Doug Riley (Canadian keyboardist; Famous People Players)*27.Aug.2007
1944:
Bernard Lee aka
St. Clair Lee (US
singer; Hues
Corporation)*08.March.2011.
1943: Glen Dale/Richard Garforth (UK guitar/vocals; Fortunes).
1943: Ross
Kettle (Australian singer, songwriter,
guitar; Singing Kettles)*12.Sept.2007.
1943: Richard Sterban (US singer)
1942: Barbra Streisand (US singer, actress).
1941: John Williams (Australian classical guitarist)
1937:
Dick Kniss (US
bassist;
Peter, Paul and Mary/ John Denver Band)*25.Jan.2012.
1937: Joe Henderson (US tenor jazz saxophonist; Horace Silver/Blood,
Sweat & Tears)*30.June.2001.
1937: James "Spanky" DeBrest (US bass; Art Blakey/Thelonious
Monk/more)*02.March.1973.
1934:
B. Jeff Stone (US rockabilly singer-songwriter and guitarist)*26.Aug.2011.
1935: Tucker Smith (US actor, dancer, singer)*22.Dec.1988.
1933: Freddie Scott (US singer-songwriter: famous for "Hey
Girl")*04.June.2007.
1930: Jerome Callet (US musician, teacher, designer of brass
instruments).
1929: Rajkumar/Singanalluru Puttaswamayya Muthuraju (Indian
actor, singer)*12.April.2006.
1928: John Arnold Griffin III (American bop and hard bop tenor
saxophonist)*25.July.2008.
1926: Joe Segal (US jazz promoter, owner of 'The Jazz Showcase'
nightclub in Chicago).
1924: Ruth Kobart/Ruth Maxine Finkelstein (US actor, singer)*14.Dec.2002.
1922: Samuel Aaron Bell (US tuba player, bassist; Duke Ellington/many
jazz bands)*28.July.2003.
April
25th.
1987: Jay Park/Park Jaebeom
(Korean-American dancer, singer, songwriter,
rapper; 2PM)
1985: Jadyn Maria (Puerto Rican singer,
songwriter)
1980: Jacob Underwood (US singer; O-Town).
1980: Ben Hamilton Johnston (Scottish drummer, vocalist, songwriter;
Biffy Clyro).
1980:
Gustaf Kjellvander (Swedish
singer-songwriter; Fine
Arts Showcase)*18.June.2011.
1977: Constantinos Christoforou (Cypriot singer)
1977: Matthew West (US Christian singer, guitarist)
1977: Paavo Siljamäki (Finnish musician; Above & Beyond)
1977: Kim Jong Kook (South Korean singer; Turbo)
1973: Fredrik Larzon (Swedish drummer; Millencolin)
1966: James Stacy Barbour (US actor, singer)
1965: Eric Avery (US bassist; Jane's Addiction/freelance).
1965: Simon Fowler (UK vocalist, acoustic guitarist Ocean Colour
Scene).
1964: Andy Bell (UK vocals, producer, arranger; Erasure/solo) ...not
Andy Bell of Beady Eye/Oasis
1964: Maya Gilder (UK keyboards; Furniture)?
1960:
Paul Baloff (US
singer, frontman; Exodus/other bands)*02.Feb.2002.
1959:
Paul Goldberg (US jazz-rock-R&B drummer;
independent studio/touring drummer).
1958: Fish/Derek William
Dick (Scottish singer; Marillion/solo/Radio presenter).
1955: Christopher Tyng (US composer)
1952: Ketil Bjørnstad (Norwegian pianist)
1950: Steve Ferrone (UK drummer; Average White Band/freelance).
1949: Michael Brown/Michael Lookofsky (US singer, songwriter).
1946: Ron Gilbert (US bassist; Blue Magoos)?
1945: Bjorn Ulvaeus (Swedish guitarist, vocals, composer; ABBA).
1945: Stu Cook (US bass; Creedence Clearwater Revival/Creedence
Clearwater Revisited).
1945: Mike Kogel (Spanish singer; Los Bravos, first Spanish rock
band with UK & US hit single).
1943: John Bryson Eulenberg (US songwriter/voice
box pioneer).
1943: Tony Christie/Antony Fitzgerald (UK singer).
1940: Alan ''Boot'' Holmes (UK baritone saxophonist, flute player;
Sounds Incorporated).
1939: Wizz
Jones/Raymond Ronald Jones (UK
acoustic guitarist, folk singer-songwriter).
1937: Bubba Groce (US jazz drummer).
1933: Jerry Leiber (Leiber/Stoller songwriting and producing partnership)*22.Aug.2011.
1928: Vassar
Clements (Grammy Award-winning US jazz, swing, bluegrass fiddler)*16.Aug.2005.
1924: Franco Mannino (Italian
composer)*01.Feb.2005.
1924:
Paulo Emilio Vanzolini (Brazilian scientist,
music composer)*28.April.2013.
1923: Albert King/Albert Nelson (Blues
guitar virtuoso, composer)*21.Dec.1992.
1920: Esther Gordy Edwards (US Motown executive)*24.Aug.2011.
1918: Astrid Varnay (Swedish-born soprano)*05.Sept.2006.
1917: Ella Fitzgerald (US legendary jazz singer)*15.June.1996.
1913: Earl Bostic (US
alto saxophonist; own R&B, soul, jazz bands)*28.Oct.1965.
April
26th.
1992: Danielle Hope (UK actress, singer)
1989: Kang Dae Sung (Korean singer; Big Bang)
1985: Nam Gyu-Ri (Korean singer; See Ya)
1982: Jon Lee (UK singer; S Club)
1981: Ms Dynamite/Niomi MacLean-Daley (UK rapper, singer).
1979: Janne Wirman (Finnish musician; Children of Bodom/Warmen)
1979: Ariane Moffatt (Canadian singer-songwriter)
1978: Avant/Myron Avant (US singer)
1975: Nathan "Joey" Jordison (US drummer, multi-musician,
songwriter, record producer; Slipknot)
1975: Nerina Pallot (UK singer)
1976: Jose Pasillas (US drummer; Incubus).
1971: Jay DeMarcus (US bassist; Rascal Flatts)
1970: T-Boz/Tionne Tenese Watkins (US lead vocals; TLC)
1970: Ruth-Ann Boyle (UK vocals; Olive/solo).
1961: Mike
Francis
(Italian pop singer, composer)*30.Jan.2009.
1961: Chris Mars (US drums; Golden Smog/The Replacements).
1960: Roger Taylor (UK drums; Duran Duran/Frebass) not
Queen's drummer.
1959: John Corabi (US guitarist, vocals; Angora/The Scream/Mötley
Crüe/Union/ESP)
1959: Thanassis Papakonstantinou (Greek singer, bouzouki songwriter)
1952: Neol Davies (UK guitar, vocals, songwriter; The Selecter)
1951: Nick Garvey (UK lead vocalist, guitarist; Ducks Deluxe/Motors/solo).
1949: Richard Shirman (UK lead vocalist; The Soul System/The Attack).
1944: Roger Keith Coulam (UK pianist, organist; The Delta City
Jazz Band/Blue Mink).
1943: Anthony ''Tony'' Murray
(Irish bassist; The Troggs/top sessionist).
1943: Gary Wright (US singer, keyboards, violin, piano Spooky Tooth/solo/guest).
1942: Bobby Rydell/Robert Louis Ridarelli (US singer).
1941: John Mitchell (US composer).
1941: Claudine Clark (US R&B singer-composer)
1940: Giorgio Moroder (Italian producer, disco sound, composer;
film music/own studios).
1938: Duane Eddy (US legendary US guitarist).
1938: Maurice Williams (lead singer; Royal Charms/Zodiacs).
1936: William Godvin "Beaver" Harris (American jazz
drummer)*22.Dec.1991.
1933: Richard Engquist (US lyricist)*25.March.2010.
1932: Francis Lai (French film music composer)
1925: Jørgen Ingmann (Danish jazz violinist,guitarist)
1924: Teddy Edwards (US saxophone, Dexter Gordons/sessionist/freelance)*20.April.2003.
1921: Jimmy Giuffre (American jazz composer, arranger, saxophonist,
clarinetist)*24.April.2008
1915: Johnny Shines (US Delta Blues Slide Guitar)*20.April.1992.
1886:
Ma
Rainey/Gertrude Pridgett
(US
hugely influencial blues singer)*22.Dec.1939.
April
27th.
1992: Allison Iraheta (US singer)
1986: Elena Risteska (Macedonian singer)
1984: Patrick Stump (US lead vocals, guitar; Fall Out Boy).
1984: Yonah Higgins (UK vocals; Cleopatra).
1981: Fabrizio Faniello (Maltese singer)
1979: Will Boyd (US bassist; Evanescence/The Visitors/American
Princes).
1976: Isobel Campbell (Scottish singer,cello,piano;Gentle Waves/Belle-Sebastian).
1972: Rob Coombes (UK keyboardist; Supergrass).
1969: Mica Paris (UK singer, actress).
1967: Whitey Kirst (Canadian guitarist; Iggy Pop/Alice Cooper/solo).
1967: Tommy Smith (Scottish
jazz saxophonist, composer, educator)
1959: Marco Pirroni (UK guitar; Adam And The Ants).
1959: Scott Robinson (US saxophone, flute, clarinet; Jazz musician).
1959: Sheena Easton (Scottish singer).
1959: Louis Lortie (French Canadian concert pianist)
1956: Douglas P/Douglas Pearce (UK vocalist; Death in June/Crisis)
1956: Bryan Harvey (US singer, guitarist; House Of Freaks)*01.Jan.2006.
1953: Arielle Dombasle (French singer, actress)
1951: Paul "Ace" Frehley (US guitar, vocals; Kiss).
1949: Clive Taylor (Welsh bassist; Amen Corner)?
1948: Kate Pierson (US singer; The B-52's).
1947: Peter Ham (Welsh singer, guitar; Badfinger/The Iveys)*23.April.1975.
1947: Herb Murrell (US singer; Stylistics).
1947: Ann Peebles (US soul-rhythm & blues singer).
1946: Gordon Haskell (UK singer, songwriter; Ravens, League of
Gentlemen/King Crimson/solo).
1944: Thomas Koppel (Danish classical/avant-garde composer, pianist;
Savage Garden)*25.Feb.2006.
1944: Cuba Gooding Sr (US singer; Main Ingredient).
1942: Jim Keltner (US session drummer)
1939: Jerry Mercer (Canadian drummer; Mashmakhan/April Wine).
1938:
Jimmy Damon/James
Demopoulos
(American singer)*27.April.2013.
1936: Geoffrey Shovelton (English opera singer)
1932: Maxine Brown (US country singer; The Browns/solo)
1932: Casey Kasem (US host of the weekly US Top 40 radio program
& many other things).
1931:
Igor Oistrakh (Ukrainian violinist)
1927: Connie Kay/Conrad
Henry Kirnon (US
jazz drummer)*30.Nov.1994.
1927: Sal
Mosca (American jazz pianist and educator)*28.July.2007.
1923:
Lelio
Luttazzi (Italian musician and singer)*07.July.2010.
1920: Guido Cantelli (Italian conductor)*24.Nov.1956.
1894: Nicolas Slonimsky (Russian-born musicologist, composer)*25.Dec.1995.
April
28th.
1986: George Nozuka (Canadian singer, songwriter)
1978: Lauren Laverne/Lauren Cecilia Gofton (UK disc jockey, TV presenter,
singer)
1974: Vernon Kay (UK disc jockey, TV presenter)
1972: Violent J/Joseph Bruce (US rapper, R.P, wrestler, actor; Insane
Clown Posse).
1969: Mica Paris (UK singer).
1968: Howard Donald (UK singer; Take That / solo).
1968: Daisy Berkowitz/Scott Mitchell Putesky (US bass; Marilyn
Manson).
1966: Too Short/Todd Shaw (US West Coast rapper).
1964: Noriyuki Iwadare (Japanese composer)
1961: Anna Oxa (Italian singer)
1959:
John Morris Rankin
(Canadian pianist, fiddle player; The Rankin Family)*16.Jan.2000.
1957: Wilma Landkroon (Dutch singer)
1956: Jimmy Barnes (Scottish-born singer)
1955: Eddie Jobson (UK violin, keyboards, synthesizers; Curved
Air/Roxy Music/Frank Zappa).Some
sourses give Eddie's birthdate as May 28th.
1953: Kim Gordan (US bassist; Sonic Youth/Ciccone Youth).
1950: Willie Colón (Puerto Rican salsa musician, singer,
trombone, trumpet)
1948: Dorothée Berryman (French Canadian actress, singer)
1948: Manfred Wieczorke (German keyboardist, guitarist; Eloy/Jane).
1946: Glenn Ross Campbell (US lead & steel guitarist; The Misunderstood/Influence/others).
1946: Ginette Reno (French Canadian singer, songwriter, actress)
1946: Manfred Wieczorke (German keyboardist, guitarist, composer,
producer; Eloy/Jane/others).
1945: John Wolters (US drummer; Dr.Hook and the Medicine Show)*16.June.1997.
1943: Jacques Dutronc (French singer, actor)
1940: Phil Guy
(American blues guitarist; Raful Neal/Junior
Wells/solo)*20.Aug.2008.
1936: John Tchicai (Danish free jazz saxophonist, composer)*07.Oct.2012.
1926: Blossom Dearie (American jazz singer and pianist)*07.Feb.2009.
1906: Paul Sacher (Swiss conductor)*26.May.1999.
April
29th.
1988: Go Younha (Korean pop singer)
1982: Travis Smith (US drummer; Trivium)
1980: Kian Egan (Irish singer; Westlife).
1979: Jo Velda O'Meara (UK
vocals, S Club 7).
1979: Matt Tong
(UK drummer; Bloc Party)
1976: Jay Orpin
(Swedish composer, producer)
1975:
Béres Zoo (Hungarian radio DJ)
1974:
Glenn Graham (Canadian fiddler)
1974: Anggun Cipta Sasmi (Indonesian
singer)
1974: Jasper Wood (Canadian violinist)
1973: Johan Hegg (Swedish heavy metal vocalist; Amon Amarth)
1973: Mike Hogan (Irish bassist;
The Cranberries).
1971: Tamara Johnson-George (US singer; Sisters
with Voices aka SWV)
1970:
China Forbes (US singer, songwriter; Pink Martini)
1969: Izel Çeliköz (Turkish singer)
1968: Carnie Wilson (US singer)
1967: Master P/Percy Miller (US hip hop,
rap artist).
1960: Phil King (UK bassist, sometimes drummer;
Lush).
1959: Roger Eno (UK
pianist, singer, multi-musician; sessionist/solo).
1958: Simon Edwards (UK guitar; Fairground
Attraction)?
1957:
Mark Kendall (US guitarist; Great White)
1956: Ketil Stokkan (Norwegian singer; Zoo / solo)
1955: Gino Quilico (Canadian classical baritone)
1953: King Boy D/Bill Drummond (Scottish
producer, A&R man, writer, drummer: KLF).
1948:
Michael Karoli (German guitarist, violin,
composer; Can)*17.Nov.2001.
1947: Tommy James (US
singer. guitar; Shondells)
1947:
Joel
Larson (US drums; Grass Roots)
1945: Hugh Hopper
(UK bassist; Soft Machine/others)*07.June.2009.
1945: Tammi Terrell
(US singer; The Sherrys/Motown artist)*16.March.1970.
1943: Duane Allen
(US lead singer; Oak Ridge Boys).
1940: George
Rufus Adams (US jazz jazz tenor saxophonist,
flute, bass clarinet)*14.Nov.1992.
1938: Klaus Voormann (German musician, record producer;sessionist/Manfred
Mann/Plastic Ono Band/more)
1937: Lefty Dizz/Walter Williams (US powerful blues guitarist, singer)*07.Sept.1993.
1937: Wannes
Van de Velde (Flemish singer, musician, poet, artist)*10.Nov.2008.
1936: Zubin Mehta (Indian-born conductor)
1936: April Stevens (US singer)
1934: Otis Rush
(US blues guitarist, singer).
1933: Rod McKuen (US poet,
singer, composer).
1932: Joy Clements
(US soprano)*24.Oct.2005.
1931:
Lonnie Donegan (UK singer, guitar, banjo, songwiter, composer)*03.Nov.2002.
1929: Ray Barretto (Puerto Rican percussion,congas; sessionist/Fania
All-Stars)*17.Feb.2006.
1929: Peter Sculthorpe (Australian composer)
1928:
Mat
Domber (US jazz producer, co-founder
of Arbors Records)*19.Sept.2012.
1928: Carl Gardner (US singer; The Coasters)*12.June.2011.
1925: Danny Davis (US
country vocalist, bandleader, producer; Nashville Brass)*12.June.2008
1922: Toots Thielemans/Jean-Baptiste, Baron Thielemans (Belgian
jazz guitarist, harmonica player)
1920: Harold Shapero (US composer)
1915:
Donald Mills
(US
lead tenor; The Mills Brothers)*13.Nov.1999.
1907: Tino Rossi (French singer, actor)*26.Sept.1983.
1899: Duke Ellington/Edward Kennedy Ellington (US pianist,bandleader,songwriter-composer)*24.May.1974
1879: Sir
Thomas Beecham, 2nd Baronet,
CH
(UK conductor and impresario)*08.March.1961.
April
30th.
1985: Ashley Dupré/Kristen/Ashley Youmans (US journalist,
singer, call girl)
1987: Nikki Webster (Australian pop singer, entertainer).
1982: Cleo Higgins (UK vocals; Cleopatra).
1982: Lloyd Banks/Christopher Lloyd (US singer, rapper; G-Unit/solo)
1982: Emma Anzai (Australian bass player; Sick Puppies)
1982: Drew Seeley (Canadian actor, singer)
1979: Sean Mackin (US vocals, violin; Yellowcard)?
1976: Amanda Palmer (US singer, pianist; The Dresden Dolls)
1973: Akon/Aliaune Damala Dakha Bouga Time Puru Nacka Lu Lu
Lu Badara Akon Thiam (US R&B, rapper)
(some sourses give Akon's birthdate as April
16th 1977 and others October 14th 1981)
1973: Jeff Timmons (US singer; 98 Degrees/solo).
1972: John R. Richards (US singer, guitar; Dishwalla/guest).
1971: Chris "Choc" Dalyrimple (US singer; Soul For Real).
1971: Darren Emerson (UK dance DJ, keyboards, Underworld).
1969: Clark Vogeler (US guitarist; The Toadies).
1968: Ben Ayres (UK guitar, keyboards, tamboura; Cornershop)?
1969: Warren Defever (US bassist, composer)
1969: Paulo Jr/Paulo Xisto Pinto Junior (Brazilian bassist; Sepultura)
1967: Turbo B/Durron Maurice Butler (US rap artist; Snap).
1964: Barrington Levy (Jamaican reggae artist)
1962: Robert Reynolds (US bassist; The Mavericks).
1960: Paul Taylor (US jazz saxophonist; The Rippingtons/many sessions)
1953: Merrill Osmond (US bassist, singer; Osmonds).
1951: Ken Whiteley (Canadian multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter,
record producer)
1951: Des Tong (UK bassist; Sad Cafe)?
1948: Wayne Kramer (US vocals, guitar; MC5 / solo).
1947: Finn Kalvik (Norwegian singer)
1946: Richard ''Dick'' Plant (UK lead guitarist; The Sabres/Shelley)?
1944: Andy Kulberg (US bassist, electric flute; Blues Project/Seatrain)*28.Jan.2002.
1944: Patrick ''Paddy'' Chambers (UK guitarist, vocalist; The Creoles/Steve
Bennett/others)*18.Aug.2000.
1943: Bobby Vee/Robert Thomas Velline (US singer).
1941: Johnny Farina (US guitar, vocals, composer; Santo & Johnny).
1939: Peter Wynnes (UK 60's singer).
1934: Jerry Lordan (UK
singer-songwriter, composer)*24.July.1995.
1933: Willie Nelson (American country singer, guitar, songwriter,
actor).
1931: "Lonesome" Jimmie Lee Robertson (US blues singer,
guitarist)*06.July.2002.
1930: Bobby Marchan/Oscar James Gibson (US r&b bandleader,
MC, singer-performer)*05.Dec.1999.
1926:
Khale kaka/Shrinivas
Khale
(Indian composer)*02.Sept.2011.
1925: Johnny Horton (US honky tonk singer, guitarist)*05.Nov.1960
1923: Percy Heath (US jazz musician; Modern Jazz Quartet)*28.April.2005.
1916: Robert Shaw (US conductor)*25.Jan.1999.
1916: Alda
Noni (Italian soprano leggiero)*19.May.2011.
1915: Mabel Scott (US gospel music and R&B vocalist)*19.July.2000.
1914:
Sid Weiss (US jazz double-bassist; many
greats)*30.March.1994.
1914: Dorival Caymmi (Brazilian
songwriter and singer)*16.Aug.2008.
1906: Theo Wade (US singer, manager; Spirit of Memphis)*????
1896: Reverend Gary Davis (US blind blues/gospel singer, guitarist)*05.May.1972.
Back
to Top
~
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
LOST
THIS MONTH
April
1st.
1917:
Scott Joplin (49) African-American composer
and pianist, born in Bowie County, Texas, into the first post-slavery
generation. Settling in Sedalia, Mo., in 1895, he studied music at the
George R. Smith College for Negroes hoping to become a concert pianist,
but he achieved fame for his unique ragtime compositions, and was dubbed
the "King of Ragtime". During his career, he wrote forty-four
original ragtime pieces, one ragtime ballet, and two operas. One of his
first pieces, the "Maple Leaf Rag", became ragtime's first and
most influential hit, and remained so for a century. Moving
to New York City in '07, he wrote an instruction book, The School of Ragtime,
outlining his complex bass patterns, sporadic syncopation, stop-time breaks,
and harmonic ideas, which were widely imitated. Scott
and ragtime was stimulated in the 1970s by the use of his music in the
Academy Award-winning score to the film The Sting. Also in 1970 he was
inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame by the National Academy of
Popular Music and in 1976 he was awarded a posthumous Pulitzer Prize for
his special contribution to American music (Scott
suffered a nervous breakdown and collapse in 1911, and by 1916, he was
suffering from tertiary syphilis, then in January 1917, he was admitted
to a
mental institution, Manhattan
State Hospital, where he sadly died a few months later)
b. November 24th 1868.
1979: Bruno Coquatrix (68) French
songwriter and music impresario
born in Ronchin. He made himself known as songwriter-composer, writing
over 300 songs including Mon ange; Clopin-clopant; Cheveux dans le vent,
as well as some operettas. He
was also the impresario of some French singers, e.g. Jacques Pills and
Lucienne Boyer. Bruno also managed the variety theatre Bobino before he
took over the Olympia, Europe’s biggest music hall in 1954. He then
staged all the era’s celebrities, including Georges Brassens, Jacques
Brel, Gilbert Bécaud, Johnny Hallyday, Dalida, Édith Piaf,
Annie Cordy, Mireille Mathieu, Yves Montand, and so many others. He also
co-founded a record company, the Disques Versailles (?)
b. August 5th 1910.
1981: Eua Sunthornsanan (71) Thai composer
and bandleader,
born in Amphawa, Samut Songkhram Province. A pioneer in introducing Western
music into Thai popular culture, he founded the Suntaraporn band in the
1940s, Thailand's best-known big band, it continues to play concerts and
special functions. In 1936 he started composing scores for Thai films,
and combined jazz and Western classical music with traditional Thai classical
music. It was an already established genre, called phleng Thai sakol,
but with his compositions, he greatly expanded the repertoire. With his
own popular big band, Suntaraporn, phleng Thai sakol found a wider audience
(sadly
lost to cancer) b.
January 21st 1910.
1984:
Marvin Gaye/Marvin Pentz Gay, Jr. (44) Legendary
Motown singer, pianist, drummer, songwriter,
with a three-octave vocal range. Starting as a member of the doo-wop group
The Moonglows in the late fifties, he ventured into a solo career after
the group disbanded in 1960 signing with the Tamla subsidiary of Motown
Records. After a year as a session drummer, Marvin ranked as the label's
top-selling solo artist during the sixties. Due to solo hits including
"How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You)", "Ain't That Peculiar",
"I Heard It Through the Grapevine" and his duet singles with
singers such as Mary Wells and Tammi Terrell, he was crowned "The
Prince of Motown" and "The Prince of Soul". Notable for
fighting the hit-making but restrictive Motown process in which performers
and songwriters and producers were kept separate, he proved with albums
like his 1971 What's Going On and his 1973 Let's Get It On that he was
able to produce music without relying on the system, inspiring fellow
Motown artists such as Stevie Wonder and Michael Jackson to do the same.
(tragically shot dead by his father during a violent
argument, the day before his 45 birthday. Marvin's relatives claimed that
he had purposely pushed his father to the edge instead of having to commit
suicide) b. April 2nd 1939.
1992:
Nigel Preston (32) British drummer; a
founding member of The Death Cult and The Cult. He also played and recorded
with Sex Gang Children, Theatre of Hate, The Gun Club, and The Baby Snakes.
His
biggest hit was "She Sells Sanctuary" by The Cult from their
"Love" L.P. In March 1985, The Cult recorded their fourth single,
"She Sells Sanctuary", which charted at #15 in the UK charts.
It re-entered the charts at #56 in September 1986, spending 14 consecutive
weeks on the charts. The song was recently voted No.18 in VH1's Indie
100. Preston refused to accept being put on wages after the song became
a hit and parted company with the band in June of 1985 (an
apparent overdose) b.
July 1959
1992:
Walter Andreas
Schwarz (78) German
singer, songwriter, novelist, Kabarettist, author of radio dramas and
translator. In 1956, he competed with his own composition "Im Wartesaal
zum großen Glück" in the German national final for the
Eurovision Song Contest and won. Along with Freddy Quinn, he therefore
became the first German entrant in the competition. The song was released
as a single but commercially, it was not very successful. Other notable
records were not released. He went on to become a successful author of
novels and especially radio dramas. One of his last contirbutions was
an adaption of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy in 1990 and 1991,
which included 17 episodes (?) b.
June 2nd
1913.
1998:
Rozz Williams/Roger Painter (34)
American deathrock vocalist, a pioneer
of deathrock, most famous for fronting the bands Christian Death and Shadow
Project, the latter with his then wife, Eva O. He took the name of Rozz
Williams from a gravestone he found in Pomona cemetery. His first bands
were called The Crawlers, The Upsetters, The Asexuals and
Daucus Karota before he went on to form Christian Death in late 1979.
The band broke up temporarily in 1981, and Rozz formed Premature Ejaculation.
Other musical projects he was involved in include Heltir and EXP Premature
Ejaculation. He also recorded several solo albums including ''Every King
a Bastard Son'', ''The Whorse's Mouth'', ''Live In Berlin'', ''Accept
The Gift of Sin'' (Suicide, found by Ryan Wildstar, his roommate of 7
years, hanged to death in their West Hollywood apartment)
b.
November 6th 1963.
1999:
Jesse Stone (97) American rhythm
and blues musician and songwriter whose influence spanned a wide range
of genres. He also used the pseudonyms Charles Calhoun and Chuck Calhoun.
Born in Atchison, Kansas, by 1926 he had formed a group, the Blue Serenaders,
and cut his first record, "Starvation Blues", in 1927. For the
next few years he worked as a pianist and arranger in Kansas City, recording
with Julia Lee among others, and then in the 1930s organised a larger
orchestra. In 1953 he wrote Ray Charles' hit "Losing Hand",
and also wrote "Money Honey", which became the first hit record
for The Drifters, topping the national R&B chart for 11 weeks. The
following year, he arranged "Sh-Boom" by The Chords. His best
known composition as Calhoun was "Shake, Rattle and Roll". In
1960, he served as arranger and orchestra director for a session for LaVern
Baker which produced four songs including the hit Bumble Bee. Jesse was
honored by the Rhythm and Blues Foundation in 1992 with a Pioneer Award
(?)
b.
November 16th 1901.
2001: Trinh Cong Son (62)
Vietnamese composer,
musician, painter and songwriter. He, along with Pham Duy and Van Cao,
is widely considered one of the three most salient figures of modern (non-classical)
Vietnamese music. Trinh
Cong wrote over 500 songs, and, during the 1960s and 1970s, Joan Baez
dubbed him the Bob Dylan of Vietnam for his moving antiwar songs. He became
one of South Vietnam's best-known singer-songwriters, after his first
hit, Uot mi/Tearing 'Lashes in 1958 (?)
b. February 28th 1939.
2003: Leslie Cheung Kwok-Wing (46) Hong
Kong singer, director and film actorborn
in Kowloon, Hong Kong; he was considered as "one of the founding
fathers of Cantopop", and he combined a hugely successful film and
music career. In 1977, he won second prize by singing Don McLean's "American
Pie" at the Asian Music Contest held by Rediffusion Television. He
signed a contract with RTV, which became Asia Television Limited and began
his career in the entertainment industry. He also signed a music contract
with Polydor Records, releasing Day Dreaming in 1977 and Lover's Arrow
in 1979. He soon became an icon and in
2000, Leslie was named Asian Biggest Superstar by China Central Television,
and voted/ranked the 1st as The Most Favorite Actor in 100 Years of Chinese
Cinema in 2005 (Leslie committed suicide at 6:41pm.
Sadly he had been suffering from severe clinical depression for a year
and leapt to his death from the 24th floor of the Mandarin Oriental hotel,
located in the Central district of Hong Kong Island) b.
September 12th 1956.
2004: Paul Atkinson (58)
UK guitarist for legendary rock band The Zombies along
with Rod Argent, Colin Blunstone,
Chris White and Hugh Grundy, scoring US hits in the mid- and late-1960s
with "She's Not There", "Tell Her No", and "Time
of the Season". He later became an artists and repertoire executive,
discovering and signing such bands as ABBA, Bruce Hornsby, Mr. Mister,
Judas Priest, and Michael Penn. On 25 November, 1997, all five Zombies
reunited at the Jazz Cafe in London's Camden Town as part of a solo show
by Colin Blunstone, to perform "She's Not There" and "Time
of the Season". (sadly died in a Santa Monica, California hospital
of a liver and kidney disease) b. March 19th
1946.
2004: Nilo Soruco/Danilo Soruco Arancibia (76)
Bolivian singer-songwriter; a communist, he was banned under the
Bolivian leadership of the 1970s and was in exile in Caracas, Venezuela
until 1978.
He wrote more than 300 songs, including “Instantánea”,
"La vida es linda", "Ya la pagarán", “Duraznero”,
and particularly "Caraqueña", composed in his Venezuelan
exile. Danilo won Bolivia's National Culture Prize in 2003
(?)
b. July 6th 1927.
2005: Alexander Brott/Joël
Brod (90) Canadian violinist
and composer, born in Montreal; he earned degress from the Schulich School
of Music at McGill University (MU) and the Juilliard School. He began
his career as a concert violinist in the 1930s and joined the faculty
at the MU, teaching there until his retirement in 1980. He founded the
McGill Chamber Orchestra and was
leader of the Montreal Orchestra, Les Concerts symphoniques de Montréal
and the Montreal Symphony Orchestra from 1945 to 1958. In 1939, he joined
the Faculty of Music at McGill University, where he remained until 1980.
His compositions included Arabesque, Circle, Triangle, 4 Squares, and
Paraphrase in Polyphony. He was also the founder and musical director
of the McGill Chamber Orchestra. He also conducted the Kingston Symphony
from 1965 to 1981. In 1979 he was made a Member of the Order of Canada
and in 1988 he was made a Knight of the National Order of Quebec (?)
b. March 14th 1915
2005:
Jack Keller (68) American songwriter native of Brooklyn, New
York; after writing hits for the Chordettes and the Poni-Tails, he got
his big break in
late 1959 when he joined Al Nevins
and Don Kirshner's publishing company, Aldon Music. Here, together Jack
and Howard Greenfield wrote 'My Heart Has A Mind Of Its Own', 'Everybody's
Somebody's Fool' and 'Breakin' In A Brand New Broken Heart', all smash
hits for Connie Francis, and Jimmy Clanton's 'Venus In Blue Jeans'. With
Gerry Goffin he wrote 'No One Can Make My Sunshine Smile' and 'How Can
I Meet Her' for the Everly Brothers, 'Run To Him' and 'A Forever Kind
Of Love' for Bobby Vee, plus hits for Brenda Lee, Little Eva, the Cookies
and others. In 1963, he moved to LA and began writing theme tunes for
Columbia's TV shows, including Bewitched, Gidget, Hazel, The Flying Nun
and, later, Here Come The Brides, out of which came the Perry Como hit
'Seattle'. His compositions continued to be recorded by Frank Sinatra,
Patti Page, Mama Cass and other stars. He also worked with the Monkees,
co-producing both their first album and the theme song from their hit
TV series. His other producer credits included records by Tony Orlando,
Hoyt Axton, Jewel Akens, Sally Field and the Lewis & Clarke Expedition.
In
later years he was a staff writer with United Artists Music in Hollywood
before moving his family to Nashville in 1984 (sadly
died of leukemia) b.
November 11th 1936.
2009:
Duane Jarvis (51) American
guitarist, singer-songwriter; influenced by BB King, The Who, The Kinks,
and The Rolling Stones he was part of a blues band and a power pop group
while in his teens. He went on to record songs with many rock and roll
and country music performers, including Frank Black, Peter Case, Rosie
Flores, John Prine, Amy Rigby, Lucinda Williams and Dwight Yoakam. In
addition to his collaborations, which included co-writing "Still
I Long For Your Kiss", a song on Lucinda Williams's Grammy-winning
album "Car Wheels on a Gravel Road", he also released a number
of solo albums including "D.J.'s Front Porch", "Far From
Perfect" and "Certified Miracle" (sadly
lost to colon cancer) b. August 22nd 1957.
2009:
Pedro Infante Jr. (59) Mexican actor and singer, son of Pedro
Infante (pneumonia)
b.??
2009: Margreta Elkins AM (78) Australian
mezzo-soprano; she
sang at Covent Garden and with Opera Australia, Dublin Grand Opera Company,
the Carl Rosa Opera Company and other companies. She made a number of
recordings, including singing alongside sopranos such as Maria Callas
and Joan Sutherland. She went freelance in 1980 and recorded Elgar's Sea
Pictures with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra in 1983, a recording which
is often compared favourably with Dame Janet Baker's; 11 June 1984, she
was made a Member of the Order of Australia and awarded an honorary doctorate
from the University of Queensland in 1986. In 1990 she appeared as Azucena
in Il trovatore for Queensland Lyric Opera. She returned to the stage
once more
in 2002, as Mamma Lucia in
Cavalleria rusticana for Opera Queensland where she was an honorary life
member (sadly died after fighting
cancer) b. October
16th 1930.
2013: Johnnie "Mr. Johnnie" Billington
(76) American blues guitarist, singer
and teacher; born in the Delta community of Crowder, Miss., his father
bought him a guitar when he was ten years old, he taught himself the instrument
by playing along with the performances on the radio. Within three years
he was performing in local clubs with a small band. He left the Delta
in 1954, ending in Chicago, where he and new his band would play the brutal
Chicago blues clubs at night, frequently performing with legends like
Muddy Waters and Elmore James. He returned to Mississippi in 1977. Performing
at night and working during the day in his own auto repair shop in Clarksdale,
he began opening his repair shop at night as a rehearsal space, teaching
the kids how to play blues music, as well as the history of the blues
and the Mississippi Delta. Grants from the Mississippi Arts Commission
allowed him to expand his efforts, and in the early 1990s he formed the
non-profit Delta Blues Education Fund that provided free year-long blues
music instruction to the area youth. Around the world he has received
many accolades for his selfless work in the blues, including The Blues
Foundation's "Keeping The Blues Alive" education award, the
Mississippi Arts Commission's Folk Arts Fellowship, and the Artist Achievement
Award from the Mississippi Governor's Awards For Excellence In The Arts,
among many other honors (sadly Johnnie died
from complications suffered from an earlier heart attack)
b. April 11th 1935
April
2nd.
1935:
Bennie Moten (40) American
jazz pianist and band leader born in Kansas City, he played a key roll
in what is called the Kansas City Jazz style and the history of jazz.
In 1922 he formed the B. B. & D. Trio, Beenie, Bailey and Dude, although
they were popularly referred to as Big, Black and Dirty and he made his
recording debut in 1923, when his band accompanied Blues singer Ada Brown
on the song "Evil Mama Blues". In 1926, Bennie Moten's Kansas
City Orchestra began recording for Victor. He had several bands touring
under his name in the 1920s. Bennie started "raiding" another
Kansas City band, The Blue Devils for musicians including Count Basie,
Jimmy Rushing, Hot Lips Page, Eddie Durham and Ben Webster, thus forming
the nucleus of the future Count Basie Orchestra. Their hits included classics
like "Toby", "Moten Swing", "The Blue Room",
"Imagination", "New Orleans", "The Only Girl
I Ever Loved", Milenberg Joys", "Lafayette", "Prince
of Wails", "Two Times", When Bennie died in 1935, Basie
took over the band. Under his leadership the band emerged as one of the
greatest of all Jazz bands
(sadly and tragically Bennie died from a botched
tonsillectomy) b. November 13th 1894
1958: Tudor Davies (65) Welsh operatic tenor,
born in Cymmer, near Porth, after serving in the Royal Navy during WW
I. He toured the United States, Canada and Australia and then returned
to Britain, where he sang with the British National Opera Company, Sadler's
Wells Opera and the Carl Rosa Opera Company. He sang Rodolfo to Dame Nellie
Melba's Mimi in La bohème in 1922 at Covent Garden. He
sang leading tenor parts from the Italian, French and German repertoire.
He also appeared in English operas such as Dame Ethel Smyth's Fête
Galante, and Arthur Benjamin's The Devil Take Her. He created the title
role in Ralph Vaughan Williams' opera Hugh the Drover in 1924, excerpts
from which he also recorded. In 1928, he also sang in the US premiere
of the opera, with the Washington National Opera. He sang the title role
in Giuseppe Verdi's Don Carlos in the opera's first performance in England
in 1938, and he appeared in the first Sadler's Wells performance of Nikolai
Rimsky-Korsakov's The Snow Maiden. In
his later career he was mainly a concert singer, and teacher in Cardiff
(sadly died after having surgery for a liver condition)
b. November 12th 1892.
1976: Marie-Louise-Taos Amrouche (63) Algerian
writer and singer born in Tunis into
a family of Kabyle Roman Catholic converts. She was the first Algerian
female writer and her first novel "Jacinthe noir", an autobiographical
novel, published in 1947 . Her mother Fadhma Aït Mansour had a great
impact on her life. Her literary style reflected the oral traditions of
Kabylie, descended from her mother. With her compilation of tales and
poems La Grain magique in 1966 , she took the nom de plume Marguerite-Taos,
Marguerite was her mother's Christian name. While she wrote in French,
she sang in Kabyle. Her first album ''Chants berbères de Kabylie'',
which was a great success, was a collection of traditional Kabyle songs
that were translated to French by her elder brother Jean Amrouche in 1939
. She was an activist in Berber issues and she was among the founders
of Académie berbère in 1966. (died
in Saint-Michel-l'Observatoire, France)
b. March 4th 1913.
1987: Buddy Rich/Bernard Rich (69)
American jazz drummer, bandleader and
former Marine. He was billed as "the world's greatest drummer"
and was known for his virtuoso technique, power, and speed. He began playing
drums in vaudeville when he was 18 months old, billed as "Traps the
Drum Wonder" and by the time he was
11, he was performing as a bandleader. At the peak of his childhood career,
he was reportedly the second-highest paid child entertainer in the world,
after Jackie Coogan. He expressed great admiration for, and was influenced
by the playing of Chick Webb, Gene Krupa, Dave Tough and Jo Jones among
others. He
first played jazz in 1937 with Joe Marsala's group, with Bunny Berigan
in 1938 and with Artie Shaw 1939. In 1939, Buddy taught drums to a young
Mel Brooks, and persuaded Artie Shaw to allow a 13-year-old Mel to attend
Shaw's recording sessions in Manhattan. In October 1944, at the Paramount
Theatre Rich mentioned to Frank Sinatra that he was interested in starting
his own band. Frank wrote him a cheque for $40,000 and said "Good
Luck. This'll get you started." Between 1940 to 1966 he played with
Tommy Dorsey, Benny Carter, Harry James, Les Brown, Charlie Ventura, and
Jazz at the Philharmonic, as well as leading his own band and performing
with all-star groups. For most of the period from 1966 until his death,
he led a successful big band in an era when the popularity of big bands
had waned. He also served as the session drummer on many recordings with
the likes of Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstron and Oscar Peterson. He was
also a frequent guest on The Steve Allen Show, Johnny Carson's Tonight
Show and The Merv Griffin Show, among others.
Only a few weeks prior to his death
he
appeared with his Big Band on Michael Parkinson's British talk show Parkinson
(brain tumour)
b. September 30th 1917.
1998:
Robert 'Rob' Pilatus (32) Afro-German
model, stripper, singer of the duo Milli Vanilli. The son of an African
American soldier and a German mother, he was later adopted by a German
family and raised in Munich. He worked as a model and break dancer before
joining Milli Vanilli, a pop/dance music project formed by Frank Farian
in Germany in 1988, fronted by Fab Morvan and Rob Pilatus. Their debut
platinum album "Girl You Know It's True" became a worldwide
hit and produced five hit singles including 3 No.1 hits, "Girl I'm
Gonna Miss You", "Baby Don't Forget My Number" and "Blame
It On The Rain". The album won them the 1990
Grammy Award for Best New Artist.
On November 12th 1990, Frank Farian
confessed to reporters that Rob and Fab did not actually sing on the records.
As a result of US media pressure, Milli Vanilli's Grammy was withdrawn,
their three American Music Awards were never withdrawn, but Arista Records
dropped the act from its roster and deleted their album and its masters
from their catalog, taking "Girl You Know It's True" out of
print. After a failed comeback attempt, Rob turned to a life of crime
and in 1996, he served three months in jail for assault, vandalism and
attempted robbery. He also spent six months on drug rehabilitation, before
returning to Germany. On February 14, 2007, it was announced that Universal
Pictures was developing a film based on the story of Milli Vanilli's rise
and fall in the music industry (drug overdose)
b. June 8th 1965.
2003: Edwin Starr/Charles Edwin Hatcher (61)
American soul music singer, born in Nashville, but moved to to Cleveland,
Ohio before relocating to Detroit; most famous for his Norman Whitfield
produced singles of the 1970s, notably the number one hit "War".
In 1957, Starr formed a doo-wop group, The Future Tones, and began his
singing career. In the 1960s he recorded for the record label Ric-Tic,
and later for Motown Records after it absorbed Ric-Tic in 1968. The song
which began his career was 1965's "Agent Double'O'Soul" Other
early hits included "Headline News", "Back Street","Way
Over There", and "S.O.S. (Stop Her On Sight)"and his international
hit "25 Miles". Moving to England in 1973, he continued to record
music, most notably r the song "Hell Up In Harlem" for the 1974
film, Hell Up in Harlem, "Eye to Eye Contact" and "H.A.P.P.Y.
Radio". Edwin remained a hero on England's Northern Soul circuit
and continued living in England for the remainder of his life
(sadly died of a heart attack) b. January
21st 1942.
2006: Buddy Blue/Bernard Seigal (48) American,
guitarist, music critic and writer who performed and often wrote under
the name Buddy Blue. He was a founding member of The Beat Farmers, a Southern
California rock band that blended country roots music and rock 'n' roll.
Born in Syracuse, New York, he moved to San Diego in 1973 and played in
local bands before co-forming Beat Farmers in 1983, producing national
hits such as "Happy Boy," "Riverside" and "Gun
Sale at the Church". He left
the Beat Farmers in 1986 to start a new band, The Jacks. A year later,
he was hired as a music critic for the San Diego Reader, but later fired
when his editors suggested he wrote negative reviews about local musicians
whom Buddy felt did not deserve bad press. He went on to write for The
San Diego Union-Tribune, LA Times, The Orange County Weekly, San Jose
Mercury News, La Jolla Light and OC Weekly. Buddy also recorded solo in
the 90s including the CDs Guttersnipes and Zealots, Dive Bar Casanovas,
Greasy Jazz, Dipsomania, Pretend It's Okay and Sordid Lives (heart
attack) b. December 30th 1957.
2009: Bud Shank (82)
American alto saxophonist; he began with clarinet, but had switched
to saxophone before attending the University of North Carolina. In 1946
he worked with Charlie Barnet before moving on to Kenton and the West
coast jazz scene. He also had a strong interest in what might now be termed
world music, playing bossa nova in the early 1950s, and in 1962 fusing
jazz with Indian traditions in collaboration with Indian composer and
sitar-player Ravi Shankar. As well as releasing 12 albums as a leader,
the last to date being 2007's Beyond the Red Door, he has also recorded
with The Mamas & the Papas, Ravi Shankar and Gene Clarke. In 2005
he formed the Bud Shank Big Band in Los Angeles to celebrate the 40th
anniversary of Stan Kenton's Neophonic Orchestra
(pulmonary failure) b. May 27th 1926.
2010: Kelvin Henderson
(62) British country musician, hailing from Bristol,
he was a singer, guitarist, banjo player, songwriter and BBC broadcaster
and promoter of Country and Folk music. For many years he and many talented
musicians that formed several different formations of his backing band,
which toured both home and abroad and performing with some of the biggest
names in country music, appearances at the Wembley Country Music Festivals
and the Albert Hall, a successful television series "Country Comes
West" and his own weekly, networked radio show "My Style Of
Country" for BBC. Kelvin was inducted into the BCMA Hall of fame
in 2009, the award was presented by Chris Jackson and collected by Johny
West. Johny bought the award back to Bristol where the award was then
presented to Kelvin In person By Tom Russell at Tom Russells concert (died
after an eight year brave battle with progressive supranuclear palsy which
gradually robbed him of his and mobility)
b.????
2011: Efrain
Loyola (94) Cuban flautist from
Cienfuegos, who had the distinction of being one of the oldest active
flutists in the world, had a career that spanned over 7 decades and was
also a captain in the Cuban militia who fought in the War against the
Bandits. He was part of many important groups, among them the Conjunto
Tradicional de Sones Los Naranjos, the Ritmica 39, which became the Orquesta
Aragón and his own band, The Efrain Loyola Orchestra. Efrain was
given almost 150 acknowledgements and awards in his lifetime, including:
"Worthy Member of the Writers and Artists Association of Cuba (UNEAC)",
"Distinguished Son of Cienfuegos City", "The Jagua Award"
and the order of Jesús Menéndez, granted by the Cuban Workers'
Organization (?) b.
December 18th 1916.
2012: James "Jimmy"
Little (75) Australian
singer, born at Cummeragunja Mission, NSW; influenced by Nat King Cole,
Johnny Mathis and Jim Reeves, and at the age of 16 he travelled to Sydney
to perform on a radio programme, Australia's Amateur Hour and in 1955
left home to live in Sydney to pursue a career in country music. He released
his first single, "Mysteries of Life"/"Heartbreak Waltz"
in 1958. His next single was "El Paso", which reached No. 12
in Sydney in 1960. He made his acting debut in the Billy Graham evangelical
feature film Shadow of the Boomerang the same year. His mellow style soon
earned him the nicknames of "the Balladeer", "Gentleman
Jim" and "the Honey Voice". His biggest hits were the gospel
song, "Royal Telephone", and the Barry Gibb-penned "One
Road". By the 1980s Jimmy had turned to full-time acting, making
his theatre debut in Black Cockatoos before appearing in director Wim
Wenders' 1991 film Until the End of the World. He returned to the music
industry again in the early 90s and in 2002 he won the Golden Gospel Award
at the Australian Gospel Music Awards for his lifetime support of Australian
gospel music (natural causes)
b. March 1st 1937
2013: Roy Cox (64) American bass musician,
who in
1966 was one of the founding members of the
psychedelic rock band Bubble Puppy,
formed in San Antonio. They are best remembered
for their one hit wonder, “Hot Smoke and Sassafras”,
which rose to the No.14 spot on the Billboard 100. Bubble Puppy
received a star on the South Texas Music Walk of Fame in 2004, and was
inducted into the Austin Music Hall of Fame in 2011.Roy founded The Blues
Knights and released two CDs: "Before I Go" in 1999, and "Road
To Freedom" in 2001. He formed the NYC Outlaws in September 2007
in New York City, along with Tony Saracene on guitar, Dan Curley on guitar,
Cody Willard on guitar, Evan Hammer on bass, and Billy Brooks on drums
(?) b. 1948.
