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Message
re: Endless Sleep - The Obituary Thread
Posted on 2/23/22 at 5:54 pm to hogcard1964
Posted on 2/23/22 at 5:54 pm to hogcard1964
"Conquistador". Such a great song.
0
Posted on 2/24/22 at 9:38 pm to hogcard1964
Don Wilson, Who Gave the Ventures Their Distinctive Rhythm, Dies at 88
LINK
He was a founder, with Bob Bogle, of what has been called the best-selling and most influential instrumental band in rock ’n’ roll history.
By Neil Genzlinger
Jan. 27, 2022
Don Wilson, co-founder of the instrumental rock group the Ventures, whose twanging, hard-driving sound, propelled by his dynamic rhythm guitar, led to hits like “Walk — Don’t Run” and helped shape the surf music of the early 1960s as well as influencing generations of guitarists, died on Saturday in Tacoma, Wash. He was 88.
His daughter Staci Layne Wilson confirmed the death, at a hospital.
Mr. Wilson and Bob Bogle formed the group that became the Ventures in the late 1950s and had been having modest success performing in the Seattle area when, with Nokie Edwards on bass and Skip Moore playing drums, they recorded “Walk — Don’t Run” in March 1960. It was their version of a song by the jazz guitarist Johnny Smith that had previously been recorded by Chet Atkins.
The group had already released one 45 r.p.m. record, having formed their own label, Blue Horizon, with the help of Mr. Wilson’s mother, to do it. But that first record didn’t generate interest, and neither did “Walk — Don’t Run,” until they played it for Pat O’Day, who had the afternoon show on the Seattle radio station KJR. He smelled a hit.
The station always played an instrumental leading into its newscast at the top of the hour, but without introducing it, Mr. O’Day said in an interview for “Sonic Boom! The History of Northwest Rock, From ‘Louie, Louie’ to ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit,’” a 2009 book by Peter Blecha. “So we put it on every hour as that filler there,” he said, “and of course you know what happened after that.”
What happened was, callers flooded the station wanting to know what that catchy record was. One of the callers was from Dolton Records, which had earlier turned away the fledgling Ventures. Dolton signed them, and soon the record reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. It stayed on that chart for months and became one of the most recognizable songs of the era.
The group went on to have a number of other successful singles, most notably its version of the theme from the television series “Hawaii Five-0,” which made the Top 10 in 1969. The lineup shuffled a bit — Mr. Bogle, who died in 2009, switched to bass; Mr. Edwards, who died in 2018, was the better player and became lead guitarist; and Mel Taylor, who died in 1996, settled in as drummer. Mr. Wilson pounded out his rhythm accompaniments for 55 years, turning over the job to Ian Spalding, son of another current member, Bob Spalding, during a show in Tokyo in 2015.
In 2019 the Grammy Museum mounted an exhibition in honor of the group, calling the Ventures “the most influential, best-selling instrumental band in rock and roll history.” The group, the exhibition said, has recorded more than 250 albums, including a series of instructional records aimed at novice guitar players.
Leon Taylor, Mel’s son, is the Ventures’ current drummer and had a close-up view of Mr. Wilson’s impact.
“Don has been a part of my life since I was a little kid,” he said by email. “Don was a unique talent that influenced thousands of guitar players all over the world.”
Mr. Blecha, too, cited the group’s influence on would-be guitar players, as well as its chutzpah in putting out its first records on its own label when no one else would, something
“But beyond all that,” he said by email of Mr. Wilson in particular, “you just gotta admire a musician who carved out such a lucrative and impactful career playing mainly rhythm guitar. Guys who have accomplished that comprise a rather short list.”
Donald Lee Wilson was born on Feb. 10, 1933, in Tacoma to Woodrow and Josie Wilson. His father was a car salesman, and his mother became a record producer and was key to the band’s early success.
“When I was younger I wanted to learn how to play the trombone,” Don Wilson said in an interview for “The Ventures: Stars on Guitars,” a 2019 documentary film directed by his daughter Staci. “I thought the trombone had such a mellow sound. It was Tommy Dorsey that I really liked.”
He played trombone in an Army band, where a bandmate taught him chords on the guitar, adding to the few he had already been shown by his mother. After mustering out, he was working at his father’s used-car lot in Seattle when Mr. Bogle came in, looking to buy a car. They started talking and hit it off.
Mr. Bogle got Mr. Wilson a job working with him as a bricklayer. They soon realized that, with all the rain in the Pacific Northwest, they had a lot of down time, since many of their jobs were outside. And both of them had rudimentary guitar skills.
“We bought two guitars in a pawnshop in Tacoma, Washington, and we probably paid 10 or 15 dollars apiece for them,” Mr. Wilson said in the film.
The group was just the two of them at first, Mr. Bogle playing lead and Mr. Wilson rhythm. That, of necessity, led them to develop a unique sound, underpinned by Mr. Wilson’s driving approach.
“In the early days Don had to play very rhythmic and strong because they didn’t have a drummer,” Bob Spalding, who first played with the group in 1981 and joined for good after Mr. Bogle’s death, said by email. “Later, when they became a quartet with a drummer, his style never changed, and that unique rhythm guitar drive became a prominent characteristic of the band’s music.”
In addition to their success in the United States (where their other hits included “Walk — Don’t Run, ’64,” a remake of their own hit that also made Billboard’s Top 10), the Ventures became wildly popular in Japan — so much so, Mr. Wilson said, that numerous bands there took to imitating them. That led to an uncomfortable surprise when the band made its second trip there, its first as headliners, in 1965.
“We had an opening group,” he told The San Diego Union-Tribune in 1984, “and they played all of our songs before we went on.”
At his death, Mr. Wilson lived in Covington, Wash. In addition to his daughter Staci, his survivors include three other children, Jill Fairbanks, Tim Wilson and Cyd Wilson; and two grandchildren.
In 2008 John Fogerty inducted the Ventures into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. In his induction remarks, he marveled that the group had recorded more than 250 albums.
“Good Lord, think about that,” Mr. Fogerty said. “Nowadays, some of us would be happy to sell 250 albums.”
LINK
He was a founder, with Bob Bogle, of what has been called the best-selling and most influential instrumental band in rock ’n’ roll history.
By Neil Genzlinger
Jan. 27, 2022
Don Wilson, co-founder of the instrumental rock group the Ventures, whose twanging, hard-driving sound, propelled by his dynamic rhythm guitar, led to hits like “Walk — Don’t Run” and helped shape the surf music of the early 1960s as well as influencing generations of guitarists, died on Saturday in Tacoma, Wash. He was 88.
His daughter Staci Layne Wilson confirmed the death, at a hospital.
Mr. Wilson and Bob Bogle formed the group that became the Ventures in the late 1950s and had been having modest success performing in the Seattle area when, with Nokie Edwards on bass and Skip Moore playing drums, they recorded “Walk — Don’t Run” in March 1960. It was their version of a song by the jazz guitarist Johnny Smith that had previously been recorded by Chet Atkins.
The group had already released one 45 r.p.m. record, having formed their own label, Blue Horizon, with the help of Mr. Wilson’s mother, to do it. But that first record didn’t generate interest, and neither did “Walk — Don’t Run,” until they played it for Pat O’Day, who had the afternoon show on the Seattle radio station KJR. He smelled a hit.
The station always played an instrumental leading into its newscast at the top of the hour, but without introducing it, Mr. O’Day said in an interview for “Sonic Boom! The History of Northwest Rock, From ‘Louie, Louie’ to ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit,’” a 2009 book by Peter Blecha. “So we put it on every hour as that filler there,” he said, “and of course you know what happened after that.”
What happened was, callers flooded the station wanting to know what that catchy record was. One of the callers was from Dolton Records, which had earlier turned away the fledgling Ventures. Dolton signed them, and soon the record reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. It stayed on that chart for months and became one of the most recognizable songs of the era.
The group went on to have a number of other successful singles, most notably its version of the theme from the television series “Hawaii Five-0,” which made the Top 10 in 1969. The lineup shuffled a bit — Mr. Bogle, who died in 2009, switched to bass; Mr. Edwards, who died in 2018, was the better player and became lead guitarist; and Mel Taylor, who died in 1996, settled in as drummer. Mr. Wilson pounded out his rhythm accompaniments for 55 years, turning over the job to Ian Spalding, son of another current member, Bob Spalding, during a show in Tokyo in 2015.
In 2019 the Grammy Museum mounted an exhibition in honor of the group, calling the Ventures “the most influential, best-selling instrumental band in rock and roll history.” The group, the exhibition said, has recorded more than 250 albums, including a series of instructional records aimed at novice guitar players.
Leon Taylor, Mel’s son, is the Ventures’ current drummer and had a close-up view of Mr. Wilson’s impact.