2013: Robert Ward (95) American composer
born in Cleveland, Ohio; as a boy he sang in church choirs and local opera
theatres and studied at John Adams High School, where he wrote his first
compositions, the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, and the Juilliard
School of Music. He went on to write 12
chamber music works, 9 operas, 17 orchestral works and
29 other concert band, concertante, vocal, choral and keyboards
works. He conducted the Doctors Orchestral
Society of New York from 49-55, he left to become Executive Vice President
of Galaxy Music Corporation and Managing Editor of High Gate Press in
New York until 1967; afterwhich he became Chancellor of the North Carolina
School of the Arts in Winston-Salem until 1975, when he stepped down to
serve as a member of the composition faculty for five more years. In 1978
he went to Duke University as a visiting professor, and he remained as
Mary Duke Biddle Professor of Music from 1979-87. His
opera, The Crucible, premiered in 1961, for which he received the 1962
Pulitzer Prize for Music
(?) b. September
13th 1917.
April
3rd.
1887:
Johannes Brahms (63) Austria-Hungarian
composer, pianist; his works blend classical tradition with a romantic
impulse and include concertos, four symphonies, chamber music, and choral
compositions.Born in Hamburg, Brahms spent much of his professional life
in Vienna, Austria, where he was a leader of the musical scene. In his
lifetime, Brahms' popularity and influence were considerable; following
a comment by the 19th century conductor Hans von Bülow, he is sometimes
grouped with Johann Sebastian Bach and Ludwig van Beethoven as one of
the Three Bs (sadly died of cancer)
b. May 7th 1833.
1978:
Ray Noble (74)
British
bandleader, composer, arranger and actor; he became leader of the HMV
Records studio band in 1929, known as the New Mayfair Dance Orchestra.
The most popular vocalist with Noble's studio band was Al Bowlly, he also
provided music for many radio shows like The Charlie McCarthy Show and
Burns and Allen. The Bowlly-Noble recordings achieved popularity in the
US. Union bans prevented Ray taking British musicians to America so he
arranged for Glenn Miller to recruit American musicians. Glenn Miller
played the trombone in the Ray Noble orchestra which performed Glenn's
composition "Dese Dem Dose" as part of the medley "Dese
Dem Dose/An Hour Ago This Minute/Solitude" during a performance at
the Rainbow Room in 1935. The American Ray Noble band had a successful
run at the Rainbow Room in New York City with Bowlly as principal vocalist.
Al
Bowlly returned to England but Ray continued to lead bands in America,
moving into an acting career portraying a stereotypical upper-class Englishman.
His last major successes as a bandleader came with Buddy Clark in the
late 1940s. Ray also wrote both lyrics and music for many songs that became
popular, contributing "Love Is The Sweetest Thing", "Cherokee",
"The Touch of Your Lips", "I Hadn't Anyone Till You"
and "The Very Thought Of You" to popular culture. He co-wrote
"Goodnight, Sweetheart", "Turkish Delight" and "By
the Fireside". The Ray Noble composition "You're So Desirable"
was recorded by Billie Holiday and Teddy Wilson, and by Robert Palmer
in 1990. He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame and in 1987,
inducted into the Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame. Also "The Very
Thought of You", recorded by Ray Noble and His Orchestra on Victor
in 1934, has been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame
(?)
b. December 17th 1903.
1986:
Peter Pears (75) English
opera singer born in Farnham, Surrey; he attended Keble College, Oxford,
studying music and served as organist at Hertford College, but left without
taking his degree. In 1936, he met Benjamin Britten; the following year,
they gave their first concert together with Peter singing and Benjamin
on piano at Balliol College in Oxford, to support the Government in the
Spanish Civil War. From 1939 to 1942, the two men lived in the United
States and in Canada. On their return, Upon their return to England in
1942, they performed Britten's Seven Sonnets of Michelangelo together
at Wigmore Hall and then recorded them for EMI, their first recording
together. Peter went on to take the principal tenor roles in all of Britten's
operas, including Midsummers
Night Dream, Billy Bud, Peter
Grimes and Death In Venice. He sang regularly at the Royal Opera House
and other major opera houses in Europe and America. In 1946 they founded
the English Opera Group and in 1948 founded the Aldeburgh Festival. He
was knighted in 1978. Peter and Benjamin are buried next to each other
in Aldeburgh churchyard (?)
b. June 22nd
1910.
1990: Sarah Vaughan (66)
American jazz singer
with a contralto vocal range, considered
one of the most influential jazz vocalists of the 20th Century. Nicknamed
"Sailor", for her salty speech,"Sassy" and "The
Divine One", she was a Grammy Award winner and The National Endowment
for the Arts bestowed upon her its "highest honor in jazz",
the NEA Jazz Masters Award, in 1989. Her songs included "That Lucky
Old Sun", "Make Believe (You Are Glad When You're Sorry)",
"I'm Crazy to Love You", "Our Very Own", "I Love
the Guy", "Thinking of You" (with pianist Bud Powell),
"I Cried for You", "These Things I Offer You", "Vanity",
"I Ran All the Way Home", "Saint or Sinner", "My
Tormented Heart", "Time", "How Important Can It Be"
with Count Basie, "Whatever Lola Wants", "The Banana Boat
Song", "You Ought to Have A Wife" and "Misty".
Her commercial success peaked in 1959 with "Broken Hearted Melody",
among many others (sadly
died of lung cancer)
b. March 27th 1924.
1999: Lionel Bart (69) UK
composer of songs and musicals; his
first professional musical was the 1959 'Lock Up Your Daughters', based
on the 18th century play 'Rape Upon Rape', followed by, 'Fings Ain't Wot
They Used T'Be' produced by Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop, was notable
for encouraging the use of authentic Cockney accents on the London stage.
His 1960 musical 'Oliver!' and became the first British musical to transfer
successfully to Broadway and has sustained its popularity to the present
day. It contained such song hits as "As Long As He Needs Me"
and "Consider Yourself" and is also notable for featuring Australian
satirist Barry Humphries in his first major stage role as Mr Sowerberry
and future rock stars Steve Marriott, who became the lead singer of The
Small Faces and Humble Pie and Phil Collins of Genesis fame. His next
musical, Blitz! produded the hit Far Away. Lional did 3 further musicals
Maggie May, Twang! and La Strada. He also wrote many pop songs including
"Living Doll" for Cliff Richard and "Rock with the Cavemen","Handful
of Songs", "Butterfingers" and "Little White Bull"
for Tommy Steele. He wrote the theme song for the 1963 James Bond film
From Russia With Love,"Do You Mind?" recorded by both Anthony
Newley and Andy Williams, "Easy Going Me" for Adam Faith and
"Always You And Me" with Russ Conway. In 1957, he won three
Ivor Novello Awards, a further four in 1958, and two in 1960. He continued
writing songs and themes for films, and in 1986 he received a special
Ivor Novello Award for his life's achievement. A musical play based on
Lionel Bart's life and using his songs, "It's a Fine Life" was
staged at the Queen's Theatre, Hornchurch in 2006 (died
after a long hard struggle with cancer) b.
August 1st 1930.
2002: Fad Gadget/Frank Tovey (45) An
influential British avant-garde electronic musician, he was an exponent
of both New Wave and early industrial music. His music was characterized
by a distinctive use of synthesizers in conjunction with sounds of found
objects, including drills and electric razors. He was known for his confrontational
live performances, which included covering himself in tar and feathers,
leaping into the audience, and playing instruments with his head or spreading
his naked body in shaving cream onstage. In 1989, he changed musical tactics
in his criticism of industrialization, recording a mostly acoustic album
of protest and labor songs Tyranny and the Hired Hand including such standards
as "Sixteen Tons." (he had suffered from
heart problems since his childhood, and died of a heart attack)
b. September 8th 1956.
2003: Homer Banks (61) African-American
songwriter, singer and record producer; born in Memphis, Tennessee, at
the age of 16 he formed the Soul Consolidators gospel group which toured
around the southern states, He went on to become a songwriter at Stax.
He began working with co-writer Allen Jones, placing songs with Johnnie
Taylor and Sam and Dave, also writing "I Can't Stand Up for Falling
Down", later a UK hit for Elvis Costello. He had success with the
Staple Singers, writing their first Stax single "Long Walk To DC",
and then some of their biggest hits including "If You're Ready (Come
Go With Me)". In 1968 he formed a songwriting trio with Bettye Crutcher
and Raymond Jackson, calling themselves We Three. Their first song was
"Who's Making Love", which was recorded by Johnnie Taylor. Homer
also wrote, with Jackson and Carl Hampton, "(If Loving You Is Wrong)
I Don't Want to Be Right". The song was first recorded by The Emotions,
became a smash hit when recorded by Luther Ingram, and later became a
key song for both Isaac Hayes and Millie Jackson as well as being recorded
by many other singers including Barbara Mandrell, Rod Stewart and Cassandra
Wilson. After Stax, Homer and Carl Hampton moved to California and worked
with A&M Records. In 1977, the two recorded the album Passport To
Ecstasy for Warner Bros Records. In the 1980s Homer formed the Two's Company
recording company with Lester Snell, which released albums by J. Blackfoot
and Ann Hines (cancer) b.
August 2nd 1941
2004: Gabriella Ferri (61) Italian
singer; born in Rome, she began her career in a Milan nightclub in 1963,
and by 1965, she had successfully broke onto the Rome singing scene by
singing popular Roman songs. One of her biggest hits was "Sempre"
("Always"). During her career, she also performed Neapolitan
and Latin American pieces. During the 1970s, she starred on several popular
TV shows. By the 1990s, however, she had largely left the spotlight.
(She
died in Corchiano, province of Viterbo, after falling from a third-floor
balcony in an apparent suicide. Family members dispute this, saying she
may have fallen ill after taking anti-depression medication and lost her
balance.) b. September 18th 1942.
2005: Tony Croatto/Hermes Davide Fastino Croatto
Martinis (65) Italian singer, composer and TV presenter born
in Attimis, he moved to La Paz, Uruguay at aged 9. He is best known for
his interpretations of Puerto Rican folk music. In 1959, at 19, he created
his first band "TNT" with his brother Edelweiss, nicknamed "Tim"
and his sister Argentina, nicknamed "Nelly". In 1960, TNT recorded
their huge hit, "Eso, eso, eso". They moved to Spain in 1963
and represented the country in the Eurovision Song Contest 1964 in Copenhagen,
billed as "Nelly, Tim and Tony". Nelly and Tony then became
a duo and in 1968, after travelling across South America and spending
two years in Venezuela they moved to Puerto Rico. He went on to become
well known and highly regarded for his interpretations of Puerto Rican
folk music. (Sadly died as a result of lung and
brain cancer. His funeral was held at the Institute of Puerto Rican Culture
and he was given a state funeral) b. March
2nd 1940
2006: Martin Gilks (41)
English drummer for the alternative rock band The Wonder Stuff.
Born in Stourbridge, he was the drummer with The Mighty Lemon Drops band
before leaving in 1985. After which he along with singer Miles Hunt, guitarist
Malcolm Treece, Rob "The Bass Thing" Jones formed the band Wonder
Stuff in March of '86. They went on to have a string of top-forty singles
and albums as well as Martin being voted the best drummer on the planet
in an NME poll in 1989. They also backed UK comedian Vic Reeves on a great
remake of "Dizzy" in the early 90s. He left the group at the
end of 1995 to join his brother "Tank" in forming Furtive Mass
Transit Systems, a management company who looked after Reef, Cable, A
and Hundred Reasons (Died tragically in a motorcycle
accident, after losing control of his bike in London) b.
March 2nd 1965.
2008: Frosty
Freeze/Wayne Frost (44)
Puerto Rican B-boy, breakdancer and member of the hip-hop group
Rock Steady Crew, known for his comedic, acrobatic and inventive style;
his trademark move is known as, "The Suicide" aka "The
Death Freeze Drop". His talents with The Rock Steady Crew were featured
in movies such as Flashdance, Wild Style, Style Wars and The Freshest
Kids and also appeared on the cover of The Village Voice in 1981. He was
featured in early hip hop music videos such as Afrika Bambaataa and The
Soulsonic Force's "Planet Rock" and Malcolm McLaren's "Buffalo
Gals". In 2004, he along with several other members of The Rock Steady
Crew were honored at the VH-1 Hip Hop Honors. (He
was stricken with an undisclosed illness during early 2008, went on life
support on March 27) b.
December 4th 1963.
2009: Charlie Kennedy (81) American
alto saxophonist; he played with Louis Prima's big band orchestra in the
1940s. After a brief stint in his own band, he joined Gene Krupa's big
band. Over the course of his long career, he played with Terry Gibbs's
Dream Band, Charlie Ventura, Flip Phillips, Chico O'Farrill, and Bill
Holman among others. In addition to live performances and recordings with
big name bands, he also was a frequent studio musician. He played in the
orchestras for popular movies including My Fair Lady and West Side Story.
In the 1970s, for more stable income to support his family with six children,
he gave up his career as a full-time musician, but continued to perform
in clubs near his home in Southern California (pulmonary
disease) b. July 2nd 1927.
2011: Calvin Russell/Calvert
Russell Kosler (62) American protest
singer-songwriter and guitarist born in Austin; at 12 he started to learn
guitar and at 13 he joined a band called 'The Cavemen'. In 1989 he met
Patrick Mathe of the French record label New Rose. After his first album
was released, Calvin started touring in Europe in 1990, his debut album
"A Crack in Time" became an instant European hit as did many
of his 15 albums. The tone of protest in several of his
songs made him very popular among Europeans, more so than in the United
States (sadly died after his fight with cancer)
b. November 1st 1948.
2013: Dorothy Taubman (94) American
music teacher, lecturer and founder of the Taubman Institute of New York,
who developed the "Taubman Approach" to piano playing. For many
years, she ran her Dorothy Taubman School of Piano at Amherst College
in Massachusetts. Formerly a professor at the Aaron Copland School of
Music of Queens College and a professor at Temple University, she has
been featured in many articles and interviewed in the Boston Globe, Piano
and Keyboard and Clavier magazines (?)
b. August 16th 1917
2013: Harry J/Harry Zephaniah Johnson (67)
Jamaican music producer, studio
owner and musician; born in Westmoreland Parish, he started to play music
with the Virtues as a bass player before moving into management of the
group. In 1968, when he launched his own record label, "Harry J",
by releasing The Beltones' local hit "No More Heartaches", one
of the earliest reggae songs to be recorded. his Harry J Studio where
Bob Marley & The Wailers recorded some of their albums in the 1970s.The
studio was also a 'must stop' hangout of many British and other musicians
including the Rolling Stones, The Who, and Grace Jones. Throughout the
1970s and the 1980s, assisted by former Studio One sound engineer Sylvan
Morris, he also recorded Ken Boothe, Augustus Pablo, Burning Spear, Toots,
Shaggy, Sly & Robbie,The Cables and US pop singer, Johnny Nash, and
produced albums by Zap Pow and Sheila Hylton.
(sadly died with diabetes)
b. July 6th 1945.
April
4th.
1980:
Red Sovine/Woodrow
Wilson Sovine (61) American country music singer
in Charleston, West Virginia, and is associated with truck driving songs,
particularly those recited as narratives but set to music. The most famous
example was his 1976 No.1 hit "Teddy Bear"."Giddyup Go",
"Why Baby Why" "Hold Everything (Till I Get Home)"
"Phantom 309" "It'll Come Back" and "Woman Behind
the Man Behind the Wheel". Red
is also remembered for his Christmas tear-jerkers, which included "Here
It Is Christmas", "Faith In Santa", and his sentimental
song "Little Rosa"
(sadly
he suffered a heart attack while driving his Ford van in Nashville)
b. July 17th 1918.
1992: Sammy Price/Samuel
Blythe Price (83)
American jazz - blues pianist and bandleader, born in Honey
Grove, Texas.
After singing in local venues in the Dallas area, he left Texas and lived
and played jazz in Kansas City, Chicago and Detroit. In 1938 he was hired
by Decca Records as a session sideman on piano, assisting singers such
as Trixie Smith and Sister Rosetta Tharpe, but
his most noteworthy work was with his own band, the Texas Bluesicians
which included fellow musicians Don Stovall and Emmett Berry, recording
on
Decca Records. He is also equally notable
for his decade long partnership with jazz trumpeter Henry "Red"
Allen. Later
in his life, he partnered with the Roosevelt Hotel in New York; and was
the headline entertainment at the Crawdaddy Restaurant, a New Orleans
themed restaurant in New York in the mid 1970s, performing at times with
visiting Benny Goodman and Buddy Rich and the 80s him playing Boston's
Copley Plaza where he performed till nearly the end
(?) b. October 6th 1908.
1992: Arthur Russell (40)
American cellist, singer, and disco artist; while he
found the most success in dance music, his career bridged New York's downtown,
rock, and dance music scenes; his collaborators ranged from Philip Glass
to David Byrne to Nicky Siano. Relatively unknown during his lifetime,
a series of reissues and compilations have raised his profile in the 2000s
and he has earned hero status among a current generation of acts such
as the Rapture, Playgroup, !!!, and Metro Area, who are looking back at
fusions of rock, pop, and dance music (sadly
died of AIDS) b.
May 21st 1951.
1995: Kenny Everett/Maurice Cole (50)
English radio DJ, TV presenter; first break,
as Maurice Cole, came when he sent a tape to the BBC in 1962, who gave
him an interview and offered him a job as a presenter on the Light Programme,
the forerunner to BBC Radio 2. He declined, in favour of the less constrained
world of pirate radio, where he began his career as a DJ for Radio London.
He teamed up with Dave Cash for the 'Kenny & Cash Show' one of the
most popular programmes on
pirate radio. He was given his own show by Radio Luxembourg. Within a
year, he had joined the BBC's new pop music station Radio 1 after previewing
The Beatles' new album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and interviewing
the band. Kenny accompanied the Beatles on their 1966 tour of the United
States, sending back daily reports for Radio London. He also produced
their 1968 and 1969 Christmas records. In 1975 he played a pivotal role
in getting Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" released as a single.
He also presented a pre-recorded programme on Saturday lunch-time for
Radio Victory in Portsmouth. In Oct '81, Everett returned to BBC Radio,
this time on Radio 2, on Saturday from 11am-1pm. He went on to have a
very successful TV career with a variation of different shows (sadly
died of aids) b. December 25th 1944.
1996: Larry LaPrise (83) American songwriter
and founder of the Ram Trio group from Detroit, Michigan. After the group
broke up in the 1960s, he worked for the Post Office in Ketchum, Idaho
(?) b. November
11th 1912.
1997:
Gene Ames (74)
American singer born in Malden, Massachusetts, he along with his brothers
formed the Amory Brothers, touring US Army and Navy bases entertaining
the troops and were offered a job at The Fox and Hounds nightclub in Boston.
After which they took their act to New York, changed their name to The
Ames Brothers and got a job with bandleader Art Mooney. They went on to
star in their own TV show, The Ames Brothers Show, which was seen on Friday
nights and acheive 50 U.S. chart entries and were inducted into the Vocal
Group Hall of Fame in 1998 (?)
b. February 13th 1923.
2005:
Grigoris Bithikotsis (82)
Greek folk singer/songwriter and bouzouki player with a career spanning
five decades. Born in Athens he composed over 80 songs, including: Stu
Belami to ouzeri and Toy Votanikou o magas. He possessed a rich singing
voice with which he performed his own compositions and those of Theodorakis,
who frequently chose his friend Grigoris to perform his masterpieces.
The two contributed greatly to the then-emerging laika style of Greek
music (sadly
following 3 months of hospitalization)
b. December 11th 1922.
2009: Eduardo Parra (90) Chilean folk
singer (septic shock) b. ??
2010: Sugar Lee Hooper/Marja van der Toorn (62)
Dutch party singer best known for her powerful voice and extravagant,
colourful look. She made her biggest hits in the Netherlands in the 1990s.
In 2008 she had to retire due to health issues. She was the first Dutch
celebrity to be married to a same-sex partner, Andrea van der Kaap (Sugar
fell into a coma during surgery on her broken hip. Sadly she didn’t
recover) b. February 23rd 1948.
2011: Scott Columbus (54) American
lefty drummer with the
heavy metal band Manowar, from 1983 until 1990, when he had to leave for
personal reasons, but Scott returned for "Louder Than Hell"
album in 1996 and remained with the band until the summer of 2008. In
1984 the band was included in the Guinness Book of World Records for delivering
the loudest performance, a record which they have since broken on 2 occasions.
They also hold the world record for the longest heavy metal concert after
playing for 5 hours and 1 minute in Bulgaria in 2008. Scott played the
so-called "Drums of Doom", a kit made of stainless steel, because
his drumming technique is too rough on standard kits which had to be replaced
too regularly (?)
b. November 10th 1956.
2013: Chris Bailey (62) Australian
singer born in Nanyuki, Kenya to Irish parents. He grew up in Belfast,
Northern Ireland until the age of seven, when his family emigrated to
Australia. He went on to be co-founder and lead singer with the hard rock
band The Angels, that formed in Adelaide, South Australia, in 1974. The
band later relocated to Sydney and enjoyed huge success, clocking up hit
singles across four decades, including "No Secrets", "Marseilles",
"Long Line", "Mr Damage", "Let The Night Roll
On" and "Waiting For The Sun". Along side
his band duties Chris forged a solo career and in 1991, Bailey formed
the Chris Bailey Combo including Paul Hester, Nick Seymour, Dror Erez
and a revolving cast of guest players. Between 1983-2005 he released nine
solo albums (sadly
Chris died while battling an aggressive throat cancer) b. 1959
April
5th.
1946: Vincent Youmans (47) American
composer and Broadway producer, born in New York City.
After WW1 he became a rehearsal pianist for famed composer Victor Herbert’s
operettas. No, No, Nanette was the biggest musical-comedy success of the
1920s in both Europe and the USA and his two songs "Tea for Two"
and "I Want to Be Happy" are considered standards. He collaborated
with the greatest songwriters on Broadway: Herbert Stothart, Otto Harbach,
Oscar Hammerstein II, Irving Caesar, Anne Caldwell, Leo Robin, Clifford
Grey, Billy Rose, Edward Eliscu, Edward Heyman, Harold Adamson, Mack Gordon,
Buddy De Sylva and Gus Kahn. He collaborated with lyricist Ira Gershwin
on the score for Two Little Girls in Blue, which won wide acclaim. Vincent
was forced to retire in 1934, after a professional career of only 13 years,
publishing around 100 songs, 18 of these were considered standards by
ASCAP. He also contributed and worked on 14 musicals, and contributed
to 10 films. In 1970, he was inducted into the Songwriter's Hall of Fame
(died of tuberculosis in
Denver. At his death, Vincent left behind a large quantity of unpublished
material) b. September 27th 1898.
1967: Mischa Elman (76)
Ukrainian violinist born in the small town of Talnoye
near Kiev; he made his Berlin debut in 1904, creating a great sensation.
His London debut in 1905 included the British premiere of Alexander Glazunov's
Violin Concerto in A minor. He played in Carnegie Hall in 1908, making
a great impression on his American audience. He toured Australia in 1914,
after which the Elman family moved to America, and became a citizen in
1923. In 1917, he was elected to honorary membership in Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia
music fraternity. He sometimes performed in as many as 107 concerts in
a 29-week season. In 1943, he gave the premiere of Bohuslav Martinu's
second concerto, which was written for him. Sales of his records exceeded
two million. Mischa also performed and recorded with Josef Bonime, Carroll
Hollister and others, and from 1950, his steady accompanist and recital
partner was Joseph Seiger (?)
b.
January 20th 1891.
1978:
Carlo Tagliabue (80) Italian baritone;
he made his debut in Lodi, Italy, in Loreley and Aida. His debuts in Genoa
in 1923; Torino, La Scala -1930; Rome -1931; and Naples in 1931 were all
in Tristan und Isolde. He also performed in Wagner's Götterdämmerung,
Tannhäuser and Lohengrin. However, Carlo would go on to excel in
the Verdian repertoire, especially La forza del destino, Aida, Rigoletto,
La traviata, Nabucco, and Otello. He created the role of Basilio in Respighi's
La fiamma in 1934. His international career included Buenos Aires' Teatro
Colón -1934, the Metropolitan Opera, New York 1937-39, and San
Francisco Opera and Covent Garden, London in 1938). His last performance
was in 1955 at La Scala, at the famous performance of La traviata where
Maria Callas scandalized the public by throwing her shoes off (?)
b. January 13th 1898
1981: Bob
Hite (36) American lead singer,
harmonica with Canned Heat. In 1965, aged 22, he formed a band with Alan
Wilson and their mutual friend Henry Vestine joined soon after and this
trio formed the core of the blues-rock band Canned Heat. Bob remained
the lead singer until his death. Canned Heat appeared at most major musical
events of the late 1960s including the two legendary '60s concerts Monterey
and Woodstock, which gained them international fame. Their songs - "Going
Up the Country" and "On the Road Again" - became international
hits; both were re-workings of obscure blues (heart
attack) b.
February 26th 1943.
1983: Danny Rapp (41) American
singer born in Philadelphia, musical career began in 1955 with the formation
of his group The Juvenairs, which later became known as Danny and the
Juniors. Their 1957 song "Do the Bop" came to the attention
of Dick Clark, who suggested they rename it to "At the Hop."
After limited initial success with the song, it became a worldwide hit
when it was played on American Bandstand. The Juniors went on to have
two more hits "Rock 'n' Roll Is Here To Stay" and "Twistin'
USA". The Juniors released several more records in the 1960s but
were not able to produce any more hits. In the 70s they toured the oldies
circuit, re-releasing "At the Hop" in 1976 (an apparent suicide
by gunshot)
b. May 9th 1941. (although his birth certificate
states his birth was May 10th, he was born at home on May 9th and registered
the following day).
1994:
Kurt Cobain (27) American singer, guitarist;
he formed the grunge band Nirvana with Krist Novoselic in Aberdeen, Washington
in 1985 and established it as part of the Seattle music scene, having
its debut album 'Bleach' released on the independent record label Sub
Pop in 1989. After signing with major label DGC Records, the band found
breakthrough success with "Smells Like Teen Spirit" from its
second album 'Nevermind' in 1991. Following the success of 'Nevermind',
Nirvana was labeled "the flagship band" of Generation X, and
Kurt hailed as "the spokesman of a generation". However he was
often uncomfortable and frustrated, believing his message and artistic
vision to have been misinterpreted by the public, with his personal issues
often subject to media attention. He challenged Nirvana's audience with
its final studio album 'In Utero'
in 1993. Since their debut, Nirvana,
with Kurt as a songwriter, sold over twenty-five million albums in the
US alone, and over fifty million worldwide. (He sadly struggled with heroin
addiction, and death was ruled a suicide by gunshot. Circumstances surrounding
his death have fueled much analysis and debate - was it murder?)
b. February 20th 1967.
1998:
Cozy Powell/Colin Flooks (50)
British legendary drummer, born in Cirencester,
England, he started playing drums at age 12 in the school orchestra. He
played with swamp rocker Tony Joe White at the Isle of Wight Festival
1970 and went on to work with the Jeff Beck Group, Rainbow, Graham Bonnet
& The Hooligans, Gary Moore, Whitesnake, and as a soloists, top session
player and freelance drummer. Considered
to be one of England's best drummers and very much in demand for rock
and pop records, Cozy is legendary for his heavy-hitting style that he
made to work with many kinds of rock music, whether it be for the thundering
pop productions or the softer rock ballads (Cozy
died in hospital following a car crash, driving his Saab 9000 in bad weather
on the M4 motorway near Bristol. While talking to his girlfriend on his
mobile phone, he lost control and crashed into the central barriers)
b. December 29th 1947.
2002: Layne Staley (34) American lead
singer and co-lyricist of the rock group Alice in Chains, which was formed
in Seattle, Washington in 1987 by Layne and guitarist Jerry Cantrell.
They rose to international fame as part of the grunge movement of the
early 1990s. The band became known for its distinct vocal style, which
often included the "snarl-to-a-scream" vocals of Layne, as well
as the harmonized vocals of Layne and Cantrell. He was also a member of
the supergroups Mad Season and Class of '99. He struggled throughout his
career with severe drug addiction. (tragically died of a lethal overdose
of heroin and cocaine) b. August 22nd 1967.
2005: Alexander Brott/Joël Brod (90) Canadian
conductor, composer, violinist and music teacher; born in Montreal, he
was leader of the Montreal Orchestra, Les Concerts symphoniques de Montréal
and the Montreal Symphony Orchestra from 1945 to 1958. In 1939, he joined
the Faculty of Music at McGill University, where he remained until 1980.
His compositions included Arabesque, Circle, Triangle, 4 Squares, and
Paraphrase in Polyphony. He was also the founder and musical director
of the McGill Chamber Orchestra and conducted the Kingston Symphony Orchestra
from 1965 to 1981. In 1979 Joël
was made a Member of the Order of Canada and in 1988 he was made a Knight
of the National Order of Quebec (?)
b. March 14th 1915
2006: Gene Pitney (66) American singer
songwriter, born in Hartford, Connecticut; he learned to play the guitar
and piano and formed a schoolboy band with friends from high school, leading
the band Gene and the Genials, with Richard "Dick" Spurling
and Robert "Bob" Terry. Gene had his first success as a songwriter
with "Rubber Ball," a Top 10 hit for Bobby Vee in 1961. Later
that year, Ricky Nelson had a hit with his "Hello Mary Lou."
As a performer, Gene had his first success "(I Wanna) Love My Life
Away"
>>>
READ
MORE <<<
(Died
in his sleep at The Hilton Hotel, Cardiff Wales, UK, after a sold out
show at St. Davids Hall) b. February 17th
1940.
2007: Mark St. John/Mark Leslie Norton
(50) American guitarist and teacher
from Hollywood, California; he started out as a school teacher and guitarist
for the Southern California cover band Front Page, before joining the
rock band Kiss. Mark was featured on the album Animalize, the second album
of the "unmasked" period. This turned out to be one of Kiss's
most successful studio albums, aside from those made by the original lineup.
Mark's only video appearance with Kiss is in the video for the hit single
"Heaven's on Fire". After leaving Kiss, he formed a band called
White Tiger, featuring singer David Donato, Glenn Hughes on bass, and
J. R. Saenz on the drums. (he died of a cerebral
hemorrhage) b. February 7th 1957.
2009: Nancy Overton (83) American
singer; first formed a group with her sister Jean Swain and two college
friends, in 1946, touring with orchestra leader Tommy Tucker for 6 months,
as Tommy Tucker's Two Timers, and recorded the song "Maybe You'll
Be There". They next sang with singer and band leader Ray Heatherton,
they were then known as The Heathertones. The Heathertones disbanded in
1953. In 1957, Janet Ertel of The Chordettes, though still recording with
the group, elected not to continue touring, Nancy was invited to appear
with The Chordettes for live appearances and did so until the group broke
up in the early 1960s. After her husband Hall Overton died in 1972, she
retired from show business and worked for Prentice-Hall Publishers as
an editorial assistant. In the early 1990s, The Chordettes regrouped with
Nancy, Doris Alberti, and original members Lynn Evans and Jean Swain,
doing shows ranging from a doo wop concert to touring with Eddy Arnold
(esophageal cancer) b. February 6th 1926.
2009: Tony D/Anthony Depula (42) American
hip hop DJ and musician; He was the first artist to have a record released
on Mark Rae's burgeoning British Grand Central Records independent record
label, then called Gone Clear Records. His other albums were released
on Cha-Ching Records and 4th & B'way Records, and he was a part of
the group Crusaders for Real Hip Hop, which released one album on Profile
Records. He had also worked as a producer for DJ Muggs, Outsidaz, Scott
Lark, Poor Righteous Teachers, Young Zee, King Sun, Blvd Mosse, and Pace
Won. He was last reported to be working on a band project called The WBs
(car accident) b.????
2011: Gil Robbins (80) American folk
singer; he was a well-known musician in the folk scene of New York’s
Greenwich Village as a member of the Cumberland Three and the Belafonte
Singers, which toured with singer Harry Belafonte before joining the Highwaymen
in 1962. He took the group in a more political direction, playing and
singing baritone on five albums until their 1964 breakup. He is the father
of Tim Robbins, and later worked on four films; two with his son Tim –
“Bob Roberts”, as Bishop Norwich in “Dead Man Walking”,
as Cardinal Geary in “Wide Awake” and as Congressman Starnes
in the “Cradle Will Rock”. Gil has also been a club owner, off
Broadway actor, and choir director (sadly
died of prostate cancer)
b. March 2nd 1933.
2012: Bernard Noël
"Banjo Barney" McKenna (72) Irish mandolin
and melodeon, but is most renowned as a pioneer banjo player. He was born
in Donnycarney, County Dublin, and played the banjo from an early age,
as he could not afford to buy the instrument of his choice, a mandolin.
In 1962 along with Ronnie Drew, Luke Kelly, and Ciarán Bourke,
he formed the Irish folk band The Dubliners. Initially known as "The
Ronnie Drew Ballad Group", they made a name for themselves playing
regularly in O'Donoghue's Pub in Dublin. The change of name came about
because of Drew's unhappiness with it, together with the fact that Kelly
was reading Dubliners by James Joyce at the time. They played at the Edinburgh
Festival in 1963 >>> READ
MORE <<< (unexpectedly
at his home in Howth, Co. Dublin, Ireland)
b. December 16th 1939.
2012: Cynthia Dall/Cynthia Ann Loya (41)
American singer, guitarist and photographer born in Sacramento,
California. She started recording and performing with then-boyfriend,
Bill Callahan under his former moniker, Smog. She first appeared on the
Smog song "Wine Stained Lips", the B-side to the 1994 "A
Hit"single. She went on to contribute vocals and guitar on the Burning
Kingdom EP, Wild Love, and The Doctor Came at Dawn, and also toured with
Smog in the US and Europe in 1995. In 1996, Cynthia released her first
solo album, Untitled. In 1998, she did the vocals for a remix of "Torture
Day" by The Notwist. In 2002, she released her second album, Sound
Restores Young Men, and was working on a third album at the time of he
death. Cynthia also gained notoriety in the fanzine world of the 1990s
for her frequent transgressive-styled cover shots and appearances in Lisa
Carver's Rollerderby magazine (?)
b. March 12th 1971.
2013: Enzo Toppano (85)
Australian accordionist, born in Broken Hill
and made his debut on ABC Radio at the age of 13. In the late 1940s, he
moved to London, where he was repeatedly voted best instrumental performer
on the London Palladium circuit. His support acts included artists such
as Julie Andrews and Petula Clark. In London he also joined forces with
another Australian, rising star Peggy Mortimer and the duo soon married
and had three children. They returned to Australia in the 1950s and eventually
went on to establish "breakfast television" as the first hosts
of channel 7's daily Early Morning Variety Show. During the second half
of the 1970s to the mid-1980s, The Toppano family was a permanent fixture
at the Manly Music Loft. After Peggy's death in 2003, Enzo dedicated himself
to performing in her memory. He and one of his sons, Dean, frequently
performed in homes and institutions for dementia and Alzheimer's disease
patients in memory of Peggy. Musician Vov Dylan worked with closely with
Enzo from 2005 and the pair made numerous albums together. In December
2012 he moved to Mexico with his sons Peta, Lorenzo and Dean. In the last
week of his life, was with his sons in Mexico recording keyboard overdubs
for a coming CD for the Latin American market (?)
b. February 14th 1928.
2013: Piero de Palma (87) Italian
operatic tenor, particularly associated with comprimario roles. He made
his stage debut in 1952 at the San Carlo in Naples, where he was to performed
regularly until 1980. The same year saw his debuts at the Rome Opera and
the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, he then went on singing throughout Italy,
appearing in Genoa, Palermo, Catania, Trieste, Bergamo, etc., he also
appeared at the Baths of Caracalla and the Verona Arena, and made his
debut at La Scala in Milan in 1958. He performed for numerous seasons
regularly at The Dallas Opera. He made his Metropolitan Opera debut as
Dr. Cajus in Falstaff in 1992 (?)
b. 1924.
April
6th.
1971: Igor Stravinsky (88) Russian-born
composer, pianist, conductor and is
widely acknowledged as one of the most important and influential composers
of 20th century music. He was named by Time magazine as one of the 100
most influential people of the century. He became a naturalized French
citizen in 1934 and a naturalized US citizen in 1945. In addition to the
recognition he received for his compositions, he also achieved fame as
a pianist and a conductor, often at the premieres of his works. His
triad of early ballets, The Firebird 1909-10, Petrushka 1910-11, and importantly,
The Rite of Spring 1911-13, did more to establish his reputation than
any of his other works; indeed, the riot which followed the premiere of
The Rite is one of the most notorious events in music history. After the
deaths of his daughter, his wife, and his mother within a period of less
than a year, he emmigrated to America, settling in California in 1940.
His works between 1940 and 1950 show a mixture of styles, but still seem
centered on Russian or French traditions. Despite declining health in
his last years, Igor continued to compose until just before his death.
He has a star on Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6340 Hollywood Boulevardm,
posthumously received the Grammy Award for Lifetime Achievement in 1987,
and was inducted into the National Museum of Dance C.V. Whitney Hall of
Fame in 2004
(?) b. June 17th 1882.
1977: Benny Featherstone (65) Tasmanian
drummer, trumpeter and legendary bandleader(?)
b.July 30th 1912.
1984: Ral Donner (41)
American singer born in Chicago; a most successful Elvis sound-alike,
getting a career, a year's worth of charting singles, and years of steady
work out of the fact that his singing bore an uncanny resemblance to the
King of Rock & Roll's ballad style. He recorded a cover of Presley's
"The Girl of My Best Friend", along with a backing band called
The Starfires. His next single, "You Don't Know What You've Got (Until
You Lose It)", became his biggest, and only Top Ten, hit on the Billboard
charts, peaking at No.4. He managed a few more hits, the last of which
was in 1962. In 1981, Ral was asked to narrate Elvis Presley's voice in
the film This Is Elvis. (died after his battle with
cancer) b. February 10th 1943.
1984: Jimmy
Kennedy (81) Irish
songwriter born near Omagh, predominantly a lyricist, putting words to
existing music such as "Teddy Bears' Picnic" and "My Prayer",
or co-writing with the composers Michael Carr, Wilhelm Grosz and Nat Simon
amongst others. While serving in the British Army's Royal Artillery, where
he rose to the rank of Captain, he wrote the wartime hit, "We're
Going to Hang out the Washing on the Siegfried Line" for the British
Expeditionary Force. His other hits include "Barmaids Song",
"Hokey Cokey", "Roll Along Covered Wagon", "Red
Sails in the Sunset", "The Isle of Capri", "Love is
Like a Violin", "Hokey Cokey", "Roll Along Covered
Wagon" and others. Jimmy won two Ivor Novello Awards for his contribution
to music and received an honorary degree from the New University of Ulster.
He was also awarded the OBE in 1983 and in 1997 he was posthumously inducted
into the Songwriter's Hall of Fame (?)
b. July 20th
1902
1998: Wendy Orlean
Williams (48) American lead singer
with the punk band the Plasmatics, with songs such as "Corruption",
"Living Dead", and "Butcher Baby", as well as a solo
artist. In 1984, she released the "W.O.W." album, produced by
Gene Simmons of Kiss. Kiss members Paul Stanley, Ace Frehley, Eric Carr,
and Vinnie Vincent also perform on the album. Her stage theatrics included
blowing up equipment, near nudity and chain-sawing guitars. Dubbed
"The Queen of Shock Rock," she
was born in Webster, New York and widely
considered the most controversial and radical female singer of her day
and often sported a Mohawk haircut. Wendy was nominated in 1985 for a
Grammy in the Best Female Rock Vocal Performance category during the height
of her popularity as a solo artist. (sadly
Wendy died in a wooded area near her home of a self-inflicted gunshot
wound. She had first attempted suicide in 1993 by hammering a knife into
her chest; the knife lodged in her sternum and she changed her mind; she
attempted suicide again in 1997 with an overdose of ephedrine)
b. May 28th 1949.
1998: Tammy Wynette/Virginia
Wynette Pugh (55) American country music singer-songwriter
born near Tremont, Mississippi, Tammy was one of country music's best-known
artists and biggest-selling female vocalists. She was known as the First
Lady of Country Music, and one of her best-known songs, "Stand by
Your Man," was one of the biggest selling hit singles by a woman
in the history of the country music genre. Many of Tammy Wynette's hits
dealt with classic themes of loneliness, divorce and the difficulties
of male-female relationships. During the late 1960s and early 1970s, she
dominated the country charts, scoring 17 number one hits, including "Your
Good Girl's Gonna Go Bad", "My Elusive Dreams", "I
Don't Wanna Play House", "Take Me to Your World," "D-I-V-O-R-C-E",
"Singing My Song" and "The Ways to Love a Man", "He
Loves Me All the Way", "Run Woman, Run", "The Wonders
You Perform", "Good Lovin' (Makes it Right)", "Bedtime
Story", "My Man (Understands)", "'Til I Get it Right",
"Kids Say the Darndest Things" and "The Wonders You Perform".
Though the 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s and the 2000s, Tammy has been gained dozens
of awards and honours and has been inducted into several Halls of Fame
(After years of medical problems, approximately
twenty-six major surgeries and an addiction to large doses of pain medication,
Tammy sadly died, while sleeping on her couch. There was no autopsy held
until 1999 when the coroner declared that she died of a cardiac arrhythmia)
b. May 5th 1942.
1999: Red Norvo (91)
American jazz vibraphonist born in Beardstown, Illinois; he career
began in Chicago with a band called "The Collegians", in 1925.
He played with many other bands, including an all-marimba band on the
vaudeville circuit, and the bands of Paul Whiteman, Benny Goodman, Charlie
Barnet, and Woody Herman. Red recorded with Mildred Bailey, his wife;
Billie Holiday, Dinah Shore and Frank Sinatra, among others. Together,
Red and Mildred were known as "Mr. and Mrs. Swing." He also
appeared in the film Screaming Mimi in 1958, playing himself. Over his
career he composed instrumentals such as "Dance of the Octopus",
"Bughouse" with Irving Mills and Teddy Wilson, "The Night
is Blue", "A Cigarette and a Silhouette", "Congo Blues",
"Seein' Red", "Blues in E Flat", "Hole in the
Wall", "Knockin' on Wood", "Decca Stomp", "Tomboy",
and "1-2-3-4 Jump". He recorded and toured throughout his career
until a stroke in the mid-1980s forced him into retirement (?)
b. March 31st 1908.
1999: William Pleeth (83) British
cellist and an eminent teacher of the cello. He is probably best known
as the teacher of Jacqueline du Pré. Born in London he showed his
talent as a cellist by age 7, by 15 years old, he had learned all the
solo cello suites by Johann Sebastian Bach, all the Piatti Caprices, and
32 concertos, 24 of which he had memorized. He studied at the London Cello
School and then in Leipzig with Julius Klengel, who also taught Emanuel
Feuermann and Gregor Piatigorsky. William performed as a soloist with
orchestras but preferred chamber music. He organized the Allegri String
Quartet in 1952. He was professor of cello at the Guildhall School of
Music & Drama and began teaching at the Menuhin School in 1977. He
also wrote the book "Cello" in the Menuhin instrument guides
(?) b.
January 12th 1916
2001: Charles Pettigrew (37) African-American
singer, best known as half of R&B duo Charles and Eddie, who had a
worldwide hit in 1992 with "Would I Lie To You?." The track
is amongst the most well-recognised of early '90s r'n'b tracks. Pettigrew
met singing partner Eddie Chacon in New York. Previously, Mr. Pettigrew
lived in Boston and was lead singer of the band Down Avenue. Down Avenue
was the winner of radio station WBCN's 1985 Rock 'n Roll Rumble. (sadly
died from cancer)
b. May 12th 1963.
2003:
Michael Olatunjil/Babatunde
Olatunji (75) Nigerian drummer, educator, social activist and
recording artist born in Ajido, Lagos State. He read in Reader's Digest
magazine about the Rotary International Foundation's scholarship program,
and applied for it. He went to the United States of America in 1950. He
went on to work with many prominent musicians, including Santana, Cannonball
Adderley, Pee Wee Ellis, Horace Silver, Quincy Jones, Stevie Wonder, Randy
Weston, and with Max Roach and Abbey Lincoln on the pivotal Freedom Now
Suite aka We Insist, and with Grateful Dead member Mickey Hart on his
Grammy winning Planet Drum projects. He is also mentioned in the lyrics
of Bob Dylan's "I Shall Be Free" as recorded on the album The
Freewheelin' Bob Dylan. Babatunde favoured a big percussion sound, and
his own band 'Drums of Passion' typically featured more than 20 players.
His debut album also "Drums of Passion" became a major hit and
it introduced many Americans to world music. He toured the American south
with Rev. Martin Luther King Jr and joined King in the march on Washington.
He was also a music educator, and invented a method of teaching and recording
drum patterns which he called the "Gun-Dun, Go-Do, Pa-Ta" method
after the different sounds made on the drum (passed
away in Salinas, California from diabetes) b.
April 7th 1927.
2004: Niki Sullivan (66)
American guitarist born in South Gate, California; he was one
of the three original members of Buddy Holly's backing group, The Crickets;
his guitar playing was an integral part of Holly's early success. He also
co-wrote a number of his hit songs and sang back-up vocals on 27 of the
32 songs Buddy recorded over his brief career. He helped arrange the music
to "Peggy Sue", "Not Fade Away", which he helped write,
"I'm Gonna Love You Too", "That'll Be the Day", and
"Maybe Baby". It was around this period that he also wrote and
produced the single "Look to the Future," which was recorded
by Gary Tollett and The Picks, who often did back-up vocals for the Crickets
(sadly died of a heart attack)
b. June 23rd 1937.
2006:
Augustyn Bloch (75)
Polish composer and organist, student of Feliks Raczkowski and Tadeusz
Szeligowski. He was an active concert organist, conducted his own music,
and wrote music for the Polish Radio Theatre (?)
b. August 13th 1929.
2009: Jan "Tollarparn" Eriksson (69)
Swedish jazz pianist (?) b. July 25th 1939.
2010: Luigi Waites/Lewis Waites (82) American
jazz drummer and vibraphonist from Omaha, Nebraska. He performed weekly
gigs in the Omaha area both solo and with ensembles such as Luigi, Inc.
He served the Omaha music community for over 60 years. He toured Europe
twice and performed with jazz legends such as Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald
and Dinah Washington. Luigi, Inc has shared the stage with Jean-Luc Ponty,
James Brown and Dizzy Gillespie. In 1996 he was awarded Nebraska Artist
of the Year by the Nebraska Arts Council,
inducted into the Omaha Black Music Hall of Fame
in 2005 and received the Lifetime Achievement
Award at the first annual Omaha Entertainment Awards on January 4th 2007
(Luigi sadly passed away at Immanuel Medical
Center in Omaha, of natural causes) b. July
10th 1927.