“Don has been a part of my life since I was a little kid,” he said by email. “Don was a unique talent that influenced thousands of guitar players all over the world.”
Mr. Blecha, too, cited the group’s influence on would-be guitar players, as well as its chutzpah in putting out its first records on its own label when no one else would, something
“But beyond all that,” he said by email of Mr. Wilson in particular, “you just gotta admire a musician who carved out such a lucrative and impactful career playing mainly rhythm guitar. Guys who have accomplished that comprise a rather short list.”
Donald Lee Wilson was born on Feb. 10, 1933, in Tacoma to Woodrow and Josie Wilson. His father was a car salesman, and his mother became a record producer and was key to the band’s early success.
“When I was younger I wanted to learn how to play the trombone,” Don Wilson said in an interview for “The Ventures: Stars on Guitars,” a 2019 documentary film directed by his daughter Staci. “I thought the trombone had such a mellow sound. It was Tommy Dorsey that I really liked.”
He played trombone in an Army band, where a bandmate taught him chords on the guitar, adding to the few he had already been shown by his mother. After mustering out, he was working at his father’s used-car lot in Seattle when Mr. Bogle came in, looking to buy a car. They started talking and hit it off.
Mr. Bogle got Mr. Wilson a job working with him as a bricklayer. They soon realized that, with all the rain in the Pacific Northwest, they had a lot of down time, since many of their jobs were outside. And both of them had rudimentary guitar skills.
“We bought two guitars in a pawnshop in Tacoma, Washington, and we probably paid 10 or 15 dollars apiece for them,” Mr. Wilson said in the film.
The group was just the two of them at first, Mr. Bogle playing lead and Mr. Wilson rhythm. That, of necessity, led them to develop a unique sound, underpinned by Mr. Wilson’s driving approach.
“In the early days Don had to play very rhythmic and strong because they didn’t have a drummer,” Bob Spalding, who first played with the group in 1981 and joined for good after Mr. Bogle’s death, said by email. “Later, when they became a quartet with a drummer, his style never changed, and that unique rhythm guitar drive became a prominent characteristic of the band’s music.”
In addition to their success in the United States (where their other hits included “Walk — Don’t Run, ’64,” a remake of their own hit that also made Billboard’s Top 10), the Ventures became wildly popular in Japan — so much so, Mr. Wilson said, that numerous bands there took to imitating them. That led to an uncomfortable surprise when the band made its second trip there, its first as headliners, in 1965.
“We had an opening group,” he told The San Diego Union-Tribune in 1984, “and they played all of our songs before we went on.”
At his death, Mr. Wilson lived in Covington, Wash. In addition to his daughter Staci, his survivors include three other children, Jill Fairbanks, Tim Wilson and Cyd Wilson; and two grandchildren.
In 2008 John Fogerty inducted the Ventures into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. In his induction remarks, he marveled that the group had recorded more than 250 albums.
“Good Lord, think about that,” Mr. Fogerty said. “Nowadays, some of us would be happy to sell 250 albums.”
Posted on 3/10/22 at 10:07 pm to Kafka
RIP-Bobbie Nelson
Born on January 1, 1931, Bobbie Lee Nelson was two years older than Willie, although he always referred to her affectionately as “little sister.” Raised by their grandparents in Hill County, Texas, the Nelsons were exposed to music at an early age, and Bobbie started playing piano and organ at Abbott Methodist Church when she was five years old.
Sister Bobbie joined Willie for a recording session in New York City in 1973 and became an essential member of “family” band from that point on, logging millions of miles on their tour bus and playing piano on stage beside her brother for fans over the next five decades. She was inducted into the Texas Country Music Hall of Fame in 2017 and the book Me and Sister Bobbie: True Tales of the Family Band — cowritten by herself and Willie — was published in 2020.
Sister Bobbie was the heart and soul of Willie Nelson & Family, and she and Willie are one of the greatest brother-sister teams in music history. But she was equally adored for her sweet personality, quiet strength, and gentle nature. She will be missed by both her immediate and extended family of musicians, friends, and fans.
Born on January 1, 1931, Bobbie Lee Nelson was two years older than Willie, although he always referred to her affectionately as “little sister.” Raised by their grandparents in Hill County, Texas, the Nelsons were exposed to music at an early age, and Bobbie started playing piano and organ at Abbott Methodist Church when she was five years old.