2011: Coyote McCloud (68) American disc
jockey based in Nashville, Tennessee; he first became well-known in the
early 1970s on WMAK-AM, then a market-dominant rock and roll station,
as host of its 7 p.m.–midnight program. He has been called "legendary"
amongst Djs. Coyote was one of the most controversial deejays of the late
1980s when he was the lead man on "The Zoo Crew" on Nashville's
Y107 / WYHY. While enormously popular amongst his target demographic,
his outlandish on-air personality drew the ire of many within the community
as being a "bad influence" on teenagers. He was one of the subjects
of a CBS 48 Hours documentary in 1992 about "shock radio". He
enjoyed his highest level of popularity while working for Y107, and had
his own fan club. He worked at the station for over 10 years, from 1984
to 1995 and was featured frequently in Billboard. He also worked at Kix
104 / WWKX in the early 1980s, Power Country 103 / WZPC in the mid-1990s,
and Oldies 96.3 / WMAK in the early 2000s. Along with Cathy Martindale,
he hosted Coyote & Cathy In The Morning on 96.3 WMAK FM and 97.1 WRQQ
until late November 2006 (he had been battling cirrhosis
of the liver)
b. August 31st 1942.
April
7th.
1981: Kit Lambert (45) English record
producer and the manager for The Who. After serving in the army, he became
assistant director for the films The Guns of Navarone and From Russia
when he met The Who and became The Who's manager. He also replaced Shel
Talmy as the group's producer in 1966. While mainly associated with The
Who, he worked with other bands, including Jimi Hendrix and Arthur Brown.
In 1980 he began writing a book on his life, of how he found The Who,
and with many never-before-told stories about The Beatles, Rolling Stones,
Brian Epstein, Jimi Hendrix and friends like Princess Margaret and Liberace.
Days before Kit was to sign a publishing deal, the publisher was contacted
by the Official Solicitor who was in charge of Lambert's life, and who
said all monies must be paid into the court to be doled out to Kit. This
was the beginning of his downward spiral (tragically
died of a cerebral hemorrhage after falling down a flight of stairs at
his mother's home in London) b. May
11th 1935.
1994:
Lee Brilleaux (41) South
African singer, harmonica player, slide-guitarist and the power-driving
front man, and founder member, of the traditional rock and electric blues
fusion Dr Feelgood; born in Durban, South Africa, but
at 13, he moved with his family to
Canvey Island, the oil refinery community in the Thames Estuary, UK. Lee
co-founded Dr Feelgood in 1971, with the guitarist Wilko Johnson and went
on to co-found the Stiff record label in 1976, and the band's own record
label Grand Records. Their breakthrough 1976 live album, Stupidity, reached
No.1 in the UK albums chart and their Top 10 hit single
"Milk and Alcohol" charted in
1979. Every year since Lee's death, a special concert, known as the Lee
Brilleaux Birthday Memorial, is held on Canvey Island (sadly
died from throat cancer) b. May
10th 1952.
2000: Heinz/Heinz
Henry Georg Schwartze (57) German
vocalist and bass player, born in Germany but raised in Southampton, UK.
His biggest solo hit was "Just Like Eddie", a tribute to Eddie
Cochran. He was initially backed by The Saints. His later backing groups
"The Wild Ones", and "The Wild Boys" featured Ritchie
Blackmore and Mick Underwood among others. Before he went solo in early
1963, he was a member of The Tornados. (he died
of a stroke, from the effects of motor neurone disease)
b. July 24th 1942.
2000: Broery/Broery Marantika (55)
Indonesian singer born
in Ambon, Maluku; he recorded around 18 albums, producing many hits including
Aku Jatuh Cinta; Ayah; Kharisma Cinta; Aku Orang Tak punya; Duri Dalam
Cinta; Senja Di Kuala Lumpur; Alam Jadi saksi; Rindumu rinduku; Balada
seorang Minta-minta; Rindumu Rinduku; and Senja Kelabu. He recorded duets
with the likes of Emillia Contessa, Vina Panduwinata, Dewi Yull and Ziana
Zain. Broery also featured in over a dozen films including Akhir sebuah
impian, Istriku sayang istriku malang, Kasih sayang, and Wajah tiga perempuan.
In 1991 he won of six Categories at Jakarta Music Festival in Best Vidio,
Clip, Sound track, Composition and Producer - He sings Once There Was
Love; 1in 996 The Best of Sound Track Album of the Movie at Malaysia Hapuslah
Air Mata/wipe your tears and in 1997 he was the winner with his song Surat
Untuk Kekasih at Malaysia Official Music Industry Award (?)
b. June 25th 1944.
2005:
Grigoris Bithikotsis (82) Greek folk singer/songwriter born
in Peristeri, Athens; he met composer Mikis Theodorakis in 1959 and the
two collaborated producing folk songs. Grigoris composed over 80 songs,
including: Stu Belami to ouzeri and Toy Votanikou o magas. He possessed
a rich singing voice with which he performed his own compositions and
those of Theodorakis, who frequently chose him to perform his masterpieces.
The two contributed greatly to the then-emerging laika style of Greek
music. A leftist, Grigoris was exiled to the island of Makronisos in the
1950s during the reign of King Paul. Throughout his life, Bithikotsis
performed frequent concerts at numerous venues, including one in Athens
upon the occasion of his eightieth birthday (sadly
died following 3 months of hospitalization)
b. December 11th 1922.
2006: Derek Jamerson (39) American
drummer and keyboardist very active in the Detroit Techno Music Scene,
he is also the son of the legendary bassist James Jamerson
>>> Read
More <<< (died in
the Presbyterian St. Lukes Hospital, Denver, Colorardo) b.
December 22nd 1966...
2008: Phil Urso (82) American jazz
tenor saxophonist and composer, he learned clarinet as a child and switched
to tenor sax while in high school. He served in the Navy during World
War II and then moved to New York City in 1947. He backed Nat King Cole
and Frank Sinatra with the Eliot Lawrence Orchestra and
played with Woody Herman, Jimmy Dorsey, Miles Davis, Terry Gibbs, Oscar
Pettiford and many others in the late 1940's until the early 70s. Phil
moved to Denver and continued performing locally into the 1990s (?)
b. October 2nd 1925.
2009: Mari Trini/Maria Trinidad Perez Miravete
(61) Spanish pop singer and actress; she learned to play guitar
and compose songs at a young age. After meeting American film producer
Nicholas Ray she moved to London to improve her natural skills and later
to Paris in 1963 where she signed her first record deal. In 1969 Mari
debuted with the release of a self-titled album featuring songs in both
Spanish and French. Amores, Escuchame and Ventanas followed soon after.
Her songs "Cuando Me Acaricias," "Canción de Otoño,"
and "Yo No Soy Esa," became classics in the Latin pop music
field. She released 25 albums over her long career, her intensity, with
a strong undercurrent of melancholy, expressed in an intimate, slightly
rasping voice, brought comparisons with Edith Piaf. (cancer) b.
July 12th 1947.
2010: Graciela Grillo-Perez (94)
Cuban latin jazz singer born in Havana. In the early 1940s, Graciela moved
to New York City to seek success and became known as 'The First Lady of
Latin Jazz'. Her best-known songs include "This is Graciela",
"Intimate and Sentimental" and "That's the Way I Am"
(Passed away due to renal and pulmonary failure)
b. August 23rd 1915.
2011: François Chassagnite (55)
French jazz trumpeter and singer; in 1979 he joined the Paris Club, his
first professional job and in 1981 he became a member of the Euro-Jazz
Big Band. In the 1980s, he played in bands led by Jean-Loup Longnon ,
Antoine Hervé, Andy Emler and Denis Badault . He together with
Alain Jean-Marie, Alby Cullaz and Oliver Johnson he formed a quartet together
with whom he toured European and African countries went on. In 1987/88
he was with the big bands of Gil Evans and Gérard Badini in 1989.
He played his debut album Samya Cynthia in 1993, followed by the Thelonious
Monk album Epistrophy. He also worked with Stéphane Bertrand ,
Emanuele Cisi, Dominique Lemerle and Frédéric Viale
(sadly died of a heart attack) b. 1955.
2013: Irma Ravinale (75) Italian composer
and music educator born in Naples; she studied
composition at the Rome Conservatory of Santa Cecilia and continued her
studies in Paris and in Cologne, also studying piano, conducting and choral
music. In
1966, she took a position teaching
composition at the Conservatory Santa Cecilia in Rome. She
became director of San Pietro a Maijella Conservatory in Naples where
she served until 1989 and then Director of the Conservatory of Santa Cecilia
where she served until 1999. She is member of the International Honour
Committee of the Fondazione Donne in Musica. She composes many works for
symphony orchestra, chamber ensembles and musical theatre. In 1992 she
was honored with Commander of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic
(?)
b.
October 1st 1937.
2013: Andy Johns (61) British sound
engineer and record producer born in Surrey and attended The King's School,
Gloucester. Before his nineteenth birthday, he was working as Eddie Kramer's
second engineer on recordings by Jimi Hendrix and many others. His
sound is exemplified by Free's album Highway, which he engineered and
produced. In a career spanning more than
forty years, he engineered or produced records by artists ranging from
Led Zeppelin and The Rolling Stones to Van Halen and Rod Stewart, whose
sales total in excess of 160 million copies
(Andy sadly died after a short stay in a Los Angeles hospital being treated
for complications from a stomach ulcer) b.
May 20th
1950.
2013: Neil Smith (59) Australian rock
electric bassist, he was an early member of AC/DC before he joined up
with Rose Tattoo in 1979 (sadly
died while battling cancer) b. 1952
or 1953.
April
8th.
1938: Joe "King" Oliver (57)
American cornet player; born in Aben, Louisiana, he pioneered in the use
of mutes, including the plumber's plunger, derby hat, bottles and cups
in the bell of his horn. His recording "WaWaWa" with the Dixie
Syncopators can be credited with giving the name wah-wah to such techniques.
He gave Louis Armstrong the first cornet that Louis was to own. Louis
called Oliver his idol and inspiration all his life. Joe was also noted
as a composer, having written many tunes still regularly played, including
"Dippermouth Blues", "Sweet Like This", "Canal
Street Blues", and "Doctor Jazz". Two of Armstrong's most
famous recordings, "West End Blues" and "Weather Bird",
were Oliver compositions. Joe was inducted as a charter member of the
Gennett Records Walk of Fame in Richmond, Indiana in 2007. (The
Great Depression was harsh on him and Joe "King" Oliver ,
one of the most influential pioneer icons, died
in poverty in a Chicago rooming house at 508 Montgomery Street)
b. December 19th 1885
1942: Kostas Skarvelis (61) Greek
songwriter; growing up in Istanbul, he composed hundreds of songs, writing
mostly of love, over 200 recordings still survive. He collaborated with
singers including Giorgos Kavouras, Rita Abatzi, Kostas Roukounas, Marika
Frantzeskopoulou, Kostas Tsanakos, Markos Vamvakaris, Stellakis
Perpiniadis, Apostolos Chatzichristos. (tragically Kostas
died of hunger as a result of the occupation of Greece by the Axis (Germany-Japan-Italy)
during the WW2, sharing the fate of hundreds of thousands of Greeks)
b. 1880.
1985: John Frederick
Coots (87) American songwriter
born in Brooklyn, New York, he wrote over 700 songs including 'Santa Claus
Is Coming to Town' a song that became one of the biggest best sellers
in American music history. John offered the song to Eddie Cantor who used
it on his radio show that November and it became an instant hit. The morning
after the radio show there were orders for 100,000 copies of sheet music,
and, by Christmas, sales had passed 400,000. Other songs included Love
Letters In The Sand, You Go To My Head, Louisiana Fairy Tale, For All
We Know, and I Still Get a Thrill (Thinking of You). (?)
b. May 2nd 1897.
1986:
Yukiko Okada (18) Japanese singer;
in March 1983, she was the winner of "Star Tanjo!", on Nippon
Television, similar to American Idol. Yukiko debuted with a single, "First
Date" in April of '84. That
year, she won Rookie of the Year, and was awarded the 26th Japan Record
Awards' Grand Prix Best New Artist Award for her third single, "Dreaming
Girl: Koi, Hajimemashite". Yukiko played the leading role in her
first television drama Kinjirareta Mariko /The Forbidden Mariko, in 1985
and in her 1986 single "Lip Network", reached number one on
the Oricon weekly singles chart (Yukiko
was found with a slashed wrist in her gas-filled Tokyo apartment, crouching
in a closet and sobbing. Two hours later, the singer jumped to her death
from the seven-storey Sun Music Agency building. The reason for her suicide
is still unknown)
b.
August 22nd 1967.
1991: Dead/Per Yngve Ohlin (22) Swedish
black metal vocalist born in Stockholm, Sweden best known for his work
with Norwegian black metal band Mayhem. In the late '80s Dead worked as
vocalist with the Swedish death metal band Morbid, recording demos Morbid
Rehearsal and December Moon both in 1987. He joined the Norwegian black
metal band Mayhem in 1998 and can be heard on their albums Dawn of the
Black Hearts, Live in Leipzig, Freezing Moon/Carnage, and Out from the
Dark. Allegedly Dead used to smell a dead crow he kept in a jar before
performances so that he could “sing with the smell of death in his
nostrils” and would regularly cut himself with knives and bottles
on stage. When he killed himself via neck and wrist slitting and shotgun
to the head, it is rumoured his band member took some pictures and made
necklaces out of the skull fragments. Then, one of the pictures was stolen
and made in to the cover of the bootleg album Dawn Of The Black Hearts.
Many people say that the Norwegian black metal scene realized it’s
true potential when Dead died. (suicide)
b. January 16th 1969.
1995: Roosevelt "Booba" Barnes (59)
US Bluesman, harmonica player; born in Longwood, Mississippi, he
started out with the Swinging Gold Coasters in 1960, a Mississippi blues
outfit, before relocating to Chicago in 1964, where he played in bars
and clubs. By the early 70s he was back in Mississippi playing locally.
In 1985 he opened a nightclub, the Playboy Club, where he would play with
his backing band called the Playboys. They became regional blues favorites,
and eventually signed to Rooster Blues. Booba released his debut album
"The Heartbroken Man" in 1990. The album was hailed by Allmusic
as "an instant modern classic". He toured the U.S. and Europe
following the album's release (lung cancer)
b. September 25th 1936
1997:
Laura Nyro (49) American
singer, guitarist, pianist, songwriter born in The Bronx, New York. Her
style was a hybrid of Brill Building-style New York pop, jazz, gospel,
rhythm and blues, show tunes and rock. She
was best known, and enjoyed her greatest commercial success, as a composer
and lyricist rather than as a performer. Between 1968 and 1970 a number
of other singers had significant hits with her songs: The 5th Dimension
with "Blowing Away", "Wedding Bell Blues", "Stoned
Soul Picnic", "Sweet Blindness", "Save The Country"
and "Black Patch"; Blood, Sweat & Tears and Peter, Paul
& Mary with "And When I Die"; Three Dog Night with "Eli's
Coming"; and Barbra Streisand with "Stoney End", "Time
and Love", and "Hands off the Man (Flim Flam Man)". Nyro's
best-selling single was her recording of Carole King and Gerry Goffin's
"Up on the Roof" (ovarian cancer)
b. October 18th 1947.
2008: Cedella Malcolm Booker
(81) Jamaican mother of the great
Bob Marley, born in Rhoden Hall, Saint Ann Parish, Jamaica. At 18, she
married Norval Marley, a white Jamaican of English ancestry, when she
became pregnant with his son. Norval was a Marine officer and captain
as well as the plantation overseer. His family applied constant pressure
however, and although he provided financial support for them, the Captain
seldom saw his wife and son. Bob was ten years old when Norval died of
a heart attack in 1955 at age 60. Cedella and Bob then moved to Trenchtown,
a slum neighborhood in Kingston (natural causes)
b. July 23rd 1926.
2009: David
"Pop" Winans (74) American
gospel singer; the patriarch of the award-winning gospel music family,
The Winans. Born in Detroit, he began singing with a gospel quartet at
the age of 18.
He met his wife Delores while in the Lucille Lemon Choir, and recorded
together as "Mom and Pop Winans" and separately at various times
as "Mom", "Pop", "David" or "Delores".
They received a Grammy nomination for their CD "Mom & Pop Winans"
in 1989 and in 1999, David was nominated for a Grammy for his solo album,
"Uncensored". The Winans family gospel group earned six Grammy
awards and were well known for the yearly Christmas concerts they organized
at Mercy Hall in which their ten children participated
(heart attack) b. April 20th 1934.
2010: Malcolm McLaren (64)
English performer, impresario, self-publicist and former manager of the
Sex Pistols. He had been attracted early in his life to the Situationist
movement, which promoted absurdist and provocative actions as a way of
enacting social change. In 1968 Malcolm had tried unsuccessfully to get
to Paris to take part in the demonstrations there. He was raised by his
grandmother, Rose, in Newington Green, North London, who home-schooled
him and fed him slogans such as "To be bad is good... to be good
is simply boring", and after having been expelled from several art
colleges, he opened a clothes shop on the King's Road, with his then girlfriend
Vivienne Westwood in 1971. The shop, which had a few names, became a focal
point of the fledgling punk movement. It was here that he first encountered
a young John Lydon, aka Johnny Rotten of the future Sex Pistols. After
a trip to New York in 1972 he brought back exciting images in his mind,
images to add to, and blast on to the British public, images of this distressed,
strange thing called Richard Hell, and the phrase, 'the blank generation'.
Malcolm credits American musician Richard Hell, an originator of the punk
fashion look, the first to spike his hair and wear torn, cut and drawn-on
shirts, often held together with safety pins, as a definite, 100% inspiration,
for his accessorized clothing he sold in his London shop, and the Sex
Pistols' look and attitude. In 1975, he breifly worked with The New York
Dolls >>> Read
More
<<<
(sadly died after a long and brave battle with mesothelioma cancer)
b. January
22nd 1946.
2010: Dorothea Margaretha "Teddy" Scholten-van
Zwieteren (73) Dutch singer born in Rijswijk,
close to The Hague; in
1959, Teddy won the Eurovision Song Contest for the Netherlands singing
"Een beetje"/A little bit, with music composed by Dick Schallies
and lyrics by Willy van Hemert. Also she commentated for the Netherlands
in the Contest for the 1966 Eurovision. With her husband, Henk Scholten,
she recorded several albums, many of them containing songs for children.
In the 1950s and 1960s she appeared in popular television shows in The
Netherlands. In 1965 and 1966, she presented the National Song Festival
(?)
b. May 11th 1926.
2011: Bill
Pitcock IV (59)
American guitarist and singer-songwriter born in Tulsa; he began performing
as a guitarist with his parents' dance band in 1964. In 1971, he began
to life long work with the Dwight Twilley Band, best known for the Top
20 hit singles "I'm on Fire", and "Girls". He also
played with fellow Twilley band member, Phil Seymour playing on the hit
“Precious To Me”, also Phil's first solo album contained two
songs written by Bill, "Don't Blow Your Life Away" and "Won't
Finish Here". As well as as these commitments from 1983 to 1998 he
also played with the Mystery Band. Bill had recently released his first
solo CD "Play What You Mean" and can be heard playing on Twilley’s
2010 release, "Green Blimp". (?)
b. December 7th 1952.
2011: Donald Shanks AO OBE (70) Australian
operatic bass-baritone, born in Brisbane. His first experience of a staged
work was Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Mikado, the opera with which
he also chose to end his career in 2004. Over the years, he built a reputation
as one of the most versatile figures in Australian opera, performing in
all the major comic roles, from the title role in Don Pasquale and Bartolo
in The Marriage of Figaro, to The Italian Girl in Algiers to bel canto
roles such as Lucia di Lammermoor and Norma, to the key dramatic roles,
particularly in Wagner heavyweights such as Tannhäuser, Lohengrin
and Tristan und Isolde. He sang in Lucia di Lammermoor, Il trovatore and
Norma with Dame Joan Sutherland, La bohème with Luciano Pavarotti,
and Banquo in Macbeth with Sherrill Milnes, a few of his 65 principal
roles. Donald was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in
1977 and an Officer of the Order of Australia in 1987 (died
sadly from a heart attack) b. July 5th 1940.
2011: Daniel Catán (62) Mexican
composer known particularly for his operas and his creative friendship
with the tenor, Placido Domingo. He was the first Mexican composer to
have an opera produced in the United States, when San Diego Opera produced
his Rappaccini's Daughter in March, 1994. In addition
to composition, he had a career as a writer on music and the arts.
In 1998, Daniel received the Plácido Domingo Award for his contribution
to opera, and he received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2000. His newest
opera, Il Postino, with Plácido Domingo in the role of Pablo Neruda,
is based on a novel by Antonio Skármeta and the film by Michael
Radford, and premiered at the Los Angeles Opera, in September 2010.
(his death came a few days after he attended rehearsals
for Il Postino at the Moores Opera Centre, Houston) b. April 3rd
1949.
2012: José Guardiola (81) Spanish
singer of popular music;
born in Barcelona, he sang in Spanish and
Catalan, and performed and recorded mostly Spanish versions of
foreign songs. He reached his maximum fame in Spain and Latin America
in the early 1960s with versions of songs like "Sixteen Tons",
"Mack the Knife" and "Ya Mustafa". He represented
Spain in the Eurovision Song Contest of 1963, placing 12th
(?) b. October 22nd 1930.
2012: Rikiya Yasuoka (64)
Japanese actor and singer of mixed Japanese
and Italian descent born in Minato-ku, Tokyo. He was a founding member
of the
pop/rock group 'Sharp Hawks' formed in 1963;
they made their recording debut in
1966, and had hits such as ‘Land of
A Thousand Dances’, ‘What I Say’, ‘Let Me Go’
and a Flamenco version of the standard ‘Unchain My Heart’.
In 1964, he made his first film appearance in the movie "Car Thief",
his other films include Stray Cat Rock: Sex Hunter, Torakku Yaro: Go-iken
muyo, Tampopo, and Black Rain. Sadly Rikiya was diagnosed with
Guillain–Barré syndrome in 2006 (died
of heart failure) b. July 19th 1947.
2012: George Wilberforce Kakoma (89)
Ugandan musician, a graduate of Trinity College of Music and Durham University
he composed "Oh Uganda,Land of Beauty", Uganda's national anthem.
Prior to Uganda's independence, three sub-committees were established
to deal with Uganda’s national symbols. The committee for the creation
of a national anthem encouraged Ugandans to submit songs and in July 1963,
they chose George's composition. In 1975, George fled to exile in Nairobi
following numerous threats on his life. While in Kenya, he taught music
at Kenyatta University. He returned in 1986 and served as a head of department
at Makerere University Department of Music, Dance and Drama until 1992.
He later returned to Kenya’s Maseno University where he helped to
establish and head a music department. After six years in Kenya, he retired
to a quiet life at his Wakiso home (sadly George
had been seriously ill with heart problems since February 2011)
b. 1922/1923
2013: Sara Montiel (85)
Spanish actress and singer, born in Campo
de Criptana in the region of Castile–La Mancha and was the most commercially
successful Spanish actress during the mid-20th century in much of the
world, co-starring along side the likes Gary Cooper, Mario Lanza and Burt
Lancaster. She also had a successful singing career, recording around
30 albums. In November 2009, Alaska from the pop group Fangoria invited
Sara to record a track sharing vocals with her for the re-release of the
band's album Absolutamente. They recorded the title track "Absolutamente"
as a duet and when the single was released it became an instant Top 10
hit (sadly Sara died from cardiac arrest)
b. March 10th 1928
April
9th.
1963: Eddie Edwards (71) American
jazz trombonist, best known his pioneer recordings with the Original Dixieland
Jass Band;
born in New Orleans, Louisiana, he started playing violin at age 10, and
took up trombone in addition at 15. He played both instruments professionally,
including with the bands of Papa Jack Laine and Ernest Giardina. In 1916
he was picked by Alcide Nunez to go to Chicago, to play trombone with
Johnny Stein's Jass Band. With a few changes of personnel this band became
the famous Original Dixieland Jass Band which made the first records of
jazz music in 1917. He left the band after being drafted into the US Army.
After his discharge he led a band of his own and worked in the band of
Jimmie Durante before returning to the O.D.J.B. After the break up the
Original Dixieland Jazz Band, Eddie again led his own band in New York
City for most of the 1920s. In the early 1930s he retired from music and
ran a newspaper stand and worked as a sports coach. He returned to music
when Nick LaRocca reformed the O.D.J.B. in 1936, playing with them until
1938. He played with other bands including O.D.J.B. alumni Larry Shields,
Tony Sbarbaro, and J. Russell Robinson into the 40s and continued playing
professionally until shortly before his death in New York City (?)
b. May 22nd 1891.
1976: Dagmar Nordstrom (72) American
composer, pianist and singer; born in Chicago, she performed together
with her sister Siggie as a cabaret singing duo known as The Nordstrom
Sisters. During the 1920s she cut piano rolls for Steinway and Duo-Art,
including "Happy
Days and Lonely Nights", "Sweet Dreams", "Are You
Happy?", "Blue River", and "Glad Rag Doll" (she
sadly suffered a massive stroke)
b. December 12th 1903.
1976: Phil Ochs (35) America protest
singer-songwriter, born in El Paso, Texas; He
wrote hundreds of songs in the 1960s and released eight albums.
Politically, Phil described himself as a "left social democrat"
who became an "early revolutionary" after the protests at the
1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago led to a police riot, which
had a profound effect on his state of mind. He performed at many political
events, including anti-Vietnam War and civil rights rallies, student events,
and organized labor events over the course of his career, in addition
to many concert appearances at such venues as New York City's Town Hall
and Carnegie Hall. The Vietnam War ended on April 30th 1975. Phil planned
a final "War Is Over" rally, which was held in New York's Central
Park on May 11. More than 100,000 people came to hear Phil, joined by
Harry Belafonte, Odetta, Pete Seeger and others. He and Joan Baez sang
a duet of "There but for Fortune" and he closed with his song
"The War Is Over"—finally a true declaration that the war
was over. Michael Korolenko directed the 1984 film Chords of Fame, which
featured Bill Burnett as Ochs. The film included interviews with people
who had known Ochs, including Yippies Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin, manager
Harold Leventhal, and Mike Porco, the owner of Gerde's Folk City. Chords
of Fame also included performances of Ochs songs by folk musicians who
knew him, including Bob Gibson, Pete Seeger, Tom Paxton, Dave Van Ronk,
and Eric Andersen. (Phil's
drinking had become more and more of a problem, and his behavior became
increasingly very erratic. Also afflicted with serious depression, he
hung himself at his sisters home in Queens, New York)
b. December 19th 1940.
1982: Wilfrid Pelletier (85) French
Canadian conductor, pianist, composer, instrumental in establishing the
Montreal Symphony Orchestra. He was one of the most influential music
educators in Canada during the 20th century. It was largely through his
efforts that the Conservatoire de musique et d'art dramatique du Québec
(CMADQ), an organization which has established and oversees nine different
schools of higher education in music and theatre in Quebec, was established
in 1942. From 1943 through 1961 he served as the director of the CMADQ
and its first school the Conservatoire de musique du Québec à
Montréal. He also served as the first director of the CMDAQ's second
school, the Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Québec,
from 1944–1946, and was instrumental in establishing the Conservatoire
d'art dramatique du Québec à Montréal in 1954. As
a pianist, he was active during the 1920s and 1930s as one half of a piano
duo with partner Arthur Loesser. He also made a number of solo recordings
in the early 1920s, playing mostly piano reductions from the operas of
French composers like Georges Bizet, Charles Gounod, and Jules Massenet.
As a composer, he produced only a small body of work, most notably In
the Dark, in the Dew which soprano Maria Jeritza included in a number
of her recitals. Wilfrid
retired
from performance in the early 1970s (?)
b. June 20th 1896.
1988: Dave Prater (50)
American Southern Soul and R & B singer
who was the deeper, baritone and second tenor vocalist of the duo Sam
& Dave from 1961 until his death in 1988. Their hit "You Don't
Know Like I Know," started a series of 10 straight top 20 Billboard
R&B hits that included "Hold On! I'm Comin'", "You
Got Me Hummin', "When Something Is Wrong with My Baby", "Soul
Man", and "I Thank You". Most
hits were penned by Dave
and Isaac Hayes and the majority
of recordings they were backed by Hayes on piano with Booker T & the
M.G.s and the Memphis Horns. Dave
is a member of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, the Grammy Hall of Fame
for the song "Soul Man", the Vocal Group Hall of Fame, the Georgia
Music Hall Of Fame and was a Grammy Award winning and multi-Gold Record
award winning recording artist (sadly died in a
car
crash at Syracuse)
b.
May 9th 1937.
1988: Brook Benton/Benjamin Franklin Peay (56)
American singer and songwriter born
in Lugoff, South Carolina. His silky
smooth tones was popular with rock
n roll, rhythm and blues, and pop music audiences during the late 1950s
and early 1960s, when he scored hits such as "It's Just A Matter
Of Time", "Hotel Happiness", "Think Twice", "Kiddio",
"The Boll Weevil Song" and "Endlessly", many of which
he co-wrote. He
made a comeback in 1970 with the ballad "Rainy Night in Georgia".
Brook eventually charted 49 singles on the Billboard Hot 100, with other
songs charting on Billboard's rhythm and blues, easy listening, and Christmas
music charts, as well as writing hits for other performers such as Nat
King Cole, Clyde McPhatter, and Roy Hamilton (complications
from spinal meningitis)*September
19th 1931.
1991: Martin Hannett aka Martin Zero (42)
English record producer, born in Manchester,
Lancashire; as a teenager he played bass with Spider Mike King and as
member in a band called Paradox, in 1973, alongside Paul Young, later
of Sad Café and Mike + The Mechanics.
His production work began with the cartoon show All Kinds of Heroes soundtrack.
Another early production works included Greasy Bear material, Belt &
Braces Road Show Band's self-titled album, in 1975, and five songs from
Pete Farrow's repertoire, later included on that artist's compilation
album Who Says There's No Beach in Stockport, in 1977. Credited as Martin
Zero, he appeared on Top of the Pops playing bass, actually an acoustic
guitar with four strings, on Jilted John's eponymous single, Martin also
produced. He went on to work with The
Smiths, New Order, Joy Division, Happy Mondays, Magazine, and U2, The
Psychedelic Furs (discovered dead in his chair,
sadly a victim of heart failure)
b. May 31st 1948.
1997: Mae Boren Axton (82) Known
in the music industry as the 'Queen Mother of Nashville'. She was one
of the co-writers of the song Heartbreak Hotel, made popular by Elvis
Presley. She
was an influential member of the Nashville music industry. For decades
she used her influence to contribute to the success of many musical careers
including Mel Tillis, Reba McEntire, Willie Nelson and Blake Shelton to
name only a few. She wrote some 200 songs, 14 of which made the charts
(drowned in her hot tub at her home)
b. September 14th 1914.
1998: Tom Corra (44) American
cellist and composer; he made his musical debut as drummer on a local
TV program and in the mid-1970s he played guitar for a Washington, D.C.
jazz club house band. He took up the cello while at the University of
Virginia, during this time he formed his own group, The Moose Skowron
Tuned Metal Ensemble and began constructing instruments for it. In
1979 he moved to New York where he worked with Shockabilly guitarist Eugene
Chadbourne, introducing the cello to the honky tonk circuits of North
America. He performed and/or recorded with John Zorn, Fred Frith, Andrea
Centazzo, Butch Morris, Wayne Horvitz, David Moss, Toshinori Kondo and
others. He also collaborated with George Cartwright and Bill Laswell which
led to the formation of the art rock band Curlew in 1979. In 1982 he and
Fred Frith formed Skeleton Crew, touring Europe and Japan and was also
a member of the improvising trio Third Person, formed in 1990. Tom performed
with a number of other bands, including Nimal and post-rock quartet Roof.
In 1990, he played two concerts with Dutch anarcho-punk band, The Ex,
and the success of this collaboration resulted in him performing hundreds
of concerts with The Ex and appearing on two of their CDs. (malignant
melanoma) b.
September 14th 1953.
1999: Red Norvo/Kenneth Norville (91)
American jazz vibraphonist known as "Mr. Swing". He helped establish
the xylophone and later the vibraphone as viable jazz instruments. His
major recordings included "Dance of the Octopus", "Bughouse",
"Knockin' on Wood", "Congo Blues", and "Hole
in the Wall". Born in Beardstown, Illinois, he started out
in Chicago with a band called "The Collegians", in 1925. He
played with many other bands, including an all-marimba band on the vaudeville
circuit, and the bands of Paul Whiteman, Benny Goodman, Charlie Barnet,
and Woody Herman. Red recorded with Mildred Bailey (his wife), Billie
Holiday, Dinah Shore and Frank Sinatra, among others.
(sadly died from a stroke) b. March
31st 1908
1999: Colin Manley (56)
English guitarist and vocalist, born in Liverpool; in 1958 along
with Don Andrew he founded the The Remo Quartet, changing their name to
the Remo Four in the summer of 1959. They were voted Number Three Group
in a 1961 Mersey Beat poll, among their fans were the young Beatles. They
band played many gigs around Europe and in late 1967, Beatle George Harrison
hired the Remo Four as his backing band for part of his first solo project,
the soundtrack album to the movie Wonderwall. While the songs were mostly
instrumentals, they did record one lyrical song, "In The First Place",
with Harrison, which was left in the can until the 1990s. They also became
Billy Fury's backing band, in the late 1960s until they disbanded in 1970.
Colin went on to become an accompanist for singers including Engelbert
Humperdinck, and later joined The Swinging Blue Jeans. Colin and Don Andrew
appeared with Gerry Marsden performing on stage in an episode of the UK
TV soap "Brookside" in the 1990s (sadly
died fighting cancer)
b. April 16th
1942.
2008: Bob Kames (82) American polka
musician, songwriter and is credited with developing and popularizing
the modern-day version of the song "Dance Little Bird," which
is much better known by its more common name, The Chicken Dance. He recorded
over seventy albums throughout his career. He owned and operated a chain
of music stores called Bob Kames Wonderful World of Music, based in Milwaukee,
Wisconsin. He is a member of the Wisconsin Area Music Industry's Hall
of Fame (sadly died after a fight with prostate
cancer) b. April 21st 1925.
2008: Erkki Aukusti Junkkarinen (78) Finnish
singer; he
established his musical career in 1950 with his successful album Yksinäinen
harmonikka. He made only one album in the 1960s, Ruusut hopeamaljassa.
In 1975, he released the same songs under the different name Ruusuja hopeamaljassa.
The new edition sold very well, and Junkkarinen received the first Finnish
platinum record ever. As he grew to an unually large fame for an artist
in Finland, he helped spread the humppa style of music.
(?) b. April 22nd
1929.
2008: Choubeila Rached (75)
Tunisian singer, decorated with the insignia of the Order of the
National Merit in the cultural sector by President Zine el Abidine Ben
Ali (?) b. 1933.
2009: Duke D'Mond/Richard
Palmer (66) British singer; founder
member and lead singer of 46 years with the The Barron Knights, he retired
from performing 4 years ago after a bad fall. The Barron Knights, a British
humorous pop group, was originally formed in 1959 as The Knights of the
Round Table, they became the Barron Knights on October 5th 1960. They
toured with the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Pet Clarke and others. Of
their many humorous songs recorded, they achieved 14 chart hits, including
"Come to the Dance", "Pop Go the Workers", "Merry
Gentle Pops", "Live in Trouble", "The Topical Song",
"A Taste of Aggro" and their first and best known hit 1964's
"Call Up The Groups", written in response to the end of national
service in the UK. (pneumonia
- Duke was rushed to a hospital in Oxford with internal bleeding, then
went into a coma before having a severe heart attack and developing pneumonia)
b. February 25th 1943
2009: Randy Cain/Rudy
Cain (63) American singer; soul singer
and founder member of the The Delfonics whose hits included “La La
Means I Love You”. Randy along with brothers William and Wilbert
Hart formed the band while attending Overbrook High School in Philadelphia
in the 1960s. The group, one of the earliest to define the smooth, soulful
“Philadelphia” sound, won an R&B Grammy in 1970 for its
song “Didn’t I (Blow Your Mind This Time). He left the
Delfonics in 1971 and later helped form the group Blue Magic, who had
a hit in 1974 with the quirky love song "Slideshow", when he
brought singer and songwriter Theodore Mills to his production company.
He rejoined The Delfonics in the 1980s. The group enjoyed renewed popularity
in later decades after their music was sampled by several major hip-hop
artists, including Notorious BIG, Missy Elliott and The Fugees. The chorus
of Ready or Not by The Fugees, which topped the UK charts in 1996, is
based on The Delfonics' song, Ready Or Not, Here I Come (Can't Hide From
Love) (died at his home in Maple Shade, New Jersey)
b. May 2nd 1945.
2010: Kenneth McKellar (82) Scottish
tenor singer; after studying forestry at the University of Aberdeen, he
trained at the Royal College of Music as an opera singer. He did a short
stint with the Carl Rosa Opera Company, but left to pursue a career singing
traditional Scottish songs and other works. His albums of the songs of
Robert Burns are considered by musicologists to be definitive interpretations.
In 1966 Kenneth was selected to represent the UK in the Eurovision Song
Contest in Luxembourg, the song "A Man Without Love". In the
1960s and 1970s he appeared many times on the BBC Television Hogmanay
celebration programme, alongside Jimmy Shand and Andy Stewart and other
programmes and toured widely, including New Zealand. On 31 December 1973,
the first Scottish commercial radio station Radio Clyde began broadcasting
to Glasgow. The first record they played was "Song of the Clyde"
sung by Kenneth McKellar. The same recording featured over the opening
titles of the 1963 film, Billy Liar. He also recorded several classical
works, including Handel's Messiah alongside Joan Sutherland in a performance
conducted by Sir Adrian Boult (pancreatic
cancer) b. June 23rd 1927.
2011: Roger Nichols (66) American
sound engineer, record producer, and 7-time Grammy Award-winner born in
Oakland, California. In 1965 he and some friends created their own recording
studio, Quantum Studios, in what was originally a four car garage, in
Torrance, CA. From the 1970 onwards Roger
is best known for his work with the group Steely Dan and John Denver,
but his work includes numerous major music acts including the Beach Boys,
Stevie Wonder, Frank Zappa, Crosby Stills & Nash, Al Di Meola, Roy
Orbison, Cass Elliot, Plácido Domingo, Gloria Estefan, Diana Ross,
Bela Fleck & the Flecktones,
>>> Read
More <<< (Roger sadly
died after his brave battle with pancreatic cancer)
b.
September 22nd 1944.
2011: Robert Orrin Tucker (100) American
bandleader born in St. Louis, Missouri, whose theme song was "Drifting
and Dreaming". His biggest hit was "Oh Johnny, Oh Johnny, Oh!"
in 1939, sung by vocalist "Wee" Bonnie Baker. Robert
and his orchestra remained active until the 1990s, when health problems
forced him to retire. In 2003, he was interviewed about his passion for
music and his long career as a bandleader by the NAMM oral history program
(?)
b. February 17th 1911
2011:
Randy
Wood (94) American
record producer and founder of Dot Records; he had earlier started a mail
order record shop, known for its radio ads on WLAC in Nashville and its
R&B and black gospel air personality Bill "Hoss" Allen.
He founded Dot Records in 1950, the headquarters of were in Gallatin,
Tennessee, many of the older recording were recorded in radio station
WHIN, which Randy also owned at the time. WHIN was a daytime only radio
station so recording sessions were held at night when the station was
off the air. In its early years, the label specialized in artists from
around Tennessee. His first artist was ragtime pianist Johnny Maddox,
recording what became “The Crazy Otto Medley”. In 1956, the
company moved to Hollywood, CA. Then it branched out to include musicians
and singers from across the United States. It recorded a variety of country
music, rhythm & blues, polkas & waltzes, gospel music, rockabilly,
pop music, and early rock & roll. After the move to Hollywood, Dot
Records bought up many recordings by small local independent labels and
issued them nationally. In 1957, Randy sold ownership of the label to
Paramount Pictures, but he remained the president of the company for another
decade (Tragically
Randy died after a fall in his home at La Jolla, California)
b. March 30th 1917.
2012: Jim Niven (?) Australian
pianist and keyboard player; he played with The Pink Finks before joining
The Captain Matchbox Whoopee Band, a band which grew within a couple of
years from an underground art school band to a national icon, with film
and TV appearances and regular appearances in the charts. Their debut
LP Smoke Dreams-1972 was released in the USA in the DynaQuad quadraphonic
format and their second LP Wangaratta Wahine featured a cover illustration
by noted Australian cartoonist Michael Leunig. In 1976 Jim was
a founder member of the Australian rock group The Sport, their best known
songs include "Boys (What Did the Detective Say?)", "Don't
Throw Stones", "When You Walk in the Room", "How Come",
"Who Listens to the Radio?", "Perhaps" and "Strangers
on a Train". In October 2010, their 1979 album, Don't Throw Stones,
was listed in the book, 100 Best Australian Albums
(sadly died after a battle with cancer) b. ????
2013: Emilio Pericoli (85) Italian
singer born in Cesenatico, Romagna. He recorded a cover version of the
song, "Al di là", by festival winner Betty Curtis. The
song was an international success, hitting the charts in tthe USA and
the UK and sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc.
In 1962, Pericoli entered the Sanremo Festival and together with composer
Tony Renis he sang the ballad, "Quando, Quando, Quando", which
later became one of the best-known Italian hits. A year later, he returned
to San Remo with Renis with the song "Uno per tutte". He placed
among the winners, and won a spot in the 1963 Eurovision Song Contest,
where he placed third, behind the winners Grethe and Jorgen Ingmann and
runner-up Esther Ofarim (?) b.
January 7th 1928.
April
10th.
1938:
Joe "King" Oliver (52) American
jazz cornet player and bandleader born in Aben, Louisiana. He was particularly
noted for his playing style, pioneering the use of mutes. Also a notable
composer, he wrote many tunes still played regularly, including "Dippermouth
Blues", "Sweet Like This", "Canal Street Blues",
and "Doctor Jazz". He was the mentor and teacher of Louis Armstrong.
His influence was such that Armstrong claimed, "if it had not been
for Joe Oliver, jazz would not be what it is today". By 1922, after
travels in California, Joe was the jazz king in Chicago, with King Oliver
and his Creole Jazz Band performing at the Royal Gardens. Virtually all
the members of this band went on to notable solo careers. Personnel were
himself on cornet, his protégé Louis Armstrong, second cornet,
Baby Dodds, drums, Johnny Dodds, clarinet, Lil Hardin on piano, Honoré
Dutrey on trombone, and William Manuel Johnson, bass and banjo. Recordings
made by this group in 1923 demonstrated the serious artistry of the New
Orleans style of collective improvisation or Dixieland music to a wider
audience. Sadly he lost his life savings when a Chicago bank collapsed
(?)
b. May 11th 1885.
1958: Chuck Willis/Harold Willis (30)
American blues, rhythm and blues, and rock singer and songwriter; he was
born in Atlanta, Georgia. In 1951, Willis signed with Columbia Records,
in 1956, he moved to Atlantic Records where he had immediate success with
"It's Too Late", "Juanita", and "Love Me Cherry".
His most successful recording was "C.C. Rider", which topped
the rhythm and blues chart in 1957 and also crossed over and sold well
in the pop market, and inspired the emergence of the popular dance, The
Stroll. Willis's follow-up to "C. C. Rider" was "Betty
and Dupree", another "stroll" song, which did very well.
(Chuck had suffered from stomach ulcers for years, sadly he died suddenly
and premarurly of peritonitis while at the peak of his career)
b. January 31st 1928.
1960:
Arthur Leslie Benjamin (66) Australian
composer, pianist, conductor and teacher. He is well known as the composer
of Jamaican Rhumba, composed in 1938. Born in Sydney and brought up in
Brisbane, he made his first
public appearance as a pianist at
the age of six. As well as his career teaching music in Australia, Britain
and other parts of the world, tutoring
students including Muir Mathieson, Peggy Glanville-Hicks, Miriam Hyde,
Joan Trimble, Stanley Bate, Dorian
Le Gallienne, Bernard Stevens, Lamar
Crowson, Alun Hoddinott, Natasha Litvin, and Benjamin Britten, his many
chamber, opera
and orchestral works, Arthur also
wrote music for films. This began in 1934 with The Scarlet Pimpernel and
Alfred Hitchcock’s The Man Who Knew Too Much. Other scores included
An Ideal Husband, The Conquest of Everest, The Cumberland Story, Steps
of the Ballet, The Crowthers of Bankdam, Above Us the Waves and Fire Down
Below to mention a few (he died at the Middlesex
Hospital, UK, from a re-occurence of the cancer that had first attacked
him three years earlier) b. September 18th
1893.
1962: Stuart Sutcliff (22) British
bassist born in Edinburgh, Scotland; an art school friend of John Lennon,
he was the original bassist of The Beatles for two years and is credited
with naming the group after Buddy Holly's band the Crickets. As a member
of the group when it was a five-piece band, Stuart is one of several people
sometimes referred to as "the fifth Beatle".
He
played with the Beatles in Hamburg, where he met photographer Astrid Kirchherr,
to whom he was later engaged. He
left
1970: Rafael "Ralph" Escudero (71)
Puerto
Rican bassist and tubist active on
the early
jazz scene. At aged 12 he began
playing bass in a school band, before moving to New York to
play with the New Amsterdam Musical Association in 1920-21. In 1923 he
was playing with Wilbur Sweatman at the Howard Theater in Washington,
D.C., then with Fletcher Henderson until 1926. After which he joined McKinney's
Cotton Pickers, where he played and recorded until 1931. In the 1930s
he played with Kaiser Marshall, the Savoy Bearcats, and W.C. Handy. Ralf
then returned to Puerto Rico, playing there into the 1960s (?)
b. July 16th 1898.
1979: Nino Rota/Nino Rinaldi (67) Italian
composer born in Milan; he is best known for his film scores, notably
for the films of Federico Fellini and Luchino Visconti. He also composed
the music for two of Franco Zeffirelli's Shakespeare films, and for the
first two films of Francis Ford Coppola's Godfather trilogy. During
his long career Nino was an extraordinarily prolific composer, especially
of music for the cinema. He wrote more than 150 scores for Italian and
international productions from the 1930s until his death in 1979, an average
of three scores each year over a 46 year period.
Alongside
his great body film work, he composed ten operas, five ballets and dozens
of other orchestral, choral and chamber works, the best known being his
string concerto. He also composed the music for many theatre productions
by Visconti, Zeffirelli and Eduardo de Filippo as well as maintaining
a long teaching career at the the Liceo Musicale in Bari, Italy, where
he was the director for almost 30 years (coronary
thrombosis) b. December 3rd 1911.
1986: Linda Creed/married name Linda Epstein (37)
Grammy Award-winning American singer-songwriter, born in Philadelphia.
Linda's big break came in 1970, when UK singer Dusty Springfield recorded
her song "Free Girl". That same year, she teamed up with songwriter
and producer Thom Bell. Their first songwriting collaboration, "Stop,
Look, Listen (To Your Heart)", became a Top 40 pop hit for the Stylistics,
this began an extended collaboration that also yielded the group's symphonic
soul classics "You Are Everything", "Betcha by Golly, Wow",
and "I'm Stone in Love With You". The duo also paired on a number
of hits for the Spinners, including "Ghetto Child", "I'm
Coming Home", "Living a Little, Laughing a Little", and,
most famously, the 1976 blockbuster "The Rubberband Man". Linda
Creed also worked with fellow Philadelphia native Phyllis Hyman on many
of her songs, most notably "Old Friend". Although Linda was
diagnosed with breast cancer at 26, she bravely kept on working, teaming
with composer Michael Masser to write "Greatest Love of All"
for the 1977 Muhammad Ali biopic The Greatest; then in the spring of 1986,
the song topped the charts for singer Whitney Houston. Sadly, just weeks
before Whitney reached the No.1 spot, Linda had lost her long battle with
cancer. She also wrote the theme for the TV series, "Simon and Simon".
Over the years, cover recordings of her songs were major hits for Roberta
Flack, Rod Stewart, Smokey Robinson, Michael Jackson and many, many others.
In 1992, Linda was posthumously inducted into the Songwriters Hall of
Fame. (cancer) b.
December 6th 1948.
2003: Little Eva/Eva Narcissus Boyd (59) America
singer born in Belhaven, North Carolina, and moved to the Brighton Beach
section of Brooklyn, New York at a young age. she worked as a maid and
earned extra money as a babysitter for songwriters Carole King and Gerry
Goffin. It is often claimed that Goffin and King were amused by her individual
dancing style, so wrote "The Loco-Motion". After the success
of "The Loco-Motion", she was unfortunately stereotyped as a
dance-craze singer and was given limited material. Other single recordings
were "Keep Your Hands Off My Baby", "Some Kinda Wonderful",
"Let's Turkey Trot" and a remake of the Bing Crosby standard
"Swinging on a Star," recorded with Big Dee Irwin, though Eva
was not credited on the label. She also recorded the song "Makin'
With the Magilla" for an episode of the 1964 Hanna-Barbera cartoon
series The Magilla Gorilla Show. In the late 80s he returned to live performing
with other artists of her era on the cabaret and oldies circuits. She
also occasionally recorded new songs
(died after a 2 year battle with cancer)
b. June 29th 1943.
2003: Douglas 'Noel' Fox (63) American
bass singer with the country and gospel band The Oak Ridge Boys from 1969
to 1972. He went on to work as booking agent, talent manager and publisher.
In 1978, he began managing the Oak Ridge Boys' publishing entity (died
after surgery following a series of strokes) b.
1940.
2005: Scott Gottlieb (34) American
drummer for Rock band Bleed the Dream. In late 2003-early 2004, Scott
developed leukemia. In support, his band released the acoustic EP Asleep.
In the fall of 2004, Bleed the Dream began work on their debut full-length
album Built by Blood, and Scott was healthy enough to record the drum
tracks for every song. Sadly he died shortly before the album was released;
He is regarded by many as a "truly amazing man" and "devoted
his life to his band." The video "Just Like I Remember,"
is dedicated to him. The back of the Keith's guitars have "RIP S.G"
in tape on it. (sadly lost his fight with leukemia)
b. August 20th 1970.
2005:
Wally Tax (57) Dutch singer and songwriter, best known as
founder and frontman of the Nederbeat group The Outsiders. They were influenced
by the harder-edged British groups like The Pretty Things and The Rolling
Stones. In November 1965, The Outsiders opened for Stones' second Dutch
concert. The band released thirteen singles, including 1967's "Summer
Is Here," which reached the Top Ten on the Dutch charts. After commercial
and artistic success with The Outsiders in the late 1960s, Wally had a
brief solo career in the 1970s, after which he went on to become a successful
songwriter, producing a number of hit songs for Dutch artists. He faded
into obscurity in the 1980s, but after his death two benefit concerts
in Amsterdam proved his lasting popularity and influence. (?)
b. February 14th 1948.
2005: Norbert Brainin (82) Austrian
violinist, the first violinist of the Amadeus Quartet. In 1947 he formed
the Brainin Quartet, which was renamed the Amadeus Quartet in 1948. Amadeus
was one of the most celebrated quartets of the 20th Century, and its members
were awarded many honours, including: The Order of the British Empire,
presented by the Queen; Doctorates from the Universities of London, York,
and Caracas; The highest of all German awards, the Grand Cross of Merit;
and The Austrian Cross of Honour for Arts and Sciences; They disbanded
in 1987 upon the death of Peter Schidlof, who was regarded as irreplaceable
by the surviving members. Norbert continued to perform as a soloist, often
performing with pianist Günter Ludwig. His instruments included the
1734 "Rode" Guarnerius del Gesu, the "Chaconne" Stradivarius
of 1725 and the "Gibson" Stradivarius of 1713. (cancer)
b. March 12th
1923.
2007: Dakota Staton (76) American
jazz vocalist, who was also known by the Muslim name Aliyah Rabia for
a short period. She studied music at the Filion School of Music in Pittsburgh,
after which she performed regularly in the Hill District, a jazz hotspot,
as a vocalist with the Joe Wespray Orchestra. She next spent several years
in the nightclub circuit in such cities as Detroit, Indianapolis, Cleveland
and St. Louis. While in New York, she was noticed singing at a Harlem
nightclub called the Baby Grand by Dave Cavanaugh, a producer for Capitol
Records. She was signed and released several singles, including her 1957
No. 4 hit, "The Late, Late Show". She relocated to England in
the mid-1960s, where he continued to record semi-regularly, her recordings
taking an increasingly strong gospel and blues influence (?) b.
June 3rd 1930
2007: Walter Hendl (90) American conductor,
composer and pianist; born in West New York, New Jersey, he later went
on to study at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. His many
posts include 1939-1941 he taught at Sarah Lawrence College in New York
City; in 1941 and 1942, he was a pianist and conductor at the Berkshire
Music Center; in 1945, he became associate conductor of the New York Philharmonic;
1949-1958, he was music director of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra; 1953-1972,
he became music director of the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra. He was
also active in the Symphony of the Air and conducted its 1955 tour of
east Asia. From 1964 to 1972, Walter served as director of the Eastman
School of Music at Rochester, New York. In 1976 he was appointed music
director of the Erie Philharmonic in Erie, PA. In 1990, he became professor
of conducting at Mercyhurst College in Erie. His best-selling recordings
include violin concerti featuring Jascha Heifetz, Henryk Szeryng, and
Erick Friedman and piano concerti featuring Van Cliburn and Gary Graffman.
Walter was inducted as a National Patron of Delta Omicron, an international
professional music fraternity on December 1st 1960 (sadly
died after suffering from heart and lung disease)
b. January 12th 1917.
2010: William Walker (78) American
baritone opera singer, whose career ranged from the State Fair of Texas
to more 360 performances at the Metropolitan Opera in New York from March
1962 to June 1978. He appeared over 60 times on TV's "Tonight Show"
with Johnny Carson and also sang on Broadway. From 1969 to 1976, William
gave more than 250 solo recitals in the United States and Canada, performing
classical operatic arias, art songs and American musical show stoppers,
most memorably "Soliloquy" from Carousel and "Surrey With
The Fringe On Top" from Oklahoma!. In 1980, he became the Hearndon
Distinguished Visiting Professor of Music at Texas Christian University
and taught master classes in performance for several years. He also taught
master classes as the Carol Kyle Distinguished Visiting Professor of Music
at Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas from 1980 to 1984. In 1991, he
accepted the position of General Director of the Fort Worth Opera (William
was diagnosed with cancer several years ago, but cause of death has not
yet been disclosed) b. 1931
2012: Barbara Buchholz (52)
German composer and one of the leading theremin
players of the world. Born in Duisburg, she studied flute, guitar, bass
guitar and singing at the Bielefeld University and earned her first success
as a bass player in the German woman jazz band Reichlich Weiblich. In
jazz and contemporary music she developed new playing techniques and experimented
with various sound possibilities for the theremin. In
2005, together with Lydia Kavina, the grandniece
of Léon Theremin, she founded the Platform Touch! Don't Touch!
for theremin. Barbara also performed in a trio with Norwegian trumpeter
Arve Henriksen, and live electronics performer Jan Bang, and performed
tours with Jazz Bigband Graz in the framework of Electric Poetry &
Lo-Fi Cookies and conducts solo performances as well. She played the theremin
in various contemporary works, like The Little Mermaid, a ballet by John
Neumeier, music by Lera Auerbach, and in the operas Linkerhand by Moritz
Eggert and Bestmann-Opera by Alex Nowitz (sadly
died while fighting cancer)*December
8th 1959
2013: Tim Carr (57)
American songwriter, producer, and A&R
executive; while living in Minneapolis, he wrote music reviews for the
local press and put on a local music festival. After which he perhaps
made his biggest mark on the music business while at Capitol, Dreamworks
and Geffen Records. While at Capitol, he was instrumental in signing such
bands as the Beastie Boys and Megadeth to the label. He also worked with
such acts as Babes
In Toyland, Lush, David Byrne, and Information
Society. During the early 2000s, he moved to
Pattaya, Thailand where he worked with local
rock singer, Sek Loso. He was also working on a music documentary
(According to Pattaya103.com, he was reportedly
found in his apartment by his landlard with a long knife wound across
his chest, and circumstances were deemed suspicious by local police)
b. 1955
2013: Paul Wilson (29) Sth
African drummer and founder member of the rock-blues band Southern Gypsey
Queen. They were spotted by Piet Botha and their first album was an unofficial
demo self titled album with 12 tracks and in 2004 they released their
first official album, Sweet Voodoo. Their first single and music video,
Who We Are, reached No.2 on the music channel MK89 and their second single,
Song for the Captain, spent six weeks in the No.1 spot (tragically Paul
has died from a heart attack and meningitis) b.
1983/4
2013: Jimmy Dawkins (76) American
Chicago blues-electric blues guitarist and singer born in Tchula, MI.
He started out in local blues clubs and soon gained a reputation as a
session musician. In 1971 he released his 2nd album All For Business with
singer Andrew "Big Voice" Odom and the guitarist Otis Rush.
He continued to tour extensively until health problems slowed him down.
Jimmy was generally considered a part of the "West Side Sound"
of Chicago blues (?)
b. October 24th 1936.
April
11th.
1977:
Jacques Prévert (77) French
poet, lyricist; some
of his poems, such as "Les Feuilles mortes"/Autumn Leaves),
were set to music by Joseph Kosma, Germaine Tailleferre of Les Six, Christiane
Verger and Hanns Eisler. They have been sung by prominent 20th century
French vocalists, including Yves Montand and Édith Piaf, as well
as by the later American singers Joan Baez and Nat King Cole. In 1961,
French singer-songwriter Serge Gainsbourg paid tribute to "Les feuilles
mortes" in his own song "La chanson de Prévert".
The British remix DJs Coldcut released their
own version in 1993. A German version has been published and covered by
Didier Caesar (alias Dieter Kaiser), which he named "Das welke Laub"
(?) b. February 4th
1900.
1976: Al Frisch/Albert T. Frisch (60) American song-writer,
sax player and pianist born in New York City; he wrote songs performed
by 100s
artists such as Louis Armstrong, Doris Day,
Johnny Mathis, Tommy Tucker & His Orchestra,
Tony Bennett, Vic Damone, Ronnie Hilton, Frank Sinatra,
Glenn Miller & His Orchestra, Les Brown & His Orchestra,
Mantovani & His Orchestra, Nat "King"
Cole, Kay Starr, Peggy Lee, Elvis Presley, Dinah Shore, Eddie Fisher,
Jimmy Dorsey & His Orchestra, Woody Herman, Dinah Washington and many
more. His hit songs include "This Is No Laughing Matter", "I
Won't Cry Anymore", "Congratulations To Someone", "Flowers
Mean Forgiveness", "Two Different Worlds", and "All
Over The World"
(?) b. March 27th 1916.
1983: Catherine
Basie
nee Morgan (67) Wife of Count Basie; Count Basie and Catherine
married on August 21st 1942. They were married over 40 years and still
married at her passing (sadly
Catherine died of a heart attack at the couple's home in Freeport, Grand
Bahama Island) b. April 11th 1914
1994: Samie "Sticks" Evans/Samuel Smith (71) American
jazz and rhythm & blues drummer; born Samuel Smith, as a session percussionist
Sticks performed on hundreds of records, often uncredited. He can be heard
on recordings by Tim Hardin, Mickey & Sylvia, and Aretha Franklin,
among many others. He made one side under his own name, the wild "Go
Go Go Blow," one of very few records with the word "go"
in the title more than twice. He also wrote and produced several singles
for the obscure soul singer Paul Sindab in the mid '70s. Earlier he was
also involved in the third stream orchestral jazz adventures of composer,
conductor, and arranger Gunther Schuller, taking part in several radical
performances and concerts featuring Ornette Coleman and Eric Dolphy. Sticks
was a skilled music teacher and taught junior high school music classes
(?) b.
February 5th 1923.
2000: Diana Darvey/Diana
Magdalene Roloff (54) British actress, singer
and dancer, who is most famous for her appearances on The Benny Hill Show.
She made her first appearance on the show on 7 February 1974, and became
an instant hit with fans. Her self-designed often gravity-defying costumes
became as famous as her show-stopping performances singing such Continental
music standards as "Sway," "Quizás, Quizás,
Quizás" and "Perfidia" on the show.
Prior to Benny Hill, in '62, she was part of a London ballet troupe which
travelled Sweden, Germany and Spain. After the tour ended, she settled
in Spain, where she became a popular revista performer under famed Spanish
impresario Colsada. Then for several years she appeared in musical theatre
productions in and around Spain. It was during a performance, in Madrid
in the early 1970s, that she was discovered by British comedian Benny
Hill. After Benny Hill, she travelled around the world with her cabaret
act, in tandem with her husband, Terry Gittings, who had been a drummer
in Georgie Fame's backing band (?)
b.
April 21st 1945.
2001: Sandy Bull (60) American
composer and accomplished player of many stringed instruments, including
guitar, pedal steel guitar, banjo and oud. His music blends non-western
instruments with the 1960s folk revival. His albums often presented an
eclectic repertoire including extended modal improvisations on oud. An
arrangement of Carl Orff's composition Carmina Burana for 5-string banjo
appears on his first album and other musical fusions include his adaptation
of Luiz Bonfá's "Manhã de Carnaval", and compositions
derived from works of J. S. Bach. Sandy used overdubbing
as a way to accompany himself. As documented in the Still Valentine's
Day, 1969: Live At the Matrix, San Francisco recording, Sandy Bull's use
of tape accompaniment was part of his solo performances in concert as
well (sadly died of lung cancer) b. February 25th
1941
2006:
June Pointer (52) American
Pop-R&B singer and was a founding member of the vocal group The Pointer
Sisters. They released their self-titled debut album in '73, and found
fame with hit singles such as "Yes We Can Can", "Fairytale",
and the R&B hits, "How Long (Betcha Got a Chick on the Side)"
and "You Gotta Believe" before Bonnie left the group for a solo
career in 1977. The remaining sisters continued on as a trio and
found huge success, hitting the Top 10 with a cover of Bruce Springsteen's
"Fire" in 1978, followed by "He's So Shy", and "Slow
Hand". Their 1983's Break Out album, produced hits "Automatic";
"Jump (for My Love)". Other hits from follow up albums included
"Dare Me" "Freedom" and "Goldmine". June
is notable for being the lead singer of "He's So Shy", "Jump
(For My Love)", "Baby Come And Get It" and "Dare Me"
among others. The group eventually would receive a star on the Hollywood
Walk of Fame. During the 1980s, she launched a solo career, scoring hits
with "Ready For Some Action" (1983) and 1989's "Tight On
Time (I'll Fit U In)". Together with Bruce Willis she scored a top
5 pop single in 1987 with a cover of the Staples Singers' "Respect
Yourself"
(sadly
lost her to a stroke after a brave battle with bone, liver and lung cancer)
b. November 30th 1953.
2006: Proof / DeShaun Holton (32) American rapper, member of
the hip hop groups D12, Promatic, 5 Elementz, and Goon Sqwad. He rose
to prominence alongside Eminem and other D12 members, he was a steady
hand for Detroit's then up-and-coming hip-hop scene. It was his idea to
assemble a collection of Detroit's best hip-hop talent and call it D12.
We may never have heard of Eminem if Proof hadn't taken under his wing
years ago, it was his hand that helped push Eminem to become one of the
world's biggest pop stars, including serving as his on-stage hype man
on concert tours. In 2000, Proof toured along with Eminem, Dr. Dre and
Snoop Dogg in the Up In Smoke Tour. He appeared in Eminem's autobiographical
film "8 Mile", after which he was hired to host a national search
for the next best battle rapper by Showtime Networks. Proof released his
long-in-the-works solo debut, "I Miss the Hip Hop Shop" recorded
between 2002 and 2004, which was followed by "Searching for Jerry
Garcia" in August 2005 on his own Iron Fist Records. >>>
Read More
<<< His
mother read poetry on the song "Billie Holiday" on the album(shot
to death at the Detroit club, C.C.C. on Eight Mile Road) b.
October
2nd 1973
2009: Johnny Roadhouse (88) British
saxophonist; he joined Teddy Foster's orchestra in 1946, two years later
he became leader of the sax section for the BBC Northern Variety Orchestra.
In 1953 this was transformed into the Northern Dance Orchestra, he remained
a member until its demise in the 1980s. He has also played with the Hallé
Orchestra and the Liverpool Philharmonic. As well as his musical performing
career, in 1955 he opened "Johnny Roadhouse Music" on Oxford
Street, the best-known musical instrument shop in Manchester. Eventually
the business grew offshoots, such as a team of specialist instrumental
teachers and a band agency. In 2005 he was presented with Lifetime Achievement
awards by the Lord Mayor of Manchester and the Variety Club of Great Britain
(passed away in his sleep after a short illness) b.January
13th 1921.
2010: Julia Tsenova (61) Bulgarian
composer, pianist and musical pedagogue; she was a member of the Union
of the Bulgarian Composers, the International Society for Contemporary
Music, and a President of the Bulgarian section. She wrote in the field
of symphonic, chamber, choral and scenic music and her compositions have
been performed in different musical forums in Bulgaria, Austria, Switzerland,
England, Ireland, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Holland, Norway, Poland,
Czech Republik, Slovakia, Hungary, Rumania, Greece, Russia, India, Australia,
USA, Canada and other countries. (Sadly lost her
battle with cancer) b. July 30th 1948.
2011: Billy Bang/William
Vincent Walker (63) American
free jazz violinist and composer born in Mobile, AL, but moved to the
Bronx, New York as a child and learnt the violin at junior school. After
serving in the Vietnam War he took up the violin again, he studied with
the prominent avant-garde jazz violinist Leroy Jenkins, became immersed
in the 1970s downtown loft-jazz ferment, collaborated with idiosyncratic
musical auteurs like Kip Hanrahan and Bill Laswell and later
joined Sun Ra's band. In 1977, Billy co-founded the String Trio of New
York, with guitarist James Emery and double bassist John Lindberg, he
left the trio in 1986. Solo, he explored his experience in Vietnam in
two albums: Vietnam: The Aftermath-2001 and Vietnam: Reflections-2005,
recording with a band which included other veterans of that conflict
(sadly died of lung cancer) b.
September 20th 1947.
2011: Lacy Gibson (74) American
jazz influenced blues guitar virtuoso, and vocalist born in Salisbury,
North Carolina; moving to Chicago in 1949 he learned from veterans Sunnyland
Slim, T-Bone Walker and Muddy Waters and picked up pointers from immaculate
axemen Lefty Bates, Matt "Guitar" Murphy, and Wayne Bennett.
Lacy made a name for himself as a session player in 1963, assuming rhythm
guitar duties on sides by Willie Mabon, Billy "The Kid" Emerson
and Buddy Guy on various labels. He also made his vocal debut with his
self-penned blues ballad "My Love Is Real" at Chess the same
year. He was a musician's musician, his versatile guitar and unique rich
style of joining the influences of jazz and blues and pop quickly became
a mainstay on stages and in recording studios for numerous >>>
READ
MORE <<< (Lacy sadly died of
a heart attack) b. May
1st 1936.
2012: Hal McKusick (87)
American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist and flautist,
In the 40s he worked with Boyd Raeburn and Claude Thornhill, in the early
1950s he worked with Terry Gibbs, Don Elliott, George Russell, Jimmy Giuffre.
and also released albums under his own leadership, including a 1957 album
for Prestige titled Triple Exposure. In 1958 he led a small group with
Bill Evans that recorded Cross Section Saxes which included contributions
from Art Farmer, Paul Chambers and Connie Kay. Hal also worked on sessions
with other prominent jazz musicians including Lee Konitz and John Coltrane.
He later taught at the Ross School in East Hampton, New York (Hal
died from natural causes)
b. June 1st 1924.
2013: Gilles Marchal/Gilles Pastre (68)
French songwriter and singer born in Paris, most of his repertoire was
original, but at the beginning of his career he performed a few covers
of songs by Lee Hazlewood and Fred Neil and one of his greater successes,
"Un étranger dans la ville", a version of "Everybody's
Talkin'". In homage to the Paris, he sang the anthem "Les prénoms
de l'Ile de France" in 1977. The following year, he released an album
at Sonopresse containing his own words and music. Songs such as "Drôle
de vie", "C'était en France", "C'est pas la
Chine" and "Miss Pharmago" were a successfil both in France
and abroad. He retired from singing in 1985 to devote his time to his
love of writing and history () b. September 2nd
1944.
2013: Thomas Hemsley CBE
(85) English opera singer, born in Coalville
and made his debut as Purcell's Aeneas at the Mermaid Theatre, London
in 1951, and debuted at Glyndebourne in 1953. He was principal baritone
at the Aachen Opera from 1953-56, the Deutsche Oper am Rhein from 1957-63,
and the Zürich Opera from 1963-67. He was a notable interpreter of
Beckmesser in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, performing the role
at Bayreuth from 1968 to 1970 and recording it under the baton of Rafael
Kubelík. In 1960 he created the role of Demetrius in A Midsummer
Night's Dream with the English Opera Group at Aldeburgh. In 1965 he was
the baritone soloist of Delius's Requiem, in Liverpool, in only the second
UK performance, the fourth performance in the work's history. He made
his Covent Garden debut in 1970 creating Mangus in The Knot Garden, and
in 1974 at the Scottish Opera he created Caesar in Iain Hamilton's opera
The Catiline Conspiracy (?)
b. April 12th 1927.
2013: Don Blackman (59) American
jazz-funk pianist, singer and songwriter, born in Queens, NY;
while still a teenager he played in McPherson's band and at the
early 70s, he played withParliament/Funkadelic, Earth, Wind and Fire and
Roy Ayers, before joining Lenny White's group Twennynine, for whom he
wrote songs such as "Peanut Butter" and "Morning Sunrise".
He released his self-titled debut solo album in 1982 which including his
songs "Holding You, Loving You", "Heart's Desire"
and "Since You've Been Away So Long" that became hits in Europe.
As a session musician, he appearing on albums by Kurtis Blow, Bernard
Wright, Najee, David Sanborn, Lenny White, Roy Ayers, Sting, World Saxophone
Quartet, Janet Jackson's "That's the Way Love Goes" and Wayman
Tisdale. He wrote the composition "Live to Kick It", which appeared
on Tupac Shakur's album R U Still Down? (Remember Me); "Dear Summer"
on Memphis Bleek's album "534" featuring artist Jay-Z, and "Holding
You, Loving You" on Master P.'s album "I Got The Hook Up".
He also scored and wrote music for commercials, TV shows, and movies (sadly
Don died while fighting cancer)
b. September 1st 1953.
April
12th.
1963:
Herbie Nichols (44) American
jazz pianist, composer; his first work was with the Royal Barons in 1937,
where he became friends with pianist Thelonious Monk. After the war he
worked in various bands , beginning to achieve some recognition when Mary
Lou Williams recorded some of his songs in 1952. He recorded for Blue
Note in 1955 and 1956, which led to the issue of three albums. Other tracks
from these sessions were not issued until the 1980s. His tune "Serenade"
had lyrics added, and as "Lady Sings the Blues" became firmly
identified with Billie Holiday. In 1957 he recorded his last album for
Bethlehem Records "Love, Gloom, Cash, Love". All of his recordings
as leader have been released on CD. In recent years his music has been
heavily promoted by Roswell Rudd, who worked with Herbie in the early
1960s. Roswell has recorded or programmed at least three albums featuring
Nichols' compositions, including "The Unheard Herbie Nichols"
and a book "The Unpublished Works". Obscure during his lifetime,
he is now highly regarded by many musicians and critics (leukemia)
b. January 3rd 1919.
1967: William "Buster" Bailey (64)
American jazz musician specializing in the clarinet, but also well versed
on saxophone, he was one of the most respected session players of his
era. He started with W.C. Handy’s Orchestra in 1917 when he was 15
years old. In 1919 he joined Erskine Tate’s Vendome Orchestra in
Chicago until 1923 when he joined up with Joe "King" Oliver
and became friends with Louis Armstrong, who was also a member of that
band at the time. In 1924, Armstrong left the band to join Fletcher Henderson’s
Orchestra in New York. Within a month Armstrong extended an invitation
for Buster to join him as a member of the band, he accepted and moved
to New York City. He went on to record and/or tour the US and Europe with
many greats including Perry Bradford, Clarence Williams, Noble Sissle’s
Orchestra, the John Kirby Band, Edgar Hayes, Dave Nelson, Midge Williams
and Her Jazz Jesters, Big Chief Russell Moore, the Mills Blue Rhythm Band,
Wilbur de Paris, Henry "Red" Allen, Wild Bill Davison, Saints
And Sinners as well as his own band Buster Bailey and His Rhythm Busters.
In 1965 he rejoined his old friend Armstrong and became a member of Louis
Armstrong and His All-Stars (Sadly died from a heart
attack) b. July 19th 1902.
1968: Stephen Henry Sholes (57) American
recording executive with RCA Victor, born in Washington, D.C. then moved
to Camden, New Jersey, where his father got work in the RCA plant. Stephen
started work at RCA as a messenger boy in 1929 while a student at Rutgers
University. After which he worked in RCA's radio division, but his experience
playing saxophone and clarinet in dance bands led him to the record division.
In 1945, he became head of the country division in Nashville, and was
responsible for recruiting such talent as Chet Atkins, Eddy Arnold, The
Browns, Hank Locklin, Homer and Jethro, Hank Snow, Jim Reeves, and Pee
Wee King. In 1955, he signed Elvis Presley for RCA. He convinced RCA to
build its own recording studio in Nashville on Seventeenth Avenue South
in 1957. In 1963, Stephen became RCA Records vice president for pop A&R.
He also served on the Country Music Association, and Country Music Foundation
boards of directors. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame,
which he had worked to create, in 1967 (heart attack)
b. February 12th 1968.
1971: Wynton
Kelly (39) US jazz pianist; he started his professional
career as a teenager, playing with R&B groups. He recorded 14 titles
for Blue Note with his trio, and worked with Dinah Washington, Dizzy Gillespie,
and Lester Young during 1951-1952. After serving in the military, he worked
with Dinah Washington from 1955-1957, Charles Mingus from 1956-1957, and
the Dizzy Gillespie big band in 1957. Maybe he was most famous for his
work with Miles Davis from 1959-1963, recording such albums as "Kind
of Blue", "At the Blackhawk" and "Someday My Prince
Will Come" (tragically taken by an epileptic
fit) b. December 2nd 1931.
1973:
Arthur Freed/Arthur Grossman (78)
American lyricist and Hollywood film producer; born
in Charleston, SC, he began his career as a singer- pianist in Chicago.
After meeting Minnie Marx, he sung as part of the act of her sons, the
Marx Brothers, on the vaudeville circuit, he also wrote material for the
brothers, and eventually hired by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Arthur brought
masses of talent from the Broadway theatres to the MGM soundstages including
Kay Thompson, Vincente Minnelli, Betty Comden, Adolph Green, Roger Edens,
Zero Mostel, June Allyson, Nancy Walker, choreographer Charles Walters,
orchestrators Conrad Salinger, Johnny Green, Lennie Hayton, and many others.
He
also helped shape the careers of stars including Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra,
Kathryn Grayson, Red Skelton, Lena Horne, Jane Powell, Esther Williams,
Howard Keel, Cyd Charisse, Ann Miller, Vera-Ellen, and many others. He
brought Fred Astaire to MGM coaxing him out of semi-retirement to star
with Garland in Easter Parade. Arthur produced nearly 50 movies, and helped
elevate MGM as the studio of the musical. His team of writers, directors,
composers and stars produced a steady stream of popular, critically acclaimed
musicals until the late 1950s. Just
few of his credits are "Babes in Arms" (1939), "Lady Be
Good" (1941), "Cabin in the Sky" (1943), "Meet Me
in St. Louis" (1944), "The Harvey Girls" (1946), "Good
News" (1947)," Easter Parade" (1948), "On the Town"
(1949), Annie Get Your Gun" (1950), "An American in Paris"
(1951), "Show Boat" (1951), "Singin' in the Rain"
(1952), and "Gigi" (1958). He was presented the Irving G. Thalberg
Award for "Creative producers, whose bodies of work reflect a consistently
high quality of motion picture production" in 1951; two of his films
won the Academy Award for Best Picture: 'An American in Paris' and 'Gigi';
he received an Honorary Oscar and was inducted into the Songwriters Hall
of Fame in 1972 (?) b.
September 9th 1895.
1976:
Theodore Guy "Ted" Buckner (62)
American jazz saxophonist, St.
Louis, Missouri, but raised in Detroit, where he played very early in
his career before joining McKinney's Cotton Pickers. He was best known
for his time spent in the orchestra of Jimmie Lunceford, where he remained
from 1937 to 1943. After which he primarily played locally in Detroit,
where he worked into the 1970s. His activities included small jazz combos,
work in the Motown studios, and co-leading a big band with Jimmy Wilkins,
Ernie Wilkins's brother. He toured Europe in 1975, and also appeared in
the New McKinney's Cotton Pickers (?) b.
December 14th 1913.
1988: Colette Deréal/Colette Denise de
Glarélial (60) French
actress and singer born in Saint-Cyr-l'École, Seine-et-Oise (now
Yvelines). In 1961, she represented Monaco in the Eurovision Song
Contest with the song "Allons, allons les enfants"/"Let's
go, let's go children", finishing joint 10th with the Finnish entry
Valoa ikkunassa/The lights in the window sung by Laila Kinnunen and the
Dutch entry Wat een dag/What a day sung by Greetje Kauffeld, all receiving
six points (died
in Monaco) b. September 22nd 1927.
1989:
Herbert Mills (77)
American
tenor singer born in Piqua, Ohio and co-founder of The Mills Brothers;
Herburt and his brothers Donald, Harry, and John began practicing in their
father’s barbershop quartet and singing in the choir of the Cyrene
African Methodist Episcopal Church and in the Park Avenue Baptist Church
in Piqua. In the late ‘20s the quartet was signed to perform in a
variety of shows,
they sang as the Steamboat Four, the Tasty East Jesters, and Will, Willie,
Wilbur and William, among other names, finally they went under the name
the Mills Brothers and by 1931 they were recording for Brunswick Records.
In 1934, The Mills Brothers became the first African-Americans to give
a command performance before British royalty. They performed at the Regal
Theatre for a special audience: King George V, Queen Mary, and their mother.
They went on to make more than
2,000 recordings that combined sold more than 50 million copies, and garnered
at least three dozen gold records. By 1950 they had 50 chart hits. Their
last number one was 1952’s “Glow Worm,” adapted from the
German operetta Lysistrata. It also became a hit in England, reaching
No.10 at the beginning of 1953. The Mills Brothers were inducted into
The Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 1998 (?)
b. April 2nd 1912.
1999: Boxcar Willie/Lecil Travis Martin
(67)
American "hobo music" / country singer; he was the son of
a railroad man who used to play his fiddle on the porch while Lecil played
guitar. By his teens he was performing in jamborees all over the state
until he gave up show business to enlist in the Air Force, where he spent
22 years, logging some 10,000 hours as a flier. He performed under the
nickname of "Boxcar Willie" for the first time at a talent contest
in San Jose, California, while he was still in the Air Force, he won the
first prize of $150. In 1976, Lecil left the Air Force and became a full-time
performer, he went on to become a star in country music, selling more
than 10 million records worldwide, with hits such as "Lonesome Whistle
Blues", and "Wabash Cannonball". In 1981, he achieved a
professional landmark by being inducted into the Grand Ole Opry as its
60th member. In 1985, he moved to Branson, Missouri and purchased a theatre
on Highway 76 / 76 Country Music Boulevard, calling it the Boxcar Willie
Theatre. He opened a museum and had two motels, both bearing his name.
The overpass at Interstate 35E and Farm to Market Road 664 in Red Oak,
Texas was renamed "Boxcar Willie Memorial Overpass" after a
major reconstruction project (sadly died of leukemia)
b. September 1st 1931.
2006: Rajkumar/Singanalluru
Puttaswamayya Muthuraju (77) Indian actor and singer;
born in Gajanur, he was the first actor in Indian cinema to enact a role
which resembled James Bond; his first such movie was Jedara Bale. Later
he acted in other Bond films such as Operation Jackpotnalli CID 999, Goadalli
CID 999, and Operation Diamond Rocket. As well as his many acting rolls,
he was also a well known singer, and sang many devotional songs. He won
the National Award for the song "Naadamaya" from the movie Jeevana
Chaitra. He had trained in classical music while in Gubbi Veranna's drama
troupe. He performed a song in the movie Mahishasura Mardini with G. K.
Venkatesh as the music director. However, he did not become a full-fledged
singer until his hugely popular song "Yare Koogadali" from the
movie Sampathige Sawal (died of a cardiac arrest)
b. April 24th 1929.
2009: Ruben "Zeke" Zarchy (93)
American jazz trumpet legend; he joined Joe Haymes orchestra in 1934,
then played with Benny Goodman in 1936 and Artie Shaw in 1937. From 1937
to 1942, he worked and recorded with the bands of Red Norvo, Bob Crosby,
Mildred Bailey, Frank Sinatra, Helen Ward, Judy Garland, Tommy Dorsey,
and Ella Fitzgerald. Zeke's trumpet can be heard on recordings such as
Benny Goodman's "Bugle Call Rag", Bob Crosby's "South Rampart
Street Parade", and Glenn Miller's "Moonlight Cocktails".
When World War II broke out, he was chosen by Glenn Miller for what became
Miller's Army Air Force Band, officially, the 418th Army Band, where he
played lead trumpet and was Master Sergeant from 1942 to 1945. After the
war, singer Frank Sinatra invited Zeke to move to Los Angeles, where he
became a first-call studio musician. He played on the recordings of hundreds
of vocalists, including Louis Armstrong, Tony Bennett, Dinah Shore, and
The Mills Brothers. His trumpet is heard in the soundtracks of many classic
Hollywood movies, including West Side Story, Dr. Zhivago and the The Glenn
Miller Story. During the 1960s and '70s, he played in the house bands
of several CBS TV variety shows, including The Smothers Brothers Comedy
Hour, The Danny Kaye Show and The Jonathan Winters Show, and was a member
of the NBC Staff Orchestras in Los Angeles and New York. In his later
years, Zarchy made many music tours of Europe, South America, and Australia,
as well as 32 concert trips to Japan (sadly died
with complications from pneumonia) b. June
12th 1915.
2012: Andrew Love (70) American
saxophonist born in Memphis; he began his interest in music at
the Mount Nebo Baptist Church
were his father was pastor. His music education continued in high school
and at University in Oklahoma. He returned to Memphis in 1965 and began
session work at Stax Records where he teamed up with trumpeter Wayne Jackson.
The two created the signature horn sound at Stax, heard on hit records
by Otis Redding, Sam & Dave and others, and helped fuel the label's
golden era.After
recording numerous tracks at Stax, he and Wayne formed themselves into
the renowned Memphis Horns and began freelancing
>>>READ
MORE<<< (sadly Andrew died of complications
from Alzheimer's disease) b. November 21st
1941.
2013: Oöphoi/Gianluigi Gasparetti (55)
Italian ambient musician; born in Rome, his music is known as being static,
organic and minimalistic, created by using synths, singing bowls, flutes,
and processed voices, often integrated in a meditative and spiritual context.
Maybe he is better known as the editor of "Deep Listenings",
an Italian magazine dedicated to ambient and deep atmospheric music, where
he has featured interviews with many famous ambient artists including
Steve Roach and Michael Stearns (sadly died after
a long illness) b. 1958
April 13th.
1959: Eduard van Beinum (58) Dutch conductor,
pianist and violinist born in Arnhem,
he joined the Arnhem Orchestra as a violinist in 1918. He conductor of
the Haarlem Orchestral Society from 1927 to 1931. He first conducted the
Concertgebouw Orchestra, Amsterdam in 1929. He became second conductor
of the Concertgebouw Orchestra in 1931, under the supervision of Willem
Mengelberg. In 1938 he was named co-principal conductor, alongside Mengelberg.
In 1947 he took over the leadership of the London Philharmonic Orchestra,
but left after two successful seasons through ill health. He made his
US guest conducting debut in 1954, with the Philadelphia Orchestra. In
1956, the year of Eduard's 25th anniversary with the Concertgebouw Orchestra,
he was invested as a Grand Officer of the Order of Orange Nassau, and
also received an honorary doctorate from the University of Amsterdam.He
also served as music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic from 1956
to 1959 (he
sadly suffered fatal heart attack on the Concertgebouw podium while rehearsing
the orchestra for a performance of Johannes Brahms' Symphony No.1) b.
September 3rd 1901.
1984: Ralph Kirkpatrick (72) American musicologist and harpsichordist,
most famous for his chronological catalog of Domenico Scarlatti's keyboard
sonatas. From 1933 to 1934, he taught at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria.
From 1940 he was a professor at Yale University, where he published his
biography of Domenico Scarlatti and a critical edition of Scarlatti's
complete works in 1953. He made a number of recordings of the harpsichord
works of Johann Sebastian Bach and also produced an edition of Bach's
Goldberg Variations which includes extensive discussion of ornamentation,
fingering, phrasing, tempo, dynamics, and general interpretation. Ralph
played modern music too, including Quincy Porter's Concerto for Harpsichord
and Orchestra, Darius Milhaud's Sonata for Violin and Harpsichord, and
the Double Concerto for Harpsichord, Piano and Chamber Orchestra by Elliott
Carter, which was dedicated to him (?)
b. June 10th 1911.
2004: Elden C. 'Buster' Bailey (81) American percussionist;
he attended the New England Conservatory and graduated from Juilliard.
During WW II he was a member of the U.S. Army 154th Ground Force Band.
After the war Buster became a member of the New York Philharmonic, a career
which would span 42 years and he was also a percussion teacher at Juilliard
for 24 years. He was one of the original members of both the Little Orchestra
Society and the Sauter-Finegan Orchestra. He wrote two books on percussion
instruments and was a member of the Percussive Arts Society’s Hall
of Fame. Buster was also an avid fan of circus music and was a member
of Windjammers Unlimited, an organization devoted to music of the circus
(?) b. April 22nd 1922.
2005: Johnny Loughrey (59)
Irish singer and songwriter born in Newtownstewart, County Tyrone.
With his mix of country songs, Irish ballads and easy listening music
which he had a passion for. He released around 12 albums achieving success
in both England and Ireland (?)
b. July 20th 1945.
2005: Johnnie Johnson (80) American
piano player and blues musician born in Fairmont, West Virginia. His work
with Chuck Berry led to his induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
While serving in the US Marine Corps during WW II, he was a member of
Bobby Troup's all serviceman jazz orchestra, The Barracudas. After his
return, he moved to Detroit, Illinois and then Chicago, where he sat in
with many notable artists, including Muddy Waters and Little Walter. He
moved to St. Louis, Missouri in 1952 and put together a jazz and blues
group, The Sir John Trio. On New Years Eve that year, Johnnie called on
a young Chuck Berry to help him out on a gig, after which Johnnie hired
him permantly. Eventally Johnnie became part of Chuck's band. Over the
next twenty years, the two collaborated in the arrangements of many of
Berry's songs including "School Days", "Carol", and
"Nadine". The song "Johnny B. Goode" was a tribute
to Johnnie, with the title reflecting his usual behavior when he was drinking.Although
never on his payroll after 1973, Johnnie played occasionally with Berry
until Johnson's death. In 1987 he recorded his first solo album, Blue
Hand Johnnie. He later performed with Keith Richards, Eric Clapton, John
Lee Hooker, Bo Diddley and George Thorogood appearing on Thorogood's 1995
live album Let's Work Together Live. In 1996 and 1997, Johnson toured
with Bob Weir's Ratdog, playing 67 shows. In 1999, Johnnie's biography
was released, Father of Rock and Roll: The Story of Johnnie B. Goode Johnson
(?) b. July 8th 1924.
2010: Steve Reid (66) American jazz
drummer from New York, he started drumming in his teens, and worked at
the Apollo Theatre under the direction of Quincy Jones. After graduating
at Adelphi University in Garden City, NY, he spent 3 years in Africa,
opening up his influences even more. He affirms Africa is the heart of
drumming. He went on to work with artists including Miles Davies, Sun
Ra, James Brown, Fela Kuti and Ornette Coleman, as well as being a prolific
session musician for Motown Records. In the early seventies he started
his own label, Mustevic Sound Inc., and later lived in Switzerland working
in Europe for a number of years. Steve was named JAZZIZ's "Percussionist
of the Year" in both 1993 and '95. In 2006, he teamed up with groundbreaking
electronic musician Kieran Hebden aka Four Tet, with whom he released
4 albums, The Exchange Session Vol.1 & 2, Tongues and NYC – between
2006 and 2008
(Steve
sadly passed away following a battle with cancer)
b. January 29th 1944.
2010: Manos Xydous (57) Greek singer-songwriter,
musician and record producer (sadly died from a
cardiac arrest) b. May 15th 1953
2013: Chi Cheng (42) American bassist,
born in Davis, California, and educated at CSU Sacramento. He was the
original full time bassist of the alternative metal band Deftones from
Sacramento, founded in 1988. have released seven albums to date, with
three Platinum: Adrenaline, Around the Fur, and White Pony and one Gold
certification For Deftones. Their many hit singles include "Be Quiet
and Drive (Far Away)", "Change (In the House of Flies)",
"Minerva" and "Hole in the Earth". Chi
was also the author of a collection of poetry titled The Bamboo Parachute
released in 2000 as a spoken word album. (sadly
died from complications of injuries sustained in a vehicle collison in
2008 after which he tragically fell into a coma)
b. July 15th 1970.
April 14th.
1954: Lil Green (34)
American blues vocalist noted for superb timing and a distinctively
sinuous voice; born in Mississippi; she went to Chicago, Illinois, where
she began performing, at 18 she recorded her first session for the 35
cent Bluebird subsidiary of RCA. In the 1930s she and Big Bill Broonzy
had a night club act together. Her two biggest hits were, her own composition
"Romance in the Dark" 1940, and her rendition of "Why Don't
You Do Right?" in 1941. As well as performing in Chicago clubs, she
toured with Tiny Bradshaw and other bands, but never really broke away
from the black theatre circuit. (pneumonia)
b. December 22nd 1919.
1972: Niño Ricardo/Manuel Serrapí
(68) Spanish flamenco composer, guitarist and child prodigy;
born in Seville, he is considered by some as the most accomplished flamenco
player of his day. He played a significant part in the evolution of the
flamenco guitar. He spent his early years playing in the taverns and bars
of Seville where he developed his own personal style and created much
of his own material. He was inspired by the great threesome of flamenco
guitar; Ramón Montoya, Manolo de Huelva, and Javier Molina, by
whom he was guided at the start of his professional career in the Salon
Variedades in Seville. He recorded with many singers, including Pastora,
El Carbonerillo, Mazaco, Antonio and Manuel Mairena, Fernanda y Bernarda,
Caracol and Talega. (sadly Nico died of cirrhosis
of the liver) b. July 11th 1904.
1983: Pete Farndon (30)
English bassist in the band The Pretenders, he played with Cold
River Lady until the summer of 1976, and then toured with Australian folk-rock
band The Bushwackers prior to joining the Pretenders in 1978. He played
a large role in shaping The Pretenders' tough image, often wearing his
biker clothing, or later, samurai gear onstage. Chrissie Hynde later acknowledged
that two Pretenders' songs, "Biker" and "Samurai"
had "references to a Pete Farndon type of character". Sadly
he became more and more dependant on his drug use. (tragically
found drowned in his bath due to a drug overdose)
b. June 12th 1952.
1990: Thurston Harris (58)
American singer born in Indianapolis; he first appeared on record as the
featured vocalist with the Lamplighters in 1953, one of the many groups
on the early R&B scene in South Central Los Angeles, throughout the
early 1950s. The group later evolved into the Tenderfoots, then the Sharps.
He is widely regarded as a one-hit wonder, with the song "Little
Bitty Pretty One", in 1957, with the Sharps. It reached No.6 on the
U.S. Billboard Hot 100. The track sold over one million records, achieving
gold disc status. The song appeared on the soundtracks to films or television
dramas, such as Telling Lies in America, Lipstick on Your Collar, and
Christine. In 1958, Thurston scored a Top 20 R&B hit with "Do
What You Did," but he failed to have any chart success afterwards.
His other best known song was "Runk Bunk", recorded in 1959,
and released by Aladdin Records (?)
b. July 11th 1931.
1995: Burle Ives (85) American actor,
folk music singer-songwriter and musician, born in Hunt City, Illinois,
where he attended Eastern Illinois State Teachers College. Playing his
banjo on the streets, he was jailed in Mona, Utah, for vagrancy and for
singing “Foggy, Foggy Dew,” which the authorities decided was
a bawdy song. Around 1931 he began performing on WBOW radio in Terre Haute,
Indiana. Then in 1940 Burle began his own radio show, titled The Wayfaring
Stranger after one of his ballads. Over the next decade, he popularized
several traditional folk songs, such as “Foggy, Foggy Dew”,
an English/Irish folk song; “Blue Tail Fly”, an old Civil War
tune; and “Big Rock Candy Mountain”, an old hobo ditty. He went
on to have dozens of hits such as "Riders In the Sky (A Cowboy Legend)",
"Lavendar Blue, Dilly Dilly", "A Little Bitty Tear",
"On Top Of Old Smokey", "Wild Side of Life", "Call
Me Mister In-Between", and "Funny Way of Laughing." As
an actor, his work included comedies, dramas, and voice work in theatre,
television, and motion pictures. His movie credits include East of Eden,
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Desire Under The Elms, Wind Across The Everglades,
The Big Country, for which he won an Academy Award for Best Supporting
Actor; and Our Man in Havana. Berle's Broadway career included appearances
in The Boys From Syracuse, Heavenly Express, This Is the Army, Sing Out,
Sweet Land, Paint Your Wagon, and Dr. Cook's Garden and Cat on a Hot Tin
Roof. His folk sing career (sadly died of complications
of mouth cancer) b. June 14th 1909.
1998: Dorothy Squires/Edna May Squires (83)
Welsh singer born in her parents' carnival caravan in Pontyberem,
UK. She taught herself to play a ukulele and at 16 began to perform professionally
as a singer in local working men's clubs. She soon relocated to London;
while working as a nurse she met agent Joe Kay, who got her night time
work in clubs. It was a club in the East End which gave her the name stage
Dorothy. In 1936, Dorothy joined the Billy Reid's orchestra, he was her
partner for many years. Immediately after the war, she worked on the BBC
radio show Variety Bandbox, which made her the highest paid female singer
in the UK. Working
with Billy Reid, who also wrote many songs for her, Dorothy recorded the
original version of Reid's composition, "A Tree in the Meadow",
and other Reid penned songs including "I'm Walking Behind You"
and "The Gypsy". After
8 years in the US and a marrage to actor Roger Moore, Dorothy returned
to the UK, recording albums and performing to sold out concerts. But in
1971 she began an apparent love affair with the law courts, and undertook
30 cases over the next 15 years. In 1988 she lost her home in Bray following
bankruptcy proceedings. Her last concert was in 1990, to pay her poll
tax. She retired to Trebanog, Rhondda, South Wales in a home provided
by a fan, Esme Coles, where she became a recluse (Sadly
died of lung cancer in Llwynypia Hospital, Rhondda) b.
March 25th 1915.