Sister Bobbie joined Willie for a recording session in New York City in 1973 and became an essential member of “family” band from that point on, logging millions of miles on their tour bus and playing piano on stage beside her brother for fans over the next five decades. She was inducted into the Texas Country Music Hall of Fame in 2017 and the book Me and Sister Bobbie: True Tales of the Family Band — cowritten by herself and Willie — was published in 2020.
Sister Bobbie was the heart and soul of Willie Nelson & Family, and she and Willie are one of the greatest brother-sister teams in music history. But she was equally adored for her sweet personality, quiet strength, and gentle nature. She will be missed by both her immediate and extended family of musicians, friends, and fans.
Posted on 4/2/22 at 1:30 pm to DeltaTigerDelta
savingcountrymusic.com
quote:
Legendary Bluegrass Mandolin Player Roland White died on Friday, April 1st. He was 83 years old
quote:Clarence and Roland White
There are not many sectors of bluegrass music that weren’t at one point or another touched by the work of mandolin player Roland White. The brother of fellow bluegrass legend and later country rocker Clarence White, an original member of The Kentucky Colonels, an acolyte of Bill Monroe in his Bluegrass Boys, a founding member of Lester Flatt’s Nashville Grass, not to mention his later years in The Country Gazette and the famed Nashville Bluegrass Band, Roland White’s mandolin appeared all across the bluegrass catalog.
Roland White was born April 23rd, 1938 in Madawaska, Maine at the very tip top of the state to a musical family of French Canadian stock. They moved to Burbank, California in 1955, and a couple of years later the three brothers of Roland, Eric, and Clarence were performing together regularly under the name The Country Boys. Though they began mostly as a folk-oriented string band, it was Roland getting his hands on the recordings of Bill Monroe that had the trio juicing up their rhythm, and veering into bluegrass.
Being based in the Los Angeles made The Country Boys unique, influential, and ultimately, foundational to the emergence of bluegrass on the West Coast. They appeared in movies, performed on The Andy Griffith Show, and by 1963 were going under the name of The Kentucky Colonels, setting the folk scene in California on fire, spirited forward by Roland’s mandolin, and Clarence’s flatpicking.
During the height of The Kentucky Colonels, Roland took two years away to serve in the US Army, and actually missed appearing on the band’s first album. Nonetheless, numerous live recordings later in their career had bluegrass fans and fellow pickers admiring Roland White’s mandolin style heavily influenced by Bill Monroe.
As it turns out, when The Kentucky Colonels disbanded around 1967, Roland White would go on to work for Monroe after the Father of Bluegrass was booked at a week-long residency in L.A. and his band was stuck back in Texas with a broke down bus. Looking for bluegrass pickers in the area, Roland stepped up. Obviously, Monroe could play the mandolin just fine, so Roland played guitar, and won a spot in the Bluegrass Boys where he remained for three years. The job also facilitated Roland White’s move from California to Nashville.
In 1969 when the Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs breakup sent reverberations throughout the bluegrass world, Roland White saw the opportunity to jump back on the mandolin, playing for Lester Flatt’s The Nashville Grass. The time in Bill Monroe’s Bluegrass Boys had served White well, perfecting his mandolin skills after sharing the stage with Monroe on so many nights.
Now both Roland White and his younger brother Clarence had forged legendary names all their own—Clarence from being a member of The Byrds, and helping to develop the B-Bender guitar that was able to mimic the sounds of a steel guitar from a shoulder-slung instrument. (Note: Marty Stuart still owns and plays Clarence’s legendary B-Bender guitar). But Clarence was ready to get back to his roots, so he formed a band with Roland called The White Brothers.
The White Brothers could have been one of the most legendary pairings in country music history. But unfortunately, the project was cut short when Clarence White was killed by a drunk driver in an auto accident in July of 1973. The live recordings of the brother duo show just how much both players had evolved and mastered their instruments since their time together in the Kentucky Colonels. The death of Gram Parsons two months later put another dagger in the heart of the California country scene, but also helped influence the formation of another legendary bluegrass outfit, The Country Gazette.
Born out of the ashes of The Flying Burrito Brothers by fiddler Byron Berline and bassist/guitarist Roger Bush (Roland taught Bush how to play bass), The Country Gazette would become a staple of bluegrass music for some 20 years. Roland White quit The Country Gazette in 1989 to join the generically-titled, but terribly important Nashville Bluegrass Band, which saw some of the greatest pickers in Music City flow through its ranks like Stuart Duncan. The group also received numerous Grammy nominations over the years.