1999: Anthony Newley (67) English actor,
singer and songwriter, born in Hackney, London. His first major film role
was as Dick Bultitude in Peter Ustinov's Vice Versa in 1948 followed by
the Artful Dodger in David Lean's Oliver Twist the same year, these were
the first of many. He wrote ballads, many with Leslie Bricusse, that became
signature hits for Sammy Davis Jr., Shirley Bassey and Tony Bennett. During
the 1960s he also added his greatest accomplishments on the London West
End theatre and Broadway theatre stage, in Hollywood films and UK and
US TV. He also enjoyed success as a performer in such diverse fields as
rock & roll and stage and screen acting. He started in May 1959 with
the song "I've Waited So Long" a number 3 hit in the UK quickly
followed by his No.6 hit "Personality" and then two No.1 hits
in early 1960: "Why" and "Do You Mind?" (written by
Lionel Bart). As a songwriter, he won the 1963 Grammy Award for Song of
the Year for "What Kind of Fool Am I?". His last single "Sweet
November" was released in 1968. In the 1970s he remained active,
particularly as a Las Vegas and Catskills Borscht Belt resort performer
and talk show guest (kidney cancer)
b. September 24th 1931.
2005: Benny Bailey/Ernest Harold Bailey (79)
American bebop and hard-bop jazz trumpeter. He learnt the piano
and flute in his youth, then switched to trumpet, and concentrated on
the instrument while at the Cleveland Institute of Music. In the early
1940s he worked with Bull Moose Jackson and Scatman Crothers and later
worked with Dizzy Gillespie and toured with Lionel Hampton. During a European
tour with Hampton he decided to stay in Europe and spend time in Sweden
where he worked with Harry Arnold's big band and The Kenny Clarke-Francy
Boland Big Band. Later he began to work with Quincy Jones and that led
to a brief return to the US in 1960. After that he migrated to Germany,
and later the Netherlands. In 1969 he played on Eddie Harris and Les McCann's
album Swiss Movement which was recorded live at the Montreux Jazz Festival,
even though it was not normally his style of music. Then in 1988 he worked
with Tony Coe and he kept producing albums until 2000 when he was in his
mid-70s. (he died at home in Amsterdam)
b. August 13th
1925.
2007: Don Ho/Donald Ho Tai Loy (76) Legendary
Hawaiin pop singer, keyboardist, he was originally signed to Reprise Records
and released his debut album, Don Ho Show, in 1965 and began to play high
profile locations in Las Vegas, Lake Tahoe, and New York City. In 1966
he released his second album, a live compilation called Don Ho —
Again!, which charted in the early part of that year. In the fall of 1966,
he released his most famous song, "Tiny Bubbles", which charted
on both the pop and easy listening charts and caused the subsequent Tiny
Bubbles LP to remain in the album Top 20 for almost a year. Another song
associated with Don was "Pearly Shells". From 1964 to 1969,
Don's backing group was The Aliis: Al Akana, Rudy Aquino, Benny Chong,
Manny Lagodlagod and Joe Mundo. In the 70s he landed a television series
on ABC from October 1976 to March 1977 with the Don Ho Show variety program
which aired on weekday mornings (heart failure)
b. August 13th 1930.
2010: Mississippi Slim/Walter Horn Jr (66)
American blues singer born in Shelby, Mississippi; raised in Greenville
and he worked on a plantation before leaving for Chicago in 1968. His
trademark style was bright-coloured hair, multi-coloured suits and mix-matched
shoes and socks. He returned to Mississippi in 1994. In 1999, he recorded
"Miracles" with LaJam Records. With his remarkable stage presence,
Mississippi Slim was a crowd favorite at the Mississippi Delta Blues Festival
in 2008 (?) b. August
13th 1943.
2010: Peter Steele/Petrus T. Ratajczyk (48)
American multi-musician and composer.
Born in Brooklyn, he started taking guitar
lessons at 12, moving on to bass 6 months later. He played for the metal
group Fallout, which later reformed
as Type O Negative, and the thrash band Carnivore,
before
reforming the gothic metal band Type O Negative, with himself as lead
singer, bassist, and main composer. Type
O Negative's debut album, Slow, Deep and Hard, was released in '91. The
band went platinum with '93's "Bloody Kisses", and gained an
enormous following with 7 studio albums, two best-of compilations, and
concert DVDs. His last album was 2007's "Dead Again".
He went on to appear as a guest on the talk shows
Ricki Lake,
The Howard Stern Show,
and
The Jerry Springer Show.
In 2003, he had an acting role in an episode of the HBO drama series Oz.
He followed this with a role in the 2005 film Bad Acid. He is among the
musicians featured in the upcoming documentary Living the American Nightmare,
set for release in 2011 (Peter died of heart failure) b.
January 4th 1962.
2013: George Jackson (68) American
rhythm & blues and soul singer and songwriter born in Indianola, Miss.
He sang southern soul from the 1960s into the 1980s. As a writer, he provided
scores of songs for Goldwax and Fame in the 1960s and Hi and Sounds Of
Memphis in the 1970s, through to an ongoing relationship with Malaco Records,
that saw him pen material for dozens of artists, such as "One Bad
Apple" for the Osmonds, "Old Time Rock & Roll" for
Bob Seger and "The Only Way Is Up", which became a UK No.1 for
Yazz and Coldcut, having been written originally for Otis Clay
(sadly died from cancer)
b.
March 12th 1945.
April 15th.
1957: Pedro Infante/José Pedro Infante Cruz
(39) Mexican actor and singer of the
Golden Age of Mexican cinema and an idol of the Mexican people. As well
as his vast career in films, as a singer he recorded about 350 songs.
Waltzes, cha-cha-chas, rancheras and boleros placed him among the most
popular singers of the mariachi
famed for his mariachi shout and ranchera music. Some
of his most popular songs include: Amorcito Corazón/My Little Love
and Heart; Te Quiero Así/I Love You Like This; La Que Se Fue/She
Who Left; El Durazno/The Peach; Dulce Patria/Sweet Fatherland; Maldita
Sea Mi Suerte/Cursed Be My Luck; Así Es La vida/Life Is Like This;
Mañana Rosalía/Tomorrow Rosalía; Mi Cariñito/My
Little Darling; and ¿Qué Te Ha Dado Esa Mujer?/What Has
That Woman Given You?). His world famous song Bésame Mucho ("Kiss
Me a Lot" or "Give Me a Lot of Kisses"), was the only melody
that he recorded in English and he interpreted it in the movie A Toda
Máquina (At Full Speed), with Luis Aguilar. Pedro was very often
accompanied by the great musical ensembles of the time like the Mariachi
Vargas de Tecalitlán, Noé Fajardo's Orchestra, the Trío
Calaveras and Antonio Bribiesca, among others. (Tragically
he died in a plane crash when he was piloting a Consolidated Aircraft
X B-24-D, which crashed 5 minutes after take-off from Mérida, Yucatán)
b. November
18th 1917.
1968:
Borys Mykolayovych Lyatoshynsky (73) Ukrainian
composer, conductor, teacher, and leading member of the new generation
of twentieth century Ukrainian composers. He finished his musical studies
at the new Kiev Conservatory in the composition class of Reinhold Gliére,
with whom he was to continue a life-long relationship. He graduated in
1919 and he soon took up a position as a teacher and later professor.
As a composer he wrote a variety of works, including five symphonies,
symphonic poems and many shorter orchestral works, choral and vocal music,
two operas, chamber music and a number of works for solo piano (?)
b. January 3rd 1895.
1974: Giovanni D'Anzi (68) Italian
songwriter born in Milanhe wrote music and lyrics of "O mia bela
Madonina". In 1935 ,
a song dedicated to his hometown which soon became a sort of unofficial
city anthem. Between
1930s and 1950s Giovanni and Alfredo Bracchi formed a very prolific pair
of songwriters. They worked for radio, cinema and theater productions.
Several of their songs were great hits. Among them "Ma le gambe",
"Bambina innamorata", "Ma l'amore no", "Ti parlerò
d'amor". His song "Malinconia d'amore" has been sung by
both Luciano Pavarotti and José Carreras. During the 1960s Giovanni
D'Anzi retired from the musical scene. He moved to Liguria and took up
painting (Giovanni
died at Santa Margherita Ligure. Milan's local authorities included him
in the list of important Milanese people at the Monumental Cemetery)
b. January 1st 1906.
1984: Machito/Francisco
Grillo (74) Latin
jazz musician born in in Havana, Cuba, during the ’40s, he took jazz
improv and fused it with Afro-Cuban rhythms to help popularize Latin jazz
around the world. Machito's music greatly inspired such North American
jazz giants as Dizzy Gillespie and Stan Kenton. As a band leader, he fronted
the Afro Cubans, who also featured his sister, Graciela Perez-Grillo as
lead vocalist for a time. Machito was awarded a Latin Grammy in 1983 for
his Machito & His Sals Big Band ’82. More recently, his song
"Mambo Mucho Mambo" has featured on the sound track for the
game Grand Theft Auto Vice City. In 2005, his 1957 album, Kenya, was added
to the list of albums in '1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die'.
(Sadly died of a fatal stroke while
performing in London, UK) b. December 3rd 1909.
1988: Youri
Egorov (33)
Soviet classical pianist; born in Kazan, USSR, but
feeling politically and being gay, sexually constrained by the Soviet
system, he defected from the Soviet Union in 1976 while on a concert tour
in Rome, Italy and travelled to Amsterdam where he was to meet his long
term partner. In July, 1978, Musical America Magazine selected Youri as
their "Musician of the Month". He made his Carnegie Hall debut
on December 16, 1978 once again under the aegis of Gershunoff. The concert
was recorded live. In August 1979, two of his albums appeared on Billboard
Magazine's Best-Selling Classical LP chart. He made his home in Amsterdam
and throughout the 1980s he played primarily in Europe. His last American
appearance was in Florida in 1986. (complications
of AIDS)
b. May 28th 1954.
1995:
Cleo Brown (85) American
jazz singer born in Meridian, Mississippi, and sang in church as a child.
In 1919 her family moved to Chicago and she began studying piano; in the
1920s she began taking gigs in clubs and broadcast on radio. made recordings
in the '30s and '40s, with titles such as "Breakin' in a Pair of
Shoes", "Mama Don't Want No Peas and Rice and Coconut Oil"
and "The Stuff Is Here and it's Mellow". She entered the studios
again in the late '80s after being rediscovered living in the hinterlands
of Colorado (?) b.
December 8th 1909.
1998: Rose Maddox (71) American
country singer-songwriter
and fiddle player born in Boaz, Alabama, she performed with her siblings
as Maddox Brothers and Rose during the late ’30s and early ’40s.
When her brothers went off to serve their country in WWII, Rose continued
as a solo act and later rejoined them upon their return. Rose has been
referred to as the “grandmother of rockabilly”.
After the group disbanded in the late ’50s, Rose signed to Capitol
Records as a solo act. She scored several Top 20 hits including a No.4
hit duet with Buck Owens. In the mid ’60s, Rose switched gears a
bit and started performing bluegrass. She found a new audience among the
folk revivalists of the era. She continued recording and performing occasionally
well into the ’90s, and earning a Grammy nomination in 1996 (sadly
died of kidney failure)*August 15th 1925.
2001: Joey Ramone/Jeffry Ross Hyman (49)
American musician and singer, grew up
in Forest Hills, Queens where he had a disfunctional upbringing, but in
1974, he co-founded the punk rock band Ramones with friends John Cummings
and Douglas Colvin. All three adopted stage names using "Ramone"
as their stage surname. Cummings became Johnny Ramone, and Colvin became
Dee Dee Ramone, with Jeffry adopted the name Joey Ramone. The name Ramone
stems from the fact that x-Beatle Paul McCartney used to check into hotels
under the psuedonym "Paul Ramon" while touring. Joey initially
served as the group's drummer and Dee Dee was the original vocalist. However,
he proved to be unsuited for the lead vocals so they switched positions.
The Ramones had enormous influence on the punk rock movement in the US,
they achieved only minor commercial success, their only record certified
gold was the compilation album Ramones Mania. In 1996, after a tour with
the Lollapalooza music festival, the band played their final show and
then disbanded. Recognition of the band's huge importance slowly built
over the years, and they are now regularly represented in many assessments
of all-time great rock music, such as the Rolling Stone lists of the 50
Greatest Artists of All Time and 25 Greatest Live Albums of All Time,
VH1's 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock, and Mojo's 100 Greatest Albums.
In 2002, the Ramones were voted the second greatest rock and roll band
ever in Spin. After the band split Joey did make occasional public appearances
and worked for a time as a radio DJ; toward the end of the decade, he
worked sporadically on a solo album and also assembled a band featuring
guitarist Daniel Rey, bassist Andy Shernoff , and drummer Frank Funaro
and played several gigs in the New York area. In 2001 the Ramones were
named as inductees to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Joey's solo album
'Don't Worry About Me' was released posthumously in 2002. (he
sadly died after a brave seven year battle with lymphoma)
b. May 19th 1951.
2004:
Ray Condo/Ray Tremblay (53)
Canadian
rockabilly singer, saxophonist, guitarist,
born in Hull, Quebec. He taught himself to play the guitar at 11 and by
the time he was 16 had co-written and released his first recording, 'If
You Only Knew' with a band in the style of the British invasion called
The Peasants. He went on to form the band The Hardrock Goners, they performed
a variety of styles, rockabilly, jazz, blues, country and western swing.
Their first album was "It Came From Canada". They then established
their own record label, "Crazy Rekkids". In 1991 they merged
with a group called The Five Star Hillbillies, to create The Ricochets
(sadly died from a heart attack) b.
May 16th 1950.
2005:
John Fred/John Fred Gourrier (63)
American singer; his group, John Fred and the Playboys, was formed in
1956 having their first hit single "Shirley" in 1958's. In 1967,
Fred and band member Andrew Bernard co-wrote "Judy in Disguise",
a parody of The Beatles song "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds".
The song knocked another Beatles song "Hello, Goodbye" out of
the No.1 chart position on the Billboard Hot 100 for 2 weeks in January
'68. It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc. Although
Fred actually had a well-rehearsed and talented group honed by years on
the road, he was branded as a novelty act and never had another success.
Fred continued to perform in bands, and remained a fixture at concerts
and shows in his hometown, and hosted a popular local radio show, The
Roots of Rock 'n' Roll. In 2002, he released his final album, Somebody's
Knockin (He sadly died from complications from a
kidney transplant the year previous to his death) b.
May 8th 1941.
2008: Richard Anthony "Dick" Charlesworth
(76) English jazz clarinettist,
saxist and bandleader, totally self taught, born in Sheffield, Yorkshire,
but later moved to London. He formed his first group in 1956 while still
doing his day job, and his 'Dick Charlesworth's Jazzmen' won the South
London Jazz Band Championship in 1957. He signed a recording contract
with EMI and his group was remarketed as 'Dick Charlesworth's City Gents'.
They had a chart hit with "Billy Boy", and The City Gents often
appeared on television including The Morecambe and Wise Show and Sunday
Night at the London Palladium. Dick sang the title song of a comedy film,
In the Doghouse, starring Leslie Phillips and featured in his own 15 minute
musical short in 1963. When jazz declined he broke up his band, and from
1964 to 1969 worked for P&O fronting a band on the cruise liners Canberra
and Orsova. He then settled in Mojácar, in Spain where he ran a
music bar until he returned to Britain in 1977. He was active on the London
jazz scene until the early 2000s. He worked with many artists including
Keith Smith, Rod Mason, Alan Littlejohn and Denny Wright. He appeared
on the BBC Radio series, Jazz Score, a quiz show which encouraged its
participants to relate anecdotes about their lives in jazz (sadly
died of a heart attack) b.
8 January 8th 1932.
2008: Clifford Davies (59) British
drummer and pianist; after playing local gigs in the Aldershot area, he
went on to join the second incarnation of British jazz-rock band "If"
from 1972 to 1975. He played on four albums by the band and contributed
many of their songs. Following If's break-up, he joined US hard rock guitarist
Ted Nugent from 1975 to 1982 as drummer, producer and/or co-producer of
all Nugent's recordings over those years, in collaboration with Lew Futterman,
who had also produced If. In
the 1980s, Cliff worked for Next City Productions, also owned by Futterman,
in New York City recording with Grand Funk Railroad among others. Since
the late 1990s he lived in Atlanta teaching piano and drums. He was also
instrumental in founding the Rock and Roll Remembers Foundation. (tragically
he died from a self inflicted gun shot wound)
b. 1948.
2008: Brian "Blinky"Davison (65)
British drummer and former member of
the now legendary progressive rock band The Nice.
Born in Leicester, he played drums in various Skiffle groups in and around
the youth clubs and pubs in North-west London, especially around Baker
Street in the late 1950s and part of >>>
Read
More <<<
(he had been diagnosed with an inoperable tumor earlier this year, of
which he sadly died) b.
May 25th 1942.
2008:
Sean Costello (28)
American
blues guitarist singer
and songwriter,
born in Philadelphia, but moved to Atlanta at the age of 9. He won the
Memphis Blues Society's Talent Award aged 14. He released his first album
"Call The Cops" when he was 17 and in 2000, he released his
second album "Cuttin' In", earning him a Gold Record before
his 21st birthday. Tinsley Ellis called him
‘the most gifted young Blues guitarist on the scene. He toured widely
in the USA and Europe and his reputation as a brilliant live performer
enabled him to play alongside blues luminaries such as Buddy Guy, B. B.
King and Hubert Sumlin. (tragically found dead in
his Atlanta hotel room, he died from an overdose of drugs including prescribed
anti-anxiety medication) b. April 16th 1979.
2009: Robert Brookins (46) American
singer; he began singing at the age of four, and after winning a Motown
talent search in 1974, he joined a group called Afterbach whose debut
was produced by Earth Wind & Fire’s Maurice and Verdine White.
His vocals were featured on George Duke’s self titled release of
1986. He soon signed to MCA Records for whom he recorded a handful of
acclaimed R&B albums. Over his career he worked with the likes of
Stephanie Mills, Deniece Williams, the Whispers, Jeffrey Osbourne, and
Bobby Brown. (Robert sadly died of a heart attack)
b. October 7th 1962.
2010: George Melvin (63) American
jazz and R&B keyboardist, born in Charlottesville, launched his career
while still in his late teens, mainly focusing on the Hammond B-3 organ.During
the first thirty years of his career, George performed with many well-known
musicians, either as a member of their bands or as the “host musician”
at the venues where he was employed. Pearl Bailey, Dean Martin, Toots
Thieleman, Al Hurt, Grant Green, Miles Davis, Dexter Gordon, Aretha Franklin,
Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes, Ray Charles, the Moments
Nancy Wilson, Johnny Cash, Charlie Daniels, Ray Charles, Teddy Pendergrass,
Nat Reeves and many others have expanded both his stylings and his repertoire.
In later years, he was a constant fixture of the Charlottesville, Virginia
music scene.
(sadly died after
a long battle with a series of diabetes-related health complications)
b. May 24th 1947.
2011: Vincenzo La Scola (53)
Italian tenor born in Palermo; he had a successful international opera
career for more than 25 years. He was particularly admired for his portrayals
in operas by Giuseppe Verdi, Giacomo Puccini, Gaetano Donizetti, and Vincenzo
Bellini. He also achieved success as a crossover artist, particularly
in his many collaborations with singer-songwriter Cliff Richard and for
his solo crossover album Vita Mia in 1999. In 2000 he was made a UNICEF
Goodwill Ambassador, and from 2004 until his sudden death he served as
principal teacher- artistic director of the Accademia Verdi Toscanini
in Parma (sadly died of a heart attack)
b. January 25th 1958
2012: Charles E. Givings (66)
American musician, singer,
songwriter, producer, Charles E. Givings, a session drummer for Motown
in the LA Studios in the 60s, was the founder of the 'Black Gems Rare'
in 1969. A year later the band changed their name to 'Rare Gems Odyssey',
and later became The Rare Gems. Over the years they toured, played regularly
in Las Vegasand in California and opened for for Ray Charles at the Shrine.
They have had many hits including the classic funk track "What is
Funk", which has become a very collectable record especially in the
UK. With 8 albums under their belt, they were still performing until Charles'
death. In the 80's Charles formed his own label, Imagination Records,
where he produced his own band and other artists. Charles has also released
some beautiful solo love albums, >>>
READ
MORE <<< (sadly Charles
passed away in his sleep from a massive heart attack)
b. February 7th 1946
2013: Dave McArtney (62) New
Zealand singer and guitarist born in Auckland; he is best known for his
work with the band Hello Sailor and his solo career with Dave McArtney
& The Pink Flamingos.
His best-known song was Gutter Black, the first song from Hello Sailor's
debut album, released in 1977, which 20 years later became the theme song
to the hit New Zealand drama series Outrageous Fortune. After Hello Sailor
split in 1980, he formed the Pink Flamingos and released their first album
Dave McArtney & The Pink Flamingos in 1981. They relocated to Sydney,
releasing their 2nd album We Never Close in 1982 after which the disbanded,
with Dave moving to London. Returning to New Zealand in 1984, he recorded
the Pink Flamingos' third album, The Catch. He was music director and
composed music for film and television productions, including Incredible
Mountains-1983, Queen City Rocker-1986 and Raglan by the Sea-1987. At
the time of his death he was a tutor at the Music and Audio Institute
of New Zealand
(sadly died while fighting cancer) b. 1950
2013: Scott Miller (53) American
singer-songwriter and musician, member of the 1980s power pop group Game
Theory and lead singer of the group The Loud Family. Both bands were based
in the San Francisco Bay Area. Miller wrote most of the lyrics and compositions,
and played lead guitar. In 2010, he published Music: What Happened?, a
book based on the series he wrote for the Loud Family web site, in which
he wrote about each of the past 53 years in popular music (1957-2009)
via countdown song lists (?)
b. April 4th 1960.
April 16th.
1973: Nino
Bravo/Luis Manuel Ferri Llopis (28)
Spanish singer, born
near Valencia, he began singing at a hotel, where he sang his favorite
English song, "Only You". In
the late 60s he went on to appeared at the Barcelona Music Festival and
received favorable reviews from a festival audience in Athens, Greece,
after which he sang at the Rio de Janeiro Festival. After
being exposed to these international audiences in Europe and Latin America,
Nino's first solo album was soon released, and the song "Te quiero,
te quiero", became an international hit, which is now considered
a classic by many Hispanic music critics. His first album, "Tu Cambiarás"
/"You Will Change", sold well, particularly in Colombia, where
Bravo became very popular. He
then sang on the Spaniard television contest show, "Pasaporte a Dublín"
/ "Passport to Dublin" in which the winner would represent Spain
in 1971's Eurovision. After the show, he went on tour in Colombia and
Brazil, where he participated, for a second time in the Rio de Janeiro
Festival. (Nino
was driving his car along with the Humo duo and Miguel Diurni when his
car was involved in a tragic accident about 100 km southeast of Madrid.
He died on the way to the hospital as consequence of his injuries)
b. August 3rd 1944.
1973: István Kertész
(43) Hungarian orchestral and operatic conductor. From
1953-55, he conducted at Gyor, and Budapest Opera orchestra from 1955-57.
In March 1960, he was invited to become General Music Director of the
Augsburg Opera. There, he conducted performances of Mozart's The Magic
Flute, The Abduction from the Seraglio, Così fan tutte, and The
Marriage of Figaro, and earned for himself a reputation as one of the
finest interpreters of Mozart's work. With exhilarating performances of
Verdi's Rigoletto, Don Carlos, Otello and Falstaff, and Richard Strauss's
Salome, Arabella, and Der Rosenkavalier, he also proved himself a master
of the finest of Italian romantic operas. Invited to the Salzburg Festival,
he conducted The Abduction from the Seraglio in 1961, and The Magic Flute
in 1963. During this time, he also conducted the first of many performances
with the Berlin Philharmonic, London Symphony Orchestra, Israel Philharmonic
Orchestra, San Francisco Opera, the Festival dei Due Mondi in Spoleto,
and with Arthur Rubinstein in Paris. His UK debut was with the Royal Liverpool
Philharmonic Orchestra in 1960. He began an association with the Israel
Philharmonic Orchestra guest conducting a concert at Tel Aviv's Mann Auditorium
in March 1962. He conducted over 378 compositions with that orchestra
over an eleven year period (while on a concert tour,
Istvan tragically drowned while swimming off the coast of Israel at Herzliya)
b. August 28th 1929.
1992:
Andy Russell/Andrés Rabago Pérez
(72)
US popular vocalist, he became
vocalist and drummer with the bands of Johnny Richards, Gus Arnheim, Sonny
Dunham, and Alvino Rey. By 1944, he had become well enough regarded a
pop vocalist to be featured on radio, and in the next year had his "Old
Gold Show". In
1946, the pop music radio program Your Hit Parade asked him to take the
place of Frank Sinatra, this led to increased popularity.He
was signed on with Capitol Records and his first charted hit was "Bésame
Mucho", followed by "Amor", "What a Difference
a Day Made", "I Dream of You"/"Magic Is Moonlight",
"I Can't Begin to Tell You", "Laughing on the Outside",
"They Say It's Wonderful" and "Pretending", "I'm
Still Not Through Missing You", "It's Such a Pretty World Today"
to mention a few.
He relocated to Mexico, then Argentina where he had a successful television
variety show that ran for seven years, before returning to the US (?)
b. September 16th 1919.
1999: Alexander "Skip" Spence (52) American
-Canadian drummer, guitarist born in Windsor, Ontario; his family relocated
to San Jose, CA, in the late '50s; he was best known for his work with
Moby Grape and Jefferson Airplane. Skip was a guitarist in an early line-up
of Quicksilver Messenger Service before Marty Balin recruited him to be
the drummer for Jefferson Airplane. After one album with Jefferson Airplane,
their debut Jefferson Airplane Takes Off, he left to co-found Moby Grape,
once again as a guitarist. It was with Moby Grape that Spence found his
greatest musical fame, writing among other songs, "Omaha", from
Moby Grape's first album in 1967, a song identified in 2008 by Rolling
Stone Magazine as one of the 100 greatest guitar songs of all time. Mental
illness, drug addiction and alcoholism prevented him from sustaining a
full time career in the music industry. He remained in and around San
Jose and Santa Cruz, California. (sadly died from
lung cancer) b. April 18th 1946.
2010: C. P. Rele/Chandrashekhar P. Rele (82)
Indian classical singer born in Mumbai, he specialized in singing, teaching,
and composing khyal. He studied vocal music along with the legendary Kumar
Gandharva under the well-known musicologist Prof. B.R. Deodhar. He
also witnessed at close quarters, the training and the growth of Kumar
Gandharva. His compositions are very popular among younger musicians today.
Critics and musicians have acclaimed his collection of 135 compositions.
Among his others writings, Dr. Rele is also the author of an extremely
significant work on Raga Sangeet, entitled 'Svara Pravaaha'
(?) b.????
2012: Sári Barabás (98)
Hungarian-born German opera singer, born
in Budapest where she studied and made her debut at the Budapest Opera
in 1939, as Gilda in Rigoletto, but then the war interrupted her career.
She appeared at the Zurich Opera and the Vienna Volksoper, and then joined
the Munich State Opera in 1949, where she remained until 1971, she was
also a regular guest at the Vienna State Opera, where she established
a reputation as a soprano of agility and glamorous personality. She made
guest appearances as Gilda, at the Royal Opera House in London, and at
the Glyndebourne Festival, where she sang Konstanze in Die Entführung
aus dem Serail, Adele in Le comte Ory, and Zerbinetta in Ariadne auf Naxos
to great acclaim. Sári made her American debut at the San
Francisco Opera in 1950, as the Queen of the Night in The Magic Flute.
She also sang operetta, and enjoyed considerable success in London in
1969, in a revival of the musical The Great Waltz. She retired from the
stage in 1973 (sadly Sári died from
a stroke) b. March 14th 1914
2012:
Teddy Charles/Theodore Charles Cohen (84) American jazz musician
and composer whose instruments were the vibraphone, piano, and drums.
Born
in Chicopee Falls, Massachusetts, he studied at Juilliard School of Music
as a percussionist. Later he began to record and made personal appearances
as Teddy Cohen with bands as a vibraphonist, writing, arranging and producing
records before changing his last name to Charles in 1951. He was one of
many jazz musicians who hung out at an apartment building at 821 Sixth
Avenue in New York City known as the Jazz Loft. Known as an innovator,
his main work was recorded in the 1950s. He also did session work with
musicians and singers as varied as Miles Davis and Dion. He recorded an
album, Live at the Verona Jazz Festival, for the Italian Soul Note label
in 1988. Charles was the Captain of the Skipjack Pilgrim out of Greenport,
New York, on the North Fork of Long Island, and performs music locally.
In his last years, Charles began performing again after spending some
years at sea (?) b.
April 13th 1928.
2013:
Richard D. Kelley (76) American
bassist with Los Angeles Philharmonic; he was one of the orchestra's longest
serving musicians at the time of his retirement in October 2012. He joined
the bass section in 1956 at the age of 19. During his 57-year tenure,
he played under six different music directors, most recently with Gustavo
Dudamel (sadly Richard died
while fighting cancer) b.
1937
2013: Jim McCandless (68) American
singer and songwriter, born in a Chicago, he was a fixture at dozens of
Chicago music rooms including the Abbey Pub, the No Exit Cafe, the Old
Town School of Folk Music and FitzGerald’s in Berwyn, where he debuted
his latest record, “Lucky Day,” in February. In 1988 he bought
standing-room-only tickets to the National Basketball Association All
Star Game at the Chicago Stadium to see Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Mr. McCandless
had composed the song “Kareem and Me” about each of them going
bald together (tragically
died after a fall)
b. 1945.
April 17th.
1941: Albert Allick "Al" Bowlly (43)
Southern-African singer,
songwriter, composer and band leader, born in Lourenço Marques
in the then Portuguese colony of Mozambique. Al gained his musical experience
singing for a dance band led by Edgar Adeler on a tour of South Africa,
Rhodesia, India and Indonesia during the mid 20s. He bwent on to be a
popular Jazz crooner during the 1930s in the UK and later, in America.
He recorded more than 1,000 records between 1927 and 1941. His most popular
songs include "Goodnight, Sweetheart", "The Very Thought
of You", "Guilty", and "Love Is the Sweetest Thing".
As well as
singing, he played both the guitar and the ukuleleAl Bowlly is
invariably credited with inventing crooning, or "The Modern Singing
Style", and is also credited with being the first "Pop Star".
Al remains one of the most highly regarded singers of his era because
of his extraordinary range, his command of pitch and rhythm, and, above
all, the sincerity with which he could deliver a lyric (Al
was tragically killed by a Luftwaffe parachute mine which detonated outside
his London flat. His body appeared unmarked: although the massive explosion
had not disfigured him, it had blown his bedroom door off its hinges and
the impact against his head proved fatal. He was buried with other bombing
victims in a mass grave at the Hanwell Cemetery, originally City of Westminster
Cemetery, Uxbridge Road, Hanwell, London, where his name is spelled Albert
Alex Bowlly) b. January
7th 1898.
1960: Eddie Cochran (21) American
singer, songwriter, multi-musician born in Minnesota, one of the greatest,
and the most talented of the early pop stars. He was a rock and roll pioneer
who in his short career had lasting influence on rock music. His
songs have influenced bands and artists such as The Who, The Beach Boys,
Bruce Springsteen, Van Halen, Tom Petty, The
Stray Cats, Motörhead, Rod
Stewart, Humble Pie, Lemmy Kilmister, T. Rex, The
White Stripes, Brian Setzer,
Cliff Richard,
The Beatles, Led Zeppelin,
UFO, The Sex Pistols and many more. Eddie's
rockabilly songs, such as "C'mon Everybody", "Somethin'
Else" and "Summertime Blues", captured teenage frustration
and desire in the late 1950s and early 1960s. It was his bold attitude
and confident guitar playing, that, particularly on the 1960 British tour,
impressed budding rockers and fans alike. He experimented with multitracking
and overdubbing even on his earliest singles, and was also able to play
piano, bass and drums. His image as a sharply dressed, rugged but good
looking young man with a rebellious attitude epitomized the stance of
the Fifties rocker, and in death he achieved iconic status. His "Three
Steps to Heaven" single became a UK No.1 hit a couple of weeks after
his death. (while
on tour in the UK, Eddie died as a result
of a traffic accident, in a Ford Consul taxi he was traveling in on the
A4, Chippenham, Wiltshire. He was thrown through the windscreen when it
hit a lamp post. Sadly Eddie died in hospital in the early hours of the
following morning with severe head injuries)
b. October 3rd 1938.
1967: Henry "Red" Allen (61) American
jazz trumpeter and singer, born in of New Orleans, Louisiana; he
was playing professionally by 1924 with the Excelsior Brass Band and the
jazz dance bands of Sam Morgan, George Lewis and John Casimir. After playing
on riverboats on the Mississippi River, he went to Chicago in 1927 to
join King Oliver's band. Around this time he made recordings on the side
in the band of Clarence Williams. After returning briefly to New Orleans
where he worked with the bands of Fate Marable and Fats Pichon, he was
offered a recording contract with Victor Records and returned to New York
City, where he also joined the Luis Russell band. In 1929 Red was a featured
with Luis Russell's Orchestra until 1932 and took part in recording sessions
that year some of which featured Fats Waller and/or Tommy Dorsey. In 1933
he joined Fletcher Henderson's Orchestra until 1934. After which he played
with Lucky Millinder's Mills Blue Rhythm Band 1934-1937, when he returned
to Luis Russell for three more years by the time Russell's orchestra was
fronted by Louis Armstrong. He continued making many recordings under
his own name, as well as recording with Fats Waller and Jelly Roll Morton
with vocalists including Victoria Spivey and Billie Holiday. Red started
leading his own band at The Famous Door in Manhattan. He then toured with
his band around the USA into the late 1950s. In 1959 Allen made his first
tour of Europe when he joined Kid Ory's band, Red made his final tour
of England with his own band ending six weeks before his death (sadly
died from pancreatic cancer)
b.
January 7th 1906.
1971: Carmen
Lombardo (67) Canadian singer and composer,
born
in London, Ontario, he was the younger brother of bandleader Guy Lombardo.
His compositions included the 1928 classic "Sweethearts on Parade",
which was No.1 for three weeks in 1929 on the U.S. pop charts; "Ridin'
Around in the Rain", written with Gene Austin in 1934; the jazz and
pop standards "Coquette", "Boo Hoo", and "Some
Rainy Day", and "Powder Your Face With Sunshine (Smile, Smile,
Smile)", written with Stanley Rochinski in 1948-49, As a child he
took flute lessons, and later learned to play saxophone. He later formed
a band with his brother Guy as conductor, which developed into The Royal
Canadians in 1923, Carmen both sang and wrote music. Carman
also wrote the words and music with John Jacob Loeb for Guy Lombardo's
stage productions of Arabian Nights 1954/1955; Paradise Island 1961/1962,
and Mardi Gras 1965/1966, at Jones Beach, New York
(Sadly
died of cancer) b.
July 16th 1903.
1974:
Vinnie Taylor/Chris
Donald (24)
American lead guitarist; he replaced Henry Gross as the lead guitarist
the rock and roll group Sha Na Na in 1970 until his untimely death in
'74 (Vinnie sadly died from
a heroin overdose after a concert at University Hall at the University
of Virginia) b. 1949.
1983: Felix Pappalardi (43) American
music producer, songwriter, vocalist, and bassist; born in the Bronx,
NY. a classically trained musician, he attended the University of Michigan.
In 1964 he was a member of Max Morath's Original Rag Quartet. As a producer,
he is perhaps best-known for his work with British psychedelic blues-rock
power trio Cream, beginning with their second album, Disraeli Gears. As
a musician, Felix is widely known as a bassist, vocalist, and founding
member of the American hard rock band Mountain The band's signature song,
"Mississippi Queen" is still heard regularly on classic rock
radio stations. Felix was forced to retire because
of partial deafness, ostensibly from his high-volume shows with Mountain.
He continued producing throughout the 1970s and released a solo album
and recorded with Japanese hard rock outfit Blues Creation.
(He was tragically shot dead by his wife Gail Collins during a jealous
rage. She claimed it was an accident, and was found guilty of the lesser
criminally negligent homicide and sentenced to 16 months to 4 years in
prison and was released on parole in April 1985.)
b. December 30th 1939.
1987: Carlton Barrett (36) Jamaican
musician, an influential reggae drummer and percussion player. His musical
development in the early years were with his brother Aston "Family
Man" Barrett as a member of Lee "Scratch" Perry's "house
band" The Upsetters. The brothers joined Bob Marley and The Wailers
around 1970. He wrote the well known Bob Marley song "War" and
with his brother Aston co-wrote "Talkin' Blues". Carlton is
featured on all the albums recorded by Bob Marley and the Wailers with
the exception of the 1970 "Soul Shakedown Party". He was the
originator of the one drop rhythm, a percussive drumming style. With Carly's
beats and his brother Aston's bass, the Wailer rhythm section planted
the seeds of today's international reggae. He stayed and performed with
Bob Marley until Marley's death in 1981. (Carlton
was murdered, shot twice in the head outside his house in Kingston)
b. December 17th 1950.
1998: Linda McCartney
née Eastman (56) American vocalist,
keyboardist, photographer, and animal rights activist. Born in New York
City, after a priveliged upbringing, she started work as a receptionist
for the Town & Country magazine, and was the only unofficial photographer
on board the SS Sea Panther yacht on the Hudson River, After which she
became the house photographer at the Fillmore East concert hall, photographing
artists such as Aretha Franklin, Grace Slick, Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan,
Janis Joplin, Eric Clapton, Simon & Garfunkel, The Who, The Doors,
The Animals, and Neil Young. She photographed Clapton for Rolling Stone
magazine, becoming the first woman to have a photo featured on the front
cover May 11th
1968. She and Paul McCartney also
appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone on January 31st 1974, making her
the only person both to have taken a photo, and to have been photographed,
for the front cover of the magazine. Linda made an uncredited vocal contribution
to The Beatles song "Let It Be" in January 1969. Linda and Paul
were the accredited artists on Paul's second post-Beatles LP, 1971's "Ram".
Paul permanently included Linda in the lineup for his subsequent group,
Wings. The group won several Grammy Awards, becoming one of the most successful
bands of the 1970s. In 1977, a single entitled "Seaside Woman"
was released by an obscure band called Suzy and the Red Stripes, on Epic
Records in the US. In reality, Suzy and The Red Stripes were Wings, with
Linda McCartney, who also wrote the song, on lead vocals. She was a strong
advocate for animal rights, and lent her support to many organizations
like PETA; The Council for the Protection of Rural England, Friends of
the Earth; and was a patron of the League Against Cruel Sports (Sadly
Linda lost her battle with breast cancer) b. September
24th 1941.
2003: Earl King/Earl Silas Johnson IV (69)
New Orleans Blues guitar virtuoso and
songwriter most active in blues music. He
was the composer of well known standards such as "Come On" (covered
by Jimi Hendrix), and Professor Longhair's "Big Chief". He started
to play guitar at 15. Soon he started entering talent contests at local
clubs. It was at one of those clubs where he met his idol Guitar Slim.
Earl started imitating Slim, his presence gave a big impact on his musical
directions. In 1954, when Slim was injured in an automobile accident,
Earl was deputized to continue Slim's band tour, representing himself
as Slim. After succeeding in this role, he became a regular at the Dew
Drop Inn. Earl is considered to be one of the most important figures in
New Orleans R&B music. (complications of diabetes
in New Orleans) b. February 7th 1934.
2008: Danny Federici (58) American
musician; life long friend and over 40 years as keyboardist with Bruce
Springsteen in bands Child, Steel Mill and The E Street Band. Danny started
to play accordion when he was seven years old, and was soon playing at
parties, clubs and on radio. He attended Hunterdon Central High School
in New Jersey, when he, along with Vini Lopez started the band, Child
at the end of the '60s, with Bruce Springsteen their chosen singer a friendship
and working friendship that lastrd throughout his life. During the '90s,
Tony recorded a solo album of jazz instrumentals called Flemington, re-worked
and re-issued as Danny Federici on in 2001. This was followed up with
a smooth jazz album Sweet in 2004, was also re-issued as Out of a Dream
in 2005. Danny performed on other artist's records as well, including
those of Graham Parker, Joan Armatrading, Gary U.S. Bonds and Garland
Jeffreys. He made his last appearence on March 20, 2008, for portions
of a Springsteen and E Street Band performance in Indianapolis at Conseco
Fieldhouse (died after a three year battle with melanoma) b.
January 23rd 1950
2011: Eric Gross (84) Austrian-born
Australian pianist and composer born in Vienna, but emigrated to the UK
in 1938; from the age of 14 he worked as a pianist in bands and orchestras,
and as a studio accompanist for the BBC. Following professional engagements
in Ceylon/Sri Lanka and New Caledonia, he settled in Sydney in 1958. He
joined the staff of the Department of Music at the University of Sydney
in 1960 and remained there until retiring in 1991 as Associate Professor
of Music. His
worldwide travels and cultural experiences tended to give his music a
cosmopolitan flavour, with trace's
of Austrian, Scottish, Asian and South American influences emerging from
time to time. He also enjoyed experimentation, especially when a sympathetic
virtuoso or ensemble such as bass-baritone Alan Light, trombonist Greg
van der Struik or Adrian Hooper's Sydney Mandolins, was available. In
1989 he was visiting Professor at the University of Guyana. A past President
of the Fellowship of Australian Composers, he was also Treasurer and Executive
Board Member of the Asian Composers' League from 1981 until 1994. In 1998
Eric was made a Member of the Order of Australia and, on Australia Day
2006, he was declared to be the City of Canada Bay Cultural and Artistic
Citizen of the Year (?)
b. September 16th
1926.
2011: Nikos Papazoglou (63)
Greek singer-songwriter, born in Thessaloniki; he began performing in
a number of Greek local groups in the 1960s. In 1972, he moved to Aachen
in Germany with the group Zilotis in an attempt to break into the international
music scene. The group recorded six songs in Milan, Italy. Shortly afterwards,
he returned to Greece. Since 1984 e and his band known as Loxi falaga
recorded and toured gaining huge popularity with the general public. His
works generated an ever-expanding audience in northern Europe and America.
His songs include: Kaneis edw den tragouda, Ax Ellada, Avgoustos, Oi magkes
den yparxoun pia, Ydrokhoos and
many others
(sadly died after a battling cancer)
b. March 20th 1948.
2012: Dimitris Mitropanos
(64) Greek singer born in Trikala; at the age of 16
he moved to Athens to begin his musical career. In 1967, he recorded his
first album with the song "Thessaloniki",
which was followed by "Chameni
Paschalia", a song that was censored by the Greek military junta
and thus never released. He went on to become one of the foremost interpreters
of Greek rebetika and popular folk music. In his long career in the Greek
song industry, Dimitris collaborated with leading artists of the Laïko
and Éntekhno music, including Giorgos Zampetas, Mikis Theodorakis,
Dimos Moutsis, Apostolos Kaldaras, Takis Mousafiris, Christos Nikolopoulos
and Yannis Spanos (sadly Dimitris died after suffering
pulmonary edema caused by a heart attack)
b. April 2nd 1948.
2013: Gary Biddles (?) British singer
and one time roadie for The Cure and who sang in Fools Dance and Presence
in the ’80s and ’90s, each of which featured members of the
Cure. After Simon Gallup left The Cure, he and Gary formed the band Fools
Dance, which released a couple of albums before Gallup re-joined The Cure.
Then, in 1990, after Lol Tolhurst was fired from The Cure, he, Gary and
former Cure bassist Michael Dempsey formed Presence, and released the
album Inside in 1990. The band recorded a second album in 1992 that was
never released until being posted on Soundcloud last month (?)
b. 19??
2013: Sita Chan (26)
Hong Kong pop singer; after winning some singing contests, she
began singing in shopping malls and weddings. In 2005, she graduated from
the City University of Hong Kong, obtaining a degree in English for Professional
Communications. In
2011 she signed to Star Entertainment and later that year, she won the
"newcomer impact award" in the Jade Solid Gold Best Ten Music
Awards Presentation. Sita released her first album "Crazy Love"
in March 2012, followed by heer second album "Let Me Find Love"
in December 2012. (tragically
Sita was involved in a fatal traffic collision near Yau Ma Tei, Hong Kong,
while driving home along the West Kowloon Highway)
b. March 10th 1987.
2013: Cecilia Smiga (38)
Welsh opera soprano; former pupil of Ysgol Morgan Llwyd in Wrexham,
study in Belgium and Switzerland. A
former finalist in The Welsh Singer of the Year Competition her stage
career
included the West End and European opera venues. She was also head of
music and performing arts at a school in Berkshire (sadly
died after a short illness) b. 1975
2013: Dariush Safvat (85) Persian
music master and ethnomusicologist born in in Shiraz. He began learning
to play the Setar at an early age from his father, Ali Asghar Safvat,
and studied with two other Masters of Persian classical music, Abolhasan
Saba and Haj Agha Mohammad Irani. He was the founder and a director of
the Centre for Preservation and Propagation of Iranian Music. Most credit
him with saving traditional music from obliteration in the 1970s. The
Centre counts among its graduates some of the most prolific and admired
masters of classical Persian music, including Mohammad Reza Lotfi, Hossein
Alizadeh, Hossein Omoumi, Parisa, Nasser Farhangfar, Dariush Talai, Majid
Kiani and Mahmoud Farahmand (died from natural causes)
b. November 28th 1928.
2013: Bi Kidude/Fatuma binti Baraka (100) Zanzibari
singer and considered the undisputed queen of Taarab and Unyago music
and was also a protégé of Siti binti Saad. In 2005 Bi received
the prestigious WOMEX award for her outstanding contribution to music
and culture in Zanzibar (?)
b. 1913/14
2013: Yngve Moe (55) Norwegian
bass guitarist born in Tromsø, known for playing in bands such
as peas, beef and pork before becoming a founding member of the Norwegian
rock band Dance With a Stranger. Yngve and the band released 8 albums
the last being 'Everyone Needs a Friend... The Very Best of Dance with
a Stranger'. He
also continued working as a studio session musician, participating in
projects like Olav Dale's Son Mu Ernesto Manuitt y Grupo and Groovy (while
on holiday with his family on the island of Tenerife, Spain, he was caught
by underwater currents when swimming at the beach, and dragged underwater
for a period of time, after which he was in a coma, sadly he did not recover)
b. October 4th 1957.
April 18th.
1973: Willie "The Lion" Smith (79) American
jazz pianist; one of the masters of the stride style. Duke Ellington stated
"Willie The Lion was the greatest influence of all the great jazz
piano players who have come along. He has a beat that stays in the mind".
Born in Goshen, New York and by the early 1910s he was playing in New
York City and Atlantic City, New Jersey. After serving in WW1 he returned
to working in Harlem clubs and in rent parties, he worked for decades,
often as a soloist, sometimes in bands and accompanying blues singers
such as Mamie Smith. Although working in relative obscurity, he was a
"musician's musician", influencing countless others including
Duke Ellington, George Gershwin and Artie Shaw. In the 1940s his music
found appreciation with a wider audience, and he toured North America
and Europe through to 1971. (?) b.
November 25th 1897
1996: Bernard Edwards (42) American
bassist and producer, born in Greenville, North Carolina, but grew up
in Brooklyn, New York City. In 1972 he and Nile Rodgers formed the Big
Apple Band and in 1976 they united with drummer Tony Thompson to form
Chic together with singer Norma Jean Wright. They had hits such as "Dance,
Dance, Dance (Yowsah, Yowsah, Yowsah)", "I
Want Your Love", "Everybody
Dance", "Le Freak", and "Good Times". After Chic's
breakup in 1983, he released
a solo album the same year, and in 1985 he was instrumental in the formation
of the supergroup Power Station. He followed this by producing Robert
Palmer's hit album Riptide and continued to produce artists throughout
the 1980s and 90s including Diana Ross, Adam Ant, Rod Stewart, Air Supply,
ABC and Duran Duran. Bernard teamed up with Nile Rodgers again for the
Chic reunion in the early 1990s and released the album Chic-Ism in 1992.
In 1996 they were invited to play in concert at the Budokan Arena in Tokyo,
although he felt very ill before the concert he managed to perform, which
sadly was to be his last performance (While
performing in Japan, Bernard died in his Tokyo Hotel bedroom after complaining
that he was feeling ill. The
cause of death was ruled to be pneumonia)
b. October 31st 1952.
2006: John Burch/John Alexander Burchell)
British pianist, composer and band leader
playing traditional jazz, bebop, blues, skiffle, boogie-woogie and rock.
He
played in army bands during his military service stationed in Germany
and in the late 50s toured military bases with his group, which included
Graham Bond. In 1959, he toured France with bassist Jeff Clyne and saxist
Bobby Wellins. In 1960 he joined Allan Ganley's Jazzmakers. In the early
60s he led a quartet and an octet with Graham Bond, Dick Heckstall-Smith,
Ray Warleigh, Peter King, Hank Shaw, Ginger Baker and Jack Bruce. In 1965
he led a trio featuring Ron Mathewson and John Stevens. Other musicians
he worked with include Don Rendell, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Freddie Hubbard,
Red Rodney, Jon Eardley, Kathy Stobart and Eddie Vinson. In 1984 he re-formed
the octet with Dick Morrissey, at the same time playing with UK jazz-funk
band Morrissey. As a composer, he wrote "Preach and Teach"-1966
the B-side of Georgie Fame's hit "Yeh Yeh". He composed Fame's
follow-up, "In the Meantime", and also its B-side, "Telegram".
He dedicated his "Resurrection Ritual Suite" to Dick Morrissey
and on his death had just completed a tribute to Ronnie Scott called "Just
By Chance" (?)
b. January 6th 1932.
2008:
Peter Howard/Howard
Weiss (80)
American musical theater arranger, conductor and pianist. Coming to prominence
in the 1960s, Howard served as the conductor and dance music arranger
for the original Broadway productions of Hello, Dolly!, 1776 and Annie
and served as the dance music arranger for the original Broadway productions
of Chicago, The Tap Dance Kid and Crazy for You. (Parkinson's
Disease)
b. July
29th 1927.
2009: Bruno Adams (46)
Australian singer-songwriter, guitarist born
in Bacchus Marsh, he moved to Melbourne in 1978. There, he became part
of the embryonic Punk/New Wave scene, playing with musicians from The
Saints, Crime & The City Solution, and Laughing Clowns. In
1984 he formed his own band Once Upon A Time. They played Melbourne's
clubs from 1985 to '88, building a reputation for apocalyptic live shows
with their avantgarde psychedelic blues sound. They moved to Berlin, Germany
in 1989 and supported Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds throughout Europe
on "The Good Son"- Tour of 1990. A European tour supporting
Swans followed in the early 1990's. They recorded 3 CDs "Once Upon
A Time", "In The Blink Of An Eye" and "Don't Look
Down" before braking up in 1996. Since then they have done reunion
concerts in Berlin and Prague in 2004 and 2005 ()
b. 1963.
2010:
Devon Clifford (30) Canadian drummer with the five piece dance-punk
band from Abbotsford, British Columbia, You Say Party! We Say Die!. The
band was birthed out of a bike gang known as "The Smoking Spokes".
December of 2003 was too cold to ride bikes, so a band was born, You Say
Party! We Say Die! played their first show in April 2004. They went on
release four albums thr last to date 2009's XXXX. Their albums produced
eight singles. Devon and the band toured relentlessly in the
USA, Europe,
the
UK
and Canada
(Devon collapsed on stage during the band's set at The Rickshaw Theatre
in Vancouver, Canada, he sadly died of complications from a sudden brain
hemorrhage) b. 1979
2013: Cordell "Boogie" Mosson (60)
American
bassist, Plainfield, New Jersey; as a teenager he and his friend Garry
Shider went to Canada and joined a band called United Soul, which were
spotted by George Clinton. In 1971 Clinton produced several tracks by
United Soul with input from members of Funkadelic. The songs "I Miss
My Baby" and "Baby I Owe You Something Good" were released
as a single in 1971 under the group name U.S. Music with Funkadelic. He
went on to become a prominent contributor to albums by both Funkadelic
and Parliament from 1972 until the dissolution of the two groups in the
early 1980s, and was the featured on-stage bassist for Parliament-Funkadelic
after Bootsy Collins went solo. Cordell also appeared
in the movie PCU as himself, in 1994 and then in 1997 along
with 15 other members of Parliament-Funkadelic he
was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
(?)
b. October
16th 1952.
April 19th.
1944: Jimmy
Noone (48) American clarinet player born on the Stanton Plantation,
Cut Off, Louisiana; at 15 he moved to New Orleans, where he studied with
Lorenzo Tio and with the young Sidney Bechet, who was only 13 at the time.
By 1912, he was playing professionally with Freddie Keppard in Storyville,
and played with Buddy Petit, Kid Ory, Papa Celestin, the Eagle Band, and
the Young Olympia Band, before joining the Original Creole Orchestra in
Chicago in 1917. The following year, he joined King Oliver's Creole Jazz
Band, then in 1920 joined Keppard in Doc Cook's band for six years, and
make early recordings. In 1926, he started leading the band at Chicago's
Apex Club. This band, Jimmie Noone's Apex Club Orchestra, was notable
for its unusual instrumentation and included pianist Earl Hines for a
time. His
first 1928 session yielded "Four or Five Times" b/w "Every
Evening (I Miss You)", a best seller. In 1935, he moved New York
City then returned to Chicago where he played at various clubs until 1943,
when he moved to LA. Shortly after he joined Kid Ory's band, which was
featured for a time on a radio program hosted by Orson Welles (died
suddenly of a heart attack while in L.A)
b. April 23rd 1895.
1993: Steve Douglas Kreisman (54)
American saxophonist, fluteist, clarinetist, and drummer; he was one of
the most sort after session musicians in L.A, a member of The Wrecking
Crew, who worked with Phil Spector, Brian Wilson and The Beach Boys. He
can be heard on records by Duane Eddy, Aretha Franklin, Elvis Presley,
Bob Dylan, BB King, Ike & Tina Turner, Bobby Darin and so many others.
In 2003 he was elected to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the category
"Sidemen" (while warming up for a recording session with Ry
Cooder, he collapsed and died from heart failure) b.
September 24th
1938.
1997:
El Duce/Eldon Hoke (39) American
singer and drummerwith the heavy metal band The
Mentors noted
for its deliberately sexist shock rock lyrics.
El and the Mentors worked to gain attention through farcical demonstrations
of political incorrectness. Their guitarist renamed himself "Sickie
Wifebeater," and the group often appeared in public wearing black
executioner hoods. The Mentors released their first EP, The Trash Bag,
in 1983. Their first live album, Live at the Whiskey/Cathey de Grande,
came out the following year. This was followed by five more albums before
his death. In the mid-nineties, after the death of Nirvana frontman Kurt
Cobain, El began making the claim that Cobain's wife, Courtney Love, had
offered to pay Hoke $50,000 to kill Cobain. He promoted his story in such
media outlets as TV's Jerry Springer Show, The National Enquirer weekly
tabloid, and in Nick Broomfield's documentary film, Kurt & Courtney.
Authors
Max Wallace and Ian Halperin of Who
Killed Kurt Cobain? claim that El secretly informed Drew Gallagher that
he had "killed Kurt Cobain".
(Died horridly in Riverside, California after being
hit by a train while intoxicated) b. March
23rd 1958.
2000: Louis Applebaum (82) Canadian
conductor and conductor;
born in Toronto, where he studied at the Conservatory of Music with Leo
Smith and the University of Toronto with Boris Berlin, Healey Willan and
Ernest MacMillan. He composed music for numerous films and was nominated
for an Academy Award for his score of the 1945 war film, The Story of
G.I. Joe. Louis went on to become executive director of the Ontario Arts
Council and Vice-President of the Canadian League of Composers and was
the first music director of the Stratford Festival. His fanfares have
opened every performance since the Festival started in 1953. In 1976 he
was made an Officer of the Order of Canada and was promoted to Companion
in 1995 (?)
b. April 3rd 1918.
2003: Conrad Leonard (104!)
English pianist, composer; the oldest working musician in Britain.
At 99 years old, his doctor advised him to "ease up a bit",
and he accordingly cut his engagements to 75 gigs a year. Until the age
of 103 years, he played the piano every Thursday at lunchtime in the Plantation
Cafe at Squire's Garden Centre in Twickenham. Born in South Norwood. After
serving in WWI
he studied music at the Guildhall School of Music, and he subsequently
toured the country as a professional musician. From the 1930s, he performed
with stars like Fred Astaire, Cole Porter and Gracie Fields. He composed
over 400 ballads; the most famous being "My Love is Only For You"-1946
and "I heard a Robin singing"-1948. During WWII, he joined Laurence
Wright, a music publishing firm, as an arranger until 1969. In 1999, Conrad
was given the Golden Badge Awards by the British Academy of Composers
and Songwriters (?) b.
October 10th 1898.
2005: Niels-Henning Orsted Pedersen (58)
Danish double bassist; known for his impressive
technique and an approach that could be considered an extension of the
innovative work of Scott LaFaro. At 17, he had already turned down an
offer to join the Count Basie orchestra, mainly because he was too young
to get legal permission to live and work as a musician in US. During the
'60s, he played with several important American jazzmen who were touring
or resident in Denmark, including Ben Webster, Bill Evans, Brew Moore,
Bud Powell, Count Basie, Roy Eldridge, Dexter Gordon, Dizzy Gillespie,
Jackie McLean, Roland Kirk, Sonny Rollins, and Ella Fitzgerald; he also
played with Jean-Luc Ponty. He was the bassist of choice whenever a big-name
musician was touring Denmark He also contributed to several avant-garde
recordings with Anthony Braxton, Albert Ayler, Archie Shepp and he worked
in duo and trio arrangements with pianist Kenny Drew, recording over 50
albums together. Niels
was awarded Best Bass Player Of The Year by Downbeat Critics' Poll in
1981 (sadly
heart failure)
b. May 27th 1946.
2005: Bryan Ottoson (27)
German born lead guitarist with
the US
metal band American Head Charge from
Minneapolis. Their self-released debut album caught the attention of Rick
Rubin, who signed and produced The War of Art in 2001. By then the group
was a supporting act on Ozzfest and the Pledge of Allegiance tour with
Slipknot. He had also played in the bands Black Flood Diesel and A:POD
(he was battling walking pneumonia with prescribed
penicillin and pain medication, but was found dead in a bunk of their
tour van as a result of these two drugs; his death was tragically accidental)
b. March 18th
1978.
2009: Tilahun Gessesse (68) Ethiopian
singer; regarded as one of the most popular of his country's "Golden
Age" in the 1960s. During
the 1960s he became famous throughout the country, nicknamed "The
Voice". He raised money for aid during the famines of the 1970s and
1980s and earned the affection of the nation, being awarded a doctorate
by the University of Addis Adaba and also winning a lifetime achievement
award from the Ethiopian Fine Art and Mass Media Prize Trust. In his later
years he suffered from diabetes (He died in Addis Adaba shortly after
returning from America. Tilahun was honoured with a state funeral attended
by tens of thousands of his fellow citizens) b.
September
29th 1940.
2010: Keith "Guru" Elam (48)
American rapper, emcee and member of the hip-hop
duo Gang Starr, along with DJ Premier. He was born in Roxbury, Massachusetts.
The name Guru is a backronym that stands for Gifted Unlimited Rhymes Universal
and the less-often used God is Universal; he is the Ruler Universal, which
are both references to the teachings of the Nation of Gods and Earths.
He is also known for lending his voice for 8-Ball in Grand Theft Auto
III and Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories.
He founded Gang Starr in 1987 and released their first LP No More Mr.
Nice Guy on Wild Pitch Records; they achieved a sizable following and
released six critically acclaimed and influential albums from 1989 to
2003. Two albums, Moment of Truth-1998 and compilation Full Clip: A Decade
of Gang Starr (1999) were certified gold in the United States by the RIAA.[5]
Gang Starr made "archetypal East Coast rap" with Guru's rapping
described as sharp eyed but anti-ostentatious. His first solo album not
a part the Jazzmatazz series, Baldhead Slick & da Click was released
in 2001. Guru's final releases were the 4th installment in the Jazzmatazz
series released in June 2007, and Guru 8.0: Lost And Found, released May
19th 2009
(February 28th 2010, Guru went into cardiac arrest
and following surgery, fell into a coma. It was claimed that Guru had
briefly awakened from his coma but sadly died from cancer) b. July
17th 1966.
2012: Greg Ham (58) Australian
songwriter, actor and saxophone player born in Melbourne, and attended
Camberwell Grammar School. He is best known for playing multiple instruments
as a key member in the 1980s band Men at Work. In addition to the saxophone,
he played flute, organ, piano and the synthesiser. They are the only Australian
artists to have a simultaneous No.1 album and No.1 single in the United
States with Business as Usual and "Down Under" respectively.
They achieved the same distinction of a simultaneous No.1 album and No.1
single in the UK. They also won the 1983 Grammy Award for Best New Artist;
that same year, Canada awarded them a Juno Award for "International
LP of the Year". As an actor, Greg was a regular cast member on While
You're Down There. Later
in life, he taught guitar at Carlton North Primary School in Melbourne.
(circumstances
of Greg's death are yet to be clarified)
b. September 27th 1953
2012: Levon Helm (71) American
rock multi-instrumentalist and actor born in Marvell, Arkansas, and grew
up in Turkey Scratch. After graduating from high school, he was invited
to join Ronnie Hawkins' band, "The Hawks". In the early 1960s
he and Hawkins recruited an all-Canadian lineup of musicians: guitarist
Robbie Robertson, bassist Rick Danko, pianist Richard Manuel and organist
Garth Hudson. But in 1963, the band parted ways with Hawkins and started
touring under the name "Levon and The Hawks," and later as "The
Canadian Squires" before finally changing back to "The Hawks".
In the mid 1960s, Bob Dylan was interested in performing electric rock
music and asked "The Hawks" to be his backing band. Levon
was known for his deeply soulful, country-accented voice, and creative
drumming style highlighted on many of The Band's recordings, such as "The
Weight" >>>READ
MORE<<< (sadly Levon died after
a long and brave battle with throat cancer) b.
May 26th 1940.
April 20th.
1920: Tony Jackson (44)
American jazz and ragtime pianist and singer born in Uptown New Orleans,
Louisiana; he got his first musical job at age 13, when he began playing
piano during off hours at a Tonk run by bandleader Adam Olivier. By age
15 he was already considered by many musicians the best pianist in town.
His singing voice was also exceptional, and he was said to be able to
sing operatic parts from baritone to soprano range. Fellow musicians and
singers were universal in their praise of Tony Jackson, most calling him
"the greatest", and even the far-from-modest Jelly Roll Morton
ranked Jackson as the only musician better than Morton himself. He also
wrote many original tunes, a number of which he sold rights to for a few
dollars or were simply stolen from him; some of the old time New Orleans
musicians said that some well known Tin Pan Alley pop tunes of the era
were actually written by Tony. A legend from the ragtime years who sadly
never recorded, but portions of his style are no doubt to be found in
the recordings of younger musicians he influenced, like Jelly Roll Morton,
Clarence Williams, and Steve Lewis (Impaired by
disease, probably syphilis, he died in Chicago) b.
June 5th 1876.
1969: Benny Benjamin/Papa Zita (43) American
drummer for the Motown studio band known as The Funk Brothers, noted for
his dynamic style. Motown
record producers, including Berry Gordy, refused to work on sessions unless
Papa Zita was the drummer and James Jamerson was the bassist. Born in
Birmingham, Alabama, Among the Motown songs he performed the drum tracks
for are early hits such as "Money (That's What I Want)" by Barrett
Strong and "Do You Love Me" by The Contours; as well as later
hits such as "Get Ready" by The Temptations, "Uptight (Everything's
Alright)" by Stevie Wonder, "I Heard It Through the Grapevine"
by Gladys Knight & the Pips and "Going To A Go-Go" by The
Miracles. Benny was inducted into the "Sidemen" category of
the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2003 (sadly
he had been struggling with drug and alcohol
addiction and died from a stroke) b.
July 25th 1925.
1970: Shakeel Badayuni (53) Indian
poet and lyricist, he moved to Bombay in 1944 to write songs for films.
He met film producer, A.R. Kardar and music composer, he was sined for
the film, Dard-1947. The songs of Dard proved to be very successful especially
Uma Devi (Tun Tun)'s Afsana Likh Rahi Hoon. His success continued on over
the years with many more films. Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam-1962 is his biggest
hit, the title song from Chaudhvin Ka Chand, rendered by Mohammed Rafi,
won Badayuni the Filmfare Award for Best Lyricist in 1961. Shakeel
penned numbers for around 89 films. In
addition, he wrote many popular ghazals which are still sung by vocalists
like Pankaj Udhas and others (sadly Shakeel succumbed
to diabetes complications)
b. August 3rd 1916.
1980: Ronnie Boykins (44)
American jazz bass player, born in Chicago,
Illinois; he is best known for his work with pianist, bandleader Sun Ra.
A wanted session player he also played with such disparate musicians as
Muddy Waters, Bill Barron, Johnny Griffin, and Jimmy Witherspoon prior
to joining Sun Ra's Arkestra. He also worked with tenor saxophonist Archie
Shepp's New York Contemporary Five in 1964. In the late '60s, he formed
his own group, the Free Jazz Society, which included the pianist John
Hicks. In
the '70s, Ronnie played with the Melodic Art-tet, a cooperative free jazz
ensemble that also included drummer Roger Blank, saxophonist Charles Brackeen,
and trumpeter Ahmed Abdullah. In 1979 he played with Steve Lacy and Dennis
Charles on New York Capers and Quirks. In the course of his career, Ronnie
also worked with Mary Lou Williams, Marion Brown, Sarah Vaughan, and Daoud
Haroom, among others (sadly died of a heart attack)
b.
December 17th 1935.
1991: Steve Marriott (44)
British singer-songwriter and guitarist;
best remembered for his powerful singing voice and his guitar play in
the
groups Small Faces and Humble Pie.
Born in London he started singing and performing, by busking at local
bus-stops for extra pocket money and winning talent contests during the
family's annual holidays at Clacton-on-Sea. At the age of 12, he formed
his first band with school friends Nigel Chapin and Robin Andrews, called
'The Wheels', later the 'Coronation Kids'. At 13, he appeared as the Artful
Dodger in Lionel Bart's musical Oliver!, staying with the show for 12
months. He provided lead vocals for the songs "Consider Yourself",
"Be Back Soon," and "I'd Do Anything," which all appeared
on the official album to the stage show. In 1963 he formed The Moments,
originally called The Frantiks. The Frantiks recorded a cover version
of Cliff Richard's song "Move It" with ex-Shadow's drummer Tony
Meehan. As 'Marriott and his Moments', they played support for artists
such as Georgie
Fame, The Animals, The
Nashville Teens, and John Mayall. In 1965, heavily influenced by American
rhythm and blues, he founded The Small Faces along with Ronnie Lane, Kenney
Jones, and Jimmy Winston, by 1966 Winston was replaced by Ian McLagan
as the band's keyboardist. They had hit songs such as "Itchycoo Park",
"Lazy Sunday", "All or Nothing", "Tin Soldier",
and their concept album Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake, they evolved into one
of the UK's most successful psychedelic acts before disbanding in 1969.
In late 1968 Steve formed Humble Pie with Greg Ridley, Peter Frampton
and Jerry Shirley. Their debut single "Natural Born Bugie" was
released in July 1969 becoming a No.4 hit in the UK Singles Chart and
was quickly followed by the album As Safe As Yesterday Is, which peaked
at No.16 in the UK album charts. This album was one of the first albums
to be described by the term "heavy metal" in a 1970 review in
Rolling Stone magazine. In later life Steve became disillusioned with
the music industry and turned his back on the big record companies, remaining
in relative obscurity. He returned to his music roots playing the pubs
and clubs around London and Essex. In 1996, the Small Faces were belatedly
awarded the Ivor Novello Outstanding Contribution to British Music "Lifetime
Achievement" award. (Steve tragically lost
his life in a house fire at his home in Essex)
b. January 30th 1947.
1992: Benny Hill/Alfred Hawthorne Hill (68) English
actor, comedian
and singer, born in Southampton; he
is maybe best known for his long-running TV programme The Benny Hill Show.
The shows always closed, with the famous "running gag" which
featured various members of the cast chasing Benny and usually featured
as part of the chase scantily-clad
women, along with other stock comedy characters, such as policemen, vicars,
old ladies, and so on. The tune used in all the chases, "Yakety Sax",
is commonly referred to as "The Benny Hill Theme". He also appeared
in nine films including, Who Done It?; Those Magnificent Men in Their
Flying Machines; Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and The Italian Job. His recordings
include "Gather in the Mushrooms", "Harvest
of Love", "Pepys Diary",
"Transistor Radio", and "Ernie (The Fastest Milkman In
The West)" which
made the UK chart as the Christmas number one single in 1971,
and was at No.1 for 4 weeks. He also appeared in the '86 video of the
song "Anything She Does" by the band Genesis (Benny
sadly died from coronary thrombosis) b. January
21st 1924.
1992: Johnny
Shines (76) American
Delta Blues slide guitarist; born in Frayser, Tennessee. He spent most
of his childhood in Memphis, Tennessee playing slide guitar at an early
age in local “jukes” and for tips on the streets. He is best
known as a traveling companion of Robert Johnson, but his own contributions
to the blues have often been unfairly shortchanged, simply because Johnson's
legend casts such a long shadow. (heart complications)
b. April 26th 1915.
2001: Giuseppe Sinopoli (54) Italian
conductor and composer; best known for his intense and sometimes controversial
interpretations of opera, especially works by Italian composers and Richard
Strauss. Every October since 2005, Taormina Arte has dedicated a festival
to Giuseppe Sinopoli, the artistic director of the Music section of the
Taormina Festival from 1989 to 1997. The Giuseppe Sinopoli Festival does
not only celebrate the man as a musician and as a conductor but also as
a composer, a doctor, an archaeologist and intellectual, with a variety
of events from music and literature, theatre and art to conferences, exhibitions,
publications and, of course, concerts. Every year the Festival welcomes
the most important orchestras in the country (he
died of a heart attack while conducting Giuseppe Verdi's Aïda at
the Deutsche Opera in Berlin)
b. November
2nd 1946.
2002: Alan Dale/Aldo Sigismondi (76)
American singer, born in the Brooklyn, New York. He had a No.10 hit "(The
Gang that Sang) Heart of My Heart" with Johnny Desmond and Don Cornell
in 1953, the No14 hit "Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White"
in 1955, and "Sweet and Gentle," which also charted in 1955,
at No.10. He became a friend of Alan Freed, and as a result got a chance
to play a role as a rock and roll singer in the 1956 film, Don't Knock
the Rock, playing alongside Freed, Bill Haley & His Comets, Little
Richard, and The Treniers. He sang the title song, which he also recorded
as a single (?) b.
July 9th 1925.
2003: Teddy Edwards (78) American
jazz saxophonist, a
top L.A. sessionist and highly sort after freelance player, some people
consider him to be one of the most influential saxophonists in American
history. Born in Jackson, he learned to play at a very early age, first
on alto sax and then clarinet. His first professional job was with The
Royal Mississippians with Doc Parmley. Teddy relocated to Los Angeles,
which became his city of residence. He got a job playing at Club Alabam
on Central Ave, and went on to become an A list session player,
playing with many Jazz notables, including his personal friend Charlie
Parker, Roy Milton, Wynonie Harris, Vince Guaraldi, Joe Castro and Ernie
Andrews. A classic 1947 recording with Dexter Gordon, The Duel, helped
set him up as a legend, a status he liked to maintain by challenging other
worthy sax players to similar duels whenever possible, including a recording
with Houston Person. One such memorable duel took place in the 1980s at
London's 100 Club with UK tenor Dick Morrissey. In 1964, Edwards played
with Benny Goodman at Disneyland, and at the 1964 New York World's Fair.
Teddy also did a lot of work with Tom Waits, appearing on albums and toured
with him on the Heart Attack and Vine tour (prostate cancer) b.
April 26th 1924.
2007: Andrew Hill (75)
American jazz pianist and composer, born in Chicago, is recognized
as one of the most important innovators of jazz piano in the 1960s. He
first recorded as a sideman in 1954, but his reputation was made by his
Blue Note recordings as leader from 1963 to 1970, and also played on albums
by Joe Henderson, Bobby Hutcherson, and Hank Mobley. His distinctive compositions
accounted for three of the five pieces on Hutcherson's classic Dialogue
album. He obtained a doctorate in music from Colgate University of Hamilton
and served as the university's composer in residence from 1970 to 1972.
He later taught in California and was an associate professor on a tenure
track at Portland State University. During his time at PSU, he established
a Summer Jazz Intensive program in addition to performing, conducting
workshops and attending residencies at other universities such as Wesleyan
University, University of Michigan, University of Toronto, Harvard University
and Bennington College. He returned to New York City in 1990. His final
public performance was on March 29th 2007 at Trinity Church in New York
City (sadly
died after a fight with lung cancer)
b. June 30th 1931.
2008: Orish
Grinstead (27) American R&B, hip
hop soul singer, member of the platinum-selling and multi award winning
female R&B trio, 702 (sadly died of cancer and
kidney failure) b.
June 2nd 1980.
2008: VL Mike/Michael Allen (32)
American rap artist, born in New
Orleans, Louisiana;
Mike was known for his gangsta rhyme structure and street lyrics throughout
New Orleans. He first appeared on
the mainstream rap scene in 2004 as a member of the New Orleans record
label, Chopper City Records. After the 2007 release of the Chopper City
Boyz, "We Got This" debut album, VL Mike departed from Chopper
City Records and set out to pursue his solo career. VL Mike stated on
his Place Yo Betz mixtape that the reason he departed from the label was
due to the fact that B.G. had been portraying himself as a gangster for
years through his music when he wasn't. (tragically
shot to death while exiting his vehicle on the 4700 block of Miles Drive)
b. January 19th
1978.
2011: Franky
Sahilatua (57) Indonesian
singer, he started out in his late teens as one half of a duo with his
sister, Jane Sahilatua, recording 15 albums as Franky & Jane. Franky
also pursued a solo career recording nine albums and is famous for singles
such as Boat Crack, The Suburbs, Terminal and Under the Flag Pole (sadly
died from spinal cancer) b. August 16th 1953
2011: Gerard Smith (34) American bassist,
keyboardist and member of the Brooklyn, New York, rock band 'TV on the
Radio'. He recorded 3 albums with the band "Return to Cookie Mountain"-2006,
"Dear Science"-2008, and "Nine Types of Light"-2011
(sadly died after a struggle with lung
cancer)
b. 1977.
2012: Bert Weedon (91) English
guitarist and composer whose style of guitar playing was influential and
popular during the 1950s and 1960s, Herbert Maurice William Weedon was
born in East Ham, London, and began learning classical guitar at the age
of twelve. In his teens during the 1930s, he led groups such as the Blue
Cumberland Rhythm Boys, and Bert Weedon and His Harlem Hotshots, before
making his first solo appearance at East Ham town hall in 1939. He worked
with leading performers including Stephane Grappelli and George Shearing,
and performed with various big bands and orchestras, including those of
Ted Heath and Mantovani. He joined the BBC Show Band directed by Cyril
Stapleton in the 1950s, when he began to be featured as a soloist. He
also worked as a session musician on many early British rock and roll
and other records, and worked as an accompanist to visiting American >>>
READ
MORE <<< (?) b.
May 10th 1920.
2012: Joe Muranyi (84)
American jazz clarinetist, saxophonist, producer and critic and
was primarily interested in early jazz styles such as Dixieland and swing.
After playing in an US Army Air Forces band, he moved to New York City
in the 1950s and attended the Manhattan School of Music and Columbia University.
In the 1950s he played under Eddie Condon, collaborating with Jimmy McPartland,
Red Allen, Max Kaminsky, Yank Lawson, Bobby Hackett, and also played with
the Red Onion Jazz Band, Danny Barker, and Wingy Manone. In 1963, Muranyi
played with The Village Stompers, a Dixieland band which reached the pop
charts with "Washington Square". From 1967-71 he was the clarinetist
with the Louis Armstrong All-Stars. Armstrong, after struggling to pronounce
Joe's Hungarian name, introduced him on stage as "Joe Ma Rainey".
Following Louis' death, he played with Roy Eldridge, World's Greatest
Jazz Band, Cozy Cole, Lionel Hampton, Wild Bill Davison, Herman Autrey,
Zutty Singleton, and others. Joe also did extensive work as a record producer
and wrote liner notes for hundreds of albums (sadly
Joe died while fighting cancer) b. January 14th
1928.
2012: Ayten Alpman (82)
Turkish jazz singer, born in Istanbul. She worked as a soloist
for Istanbul Radio after finishing high school.
Encouraged by Turkish producer Arif Mardin to sing jazz, she
began her singing career during the 1950s and released her first record,
"Sayonara/Passion Flower", in 1959. In 1972 she released her
song "Memleketim"/"My Country" which became immensely
popular in Cyprus and Turkey in '74 during the Cyprus conflict. She rarely
entered the recording studio, and had released only two LPs throughout
her career. Her most notable songs include, "Sensiz Olmam",
"Yanimda Olsa" and "Ben Varim". Her last release was
a compilation of her best known singles released in 1999 (sadly
died from respiratory failure) b. October
10th 1929.
2013: Artie "Blues Boy" White (76)
American southern soul singer; born in Vicksburg, Miss., he moved to Chicago
in 1955 and had hits including “Leaning Tree”, “Don’t
Pet My Dog” and “My Dessert”. He was a well-known headliner
at clubs such as East of the Ryan and the White Rose in Phoenix, Ill.
During the early 1970s, he owned Bootsy’s near 22nd and Cottage Grove.
He also appeared at the Chicago Blues Festival, his most recent set being
in 2006. (sadly
died while battling Parkinson's disease)
b. April 16th 1937.
April 21st.
1977: Issy Bonn (84) British
Jewish actor, singer and comedian, born in London, and is most famous
for his recording of "My Yiddishe Momme"
and his
popular "I'm In Love With Two Sweethearts" reached No.1 in 1946
.
Issy also appeared in two films, 'I Thank You' in 1941 and 'Discoveries'
in 1939, where he played Mr. Schwitzer. He played on BBC Radio music shows,
and in music halls before retiring to become a theatrical agent. His image
appears on the cover of The Beatles album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts
Club Band (?)
b.
April 21st 1893.
1978: Alexandra "Sandy" Denny (31) English
folk singer, piano, guitar; she emerged in the mid 60s while still a teenager,
performing on the folk scene where she displayed her mastery of traditional
singing and interpretation. Her song, "Who Knows Where the Time Goes?",
written during these early years, has been covered by numerous artists
and is regarded as a classic of its type. She worked the folk club circuit
with an American-influenced repertoire, including songs by Tom Paxton,
together with folk songs. At the Troubadour club, a member of Strawbs
heard her. In 1967, she was invited to join the band, and recorded one
album with them in Denmark. She joined Fairport Convention breifly in
1968, after recording and, touring Liege & Lief she left to form her
own band, Fotheringay, which included her boyfriend, Australian born Trevor
Lucas, but dissolved the group after one album to concerntrate on a solo
career. "The North Star Grassman and the Ravens" and "Sandy"
remain her most popular solo albums and Melody Maker twice voted her the
"Best Female Singer" in 1971 and 1972. In 1973, she married
Lucas and returned to Fairport Convention in '75 for a world tour and
another album, "Rising for the Moon", which featured several
of her own compositions (While on holiday with her
parents in Cornwall, Sandy was injured when she fell down a staircase.
A month after the fall she collapsed at a friend's home; four days later
she died in hospital as a the result of a traumatic mid-brain hemorrhage)
b. January 6th 1947.
1985: Irving Mills aka
Joe Primrose (91) American
jazz music publisher,
born in the Lower East Side of Manhattan in New York City. He founded
Mills Music with his brother Jack in 1919. Between 1919 and 1965, when
they sold Mills Music, Inc., they had built and became the largest independent
music publisher in the world. Irving and Jack discovered a number of great
songwriters, among them Sammy Fain, Harry Barris, Gene Austin, Hoagy Carmichael,
Jimmy McHugh, and Dorothy Fields. He either discovered or greatly advanced
the careers of Cab Calloway, Duke Ellington, Ben Pollack, Jack Teagarden,
Benny Goodman, Will Hudson, Raymond Scott and many others. Although not
a musician himself , he did sing, Irving put together his own studio recording
group. In Irving Mills and his Hotsy Totsy Gang he had for sidemen: Tommy
Dorsey, Jimmy Dorsey, Joe Venuti, Eddie Lang, Arnold Brillhardt, Arthur
Schutt, and Manny Klein. Other variations of his bands featured Glenn
Miller, Benny Goodman, and Red Nichols (He
sadly died in Palm Springs, California) b.
January 16th 1894.
1991: Willi Boskovsky (81) Austrian
violinist and conductor born in Vienna, he joined the Vienna Academy of
music at 9. He was the concertmaster of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra
from 1936-79. From
1955, he was also conductor of the
Vienna New Year's Day Concert, which is usually devoted to the music of
Johann Strauss II and his contemporaries. Along with the Vienna Philharmonic
Orchestra, he was also the chief conductor of the Wiener Johann Strauss
Orchester up until his death. A forerunner of this ensemble was the 19th
century Strauss Orchestra founded by Johann Strauss I in 1835. He died
in Visp, Switzerland. (?) b.
June 16th 1909.
1999: Charles
"Buddy" Rogers (94)
American actor and jazz musician, born
in Olathe, Kansas. He studied at the University of Kansas where he became
an active member of Phi Kappa Psi. In the mid-1920s he began acting professionally
in Hollywood films. As well as his film career, he was a talented trombonist
and skilled on several other musical instruments, he performed with his
own jazz band in motion pictures and on radio. his most remembered performance
in film was opposite Clara Bow in the 1927 Academy Award winning Wings,
the first film ever honored as "Best Picture" (Buddy
died from natural causes) b.
August 13th 1904.
2000: Neal Matthews (70) American
singer; after serving with the US Army during the Korean War and receiving
a Bronze Star, in 1953, he became a member of the Nashville-based singing
group, The Jordanaires. Neal developed the Nashville Number System for
chords in music that was instrumental in creating the Nashville sound.
With
The Jordanaires, he worked with artists such as Patsy Cline, Red Foley,
Johnny Horton, Ferlin Husky, Jim Reeves and George Jones. They also served
as backup vocalists for pop music artists such as Steve Lawrence and Eydie
Gorme, Connie Francis and Julie Andrews. They are best known, however,
as the backup vocalists for Elvis Presley for 15 years. Neal and The Jordanaires
also toured extensively around the world and recorded a number of their
own albums, winning a Grammy Award for Best Southern, Country, or Bluegrass
Album (heart
attack) b.
October 26th 1929.
2003: Nina
Simone/Eunice Kathleen Waymon (70)
American singer, songwriter, pianist, arranger, and civil rights activist.
Born in Tryon, North Carolina, Nina originally aspired to become a classical
pianist, but her work covers an eclectic variety of musical styles that
include classical, jazz, blues, soul, folk, R&B, gospel, and pop.
She recorded over 40 live and studio albums, the greatest body of her
work being released between 1958, with her debut 'Little Girl Blue' and
1974. She became known as The High Priestess of Soul, and her most well
known songs include "My Baby Just Cares for Me", "I Put
a Spell on You", "Four Women", "I Loves You Porgy",
"Feeling Good", "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood", "Sinnerman",
"To Be Young, Gifted and Black", "Mississippi Goddam",
"Ain't Got No, I Got Life" and "I Want a Little Sugar in
My Bowl". Musicians
who have covered her work or her specific renditions of songs include
J.Viewz, Carola, Aretha Franklin, Janis Joplin, Marilyn Manson, David
Bowie, Donny
Hathaway, Elkie Brooks, Roberta Flack, Jeff Buckley, Jhelisa Anderson,
The Animals, Muse, Cat Power, Timbaland, Katie Melua, Feist, Shara Worden,
and Michael Bublé. Nina's music has featured in soundtracks of
various motion pictures and video games, including but not limited to
the The Big Lebowski, Point of No Return aka The Assassin, Notting Hill,
The Thomas Crown Affair, The Dancer Upstairs, Before Sunset, Cellular,
Inland Empire, Sex and the City, Revolutionary Road, and Watchmen. Nina's
last performance in Britain was at the Bishopstock Festival in August
2001. (?)
February 21st 1933.
2007: Lobby
Loyde/Barry Lyde/John Baslington Lyde
(65) Australian
rock music guitarist, songwriter and producer born in Longreach,
Queensland. He first came to prominence in the Brisbane r&b band Purple
Hearts in 1965. In Jan '67, he left to join the 2nd incarnation of the
Melbourne band Wild Cherries, and wrote most of the songs that made up
the band's four singles for the Festival label. In the 70s he joined of
The Coloured Balls. Dances and concerts around Melbourne became battlegrounds
between rival skinhead gangs, fuelled by the music of the Coloured Balls.
He spent several years in the UK then joined Billy Thorpe & the Aztecs
on his return to Australia. His musical influence proved crucial in steering
Thorpe in a completely new direction, into the blues-based heavy-rock
genre. He also did a stint with the band Rose Tattoo. Lobby went on to
work as a record producer, producing albums for such bands as Machinations,
The Sunnyboys, The Red Crayons, Tablewaiters, Kevin Borich, X and Painters
and Dockers (Sadly
died after a brave battle with cancer)
b.
May 18th 1941.
2008: Aaron Shearer (88)
American classical guitarist;
he has several publications including his well known Classical Guitar
Technique method books. He has been director of the guitar programs at
both North
Carolina School of the Arts and Peabody
Conservatory and holds an honorary doctorate from Duquesne University.
His former students include Manuel Barrueco, Ricardo Cobo and others (?)
b. September 6th 1919.
2008: Al Wilson (68) American
soul singer best known for his No.1 hit song "Show and Tell"
and northern soul anthem "The Snake", which has been very popular
on the Northern Soul music circuit in the UK and is currently, 2008, being
featured in a Lambrini advert on British TV. Born in born in Meridian,
Mississippi, after graduation he spent four years touring with Johnny
Harris and the Statesmen, before joining the U.S. Navy, and singing with
an enlisted men's chorus. Two years later he settled in Los Angeles, touring
the local nightclub circuit before joining the R&B vocal group the
Jewels; from there he landed with the Rollers. He began his solo career
in 1966. Other hits include "The La La Peace Song", "Do
What You Gotta Do", "Poor Side of Town", "I've Got
a Feeling We'll Be Seeing Each Other Again" among others (sadly
died of kidney failure) b.
June 19th 1939.
2010: Ludvigsen/Gustav Lorentzen (62)
Norwegian singer, guitarist and entertainer born in
He is best known from being half of the successful duo Knutsen & Ludvigsen,
alongside Øystein "Knutsen" Dolmen, having several No.1
hits, including "Grevling i taket" ("Badger in the ceiling"),
"Hallo! Hallo!" and "Dum og deilig" ("Stupid
and gorgeous"). Gustav
went solo in 1986, winning four Spellemann awards and one nomination for
his 5 albums. He also has a degree in acoustics from the Norwegian Institute
of Technology. In
addition to music, Gustav has made several TV series and books, mostly
intended for children and he relentlessly worked for children and children's
charities. (Gustav
collapsed during an orienteering competition and went into cardiac arrest.
He was pronounced dead a few minutes later)
b. September 28th
1947.
2011: Yoshiko Tanaka (55) Japanese
actress and singer born in Adachi, Tokyo; in 1973 she was a founding member
of the pop group Candies, her nickname was Sue. Among their many songs
they had 8 top 10 hits, Toshishita no Otokonoko; Haru Ichiban; Natsu ga
Kita!; Yasashii Akuma; Shochuu Omimai Moshiagemasu; Un, Deux, Trois; Wana;
and Hohoemi Gaeshi. She also had a role in Godzilla vs. Biollante, portraying
Asuka Okouchi. She won the award for best actress at the 14th Hochi Film
Award for Black Rain. (sadly died after a long brave fight with breast
cancer) b. April 8th 1956.
2012: Iküzöne/Ikuzou
Baba (46) Japanese bassist
and founder member of Dragon Ash, the Japanese rap core group formed in
1996 by Furuya "Kj" Kenji and Sakurai Makoto. They had hits
including "Let yourself go, let myself go",
"Grateful Days" and "I Love Hip Hop" and released
10 albums between 1997 and 2010. They have also been nominated for
8 MTV awards, winning Best Rock Artist in 2002. Iküzöne
with Dragon
Ash had just finished a tour, following
Iküzöne’s
return to the music world. He had taken some time off starting last May
for treatment for radial paralysis on his left arm (sadly
he died from acute cardiac insufficiency) b.
November 1st 1965.
2013: Jean-Michel Damase (85) French
pianist, conductor and composer of classical music,
born in Bordeaux. He was studying with Marcel Samuel-Rousseau at the age
of five and composing by age nine. He was admitted to the Conservatoire
de Paris in 1940, he won first prize for piano in 1943 and his first prize
for composition in 1947, in which year he won the Grand Prix de Rome.
Also that year he wrote his trio for flute, viola and harp which has several
times been recorded. He made the first complete recording of Gabriel Fauré's
nocturnes and barcaroles, for which he received the Grand Prix du Disque
(?) b. January 27th
1928.
2013: Dani Crivelli (?) Swiss heavy
metal drummer with the rock band Krokus, he performed on the band's 1988
album Heart Attack. He performed on such Krokus staples as ‘Rock
‘n’ Roll Tonight’ and ‘Wild Love’. Unfortunately,
the band split after the support tour of the ‘Heart Attack’
album. Dani
has also played in two other Swiss bands, 'Killer' and 'Ain’t Dead
Yet', the latter band also had fellow Krokus members Many Maurer and Tony
Castell as members (tragically he fell off a bridge in Trimbach and did
not survive the fall) b. ????
2013: Chrissy Amphlett (53) Australian
singer; she grew up in Geelong as a singer and dancer and left home as
a teenager to travel around England, France and Spain where she was imprisoned
for three months for singing on the streets. In 1980 back in Australia,
together with Jeremy Paul formed the rock band Divinyls. The band released
five studio albums, with four of them reaching the Top 10 in Australia,
and one, reaching No.15 in the US. Their biggest-selling single, "I
Touch Myself" in 1991, achieved No.1 in Australia, No.4 in the US
and No.10 in the UK. She made her film debut in the 1982 film Monkey Grip,
in which she had a supporting role as the temperamental lead singer of
a rock band and in 1988, Chrissy starred alongside Russell Crowe in the
first Australian production of Willy Russell's stage musical Blood Brothers.
In 2006 with the band she was inducted
ARIA Hall of Fame (sadly Chrissy died fightiing
cancer and multiple sclerosis) b. October
25th
1959.
April 22nd.
1977: Ryan Davies (40) Welsh
actor, singer, pianist and songwriter, born in the Carmarthenshire
village of Glanamman in the Black Mountain, and was educated in Bangor
and at the Central School of Speech and Drama. His first professional
appearance was in the National Eisteddfod of Wales in 1966. He made his
name on Welsh language television shows such as the sitcom Fo a Fe and
Ryan a Ronnie, in which he appeared with Ronnie Williams, as well as starring
as "2nd Voice" in the 1972 film Under Milk Wood with Richard
Burton. Ryan had a simultaneous solo career as a singer, pianist
and songwriter; his best-known compositions are: "Ceiliog y Gwynt",
"Nadolig Pwy a Wyr" and "Blodwen a Mary". His album,
Ryan at the Rank, is now regarded as a classic
(Ryan died suddenly of an asthma attack while visiting
friends in Buffalo, New York, USA) b. January
22nd 1937
1980: Jane Froman (72) American
singer, actor; she moved to New York in 1933 where she appeared on Chesterfield's
"Music that Satisfies" radio program with Bing Crosby. She also
joined the Ziegfeld Follies... lavish revues, between alater Broadway
show and a more elaborate high class Vaudeville variety show. By the time
she was 27, she had become the top-polled "girl singer." She
is credited with three films.. Kissing Time, Stars Over Broadway and Radio
City Revels. From 1952 to 1955, she hosted her own TV show on the CBS
network, "The Jane Froman Show". "I Believe", was
written for Jane by the show's musicians, Ervin Drake, Irvin Graham, Jimmy
Shirl, and Al Stillman and earned her a gold record in 1953.She performed
on stage, radio and television despite chronic injuries that she sustained
from a 1943 plane crash. The 1952 film, With a Song in My Heart, is based
on her life (sadly died from a cardic arrest)
b. November 10th 1907.
1983:
Earl "Fatha" Hines (79) American
jazz pianist; once called "the first modern jazz pianist," he
differed from the stride pianists of the 1920s by breaking up the stride
rhythms with unusual accents from his left hand. In 1928, for 11 years,
his was "The Band" (The
Earl Hines Orchestra) in The Grand
Terrace Cafe in Chicago. The Grand Terrace was controlled by Al Capone,
Fatha Hines was Capone's "Mr Piano Man". He recorded endlessly
till his death both solo and with jazz notables like Louis Armstrong,
Cat Anderson, Harold Ashby, Barney Bigard, Jaki
Byard, Lawrence Brown, Benny
Carter, Buck Clayton, Cozy Cole, Wallace Davenport, Eddie "Lockjaw"
Davis, Duke
Ellington, Panama Francis, Vic
Dickenson, Roy Eldridge, Ella Fitzgerald, Bud Freeman, Dizzie Gillespie,
Stephane
Grappelli, Paul Gonsalves,
Sonny Greer, Lionel Hampton, Coleman Hawkins, Johnny Hodges, Budd Johnson,
Jonah Jones, Gene Krupa, Ellis Larkins, Marian McPartland, Ray Nance,
Oscar Peterson, Russell Procope, Maxine
Sullivan, Pee Wee Russell,
Stuff Smith, Rex Stewart, Buddy Tate, Jack Teagarden, Clark Terry, Jimmy
Rushing, Joe
Venuti, Jimmy Woode, Ben
Webster, Sarah Vaughan, Earle
Warren, Teddy Wilson, Jimmy Witherspoon, and Lester Young. Possibly more
surprising were Alvin Batiste, Teresa Brewer, Richard Davis, Elvin Jones,
Vi
Redd, Etta Jones, Peggy
Lee, The Inkspots, Helen Merrill,
Charles Mingus, Dinah Washington and Ry Cooder (?)
b. December 28th 1903.
1999: Apostolos Nikolaidis (60) Greek
singer whose career spanned four decades. He was born in Drama, Greece
and grew up in Thessaloniki. He is best known for being the first Greek
artist to record or re-record the authentic, "prohibited" rebetika
songs in the early 1970s with their original lyrics at a time when this
type of music was censored in Greece due to the military junta of 1967–1974
in power.
His
biggest early hit was 1968's "Asimorfoti".
In
1998, Apostolos recorded and released "Magia mou pou 'me Paoktzis,"
a 2-track ode to the Thessaloniki soccer team PAOK. He moved to America
and continued to give performances in New York, Toronto, Houston, San
Francisco, Vancouver and Germany into the late 80s and early 90s. In April
1999, Apostolos released "Allagi Frouras," a collection of laika
tragoudia with a decidedly contemporary feel (sadly
died of complications from cancer) b. 30
June 1938.
2003: Felice Bryant/ Matilda Genevieve Scaduto (77)
American songwriter; one half
of the wife and husband country music songwriting team who were also at
the forefront of the evolution of pop music. With her husband,
Boudleaux, they wrote
numerous Everly Brothers' hits including "All I Have to Do Is Dream"
and "Bye Bye Love". Their prolific and quality compositions
would produce hit records for many stars from a variety of musical genres
including Tony Bennett, Bob
Moore,
Simon and Garfunkel, Sonny
James, Eddy Arnold, Charley Pride, Nazareth, Jim Reeves, Leo Sayer, Sarah
Vaughan, Roy Orbison, Buddy Holly, the Grateful Dead, Elvis Costello,
Count Basie, Dean Martin, Ray Charles, Bob Dylan among
many others. They formed one of the most potent songwriting teams in country
history (cancer) b.