Roland White saw bluegrass develop on both sides of the American continent. He watched it go from an offshoot of folk and old-time to its own full-blown genre. Roland witnessed bluegrass influence popular folk rock music, country, and country rock. And Roland White heavily influenced the popularization of the bluegrass medium himself on both the East and West Coast, and all points in between.
Posted on 4/2/22 at 2:26 pm to Kafka
Kafka
It's strange and endearing in a way. Every time I see that you (or someone else) has updated The Endless Sleep thread, I think to myself "oh no, who this time?" But even if I don't know who the recently passed might be, you almost always provide, by your knowledge or link, a usually fascinating history. As one gets older like me, it is most appreciated.
It's strange and endearing in a way. Every time I see that you (or someone else) has updated The Endless Sleep thread, I think to myself "oh no, who this time?" But even if I don't know who the recently passed might be, you almost always provide, by your knowledge or link, a usually fascinating history. As one gets older like me, it is most appreciated.
Posted on 4/2/22 at 3:00 pm to flvelo12
quote:If you're nervous about superstars, don't worry about a new Endless Sleep post -- the biggie obits are almost always broken by someone else, in a separate thread here on the MB or even tOT.
Every time I see that you (or someone else) has updated The Endless Sleep thread, I think to myself "oh no, who this time?"
Posted on 4/3/22 at 6:25 pm to Kafka
quote:
Orin Glenn Troutman (October 24, 1934 – March 18, 2022), known professionally as Glen Glenn, was an American rockabilly singer, whose career began in the early 1950s and continued for several decades.
quote:Glen Glenn - "One Cup Of Coffee (And A Cigarette)"
Rest In Peace Glen Glenn! We just have received the news that Glen Glenn passed away on March 18, 2022 from complications with Alzheimer's. Glenn was in my opinion one of the most important Rockabilly pioneers with songs like 'Everybody's Movin'', 'One Cup Of Coffee And A Cigarette', 'I'm Glad My Baby's Gone Away', Blue Jeans And A Boy's Shirt' and many more. Our thoughts are with his family and his loved ones.
Posted on 4/6/22 at 5:54 pm to Kafka
Variety
quote:
Bobby Rydell, the epitome of the early ’60s “teen idol,” who parlayed that fame into a starring role opposite Ann-Margret in the 1963 film “Bye Bye Birdie,” died today at age 79. The cause of death was pneumonia.
His death just days away from his 80th birthday was confirmed by radio legend Jerry Blavat, Rydell’s longtime friend from the singer’s South Philadelphia stomping grounds. “Out of all the kids” from that era, Blavat said, “he had the best pipes and was the greatest entertainer. He told the best stories, did the best impersonations and was the nicest guy.”
Rydell’s fame as the epitome of an American teen pop star in the days just prior to rock’s British Invasion was such that Rydell High School in the Broadway musical and subsequent film “Grease” was named after him. An actor also portrayed him in a performance scene in the film “Green Book.”
“It was so nice to know that the high school [in ‘Grease’] was named after me,” he said. “And I said, ‘Why me?’ It could have been Anka High, Presley High, Everly High, Fabian High, Avalon High. And they came up with Rydell High, and once again, total honor.”
The singer had 34 singles chart on the Billboard Hot 100, the most well-remembered of which include “Wild One,” which reached No. 2, and “Volare,” a No. 4 hit. Other top 10 songs included “Swingin’ School,” “The Cha-Cha-Cha.” His run of top 10 songs began with “We Got Love,” which reached No. 6 in 1959, and ended with “Forget Him” in 1964.
quote:
Born Robert Louis Ridarelli on April 26, 1942, Rydell started singing and playing drums at age 6, and by 7, began performing professionally in nightclubs in the Philly/South Jersey area at the urging of his father.
In 1950, Rydell won a talent show during the television series “Paul Whiteman’s TV Teen Club” and became a regular on the program. After three years as part of Whiteman’s singing on-air crew, the vocalist/drummer changed his name to “Rydell,” and began playing for local bands such as Rocco and the Saints (an ensemble that also featured another South Philly friend, Frankie Avalon, as its trumpeter).
quote:
After having tried his luck with a handful of unsuccessful singles for small, independent labels, Rydell signed with Philadelphia’s Cameo Records (eventually Cameo/Parkway) and hit the charts with “Kissin’ Time” in 1959. With that single, and its follow-ups, “We Got Love” (his first million seller), “Wild One,” “Swingin’,” and his take on the classic, “Volare,” Rydell became a bona-fide teen idol.
quote:
In his 2016 interview with the Morning Call, Rydell expressed few regrets about how his career had gone. “It’s going to be six decades since, my God, 1959, when I had my first hit record. And I’m so happy and blessed that I’m able to do, once again, what I truly love. And it’s been my life, once again, since like 7 years old. So, no, I can’t complain at all about my career. You know, it’s had its ups and downs, its peaks and valleys, so on, so forth. But I’ve survived through all of that, and I’m continuing to do what I really enjoy doing.