August 7th 1925.
2006: Kay Finegan/Vivian Blessing
(95) Amerian singer and arranger of
the big band era who later became one of New York's top caterers; she
began singing in speakeasies of the 1920's, using the name Kay Ray. In
her music career she worked with Benny Goodman, the Dorsey Brothers, Glenn
Miller, Ted Fioritto
and any others. She called herself
the hyphen in the Sauter-Finegan Orchestra, of which her husband, Bill
Finegan, was a co-founder. After her divorce she
reinvented herself and became one of New York's top caterers; she
was one of the first to popularize take-out meals (old
age) b. March
1st 1911.
2008: Monna Bell/Nora Escobar (70)
Chilean singer; reportedly
one of Juan Gabriel's muses. She enjoyed
a successful career in Spain, Mexico and other parts of Latin America.
She moved to Mexico in the 1970s after launching a successful career in
Spain (stroke) b. January 22 1938.
2008: Paul Davis (60) American singer
and songwriter, best known for his radio hits and solo career which started
worldwide in 1970. His career encompassed soul, country and pop music,
and he wrote many memorable country music hits. Best known for hits like
"I Go Crazy," "'65 Love Affair," "Cool Night"
(heart attack just one day after his 60th birthday) b.
April 21st 1948.
2010: Fred Panopio (71) Filipino folk
singer, who rose to fame in the 1970s. He
is known for having made the yodeling style of music famous in the Philippines.
This particular kind of music is evident is many of his hits, such as
"Pitong Gatang," "Markado," and "Tatlong Baraha."
He was also an occasional actor, and appeared in some movies along Jess
Lapid and Fernando Poe, Jr. In 1999, Fred, along with Victor Wood released
an album, Certified Jukebox Kings. He appeared in an episode of noon-time
variety show Wowowee in 2009 as a special guest, during which host Willie
Revillame addressed him as a "Living Legend". (cardiac
arrest)
b. 1939.
2011: Hazel Dickens (75) American
bluegrass singer, songwriter, double bassist and guitarist born in Mercer
County, West Virginia. She met Mike Seeger, younger brother of Pete Seeger
and founding member of the New Lost City Ramblers and became active in
the Baltimore-Washington area bluegrass and folk music scene during the
1960s. During this time she also established a collaborative relationship
with Mike Seeger's wife, Alice Gerrard, and as "Hazel & Alice"
recorded two albums for the Folkways label: "Who's That Knocking
(And Other Bluegrass Country Music)"-1965
and "Won't You Come & Sing for Me"-1973. She and Alice were
bluegrass bandleaders at a time when the vast majority of bluegrass bands
were led by men. Hazel
appeared in the documentary Harlan County, USA and contributed four songs
to the soundtrack of the same film. She has also appeared in the films
Matewan and Songcatcher (?) b. June 1st 1935.
2013: Lalgudi Jayaraman (82) Indian
award-winning Carnatic violinist, vocalist and composer and was a great
in demand for accompanying vocalists, and has accompanied such great vocal
virtuosos as Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar, Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavatar,
Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer, G. N. Balasubramaniam, Madurai Mani Iyer, Voleti
Venkateswarulu, Nedunuri Krishnamurthy, K.V.Narayanaswamy, Maharajapuram
Santhanam, D. K. Jayaraman, M.Balamuralikrishna, T. V. Sankaranarayanan,
T. N. Seshagopalan and flute maestros like N. Ramani, to mention a few.
His recordings submitted to the International Music Council, Baghdad,
Asian Pacific Music Rostrum and Iraq Broadcasting Agency by AIR New Delhi
have been adjudged as the best and accorded the first position out of
77 entries received from the various countries during 1979. He was invited
to give concerts at Cologne, Belgium and France. The Government of India
chose him to represent India at the Festival of India in USA, London and
he gave solo and 'Jugalbandi' concerts in London and also in Germany and
Italy that received rave reviews (sadly died
of a cardiac arrest)*September 17th 1930.
2013: Carmel Kaine (75) Australian
violinist, born in Wagga Wagga, New South Wales and studied at the New
South Wales Conservatorium, graduating at age 17 with the prize for the
most outstanding student. Two years later, she spent a year as a member
of the South Australian Symphony Orchestra. She continued her studies
at the Royal Academy of Music in London, where she won the three violin
prizes and the Violin Scholarship in her first year and furthered her
studies at the Juilliard School in New York. Carmel was a co-founder and
leader of Academy of St Martin in the Fields and in 1991, with her husband
John Willison, she founded the Limpinwood Ensemble and many performances
have been given for the ABC and at Tyalgum Classical Music Festival, which
they also founded. She also founded the Queensland Conservatorium Soloists,
which has raised over $30,000 for the Conservatorium’s String Department
(?) b. March
22nd 1937.
2013: Richie Havens (72) American
folk singer and guitarist; born in Brooklyn, he was the eldest of 9 children.
At an early age, he began organizing
his neighborhood friends into street corner doo-wop groups and was performing
with the McCrea Gospel Singers by the age of 16. At aged 20, he left Brooklyn,
seeking artistic stimulation in Greenwich Village. After recording two
records for Douglas Records, he signed on with Bob Dylan's manager, Albert
Grossman, and signed with Verve Forecast label, where he released "Mixed
Bag" in 1967, which featured tracks such as "Handsome Johnny",
co-written by himself and future Oscar-winning actor Louis Gossett Jr;
"Follow", and a cover of Bob Dylan's "Just Like a Woman".
By 1969, he had released 5 more albums, Something Else Again in 1968 became
his first Billboard charting album and also pulled "Mixed Bag"...
>>> Read
More <<< (sadly
Richie died from a heart attack) b. January 21st 1941.
April
23rd.
1984: Red Garland/William
Garland (60)
American hard bop jazz pianist whose block chord style, in part originated
by Milt Buckner, influenced many forthcoming pianists in the jazz idiom.
Born in Dallas, Texas, after the Second World War, he performed with Roy
Eldridge, Coleman Hawkins, Charlie Parker, Eddie Vinson, John Coltrane
and Lester Young, before, in 1955 he joined the Miles Davis Quintet featuring
John Coltrane, Philly Joe Jones and Paul Chambers. Together the group
recorded their famous Prestige albums, Workin, Steamin', Cookin', and
Relaxin'. In 1958 he formed his own trio, among the musicians the trio
recorded with are Pepper Adams, Nat Adderley, Ray Barretto, Kenny Burrell,
Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, Jimmy Heath, Harold Land, Philly Joe
Jones, Blue Mitchell, Ira Sullivan, and Leroy Vinnegar. The trio also
recorded as a quintet with John Coltrane and Donald Byrd (sadly
died from a heart attack) b. May 13th 1923.
1986: Harold Arlen/Chaim Arluck (81) American
composer of popular music, born in Buffalo, New York. He over 500 songs,
a number of which have become known the world over. In addition to composing
the songs for The Wizard of Oz, including the classic 1938 song, "Over
the Rainbow,” Harold is a highly regarded contributor to the Great
American Songbook. "Over the Rainbow," in fact, was voted the
twentieth century's No.1 song by the Recording Industry Association of
America and the National Endowment for the Arts. In the 1940s, he teamed
up with lyricist Johnny Mercer, and continued to write hit songs like
"Blues in the Night", "That Old Black Magic",
"Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive",
"One
for My Baby (and One More for the Road)" and "Any
Place I Hang My Hat Is Home" (?)
b. February 15th 1905.
1991: Johnny Thunders/John Anthony Genzale Jr (38)
American guitarist, vocals, with The
New York Dolls. Born and raised in Jackson Heights, Queens, NY, his first
musical performance was at Quintano's School for Young Professionals with
"Johnny and the Jaywalkers", under the name Johnny Volume. In
the summer of 1970, he went to England for the Isle of Wight Festival,
it was in London that he met Arthur Kane and Rick Rivets. He joined their
band, "Actress", which became the New York Dolls with David
Johansen, Sylvain Sylvain and Billy Murcia. At this time John renamed
himself Johnny Thunders. After the Dolls he formed The Heartbreakers touring
the US and UK, releasing one official album, L.A.M.F., in 1977. The group
relocated to the UK, where their popularity was significantly greater
than it was in the U.S., particularly among punk bands. In
late 1979 Johnny began performing in a band called Gang War and recorded
a number of solo albums beginning with So Alone in 1978. The notoriously
drug-fueled recording sessions featured a core band of Johnny, bassist
Phil Lynott, drummer Paul Cook, and guitarist Steve Jones, with guest
appearances from Chrissie Hynde, Steve Marriott, Walter Lure, Billy Rath,
and Peter Perrett of The Only Ones. The CD version of the album contains
four bonus tracks, including the single "Dead or Alive". After
its release, Thunders and Sex Pistols bassist Sid Vicious played in the
Living Dead for a short time (He died primarily
from methadone and alcohol poisoning, although doctors had diagnosed leukemia
in him earlier in the year) b.
July 15th 1952.
1993: Daniel Jenkyn Jones OBE (80) Welsh
composer of classical music, born in Pembroke, Wales.
He studied at the University of Wales and the Royal Academy of Music,
and a Mendelssohn Travelling Scholarship allowed him to study in Czechoslovakia,
France, Holland and Germany, and to develop his skills as a linguist.
He used these skills during the Second World War as a cryptographer and
decoder of Russian, Romanian and Japanese at Bletchley Park. Daniel composed
the music for the 1954 radio production of his childhood friend Dylan
Thomas's Under Milk Wood, as well as editing several collections of Dylan's
poetry and prose. Daniel's fourth symphony is dedicated to Dylan's memory,
and he also wrote a biography of the poet, My Friend Dylan Thomas, in
1977.
Daniel wrote twelve numbered symphonies in all, plus a later Symphony
in Memory of John Fussell. Among his other works are chamber music, including
eight string quartets and a sonata for three timpani, orchestral and choral
works, and several operas. He was made an OBE in 1968 (died
in Swansea) b.
December 7th 1912.
1999:
Melba Doretta Liston (73) American
trombone, composer, musical arranger; born
in Kansas City, Missouri. After playing in youth bands and studying with
Alma Hightower and others, she joined the big band led by Gerald Wilson
in 1943. She began to work with the emerging major names of the bebop
scene in the mid-1940s. She went on to tour and work with Count Basie,
Billie Holliday, Randy Weston, Ray Charles, Dexter Gordon, Dizzy Gillespie
and many others. Her collaborations with pianist-composer Randy Weston,
beginning in the early '60s, are widely acknowledged as jazz classics
(sadly died from heart problems) b.
January 13th 1926.
2005:
Robert Farnon (87)
Canadian-born
composer, conductor, musical arranger and also a noted trumpet player
born in Toronto. As well as being a famous composer of original works,
often in the light music genre, but also for film and television, he was
recognised as one of the finest arrangers of his generation. In later
life he composed a number of more serious orchestral works, including
three symphonies. He won four Ivor Novello Awards including one for "Outstanding
Services to British Music" in 1991 and in 1996 he won the Grammy
Award for Best Instrumental Arrangement for "Lament" performed
by J. J. Johnson & his Robert Farnon Orchestra. He was also awarded
the Order of Canada early in 1998 (?)
b. July 27th 1917.
2010: Engin Yörükoglu (65) Turkish
drummer and founding member of the pioneering Turkish Anatolian rock band
Mogollar. Engin was born in the southern province of Kahramanmaras, he
graduated from the Haydarpasa High School in Istanbul and began producing
music in 1963. He joined the Selçuk Alagöz Orchestra in 1964
and worked with the band Kurtalan Ekspress, before founding the rock band
Mogollar, recording two albums, after which they disbanded in 1976. He
relocated to France for a number of years and formed various trios and
quartets. He returned to Turkey in 1991 and opened a local venue called
Jazz Stop in Istanbul, which provided an opportunity for those making
alternative music. He also operated a restaurant called Farm Stop in Bodrum’s
Kizilagaç village. After a 17-year absence, Engin, together with
Cahit Berkay, and Taner Öngür reformed Mogollar in 1993, joined
by keyboard player Serhat Ersöz. Engin also performed in and produced
music for theatre plays, attending around 15 theatre festivals in Europe
(Sadly he lost his long battle with cancer, he died
of respiratory failure and cardiac arrest at his home in the Kizilagaç
village in Bodrum. Engin had been undergoing treatment in hospital for
lung cancer since 2007) b. January 7th 1945.
2010: Alan Rich (85) American
music critic who served on the staff of many newspapers and magazines
on both coasts. Originally from Brookline, Massachusetts, he first studied
medicine at Harvard before turning to music. He
was music director of KPFA, the Berkeley radio station, and successively
a music critic for publications including The New York Times, the New
York Herald Tribune, New York magazine, Newsweek, California magazine,
the Los Angeles Herald-Examiner, and from 1992 to 2008 LA Weekly magazine.
He subsequently worked briefly as music critic for Bloomberg News. (?)
b. June 17th 1924
2010: Bo Hansson (67)
Swedish keyboardist and guitarist; as a teenager he joined his parents
in Stockholm, where he soon became interested in the rock and roll scene
and taught himself to play the guitar, before joining the band, Rock-Olga.
After
the rock and roll craze gave way to jazz and blues in the late fifties,
he joined 'Slim' Notini's Blues Gang as a guitarist. Bo moved on and formed
his own blues group The Merrymen, who supported The Rolling Stones on
an early Scandinavian tour. Inspired by American jazz organist Jack McDuff,
Bo acquired his own Hammond organ and together with drummer Janne Karlsson
played up-tempo Hammond organ based music and releasing three albums between
1967 and 1969. He released his solo album Music Inspired by Lord of the
Rings in 1972, followed by Magician's Hat, Attic Thoughts, and Music Inspired
by Watership Down, among others. He also occasionally performed
live sets with fellow organist Eric Malmberg who has been greatly inspired
by Hansson's work (?)
b. April
10th 1943.
2011:
Huey P. Meaux (82)
American
record producer
and recording studio owner, he created his own music industry most
notably his SugarHill Recording Studios in
Houston, producing a mountain of hit singles between the late ‘50s
and early ‘70s. Nicknamed
"The Crazy Cajun", his credits included such hits as "She's
About a Mover" by the Sir Douglas Quintet, "Wasted Days and
Wasted Nights"- Freddy Fender, "You'll Lose A Good Thing"-
Barbara Lynn, "Talk To Me"- Sunny & The Sunliners and "Big
Blue Diamonds"- Gene Summers. In 1996, he pleaded guilty to two counts
of sexual assault of a child, a drug possession charge, a child pornography
charge and another for jumping bail. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison
and was released in 2007. In 2010 under Freedom Express Label he released
artist Ramón Ángel Solís in a bilingual CD- "The
Mexican Side of Me" (?)
b. March 10th 1929.
2011:
Peter Lieberson (64) American
composer, he came to prominence in the mid-1980s with the Piano Concerto
and Drala, two major commissions from the Boston Symphony. Of profound
influence on his music has been his practice of Tibetan Buddhism. Since
1980 many of his works have been inspired by Buddhist themes such as King
Gesar and the opera Ashoka’s Dream, both based on the lives of enlightened
rulers. Lyricism and vocal writing dominate his works of the last decade,
reflecting the rich collaborations with Lorraine Hunt Lieberson for whom
he composed Neruda Songs. In addition to his associations with major orchestras
such as Boston, New York, Cleveland, Chicago and Los Angeles, he enjoys
long-standing artistic collaborations with Peter Serkin, Yo-Yo Ma, Emanuel
Ax and Oliver Knussen. Recent commissions include Remembering JFK: An
American Elegy for the National Symphony Orchestra, The World in Flower
for the New York Philharmonic; Remembering Schumann for Yo-Yo Ma and Emanuel
Ax, The Coming of Light; a new song cycle for baritone, oboe, and string
quartet; the orchestral Suite from Ashoka's Dream; and Songs of Love and
Sorrow for Gerald Finley and the Boston Symphony Orchestra (sadly
died due to complications of lymphoma) b.
October 25th 1946.
2011: Matthew
"Dutch" Tilders (69) Netherlands-born
Australian blues singer-songwriter and guitarist; born in Born in Nijimegen,
Holland, but moved to Australria at the age of one. He released his self-titled
first album in 1972, and during the 1970s recorded, toured and performed
with musicians including Kevin Borich,
John Mayall, Taj Mahal, Brownie McGhee and Sonny Terry. In 1976 B B King
first met Dutch, having only heard and never seen Dutch, he assumed that
he was black. B B and Dutch became best mates simply because BB believed
that, the Dutchman was a genuine bluesman. During the 1970s and 1980s,
he fronted bands such as the Elks, the Cyril 'B' Bunter Band, Mickey Finn
and the R&B Six. Later he toured extensively with The Blues Club and
The Legends Band. Dubbed the "Godfather of Blues" in Australia,
as recently as November 2010 he joined Barbara Blue, known as the "Queen
of Memphis Blues", on her Australian tour (sadly
died of cancer)
b. August 29th 1941.
2012: Billy Bryans (62) Canadian
percussionist, songwriter, music producer and DJ, known as one of the
founders of The Parachute Club, among other accomplishments in music.
Born in Montreal, he spent childhood
his in Pointe-Claire, Quebec,
where he was associated with his first professional band, M.G. and The
Escorts, they released three singles. In 1970,
he and his group Theodore's Smokeshop moved
to Toronto where he soon gained a
reputation as a musician, engineer and record producer. As a producer,
he worked on projects for artists as diverse as Dutch Mason, Raffi, Lillian
Allen and the Downchild Blues Band. He was particularly supportive of
world music as both a promoter and publicist, focusing on bringing Cuban
and Latin American music to a wider audience. (sadly
Billy died from lung cancer) b. September
15th 1949.
2012: Tommy
Marth (33) American saxophonist born
in Las Vegas, Nevada, and well known for his work with the rock band The
Killers. He was a respected figure in Sin City's music scene even before
teaming up with the rock outfit, beginning his career as the saxophonist
for the Las Vegas All Star Jazz Band and he also played on albums by the
likes of The Big Friendly Corporation and Black Camaro. However his career
highlight was playing on The Killers 2006 album Sam's Town and 2008's
Day and Age
and he was also a member of their touring band.
Over the years worked at a variety of local music venues; he performed
live with Halloween Town, a Las Vegas band whose lead singer Ryan Pardey
joined Marth on tour with The Killers in 2009 and he had also been the
Hard Rock's nightlife marketing manager in Las Vegas since November of
2011. (tragically
Tommy commited suicide, he died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound in
his head)
b. November 23rd 1978
2012: Chris Ethridge (65) American
country rock bass guitarist, born in Meridian, MI. where he began playing
in local bands before moving to California aged 17. He was a member of
the International Submarine Band and The Flying Burrito Brothers, and
co-wrote several songs with Gram Parsons
as well as touring with Willie Nelson's band for almost eight years, and
later played with the Kudzu Kings. Throughout his career
he had been an in demand session musician, recording with leading acts,
including Judy Collins, Jackson
Browne, Johnny
Winter, Ry Cooder, Leon
Russell, Randy Newman, Linda Ronstadt
and
The Byrds (sadly
died of cancer) b. February 10th 1947.
2013: Shamshad Begum (94)
Indian singer born in Amritsar, Punjab; she was one of the first
playback singers in the Hindi film industry and a versatile artist, singing
over 6000 songs in Hindi and the Bengali, Marathi, Gujarati, Tamil and
Punjabi languages (?) b.
April 14th 1919.
April 24th.
1957: Haywire
Mac/Harry McClintock (74)
American country singer and hobo; born
in Knoxville, Tennessee, His drifting began when he ran away from home
as a boy to join a circus. He railroaded in Africa, worked as a seaman,
saw action in the Philippines as a civilian mule-train packer, supplying
American troops with food and ammuniton, and in 1899 found himself in
China as an aide to newsmen covering the Boxer Rebellion. Back in USA
he took the boomer trail as railroader and a minstrel. He is best known
for his song "Big Rock Candy Mountain", featured in the movie
O Brother, Where Art Thou?. The song reached No.1 on Billboard's "Hillbilly
Hits" chart in 1939. He is credited as being the first person to
sing "The Preacher and the Slave", a song by Joe Hill, in public.
He was a lifelong member of the Industrial Workers of the World. In the
early 20s he worked and organized union men in the oil fields of west
Texas, where he met and recruited writer Jim Thompson, who later incorporated
him into several short stories using the name "Strawlegs Martin."
Having worked as a cowboy himself, Harry was one of the few "country"
singers who had an authentic background from which to draw. He was included
in R. Crumb series of "Heroes of Old Time Country Music" trading
cards (?) b.
October 8th 1882.
1962: Milton J. Franklyn (65) American
musical composer and arranger
who went on to work on the Warner Bros.' Looney Tunes animated cartoons.
Born in New York he moved to Salt Lake City at the age of three. After
leaving Berkeley College
he could play a number of instruments, he joined a band in San Francisco
and for the next few years played at the Palace and St. Francis Hotels.
He began his own 9-piece orchestra, known at various times as the Peninsula
Band, the Super Soloists, and the Merrimakers. In early '36, he joined
Warner Bros, as music arranger to Carl Stalling, becoming music director
in 1953. The first cartoon with Milton credited as a composer was Bugs
and Thugs, in '54. He estimated his 599th cartoon for Warners was Past
Perfumance. At the time of his death, he was composing the score for Tweety
cartoon, The Jet Cage. The first two minutes of the cartoon were scored
by Milton, the rest by William Lava (sadly
died of a heart attack) b. September
16trh 1897.
1969: Rene Compere (62) Belgian
jazz trumpet player; while playing in the White Diamonds he met up with
Charles Remue which led to the formation of the band
Charles Remue and His New Stompers. Music publisher /promoter
Felix Faecq brought the group to London to record their first sides, five
of the 14 recordings made were written by David Bee and Peter Packay,
2 of the first Belgian jazz composers (?)
b. December 28th 1906.
1970: Otis Spann (40) American
musician; one of Chicago's leading postwar blues pianist. Born in Jackson,
MI, the age of 14, he was playing in local bands, finding more inspiration
in the 78s of Big Maceo Merriweather, who took the young pianist under
his wing once Spann migrated to Chicago around 1946-7. Here he gigged
solo and with guitarist Morris Pejoe, working a regular spot at the Tic
Toc Lounge before hooking up with Muddy Waters in 1952. He was full-time
member of Waters' band from 1952 to 1968 before leaving to form his own
band. In that period he also did session work with other Chess artists
like Howlin' Wolf and Bo Diddley. The 60s also so him touring and recording
in Europe and in the UK appearing on records with the likes of Eric Clapton,
Buddy Guy, Big Mama Thornton, Peter Green, Fleetwood Mac
and others He was posthumously elected
to the Blues Hall of Fame in 1980 (Otis sadly died
fighting liver cancer)
b. March 21st 1930.
1975: Pete Ham (27) Welsh
singer, songwriter and guitarist, best known as the leader of the group
Badfinger. Born in Swansea, hee formed a local rock group called The Panthers
around 1961, which underwent several name and lineup changes before becaming
The Iveys in '65. By
'69 they had relocated to Londan and had evolved into Badfingers having
hits including
"Come and Get It", a composition written by Paul McCartney,
and
became a
Top 10 hit worldwide, other
hits were "Maybe
Tomorrow", "No
Matter What", "Day After Day" and "Baby Blue"
as well as recording the original
version of "Without You," a frequently covered song that became
a Billboard No.1 hit for Harry Nilsson and a No.3 hit for Mariah Carey.
Pete is often credited as being one of the earliest purveyors of the power
pop genre, but his most widespread effect in popular music is the ballad
"Without You," co- written with bandmate Tom Evans (Tragically
by '75, with no income and the band's business manager non-communicative,
he became depressed and despondent and he hanged himself in the garage
of his Surrey home)
b. April 27th 1947.
2001: Al Hibbler (85) US
blind Jazz, pop, r&b singer; Al was blind from birth, born in Tyro,
Mississippi, he attended a school for the blind in Little Rock, Arkansas
where he joined the school choir. He won an amateur talent contest in
Memphis, Tennessee, where he first worked with local bands, before starting
his own band. He also joined a band led by the Kansas City based bandleader,
Jay McShann, where he became lead singer and was on tour with him for
the next two years, then in 1943 he replaced Herb Jeffries in Duke Ellington's
orchestra, where he won the Esquire New Star Award as best male singer
in 1947, and the Downbeat award as best band singer in 1948-49. He worked
eight years with Duke Ellington before becoming a soloist, his biggest
solo hit was "Unchained Melody", Other hits include "He,"
"11th Hour Melody", "Never Turn Back" and "After
the Lights Go Down Low". He
performed at Louis Armstrong’s funeral in 1971. Al's last public
appearance was at the Lincoln Center, New York, in January 1999, with
a group of old Ellington alumni, where he sang, "Time After Time".
He has a star at 1650 Vine Street on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (died
in Chicago) b.
August 16th 1915
2008: Jimmy Giuffre (86) American
jazz clarinetist and saxophonist born in Dallas, Texas and graduated of
Dallas Technical High School and North Texas State Teachers College. arranger
for Woody Herman's big band, for which he wrote the celebrated 'Four Brothers'.
His first trio consisted of himself, guitarist Jim Hall and double bassist
Ralph Pena. They had a hit in 1957 when "The Train and the River"
was featured on the television special The Sound of Jazz.
He continued with different line-ups and to write creative, unusual arrangements
throughout his career. He was a central figure in West coast jazz. He
suffered from Parkinson's Disease and in his last years he no longer performed
(pneumonia) b. April 26th 1921.
2009: Rev. Timothy Wright (61) American
gospel singer; he started on piano at age 12, and sang and composed for
his church choir as a teenager at the St. John's Fire Baptized Holiness
Church of God in Brooklyn. He played piano for F.D. Washington and Isaac
Douglas in the 1960s and 1970s, including on recordings, and he formed
his own gospel ensemble in the mid-1970s, the Timothy Wright Concert Choir.
He eventually became pastor of Grace Tabernacle COGIC in Crown Heights,
New York, and issued albums regularly from 1990. His
1994 album Come Thou Almighty King, with the New York Fellowship Mass
Choir, was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Traditional Soul Gospel
Album, as was his 1999 release Been There Done That. He has recorded 20
albums
from 1984 until his death (On
July 4th 2008, he was critically injured in a car crash on Interstate
80 in Pennsylvania, a crash which killed his wife and grandson as well
as the driver of the oncoming car. He died as a result of these injuries)
b. June 17th 1947.
2012: Ubaldo de Lío
(83) Argentine tango guitarist born in Boedo and went
on to be widely
acknowledged as tango’s
greatest guitarrist. Between 1947-1955, he was lead guitarist in Hugo
del Carril’s orchestra, but it was in 1957 that he would consolidate
his professional status, forming a duo with Horacio Salgán, a partnership
that lasted for over 50 years. They started out as a five-piece, the Quinteto
Real, featuring musicians such as Pedro Laurenz, Mario Francini, and Rafael
Ferro. The
Quinteto Real became a sensation in South America, and toured extensively,
playing in Europe, Japan and the US. Ubaldo also performed with other
of tango’s greatest artists, such as Ignacio Corsini, Nelly Omar
and Azucena Maizani, among countless others. (?)
b. March 11th 1929.
2013: Bob Brozman (59) American
guitarist, slide guitar and ethnomusicologist, born in New York. He
performed in many styles such as gypsy jazz, calypso, blues, ragtime,
Hawaiian and Caribbean music. He also collaborated with musicians from
diverse cultural backgrounds such as India, Africa, Japan, Papua New Guinea
and Reunion Island. He recorded numerous albums and has won the Guitar
Player Readers' Poll three times in the best blues, best world and best
slide guitarist categories
(?) b. March 8th 1954
April
25th
1974: Pamela Courson (27) American
long-term companion of the late Jim Morrison, frontman of the rock band
The Doors. Born in Weed, California, she left high school at 16 and met
Jim in 1965, while she was an art student at Los Angeles City College.
Her relationship with Morrison was tumultuous, with repeated sexual excursions
by both partners. After Jim's death she became a recluse (died
of a drugs overdose) b. December 22nd 1946.
1975: Mike Brant/Moshe Brand (28)
Israeli pop star who achieved fame after moving to France. At
17, Moshe Brand joined his brother's band, "The Chocolates,"
as lead singer, he sang in English and in French, although he spoke only
Hebrew. He relocated to Paris July 9th 1969, singer Sylvie Vartan introduced
him to the producer Jean Renard. Under Renard's guidance, he changed name
to Mike Brant, and recorded his biggest hit, "Laisse-moi t'aimer"
("Let Me Love You"). The song was a success at the Midem music
festival in January 1970. "Laisse-moi t'aimer" sold 50,000 copies
in two weeks. By 1972 - 1975 he was giving 250 concerts a year, some attended
by 6,000-10,000 people, as well as his work in the studio. This led to
lonliness and a deep depression, he attempted suicide in 1974 while in
Geneva (At
the height of his career and
on the day his final album Dis-lui ("Tell Her", french version
of "Feeling") was released, Mosha committed suicide by jumping
from the window of a Paris apartment) b.
February 1st 1947.
1988: Carolyn Franklin (43)
American singer and younger sister
of Aretha; born in Memphis, Tennessee she was Inspired by her sisters'
successes in the music field in the early 1960s, and joined Erma and Aretha
into a secular recording career, first recording in 1963. Though, like
Erma, her modest success in the industry wasn't matched by Aretha's later
blockbuster breakthrough in the late 1960s. While struggling to release
a big hit, Carolyn began to work behind the scenes as a songwriter, mainly
for sister Aretha's work. Aretha and Carolyn's bond led to several collaborations
between the two and in other occasions, Carolyn came up with songs for
Aretha to sing. Among one of the first collaborations that became a hit
success was "Ain't No Way", recorded in 1968. (sadly
died after a fight with cancer)
b. May 13th 1944.
1990: Dexter "Long Tall Dexter"
Gordon (67) American saxophone virtuoso;
standing at 6ft 6ins, he was considered one of the greatest jazz saxophonists
ever, during his heyday, `45-`80, he played tenor sax with many of the
all-time jazz greats, including Lionel Hampton, Louis Armstrong, Billy
Eckstine and many others. In the 60s. He played in Europe extensively
where he was very popular and lived there for the most part during the
60s and the early to mid 70s. Around 1977, he returned to America and
made some well-received records. Round Midnight was his only feature role,
playing a character not unlike himself, for which he was nominated for
an Oscar. He has influenced subsequent generations of musicians with his
artful approach to jazz. His feel and subtle nuances are sorely missed
in the world of jazz. (kidney failure) b. February
27th 1923
1992: Yutaka Ozaki (26)
Japanese pianist, guitarist, singer, songwriter
born in Tokyo, he was discovered by producer Akira Sudo and signed to
Sony Records in 1983. His hits include Jugo no Yoru - The Night; Junanasai
no Chizu - Seventeen's Map; Hajimari-sae Utaenai - Can't Sing Even the
Beginning; Sotsugyou - Graduation; Driving All Night; Kaku - Core; Taiyo
no Hahen - Debris of the Sun; Love Way; Tasogare-yuku Machi-de - 57th
Street; Eien no mune - Eternal Heart; Kegareta Kizuna - Bond; and I Love
You. Yutaka
is ranked at No. 23 in a list
of Japan's top 100 musicians by HMV (officially
it said he died of pulmonary edema, but many theories have arisen as to
the actual cause of death, the most popular being homicide)
b. November 29th 1965.
1999:
Roger Troutman (47) American vocalist, the lead singer of the
band Zapp who helped spearhead the Funk movement and heavily influenced
West Coast hip hop due to the scene's heavy sampling of his music over
the years. He was well known for his use of the talkbox, a device that
is connected to an instrument, frequently a keyboard, to create different
vocal effects. As both lead singer of Zapp and in his subsequent solo
releases, he scored a bevy of funk and R&B hits throughout the 1980s.
In his later years, he was mostly known for singing the chorus to the
hip-hop classic, "California Love" (he
was found shot, critically wounded outside a recording studio in Dayton,
Ohio; he died during surgery. It seems he was shot by his brother Larry,
who took is own life after shooting Roger)
b. November 29th 1951.
1999: Larry Troutman (54) American
percussionist and a founding member of the funk/R&B band Zapp alongside
his younger brother, Roger Troutman. The band enjoyed a string of hits
throughout the 1980s, most notably "Computer Love" and "More
Bounce to the Ounce" (
police found Lary in his car, dead as a result of a self-inflicted gunshot
wound. His younger brother Roger was found a couple of blocks away; his
death was ruled a homicide. To this day, no motive is known, though a
business dispute was suspected. Sources say that Larry had not slept in
several days and was not in his normal state of mind at the time)
b. August 12th 1944.
2002: Left
Eye/Lisa Nicole Lopes (30)
American singer, songwriter, rapper, best
known as a member of the R&B girl group TLC. She
contributed her self-written raps to many of TLC's hit singles, including
"Ain't 2 Proud 2 Beg", "What About Your Friends",
"Hat 2 da Back", "No Scrubs", "Waterfalls",
and "Girl Talk". She began to expand her solo career. She became
a featured rapper on several singles, including former Spice Girl Melanie
C's "Never Be the Same Again", which went to No.1 in 35 countries,
including the UK. She was also featured on the first single from Donell
Jones' second album, "U Know What's Up", and she sang "Space
Cowboy" with *NSYNC on their 2000 album, No Strings Attached. She
also collaborated on "Gimme Some" by Toni Braxton from her 2000
release The Heat. In 2001, she appeared in two commercials for The Gap,
and was also the host of the MTV series, The Cut (tragically
died in a car accident in La Ceiba, Honduras)
b. May 27th 1971.
2007: Bobby "Boris" Pickett (69)
American singer, songwriter born in Somerville, Massachusetts, who sang
and co-wrote the Halloween anthem "Monster Mash" which has put
him in the history books making him pop music's most enduring Top 20 one-hit
wonder ever. The song was a spoof on the dance crazes popular at the time,
including the Twist and the Mashed Potato, which inspired the title. The
Christmas-themed follow-up, "Monster's Holiday," also released
in 1962 reached No.30 in December that year. Among his other novelty songs
there was also an early 1980s musical "sequel" to the monster
mash called "the Monster Rap" which featured Bobby teaching
the creature to speak through "rapping" and in October 2005,
Bobby protested inaction on global warming by releasing "Climate
Mash," a new version of his hit single. Back in 1967, Bobby and television
author Sheldon Allman wrote the musical "I'm Sorry the Bridge Is
Out, You'll Have to Spend the Night" which has been produced by local
theatres around the USA. They followed it up later with another musical,
"Frankenstein Unbound". In 1995 the co-writers of Disney's Toy
Story, Joel Cohen and Alec Sokolov, produced a movie of it, originally
entitled Frankenstein Sings, but later released in the US under Monster
Mash the Movie. Bobby starred in it with Candace Cameron, Jimmie Walker,
Mink Stole, John Kassir, Sarah Douglas, Anthony Crivello, Adam Shankman
and Carrie Ann Inaba. (leukemia) b.
February 11th 1940.
2008: Humphrey Lyttelton (86) British
Jazz patriarc, trumpeter, cartoonist, BBC radio
broadcaster,
and chairman of the BBC radio programme 'I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue'.
Born at Eton College, Buckinghamshire, he was inspired by the trumpeters
Louis Armstrong and Nat Gonella. He taught himself the instrument, and
formed a quartet at the school in 1936 that included the future journalist
Ludovic Kennedy on drums. After seeing
action at Salerno during Operation Avalanche when he came ashore with
his pistol in one hand, and his trumpet in the other and on VE Day, 8
May '45, in the celebrations by playing his trumpet from a wheelbarrow,
he inadvertently gave his first broadcast performance; the BBC recording
still survives
>>> READ
MORE <<< (died peacefully following
heart surgery to repair an aortic aneurysm) b.
May 23rd 1921.
2008: Canhoto da Paraíba (79)
Brazilian musician and violinist (sadly died
of a heart attack) b. ????
2010: Dorothy Michelle Provine (75)
American singer, dancer, actress, and comedienne born in Deadwood, Sth
Dakota. As well as her huge TV and film career Dorothy also released a
few records. Between 1960-62 in the TV drama series ''In Roaring Twenties'',
she played the beautiful singer Pinky Pinkham. Rex Reason co-starred with
her in the series, along with Donald May, John Dehner, Mike Road, and
Gary Vinson. Dorothy recorded an album of songs from the show, and had
two hit singles in the UK Singles Chart – "Don't Bring Lulu"
in 1961 and "Crazy Words, Crazy Tune" in 1962 (sadly
died of emphysema) b. January
20th 1935.
2010: Susan Reed (84)
Irish-American folk singer, harpist and zitherist who delighted nightclub
and radio audiences in the years after WWII. She performed in New York
venues such as Cafe Society, where she starred for two years, and the
Blue Angel and toured the country under the auspices of Columbia Concerts,
making 107 concert appearances alone in one year that brought her the
title "America's Concert Favorite". Susan was also a regular
at Carnegie Hall and Town Hall in New York, at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre
in LA, and Chicago's Palmer House. Susan also starred with drummer Gene
Krupa in the Columbia musical "Glamor Girl" in 1948 and in numerous
TV shows including "The Firestone Hour". On Broadway, she starred
in the 1946 production of "Billy the Kid" and co-starred with
her husband James Karen in regional theater productions of "Brigadoon"
and "Finnian's Rainbow" (died
of natural causes at San Simeon by the Sound, nursing home, Greenport,
N.Y)
b.
January 11th 1926.
2011:
Poly Styrene/Marianne Joan Elliott-Said (53) British singer-songwriter
born in Bromley, she was a founding member of the London based punk band
X-Ray Spex formed in 1976. They released five singles and one album. Nevertheless,
their first single, "Oh Bondage, Up Yours!", is now acknowledged
as a classic punk rock single and the album, "Germ Free Adolescents",
is widely acclaimed as one of the greatest albums of all time. After the
original X-Ray Spex broke up, Poly Styrene recorded a solo album, Translucence,
in 1980. The album abandoned X-Ray Spex's loud guitar work for a quieter
and more jazzy sound. In 1983, she was initiated into the Hare Krishna
movement and recorded at their recording studios while living as a devotee
at Bhaktivedanta Manor (sadly died after
a brave battle with breast cancer)
b. July 3rd 1957.
2011: Rui Biriva (53) Brazilian
singer, well known in New South Wales; he recorded
10 albums his 30 year career and he also hosted programs on country-style
radios (?)
b. 1957
2013: Jacob Avshalomov (94) Chinese-born
American conductor and composer, his father was
the Siberian-born composer Aaron Avshalomov.
Jacob was born in Tsingtao, China and graduated from British and American
schools before the age of fifteen. He went on to received the Ditson Fellowship
in Composition following World War II and a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1951.
In 1953 he was recognized by the New York Music Critics Circle for his
choral work Tom o' Bedlam. Other awards include a Bloch Award, Naumburg
Recording Award,
Governor's Arts Award, Ditson Conductor's
Award in 1965 and American Symphony Orchestra League Award. In 1994 he
was named a Portland First Citizen, an honor established to recognize
"civic achievements and business leadership within the community".
In 2011 he was one of three honorees to be recognized by the Portland
Center for the Performing Arts Foundation for outstanding contributions
to Portland's art community. Awards recipients had a granite star placed
on Main Street by Antoinette Hatfield Hall and were presented with a bronze
folly bollard. (died in his sleep) b.
March 28th 1919.
2013: Yoshio Tabata (94) Japanese
ryukoka and enka singer, songwriter and electric guitarist, born in
Matsusaka, Mie prefecture. His debut song
"Shima no Funauta" / "Island Ship Song" was released
in 1939. His debut had a big impact on Japanese popular music; Ryukoka
music of that time was mainly sung by classical singers. His last album
'Tabi no Owari ni Kiku Uta wa' was released in 2001 (?)
b.
January 1st 1919
April 26th.
1984: Count Basie (79)
American jazz pianist, organist, and bandleader; he led his jazz orchestra
almost continuously for nearly 50 years. Many notable musicians came to
prominence under his direction, including tenor saxophonists Lester Young
and Herschel Evans, trumpeters Buck Clayton and Harry "Sweets"
Edison and singers Jimmy Rushing and Joe Williams. His theme songs were
"One O'Clock Jump" and "April In Paris". Count Basie
introduced several generations of listeners to the Big Band sound and
left an influential catalog. The Count Basie Theatre and Count Basie Field
in his hometown of Red Bank, New Jersey were named in his honor. The street
on which he lived, Mechanic Street has the honorary title of Count Basie
Way. On Sept 26, 2009, Edgecombe Ave and 160th Street in Washington Heights,
Manhattan, were renamed as Paul Robeson Boulevard and Count Basie Place.
The corner is the location of 555 Edgecombe Avenue, also known as the
Paul Robeson Home, a National Historic Landmark building where Count Basie
and Paul Robeson lived (pancreatic cancer)
b. August
21st 1904.
1987: Shankar Singh Raghuvanshi (64)
Indian music composer duo with Jaikishan Dayabhai Panchal in the
Hindi film industry, working together from 1949–1971. Shankar-Jaikishan,
wrote among may others "everlasting" and "immortal melodies"
in fifties and sixties. Their best work was noted for being "raga-based
and having both lilt and sonority".
During their career, S-J won Filmfare Best Music Director Awards for a
record nine times. The last three awards were won in three successive
years, thereby making S-J the first composers to score a hat trick of
these awards. S-J also came out tops in Binaca Geetmala, the legendary
countdown radio program on Hindi film music, where their compositions
were declared the most popular on six occasions. a record later equaled
by Laxmikant Pyarelal. These songs were Mera joota hai japani in '55,
Teri pyari pyari surat ko in '61, Ehsaan tera hoga mujh par in '62, Bol
radha bol in '64, Baharon phool barsaao in '66, and Zindagi ek safar hai
suhana in '71. In 1968 S-J was honoured with the Padmashri by the Government
of India (?) b. October
5th 1922.
1991: Léo Arnaud (86) French-American
composer of film scores, best known for Bugler's Dream, which is used
as the theme by television networks presenting the Olympic Games in the
United States. Born
in Lyon, he studied composition at conservatories in Lyon and Paris and
after playing as a jazz trombonist in France using the name Leo Vauchant
and arranging for the Jack Hylton band in England from 1928 to 1930, he
immigrated to the United States in 1931. He worked in Hollywood as an
arranger for Fred Waring before joining MGM as an arranger, composer,
and orchestrator from 1936 to 1966. In 1980, Leo left Hollywood and retired
to Yadkin County, North Carolina (?)
b. July 24th 1904.
1991:
Carmine Coppola (80)
American
award winning composer, director songwriter
and flute player;
he studied at Juilliard and later at the Manhattan School of Music. During
the 1940s, he worked under Arturo Toscanini with the NBC Symphony Orchestra.
Then in 1951, Carmine left the Orchestra to pursue his dream of composing
music. During that time he mostly worked as an orchestra conductor on
Broadway and elsewhere, working with his son, legendary filmmaker Francis
Ford Coppola, on additional music for his Finian's Rainbow. Together with
Nino Rota, Carmine composed music for The Godfather, and for The Godfather
Part II, for which they won Oscars for Best Score. Carmine then scored
Francis' Apocalypse Now, for which he won a Golden Globe award for best
original score. He also composed three and a half hour score for Francis'
1981 reconstruction of Abel Gance's 1921 epic Napoleon (?)
b. June 11th 1910.
1997: Ernest Stewart (47)
American keyboardist with KC and the Sunshine
Band, founded in 1973 in Miami, Florida, their style has included funk,
R&B, and disco. Their most well known songs include the disco hits
"That's the Way (I Like It)", "(Shake, Shake, Shake) Shake
Your Booty", "I'm Your Boogie Man", "Keep It Comin'
Love", "Get Down Tonight", "Give It Up", and
"Please Don't Go". They took their name from lead vocalist Harry
Wayne Casey's last name "KC" and the "Sunshine Band"
from KC's home state of Florida, 'The Sunshine State' (Ernest sadly died
from an asthma attack) b.
????
1999: Adrian Borland (41) English
singer, songwriter, guitarist and record producer; he co-founded his first
band, the Wimbledon-based punk rock trio The Outsiders, with himself on
vocals and guitar, Bob Lawrence was on bass, and Adrian 'Jan' Janes on
the drums. Adrian formed the punk band Sound in 1979 which had gradually
evolved from The Outsiders. Their debut album Jeopardy, received favorable
reviews. After the band split in 1987, he
created a substantial solo career spanning five albums by April 1999
(he
succumbed to the symptoms of schizoid-affective disorder and committed
suicide) b. December
6th 1957.
2010: Willy Caron (75) Dutch
tenor
opera singer; he came to fame at the
1964 edition of the International Verdi Concours in Venice where he was
hailed by the audience as the Dutch Caruso. Willy performed across Europe
and for ten years worked at the Städtische Oper in Cologne. In the
Netherlands, he made many recordings as soloist with the Maastrechter
Staar Choir and sang as soloist with the Limburg Symphony Orchestra directed
by André Rieu Sr. In 1998, he founded the Willy Caron Musical Theatre
to make classical music accessible to a wide audience. (?)
b. June 15th 1934.
2011: Phoebe Snow (58) American
singer-songwriter, born in New York; it was at the Bitter End club in
1972 that Denny Cordell, a promotions executive for Shelter Records, was
so taken by the singer that he signed her to the label and produced her
first recording. She released an eponymous album, Phoebe Snow, in 1974,
featuring guest performances by The Persuasions, Zoot Sims, Teddy Wilson,
David Bromberg and Dave Mason. It spawned the Billboard Hot 100 No.5 hit
single, "Poetry Man",
reached number 4 on the Billboard 200 album chart, won Peobe a nomination
for the Grammy Award for Best New Artist, and established her as a formidable
singer, songwriter. She performed as the opening act for tours by Jackson
Browne and Paul Simon. 1975 also brought the first of several appearances
as a musical guest on Saturday Night Live, on which she performed both
solo and in duets with Paul Simon and Linda Ronstadt (tragically
died from the result a brain hemorrhage which she suffered in January
9th 2010)
b. July 17th 1952.
2012: Pete Fornatale (66)
American radio disc jockey, a New York City disc jockey, considered a
"pioneer of FM Rock," who played an important role in the progressive
rock era of FM broadcasting. By broadcasting progressive rock and long
album tracks, he was noted for introducing a musical alternative to Top
40 AM radio in New York in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Billboard called
his station "a legend, affecting and inspiring people throughout
the industry". He gave early exposure to country-rock bands like
Buffalo Springfield and Poco, and did one of the first American interviews
with Elton John. He began professionally in 1969 at WNEW-FM and also worked
at WXRK née WKTU. He returned to WFUV in 2001 and was heard weekly
on his shows, "Mixed Bag" and "Mixed Bag Radio," which
is also on XM satellite radio. He won the Armstrong Excellence in Broadcasting
Award in 1983 and received AFTRA's Media & Entertainment Excellence
Award in February 2012 at the Plaza Hotel in New York City (tragically
Peter died from a brain aneurysm) b. August
23rd 1945.
2013: George
Jones aka Possum (81) American
country music singer born in Saratoga, near Beaumont and raised in Vidor,
Texas. He was given a guitar when he was nine, and was soon busking for
money on the streets of Beaumont. He
left home at 16 and went to Jasper, Texas, where he sang and played on
the radio station and where he first met his hero Hank Williams in 1949.
George served in the Marines from 1950 to 1953, stationed in California
for his entire servic, after which he recorded his debut single, "No
Money in This Deal" released in 1954. He first entered the national
Billboard country charts in 1955 with "Why Baby Why", which
peaked at No.44 on the country charts that same year. He had his first
of 14 No.1 hits in 1959 with "White Lightning". Through the
60s he had multiple singles on the country charts each year – ballads
like "The Window Up Above", "If My Heart Had Windows",
"The Race Is On", with its rumbling, 6-string bass solo >>>
Read
More <<< (While
on a US tour, George was admitted to Vanderbilt University Hospital with
fever and irregular blood pressure; sadly
after
being on oxygen for several days, he died of acute hypoxia)
b. September 12th 1931.
2013: Braxton Schuffert
(97) American guitarist
who played with Hank Williams as
one of the original Drifting Cowboys. Born in Shelby County, AL, he moved
to Montgomery at the age of five. By the age of 16, he had an early morning
radio show on WSFA. In 1938, he met Hank Williams, who was only 15 at
the time, and a guest on his WSFA show. Braxton helped Williams form his
first band and played guitar with the future legend with the band which
eventually became the Drifting Cowboys. He
remained active till the months leading up to his death (he
had been receiving medical treatment in hospital since Easter in March)
b. February 22nd 1916.
April 27th.
1984: Z.
Z. Hill/Arzell Hill (48) American
blues singer, in the soul blues tradition, born in Naples, Texas. He began
his singing career in the late 1950s as part of a gospel group called
The Spiritual Five. In 1964, he moved to California and recorded "You
Were Wrong" on his brother's M.H. record label. In 1971, he recorded
the hits
"Faithful & True" and "Chokin' Kind" in
Muscle Shoals, Alabama. One of ZZ's biggest selling hits came while signed
to Columbia, "Love Is So Good When You're Stealing It," which
spent 18 weeks on the Billboard R&B chart in the summer of 1977. His
1982 album, 'Down Home', stayed on the Billboard soul album chart for
nearly two years. The track "Down Home Blues" has been called
the best-known blues song of the 1980s. This track plus his songs "Taxi",
"Someone Else Is Steppin' In", and "Open House" have
become R&B/Southern soul standards (he tragically
died in Dallas from a heart attack after a road accident)
b. September
30th 1935.
1992: Olivier Messiaen (83) French
composer and one of the first composers to use an electronic keyboard;
he entered the Paris Conservatoire at the age of 11 and was appointed
organist at the Église de la Sainte-Trinité in Paris in
1931, a post held until his death. He taught at the Schola Cantorum de
Paris during the 1930s. On the fall of France in 1940, Olivier was made
a prisoner of war, during which time he composed his Quatuor pour la fin
du temps/"Quartet for the end of time" for the 4 available instruments—piano,
violin, cello and clarinet. The piece was first performed by himself and
fellow prisoners for an audience of inmates and prison guards. He was
appointed professor of harmony soon after his release in 1941, and professor
of composition in 1966 at the Paris Conservatoire, positions he held until
his retirement in 1978. His many distinguished pupils included Pierre
Boulez and Yvonne Loriod, who became his second wife. He
found birdsong fascinating, believed birds to be the greatest musicians,
and considered himself as much an ornithologist as a composer. He notated
bird songs worldwide and incorporated birdsong transcriptions into most
of his music. Although in considerable pain near the end of his life,
requiring repeated surgery on his back, he was able to fulfil a commission
from the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, Éclairs sur l'au-delà…,
which was premièred six months after his death (?)
b. December 10th 1908.
1999: Al Hurt/Alois Maxwell Hirt (76) American
trumpeter, bandleader and
New Orleans legend maybe best remembered
for his million selling recordings of "Java", and the album,
Honey in the Horn in 1963. In 1940, Al went to Cincinnati, Ohio to study
at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music with Dr. Frank Simon, a former
soloist with the John Philip Sousa Orchestra. After a stint in the US
Army during World War II, Al performed with various Swing big bands, including
those of Tommy Dorsey, Jimmy Dorsey, Benny Goodman, and Ina Ray Hutton.
In
1950, he became first trumpet and soloist with Horace Heidt's Orchestra.
Returning then to New Orleans, he worked with various Dixieland groups
and leading his own bands. From the mid 1950s to early 1960s, he and his
band played nightly at Dan's Pier 600 at the corner of St. Louis and Bourbon
Street. In 1962 Hirt opened his own club on Bourbon Street in the French
Quarter, which he ran until 1983. (liver
failure) b.
November 7th 1922.
2000: Vicki Sue Robinson (45) American
singer and broadway star; her records were among some of the best produced
and arranged '70s disco releases with solid beats built on solid songs
including her 1976 hit "Turn the Beat Around". Her theatre performances
included Hair-1970, Soon-1971, Long Time Coming, Long Time Gone-1971,
Voices From The Third World-1972 and Jesus Christ Superstar-1973. A resurgence
of interest in disco music by the mid 1990s led Vicki along with fellow
disco veterans K.C. and the Sunshine Band, Thelma Houston, Gloria Gaynor
and The Village People to embark on a well-received world tour. She released
her final single, "Move On," in 1999, which reached No.18 on
Billboard's Dance Chart. That same month, she was forced to withdraw from
her Off Broadway show owing to ill health. However she undertook the role
of a fairy godmother in the film Red Lipstick, which was released on April
16th 2000 (sadly died after a brave battle
cancer) b. May 21st
1954.
2007: Mstislav Leopoldovich Rostropovich, KBE
(80) Soviet-Russian cellist and conductor, widely considered
to have been the greatest cellist of the second half of the 20th century,
and one of the greatest of all time. In addition to his outstanding interpretations
and technique, he was well-known for his commissions of new works which
enlarged the cello repertoire more than any cellist before or since. He
gave the premieres of over 100 pieces. His
impromptu performance during the fall of the Berlin Wall as events unfolded
earned him international fame and was reported throughout the world. He
was also internationally recognized as a staunch advocate of human rights,
being awarded in 1974 the Annual Award of the International League of
Human Rights.
(sadly died after bravely battling intestinal cancer)
b. March 27th 1927.
2008: "Big" Ron O'Brien (56)
American disc jockey; he grew up in Des Moines, IA, and worked at
his high school's radio station and started his professional career in
1969 at KUDL in Kansas City. He went on to work for many stations, including
KTLK in Denver, WCAR in Detroit, WQXI in Atlanta, WCFL/WMVP in Chicago,
WOKY in Milwaukee, WFIL in Philadelphia, KFI and KIIS in Los Angeles,
KWK/WARH in St. Louis-where he stayed for nine years, KZDG in Denver,
WYXR/WLCE /WRFF in Philadelphia, WNBC/WFAN and WXLO/WRKS in New York,
WPGC in Washington, D.C., and WRKO in Boston. WOGL, also in Philadelphia,
was his employer for the final six years of his life, and he had recently
signed a two-year contract extension. Ron
also recorded cover versions of "Everybody Knows Matilda" and
"Take Some Time Out" (sadly died of complications
from pneumonia) b. October
24th 1951.
2008: Marios Tokas (54) Greek-Cypriot
composer; he has worked with some of the most famous Greek singers, including
Dimitris Mitropanos, Constantina, Yiannis Parios, Aleka Kanellidou, Charis
Alexiou, Dimitra Galani, Dionisis Theodosis, Katerina Kouka, Antonis Kalogiannis
and Manolis Mitsias to mention a few. He always offered free of charge
concerts every summer in his native Cyprus, for all the 18 year olds that
were going for their 26 month compulsory service in the National Guard.
Marios is regarded as the most prominent composer in Cyprus and one of
the most important in Greece. His work includes religious albums, folk
albums, soundtracks to television shows, and pure Greek music. His
last work was the official anthem of the Cyprus University of Technology
(sadly
died after a long struggle with cancer) b.
June 8th 1954.
2010: Morris Pert (62)
Scottish composer and percussionist who worked with Yamash'ta.
Born in Arbroath, Angus, he graduated with a BMus from Edinburgh University
in 1969, and went on to study composition and percussion at the Royal
Academy in London. He wrote three symphonies, "The Rising of the
Moon", premiered in Tokyo under Hiroyuko Iwaki in 1981; "The
Beltane Rites", was commissioned and performed by the BBC Scottish
Symphony Orchestra, and "The Ancient Kindred", was premiered
by the Munich Opera Orchestra under Eberhard Schoener on German television
in 1980. He also worked for 18 years as a session musician in recording
studios, working with many artists, including Paul McCartney, Andrew Lloyd
Webber, John Williams, Kate Bush, Phil
Collins, Mike Oldfield, Peter Gabriel,
Bryan Ferry, Elkie Brooks, Talk Talk and the jazz-rock band Brand X. He
also arranged for the Classic Rock series of records by the London Symphony
Orchestra. In 1977 Morris was voted the fourth jazz and rock percussionist
in the world by America's Billboard magazine. He has received five gold
albums, an American ASCAP award for a hit song and a nomination by the
National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences for his performances on
record. Among his other many, many works were an electronic ballet score
Continuum for the London Contemporary Dance Theatre at Sadlers Wells;
Voyage in Space, twenty short piano pieces; The Ancient Pattern for chamber
ensemble, a McEwen commission from Glasgow University and, more recently,
incidental music for Eden Court Theatre's production of Peter Pan in Inverness
and Aurora, a work for taped electronics. Morris had just completed his
fifth album for release, "Chromosphere" (?)
b. September
9th 1947.
2011: Dag Stokke (44) Norwegian keyboardist,
church organist and mastering engineer, born Gjøvik. He best known
for his work with the Norwegian rock bands TNT and Vagabond, he also owned
an online mastering service called OnlineMastering. Dag
was TNT's live keyboardist from April 1987 Dag Stokke starting with TNT's
"Tell No Tales" tour to 2011 and played on every TNT album from
Realized Fantasies in 1992 to A Farewell to Arms in 2010. However, he
was never a permanent TNT member. Quote: "I'm completely laidback
with that. I got to experience the rockstar existence so much in 1987
and especially in 1989 and a little bit into 1992, so that dream has been
realized. If I'm not upfront, that's totally cool, because I know I've
been a part of all this". He played his last concert with TNT in
Umeå, Sweden on March 5th 2011. Dag also recorded with Unni
Wilhelmsen, Jorn,
Arnstein Hammershaug and Vagabond
(sadly Dag died from a quick brutal form of cancer)
b. April 1st 1967
2011: Neusinha Brizola/Neusa Brizola Maria Goulart
(56)
Brazilian singer and songwriter, famous for her
hit "Mintchura", in partnership with composer and guitarist
Joe Euthanázia gaucho in the early '80s. In 1984 she participated
in the soundtrack of the children's musical program Plunct, plact, Zuuum
, the Rede Globo and also composed some soundtracks to novels, as in Transas
Family Ties and the film, The Seven Vampires (sadly
Neusinha
died with complications resulting from hepatitis)
b. 1954
2013: Jimmy Damon/James
Demopoulos (75)
American singer, born in Memphis, Tenn; as a youth
he began singing at church and local venues like the Kiwanis Club and
his father’s Memphis restaurant, the New York Cafe. It was there
that he met and then performed with such future major stars as Conway
Twitty and Elvis Presley.
He moved Chicago in the mid 60s where he soon became a huge presence on
the Chicago music scene until his sudden death (tragically
died from a very rare blood disease) b. April
27th 1938
April 28th.
1975: Tom Donahue (46) American
FM disc jockey and pioneering rock and roll radio disc jockey; his career
started in 1949 on the east coast at WTIP in West Virginia, WIBG in Philadelphia
and WINX in Maryland before moving to San Francisco in 1961. Here he worked
as a disc jockey at Top Forty station KYA/KOIT, discovered, produced,
recorded, and managed The Beau Brummels, opened a psychedelic nightclub
"Mothers" and produced concerts at the Cow Palace and Candlestick
Park with his partner, disc jockey Bobby Mitchell aka Bobby Tripp. He
also revamped the foreign-language station KMPX into what is considered
to be America's first alternative "free-form" radio station
on the largely ignored FM band, playing non-commercial music by album-oriented
bands. In 1969 he managed the band Silver Metre, and Stoneground in 1970.
In 1972 he moved to the role of general manager at KSAN, where he encouraged
playlists of music from different eras and genres interspersed with political
commentary. Tom, and his DJ wife Raechel, formed further free-form radio
stations KMET and KPPC-FM in Los Angeles. Tom was inducted into the Rock
and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996 as a non performer, as one of only three
disc jockeys to receive that honor (Tom sadly died
of a heart attack) b. May 21st 1928.
1980: Tommy Caldwell (30) American bassist
and original frontman for The Marshall Tucker Band between 1973 and 1980.
He was from Spartanburg, South Carolina. As well as being the frontman,
he also sang background vocals and wrote several songs, including "Melody
Ann," which was the only song he ever performed lead vocals on. His
last performance with the band was on April 18, 1980. This performance
is captured on the 2006 release, "Live on Long Island" (died
of injures from a Jeep crash) b. November 9th 1949.
1981: Steve Currie (33) English electric
bass player
born in Grimsby, North East Lincolnshire, and was best known as a member
of the English glam rock band T.Rex. His first worked with a local jazz
rock band "The Rumble Band", before joining T.Rex as bass guitarist
in 1970 and continued to play with them until late 1976. He
appeared on all of Bolan's most memorable hit singles from "Ride
a White Swan" in 1970 to "Laser Love" in 1976 , as well
as all the albums from 1971's Electric Warrior to Dandy in the Underworld
released in 1977. After leaving T.Rex, Steve went into session work, and
moved to Portugal to live. (car
accident) b. May
19th 1947.
1982: Murray McEachern (66) Canadian
jazz and swing trombonist and alto saxophonist best known for having played
trombone for Benny Goodman, the trombone and alto saxophone for the Casa
Loma Orchestra and his studio work in his later career for Hollywood films,
including solo performances in The Glenn Miller Story, Paris Blues and
The Benny Goodman Story. He studied the violin at the Toronto Conservatory
of Music as a boy, and played his first concert recital at Massey Hall
at age 12. As a teenager he studied both the saxophone and clarinet, playing
with Lucio Agostini and also appearing on CRBC with Percy Faith.
He
got his big break in 1936 when he
went to Chicago and secured the job as soloist on trombone for Benny Goodman's
big band. Over time McEachern
became proficient on several instruments, including the trombone, trumpet
saxophone,
bass
and violin. He also
worked with the Jack Hylton orchestra, the Paul Whiteman orchestra and
the Phil Moore orchestra, he toured Europe in 1972 and briefly worked
with the Duke Ellington orchestra in 1973 and was owner/director of the
Tommy Dorsey orchestra from 1974 to 1977 (?) b.
August 16th 1915.
1988: B W Stevenson/Louis
Charles Stevenson (38)
American country artist,
and "B.W." stood for "Buckwheat". Born in Dallas,
Texas, he attended W.H. Adamson High School, as a teenager he played in
a variety of local rock bands before attending college, and eventually
joining the U.S. Air Force. He went on to have hits with, "My Maria",
"Calabasas", "A Little Bit of Understanding", "We
Be Sailin'" and "Lifeline". Author Jan Reid devotes a chapter
to B.W., in his book 'The Improbable Rise of Redneck Rock', dubbing him
"The Voice". Since his death, Poor David's Pub in Dallas has
held an annual songwriting competition in his memory (He
sadly died shortly after undergoing heart valve surgery)
b.
October 5th 1949.
1991: Ken Curtis/Curtis Wain Gates (74)
American singer and actor best known for his role as Festus Haggen on
the long-running CBS western television series, Gunsmoke. He was a singer
before moving into acting, and combined both careers once he entered movies,
performing with the popular Sons of the Pioneers from 1949 to 1953 as
well as singing with the iconic Tommy Dorsey band. Curtis replaced Frank
Sinatra as vocalist for the Dorsey band, but details of Curtis's relationship
with the band are unclear. He was with the Dorsey band in 1941, prior
to Sinatra's departure, and may have served simply as insurance against
Sinatra's likely defection. Dick Haymes contractually replaced Sinatra,
in 1942. Ken then joined Shep Fields and His New Music, an all-reeds band
that dispensed with a brass section. Columbia
Pictures signed him to a contract in 1945. He starred in a series of musical
westerns with The Hoosier Hot Shots, playing singing-cowboy romantic leads.
For much of 1948, Curtis was a featured singer and host of the long-running
country music radio program WWVA Jamboree. (Ken
died in his sleep of natural causes in Fresno, California)
b. July 2nd 1916.
2005: Percy Heath (81)
American jazz double bass player born in Wilmington, North Carolina and
started playing violin at age 8 and also sang locally. In Chicago in 1948,
he recorded with his brother on a Milt Jackson album as members of the
Howard McGhee Sextet before moving to New York in the late 1940s. He was
the brother of tenor saxophonist Jimmy Heath and drummer Albert Heath,
with whom he formed the Heath Brothers in 1975. He has also worked with
Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Wes Montgomery and Thelonious
Monk. At the age of 81, he released his first album as bandleader through
the Daddy Jazz label. The album, titled A Love Song, garnered rave reviews
and served as a fitting coda for Percy's illustrious career (Percy
sadly died, after a second fight with bone cancer)
b. April 30th 1923.
2007: Tommy
Newsom (78)
American
bandleader and a saxophone
player in the NBC Orchestra on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson,
for which he later became assistant director and was frequently the band's
substitute director. Tommy joined the band in 1962, and left it when Carson
retired in 1992. Tommy
was often a foil for Carson's humor, who nicknamed
him "Mr. Excitement" as a sarcastic take on his low-keyed, often
dull persona. He was as well known within the music industry as an arranger
as he was a performer. He arranged for groups as varied as the Tonight
Show ensemble and the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, and musicians Skitch
Henderson, Woody Herman, Kenny Rogers, Charlie Byrd, John Denver, and
opera star Beverly Sills (died of bladder and liver
cancer) b. February 25th 1929
2009: Valeria Peter
Predescu (62) Romanian popular/folk
singer (heart attack)
b. 1947
2009: Vern Gosdin (74)
American country music singer; in
1961 he moved from Alabama to California, where he joined the West Coast
Country music movement, first as a member of the Golden State Boys, then
the Hillmen before forming The Gosdin Brothers with brother Rex. The duo
hit the charts in the late '60s with "Hangin' On" and "Till
The End". In the '80s he teamed with Max D. Barnes as a songwriting
collaborator, he had hits with "If You're Gonna Do Me Wrong (Do It
Right)"; "Way Down Deep", his first No. 1 single with "I
Can Tell by the Way You Dance (You're Gonna Love Me Tonight)" in
1984; "Do You Believe Me Now";
his 2nd No. 1 hit "Chiseled in Stone," which won the Country
Music Association's Song of the Year award in 1989.
From 1989-1991, he released a number of songs and three more made the
Billboard top 10: "Right in the Wrong Direction," "That
Just About Does It" and "Is It Raining at Your House."
In 2008, Gosdin released "40 Years of the Voice," a four-CD
career retrospective. The boxed set on VGM Records features 101 songs,
including 14 previously unreleased tracks recorded 35 years ago (he had
suffered a stroke at the beginning of April 2009, and died peacefully
in his sleep at a Nashville hospital)
b. August 5th 1934.
2010: Corrado
"Connie" Codarini (80)
Canadian pop-gospel bass singer and a founding member
of the The Four Lads. In the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, the singing
quartet earned many gold singles and albums.
Their first single was "The Mocking Bird" on Columbia's Okeh
label was released in 1952. This was followed by many hits including 5
gold records
"Istanbul", "Moments
to Remember," "Standin' on the Corner," "No, Not Much,"
and "Who Needs You," They made many television appearances including
the award-winning PBS special, Moments to Remember. In 1984 The Four Lads
were inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame and were inducted into
the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2003 (?)
b. ????
2013: János Starker (88)
Hungarian-American
cellist and Grammy Award-winning
recording artist; born
in Budapest; a child prodigy, he made
his first public performances at ages six and seven. He entered the Franz
Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest to study with and made his debut there
at age 11.
János began teaching
other children at age eight, and by the time he was 12 he had five pupils.
After the war he became principal cellist of the Budapest Opera and the
Budapest Philharmonic Orchestras. After travelling parts of Europe, he
emigrated to the US in 1948 to become principal cellist of the Dallas
Symphony Orchestra under Antal Doráti. In 1949 he moved to New
York to become principal cellist of the Metropolitan Opera under Fritz
Reiner. It was in New York that he made the first of his acclaimed recordings
of the Bach Cello Suites. From 1958 until his death, he taught at the
Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, where he held the title of
Distinguished Professor. He trained some of the most accomplished cellists.
Among them is Emilio Colon, David Effron and Maria Kliegel. At Starker’s
75th birthday celebration in 1999 many of them performed (?)
b. July 5th 1924.
2013: Barry Fey (73) American rock
concert promoter based out of Colorado who was best known for bringing
prominent music acts to the United States for the first time. His first
concert was Baby Huey and the Babysitters in 1965 at the American Legion
Hall in Rockford that made only $92. On December 26th 1968 he promoted
the first Led Zeppelin show in North America. Shortly after in June 1969,
Feyline presented the 3 day Denver Pop Festival, which featured the final
performance of The Jimi Hendrix Experience. He promoted more shows with
The Rolling Stones and The Who than anybody else all before the days of
the "national tours"
and U2's "Under a Blood Red Sky" at Red Rocks, among so many
others. In 1991, Barry merged with Universal Concerts, which later bought
him out in 1997, after a 30 year career. In an interview withImage magazine
they called Barry, "Not only the best promoter in the land, but "A
National Treasure". President
Bill Clinton videotaped a message of thanks and congratulations upon his
retirement in 1997. After 9/11, he spearheaded a campaign that provided
more than 7,000 pounds of toys to be delivered to victims' children. November
1st 2011 he announced the completion of his book "Backstage Past"
with forewords written by Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne and Pete Townshend
and in 2012 he was inducted into the Colorado Music Hall of Fame
(sadly Barry committed suicide) b. July 16th
1939.
2013: Paulo Emilio Vanzolini (89)
Brazilian scientist and music composer; he was best known by his
samba compositions, including the famous 'Ronda' and 'Boca da Noite' and
for his scientific works in herpetology. He is considered one of the greatest
samba composers from São Paulo (?) b.
April 25th 1924.
April 29th.
1953: Alice Ernestine Prin (52) French
nightclub singer, artists' model, actress, painter; She was a symbol of
bohemian and creative Paris, she flourished in, and helped define, the
1920s liberated culture of Paris. At age 28 she was declared Queen of
Montparnasse and was one of the century's first truly independent women.
Kiki's music hall performances in black hose and garters included crowd-pleasing
risqué songs, which were uninhibited, yet inoffensive. For a few
years during the 1930s, she owned a Montparnasse cabaret, which she named
Chez Kiki. As an artists' model she poses for dozens of artists, including
Chaim Soutine, Julian Mandel, Tsuguharu Foujita, Francis Picabia, Jean
Cocteau, Arno Breker, Alexander Calder, Per Krohg, Hermine David, Pablo
Gargallo, Mayo, and Tono Salazar. Moise Kisling painted a portrait of
Kiki titled Nu assis, one of his best known. (Kiki died in Sanary-sur-Mer,
from complications of alcoholism or drug dependence. Many artists and
fans attended her funeral and followed the procession to her interment
in the Cimetière du Montparnasse) b. October
2nd 1901.
1961: Miff Mole/Irving Milfred Mole (63)
American jazz trombonist and band leader
born in Roosevelt, New York. As a child, he studied violin and piano and
switched to trombone when he was 15. His major recordings included "Slippin'
Around", "Red Hot Mama" in 1924 with Sophie Tucker on vocals,
"Miff's Blues", "There'll Come a Time (Wait and See)",
on the film soundtrack to the 2008 movie The Curious Case of Benjamin
Button, and "Toddlin' Blues" and "Davenport Blues",
recorded in 1925 with Bix Beiderbecke and Tommy Dorsey as Bix Beiderbecke
and His Rhythm Jugglers. He is considered as one of the greatest jazz
trombonists and credited with creating "the first distinctive and
influential solo jazz trombone style". He
became a regular at Nick's in Manhattan, where he played with Pee Wee
Russell, Baby Dodds, and others, but
due to bad health, he played very sporadically during his last years.
Sadly Miff died broke in New York City, a benefit gig to raise money for
him took place just too late. He was buried in a pauper's grave
(?) b.
March 11th 1898.
1961: Cisco Houston/Gilbert
Vandine Houston (42) American
folk singer and songwriter who is closely associated with Woody Guthrie
due to their extensive history of recording together. He
was a regular recording artist for Moses Asch's Folkways recording studio.
He also performed with such folk/blues musicians as Lead Belly, Sonny
Terry, and the Almanac Singers. Born in Wilmington, Delaware, but moved
to California while he was still young, and he attended school in Eagle
Rock, Los Angeles where began to play the guitar. In 1938 he pursued a
career in acting. During this time he visited folk singer Woody Guthrie
at a radio studio in Hollywood, which was the beginning of the close friendship
with Guthrie. The two men began traveling together, touring migrant worker
camps, singing, and promoting unionism and workers’ rights, eventually
making their way to New York City. Cisco toured India in 1959 with Sonny
Terry, Brownie McGhee, and Marilyn Childs. In 1960 he hosted the television
special, “Folk Sound U.S.A.” on CBS, and appeared later that
year at the Newport Folk Festival (sadly
died of stomach cancer) b. August 18th 1918.
1967: J. B. Lenoir (38)
American blues guitarist and singer-songwriter, his
initials "J.B." had no specific meaning; his given name was
simply "J.B". During the early 1940s, he worked with blues artists
Sonny Boy Williamson II and Elmore James in New Orleans. In 1949, he moved
to Chicago where he began to perform at local nightclubs with musicians
such as Memphis Minnie, Big Maceo Merriweather, and Muddy Waters, and
became an important part of the city's blues scene. He began recording
in 1951, his recording of "Korea Blues" was licensed to and
released by Chess, as having been performed by 'J. B. and his Bayou Boys'.
His band included pianist Sunnyland Slim, guitarist Leroy Foster, and
drummer Alfred Wallace. His more successful songs included "Let's
Roll", "The Mojo" featuring sax player J. T. Brown, and
the controversial "Eisenhower Blues" which his record company,
Parrot, forced him to re-record as "Tax Paying Blues". His most
commercially successful release was "Mamma Talk To Your Daughter",
recorded in 1954 which reached No.11 on the Billboard R&B chart and
was later recorded by many other blues and rock musicians. In the later
1950s, he wrote several more blues standards including; "Don't Dog
Your Woman", and "Don't Touch My Head" (J.B.
sadly died from a heart attack related to injuries he suffered in a car
accident three weeks earlier)
b. March 5th 1929.
1988: James McCracken (61)
American tenor born in Gary, Indiana; he made his professional
opera debut in 1952 with the Central City Opera in Colorado as Rodolfo
in Puccini's La bohème and sang minor roles at the Metropolitan
Opera from 1953 to 1957, while he was still a student. In 1957, he moved
to Europe and made his debut at the Vienna State Opera and had great success
with the Zürich Opera. Otello
was one of his signature roles. Starting in 1963, he became one of the
Met's principal dramatic tenors. New productions that starred James were
Otello 1963 and 1972, Carmen '72, Aida '76, Le prophete '77 and Tannhaeuser
'78, his only leading Wagnerian role. He took part in a live telecast
of Verdi's Aida, on Jan 3rd 1985, which was historic in that it was Leontyne
Price's farewell to the operatic stage.. He was a member of the Metropolitan
Opera's final U.S. tour, where he sang the role of Canio in Pagliacci.
James left behind a number of recordings, such as "Le prophète"
with Marilyn Horne and Renata Scotto, c1976, "Carmen" conducted
by Leonard Bernstein, 1972, "Fidelio" with Birgit Nilsson, 1964,
"Otello" with Dame Gwyneth Jones, 1968 and "Pagliacci"
1967, as well as Schoenberg's Gurre-Lieder with Jessye Norman, Tatiana
Troyanos and David Arnold in 1979 (?)
b. December 16th 1926
1990:
Floyd Butler (52)
American
vocalist; member of the musical group, 'The Vocals' from 1963 until they
disabanded in 1965, their first
single, 'Lonesome Mood,' was released in '64. He next joined 'The Fifth
Dimension,' before co-founding the group, 'The Friends of Distinction,'
in 1968. The group had several hits including 'Grazing In The Grass,'
'Going In Circles,' 'Time Waits For No One,' I Need You,' and 'Love Or
Let Me Be Lonely,' (Floyd sadly died of a heart
attack)
b. June 5th 1937
1993: Mick Ronson (46) English
guitarist, composer, multi-instrumentalist, arranger and producer; after
several attempts through the '60s of making it in London, he got his break
in early 1970, when he joined David Bowie's new backing band called The
Hype. The Hype played their first gig at The Roundhouse on 22 February
1970. They also went under the names 'Harry The Butcher' and 'David Bowie's
New Electric Band' before they became known as The Spiders From Mars.
Mick was a key part of The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders
from Mars album. He
co-produced Lou Reed's album Transformer with Bowie, playing lead guitar
on the album and piano on the song "Perfect Day". Again with
Bowie, he recut the track "The Man Who Sold The World" for Lulu,
released as a single in the UK, and played on a few tracks on the Dana
Gillespie album "Weren't Born a Man". He appeared on the 1972
country-rock album Bustin' Out by Pure Prairie League, and on Bowie's
Aladdin Sane and 1973's covers album "Pin Ups". After leaving
Bowie after the "Farewell Concert" in 1973, Mick released three
solo albums. After a short stint with Mott the Hoople he became a long-time
collaborator with former Mott the Hoople leader Ian Hunter. Mick went
on to work as a musician, writer and record producer with many other acts
including Slaughter & The Dogs, Morrissey, The Wildhearts, The Rich
Kids, Elton John, Johnny Cougar, T-Bone Burnett, Dalbello, Benny Mardones,
Iron City Houserockers and the Italian band Moda and many others. His
last, high profile, live performance was his famed appearance at The Freddie
Mercury Tribute Concert in 1992. Poignantly, he played on "All The
Young Dudes" with David Bowie and Ian Hunter, and "Heroes"
with Bowie. His s last ever recorded session was as a guest on the 1993
Wildhearts album Earth Vs The Wildhearts, where he played the guitar solo
on the song "My Baby Is A Headfuck" (cancer)
b. May 26th 1946.
2008:
Michael "Micky" Waller (66) British
drummer born in Hammersmith, London; he was much in demand as a session
musician and played with many of the biggest names on the UK rock and
blues scene after he became a professional musician in 1960 and eventually
he became Rod Stewart's drummer of choice. His first pro-band, The Flee-Rekkers,
had a No.23 hit in the UK Singles Chart in 1960, with their recording
of "Green Jeans". He left to join a well-known band of the day,
Joe Brown and the Bruvvers. In July 1963, he joined the Cyril Davies R&B
All Stars. After Davies' death in 1964, he joined Marty Wilde as one of
the Wildecats. After a short stint with Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames,
who he rejoined several times, he joined Brian Auger as part of The Trinity.
In April 1965, the group evolved into The Steampacket. He also worked
with the Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, the Jeff Beck Group, John Mayall's
Bluesbreakers, Little Richard, Chuck Berry and in 1968, was involved in
staging the rock musical Hair in London. He also played with the Walker
Brothers, Cat Stevens, Eric Clapton, Bo Diddley, Dusty Springfield, Paul
McCartney, Rod Stewart and played in the band of Tex- Mex accordion player
Flaco Jimenez in the mid-80s. But blues and R&B were his love, and
after much studio work in the 1970s and 80s he continued throughout his
later years, to play live in bands such as the Deluxe Blues Band, the
Terry Smith Blues Band, and his own Micky Waller Band
(sadly Micky died from liver failure) b. September 6th 1941. a
few sources give Micky Waller's death as May 6th 2008
(both in 2008)
2000:
Jonah Jones (90)
American jazz trumpeter; he began in the 1920s playing
on Mississippi riverboats, in 1928 he joined with Horace Henderson, before
working with Jimmie Lunceford and from 1932-1936 he had a successful collaboration
with Stuff Smith. In the 1940s he worked in big bands like Benny Carter's
and Fletcher Henderson and spend most of the decade with Cab Calloway's
band. In the 1950s he had his own quartet, his most mentioned accomplishment
of this style is perhaps their version of "On The Street Where You
Live." which led to his quartet performing on An Evening With Fred
Astaire in 1958 and won at the Grammy Awards of 1960. In 1972 he made
a return to more "core" jazz work with Earl Hines. He was inducted
into the Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame in 1999 (died
in New York City) b. December 31st 1909.
2011:
Vladimir Krainev (67) Russian pianist,
professor and a People's
Artist of the USSR, born in Krasnoyarsk, he made his solo debut when he
was seven years old, performing Haydn and Beethoven concertos. After winning
first prizes at international contests in Lisbon, Portugal and Leeds,
England, and especially after his brilliant victory at the ninth International
Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow ib 1970, his career as a pianist began.
He performed with some of the world's leading orchestras and conductors,
and collaborated with renowned artists throughout the world. Alfred Schnittke
dedicated one of his piano concertos to him. International music festivals
known as "The Invitation of Vladimir Krainev" were held each
year in Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan, and concerts called "Vladimir
Krainev: his Friends and Pupils" were given annually at the Moscow
Conservatory. Krainev was a jury member of many international piano competitions,
for instance: Leeds, Lisbon, and Tokyo, as well as the Tchaikovsky Competition
in Moscow. In 1994, he established the Vladimir Krainev International
Fund for Young Pianists
(sadly Vladimir died from an aortic aneurysm)
b. April 1st 1944.
April 30th.
1943: Leo Smit (42)
Dutch composer of many works from 1923 to the early
40s (tragically killed during The Holocaust
at the Sobibor extermination camp)
b. May 14th 1900.
1966: Richard Farina (29) American folk
singer and author born in Brooklyn, New York, of Cuban and Irish descent.
He wrote "Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up To Me" and also
appeared in the film "Festival". Richard married Mimi
the sister of folk singer Joan Baez in 1963.
They moved to a tiny cabin in Carmel, California, where they composed
songs on a guitar and Appalachian dulcimer and debuted their act as "Richard
& Mimi Fariña" at the Big Sur Folk Festival in 1964 and
were signed to Vanguard Records. They recorded their first album, Celebrations
For a Grey Day, with the help of Bruce Langhorne, who had previously played
for Dylan. Due to his short life, his musical output was limited, released
3 albums, one posthumously (Richard
tragically died in a motorcyle accident after his book signing party)
b.
March 8th 1937
1970: Hall Johnson (82) American composer
and arranger born in Athens, Georgia; he taught himself to play the violin
and went on to play the violin and viola professionally, including in
the orchestra for the 1921 musical, Shuffle Along. He became more interested
in choral music, forming the Hall Johnson Negro Choir, the first of many
choral ensembles, in 1925. Hall Johnson and his choir became renowned
through their participation in the 1930 Broadway production of Marc Connelly's
The Green Pastures as well as in national and international tours of the
play, radio versions, the 1936 film adaptation, and Hallmark Hall of Fame
television broadcasts. He also arranged music for and conduct his choir
in more than thirty feature-length Hollywood films, as well as a number
of short films and cartoons. In 1975 he was posthumously honored for his
work in films by being elected to the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame
(tragically
died during a fire at his New York apartment) b.
March 12th 1888.
1982: Lester Bangs (33) American rock
critic; he began writing freelance in
1969, after reading an ad in Rolling
Stone soliciting readers' reviews. His first piece was a negative review
of the MC5 album Kick Out The Jams. In 1973, Jann Wenner fired him from
Rolling Stone over a negative review of Canned Heat, after which he moved
to Detroit to edit and write for Creem, which is where his legendary stature
as a rock critic really began to grow. After leaving Creem, he wrote for
The Village Voice, Penthouse, Playboy, New Musical Express and many other
publications. Lester was not only involved as a critic of music but as
a musician in his own right. He teamed up with Joey Ramone's brother,
Mickey Leigh to put together a New York group named Birdland. In 1980
he traveled to Austin, Texas and met a punk rock group named the Delinquents.
During his stay in Austin he recorded an album as Lester Bangs and the
Delinquents entitled "Jook Savages on the Brazos" (tragically
overdosed through drug interaction, after treating a cold with Darvon
and Valium) b.
December 13th 1948.
1983: Andy Cavaliere (36) British
manager of Steve Winwood and others (heart attack)
b. ??
1983: Muddy Waters/McKinley Morganfield (68)
American legendary Blues Man born in
Rolling Fork, Mississippi, he taught himself harmonica as a child. He
later took up guitar, eagerly absorbing the classic delta blues styles
of Robert Johnson and Son House and went on to be known as "the Father
of Chicago blues". In 1940, Muddy moved to Chicago for the first
time. He played with Silas Green a year later, and then returned to Mississippi.
In the early part of the decade he ran a juke joint, complete with gambling,
moonshine and a jukebox; he also performed music there himself. In 1943,
Muddy headed back to Chicago were he eventually recorded including "Baby
Face", "Hoochie Coochie Man", "Rollin' and Tumblin'",
"I Just Want to Make Love to You", "I'm Ready", "Got
My Mojo Working" and "Long Distance Call". Muddy headed
to England in 1958 and shocked audiences with his loud, amplified electric
guitar and thunderous beat,
he was a major inspiration for the British blues explosion in the 1960s.
His performance at the 1960 Newport Jazz Festival, recorded and released
as his first live album, "At Newport 1960", helped turn on a
whole new generation to his sound. In the 70s he won six Grammy Awards,
plus recieving a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1992. In the 90s
and 2000s he won 4 Blues Foundation Awards. Muddy has also been inducted
into both the Blues Foundation Hall of Fame and Rock and Roll Hall of
Fame and was ranked #17 in Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 100 Greatest
Artists of All Time. (Sadly passed away in his sleep)
b. April 4th 1913.
1988:
James McCracken (61) American
tenor vocalist; he made his professional opera debut in 1952 with the
Central City Opera in Colorado as Rodolfo in Puccini's La bohème.
He sang minor roles at the Metropolitan Opera from 1953-1957, while he
was still a student. In 1957, he moved to Europe making his debut at the
Vienna State Opera. He had great success with the Zürich Opera and
in
1963, he became one of the Met's principal dramatic tenors. Productions
that he starred in included Otello, Carmen, Aida, Le prophete and Tannhaeuser.
James left us a number of recordings, such as "Le prophète",
with Marilyn Horne and Renata Scotto; "Carmen", conducted by
Leonard Bernstein; "Fidelio" with Birgit Nilsson; "Otello"
with Dame Gwyneth Jones; "Pagliacci", and Schoenberg's Gurre-Lieder
with Jessye Norman, Tatiana Troyanos and David Arnold, from 1979. James
was a member of the Metropolitan Opera's final U.S. tour, where he sang
the role of Canio in Pagliacci
(?) b. December 16th 1926.
1999: Darrell Sweet (51)
English drummer for the Scottish hard rock band, Nazareth. He was a co-founder
of Nazareth, which was formed in 1968. The band moved to London in 1970
and released their eponymous debut album in 1971. After their second album
Exercises, in 1972, Nazareth supported Deep Purple on tour, and issued
the Roger Glover produced, Razamanaz, in early 1973. This collection spawned
two UK Top Ten hits, "Broken Down Angel" and "Bad Bad Boy".
This was followed by Loud 'N' Proud in late 1973, which contained another
hit single with a hard-rocking cover of Joni Mitchell's song "This
Flight Tonight". Then came Rampant, in 1974, that was equally successful
with the single, "Shanghai'ed in Shanghai". Their
1975 album, Hair of the Dog, title track, popularly though incorrectly,
known as "Son Of A Bitch", became a staple of 1970s rock radio.
The American version of the album included the The Everly Brothers, and
Roy Orbison, the melodic ballad "Love Hurts", that was released
as a hit single in the UK and in the U.S., where it went platinum. The
track became the band's only U.S. Top Ten hit and it spent a record-breaking
60 weeks on the Norwegian chart. Darrell toured, performed and recorded
with Nazareth for 31 years and performed on 29 albums (and any best ofs)
before his untimely death. (The
band had arrived at Indiana's New Albany Amphitheater when Darrell began
to feel ill, within minutes he had gone into cardiac arrest and was taken
to Floyd Memorial Hospital in New Albany, where so sadly, doctors pronounced
him dead) b.
16 May 16th 1947.
2007:
Grégory Lemarchal (23) French singer born in La Tronche,
Isère, he rose to fame by winning the 4th series of the reality
TV programme Star Academy France, broadcast on the TF1 television network.
He sold over 1 million albums in France, becoming the second highest-selling
album of Star Academy France winner, behind Jenifer Bartoli, who sold
1.3 million albums in 2007. In March 2005, Gregory released his debut
single, "Écris l'histoire", which peaked at No.2 in French
Singles Chart. His first album, 'Je deviens moi', debuted at No.1 and
was certified platinum. From May to June 2006, he completed his first
solo nationwide tour across France, Belgium and Switzerland and a DVD
album of his performance, Olympia 06, was released. His first single of
the album, "Même si (What You're Made of)" reached No.2
(sadly Gregory died of cystic fibrosis)
b. May 13th 1983.
2007:
Zola Taylor (69)
American singer born in Los Angeles, California.
She was the only female member of The Platters from 1954 to 1962, when
the group produced most of their popular singles such as "My Prayer",
"Twilight Time", "Harbor Lights", "To Each His
Own", "If I Didn't Care" and "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes".
The group was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990 and
into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in its inaugural year of 1998. The Platters
were the first rock and roll group to have a Top Ten album in America.
They were also the only act to have three songs included on the American
Graffiti soundtrack that sparked an oldies revival in the early to mid-1970s:
"Smoke Gets in Your Eyes", "The Great Pretender" and
"Only You (and You Alone)". (died
from pneumonia, following a series of strokes)
b. March 17th 1938.
2007: Grégory Jean-Paul Lemarchal (23)
French singer who rose to fame by winning
the fourth series of the reality TV programme Star Academy France, broadcast
on the TF1 television network. In
March 2005, Gregory released his debut single, "Écris l'histoire",
which peaked at number 2 in French Singles Chart. His debut album sold
over 1 million albums in France, "Je deviens moi", becoming
the second highest-selling album of Star Academy France winner, behind
Jenifer Bartoli. At the 2006 NRJ Music Awards, Gregory won the award "Breakthrough
Artist of the Year". His posthumous album, La Voix d'un ange, was
released one month and a half after his death, with profits going towards
the Association Grégory Lemarchal, again reached No.1 in the charts.
(Tragically
he died prematurely from complications of cystic fibrosis, a hereditary
disease which affects the lungs, liver, pancreas and intestine of which
he was diagnosed with at the age of twenty months. Gregory died while
waiting for a lung transplant) b.
May 13th 1983.
2009: Ron Richards/Ronald
Richard Pratley (80)
British record producer, best known for discovering
The Hollies. Born
in London, he played the piano and saxophone for the Central Band of the
Royal Air Force. He later worked at EMI's Parlophone imprint as an assistant
to producer George Martin. He went on to discover and sign The Hollies
in 1963 to a recording contract with the Parlophone label. Ron produced
most of The Hollies' music between 1963 to 1979, during which time they
had seventeen Top 10 hit singles in the UK, as well as worldwide success.
He also produced The Beatles' "Love Me Do" and Gerry & the
Pacemakers' "You'll Never Walk Alone". In August 1965, he joined
Martin in leaving EMI to start AIR Studios.Working for Liberty Records,
Ron was also the musical director for P.J. Proby and they worked together
on the Proby albums.(?)
b.
January 22nd 1929.
2010: Gerry Ryan (53) Irish
disc jockey and radio-television presenter born in Dublin. He presented
The Gerry Ryan Show on radio station RTÉ 2fm each weekday morning
from 1988 until his death. Gerry
hosted several series of television shows, including Secrets, Gerry Ryan
Tonight, Ryantown, Gerry Ryan's Hitlist and Operation Transformation and
Ryan Confidential, which recently finished its seventh series on RTÉ
One. He was also noted for co-presenting the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest
from the Point Theatre, Dublin and presenting an edition of the long-running
chat show The Late Late Show in 2008 (On April 29th
Gerry had mentioned feeling ill and cancelled all his appointments. He
was found dead in the bedroom of his Leeson Street, Dublin apartment by
his partner and a builder the following afternoon. The alarm was raised
when he failed to turn up to present his radio show that morning) b.
June 4th 1956.
2013: Tim Hensley (50) American country multi-instrumentalist,
vocalist and recording artist born in Cincinnati, Ohio, and raised in
nearby Norwood. Growing up, he sang in gospel groups and listened to bluegrass
and soon taught himself to play banjo, as well as guitar, Dobro, mandolin,
bass and steel guitar. Tim
spent 11 years as a key member of country superstar Kenny Chesney’s
touring band and in-studio team. He also spent 10 years in Patty Loveless’
band, and a year with Ricky Skaggs. A superb harmony vocalist, he sang
on albums including Chesney’s “When The Sun Goes Down”
and “No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems,” Skaggs’ “Comin’
Home To Stay” and Loveless’ “When Fallen Angels Fly”
and “Trouble With The Truth.” His vocals onstage and in the
studio were a hallmark of Loveless’ live shows and records in the
1990s. Tim also had a solo career and in 2008 released his only solo album
“Long Monday”. That same year Tim realized a childhood dream
when he played the Grand Ole Opry on April 4th 2008 (sadly
died from liver failure) b. October 8th 1962.
2013: Deanna Durbin/Edna Mae Durbin (91)
Canadian singer and actress; born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, she appeared
in a number of musical films in the 1930s and 1940s. With the technical
skill and vocal range of a legitimate lyric soprano, she performed everything
from popular standards to operatic arias. Between December 15th 1936 and
July 22nd 1947, she recorded 50 tunes for Decca Records. While often re-creating
her movie songs for commercial release, she also covered independent standards,
like "Kiss Me Again", "My Hero", "Annie Laurie",
"Poor Butterfly", "Love's Old Sweet Song" and "God
Bless America" (?)
b. December 4th 1921.
2013: Paul Shurey (53) British drummer and
keyboard player who in 1989 went into acid house and dance music and became
a major rave promoter, when he founded the Tribal Gathering music festivals
which were popular on the rave and dance scene in the Nineties. The first
Tribal Gathering took place Friday 30 April 1993 at Lower Pertwood Farm,
Warminster, 25,000 people attended to see acts such as diverse as Laurent
Garnier, Carl Cox, Slipmatt, The DiY Sound System and Pete Tong. In 1994
Tribal Gathering moved to Munich Germany and in cooperation with "N.A.S.A/
Hannover Nice And Safe Attitude" managed to stage one of the most
exciting event in Munich and Universe/Tribal Gathering was selected as
the best event in Germany in 1994. In the UK Tribal Gathering teamed up
with the Mean Fiddler organisation to organise more legal festivals. The
next event took place in May 1995, UK Tribal Gathering at Otmoor Park,
Beckley, Oxfordshire. Headline acts included The Prodigy, Orbital and
Moby. By 1998, the Tribal Gathering name had grown into a brand, with
albums, a TV Show and plans to establish events worldwide. However their
things did not go to schedule and the 1998 event did not take place due
to Universe and Mean Fiddler's legal battle of the Tribal Gathering name
(tragically Paul died from head injuries;
he slipped and fell on cobblestones in while in Goa, India, banging his
head. He became ill two days later, and sadly died after two operations)
b. 1959
These
birthdates and death dates are unique to this site,
I have been working on them for TEN years now.
PLEASE
give credit or link if copied
PAGES UPDATED DAILY
Thank
you to everyone who sends me any dates or errors .. so VERY appreciated
and
! ! Big Thanks to Gary Feest for his daily mistake checking for 12 months
! !
and
Big thanks to John for so many UK jazz musician birthdates for
throughout the year
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