“At 74 years old, I don’t think I’m a teen idol anymore. I mean, the fans are still there, God bless them. I mean, they come out and I guess they remember back in the ’50s how great everything was. It was really like the TV show ‘Happy Days.’ … And I think all of the fans that are still coming out to the performances, they remember that, and they want to reflect back to those specific years where, yeah, Bobby Rydell was a teen-age idol. And that’s a nice thing to have after so many, many years.”
Posted on 4/12/22 at 4:30 pm to Kafka
Chris Bailey, the founding singer and songwriter behind the pioneering Australian punk rock band the Saints, has died. The news was revealed in a statement on the Saints’ social media, noting that he died on Saturday, April 9 at age 65.
Bailey was born in Belfast, and when he was young, his parents emigrated to Brisbane, Australia. He formed the Saints in the early 1970s with Ed Kuepper and Ivor Hay. Following the release of the “(I’m) Stranded” single in 1976, the band’s debut album (I’m) Stranded arrived in 1977. It was followed in quick succession by 1978’s Prehistoric Sounds and Eternally Yours.
The Saints were the core of the Australian punk scene in the 1970s – though police attended the band’s Brisbane shows and arrested audience members and musicians, leading to their bookings evaporating.
I'm Stranded video
Pitchfork article
Bailey was born in Belfast, and when he was young, his parents emigrated to Brisbane, Australia. He formed the Saints in the early 1970s with Ed Kuepper and Ivor Hay. Following the release of the “(I’m) Stranded” single in 1976, the band’s debut album (I’m) Stranded arrived in 1977. It was followed in quick succession by 1978’s Prehistoric Sounds and Eternally Yours.
The Saints were the core of the Australian punk scene in the 1970s – though police attended the band’s Brisbane shows and arrested audience members and musicians, leading to their bookings evaporating.
I'm Stranded video
Pitchfork article
Posted on 4/17/22 at 12:12 am to bleeng
Variety
quote:
Art Rupe, an early rock ‘n’ roll music mogul and founder of the influential Specialty Records, died April 15 at his home in Santa Barbara, Calif. He was 104.
Specialty championed such indelible artists as Little Richard, Sam Cooke, Lloyd Price, Roy Milton and Percy Mayfield after its launch in Los Angeles in 1946. Rupe was also an oil and gas entrepreneur. He spent his final decades devoted to the work of his Arthur N. Rupe Foundation in Santa Barbara.
Rupe was born Arthur Goldberg to a working-class Jewish family in Pennsylvania. He grew up outside the Pittsburgh area. He developed an interesting blues, gospel and R&B music that he heard growing up in McKeesport, Pa.
According to the foundation, Rupe “attended college at Virginia Tech and Miami University of Ohio, and in 1939 set off for Los Angeles to make his way in the world.” He changed his surname to Rupe after moving West, after learning from his grandfather that it was the family name before Goldberg was adopted at Ellis Island.
During World War II, Rupe worked at Terminal Island testing ships. But he also mixed his interest in music with an entrepreneurial drive. In 1944, with partner Ben Siegert, he formed Juke Box Records and had a regional hit with the release “Boogie No. 1” by the Sepia Tones. But Rupe went his own way with the launch of Specialty in 1946.
As described by the foundation, “Over the next 15 years, Specialty became one of the most prominent independent recording companies, with worldwide distribution. Rupe’s work at Specialty played a key role in the emergence of the new musical genre of rock ‘n ‘ roll.”
Little Richard was Specialty’s biggest hitmaker, starting with the enduring “Tutti Frutti” in 1955. Other Little Richard hits for Specialty included “Long Tall Sally,” “Good Golly Miss Molly” and “Rip it Up” — all classics in the R&B and rock canon.
Posted on 4/18/22 at 2:32 pm to Kafka
I heard “cup of coffee and a cigarette “ just yesterday. I heard it on a rockabilly channel and loved it.
Posted on 4/20/22 at 3:25 pm to footswitch
'Mama Let Him Play': Rocker and Canadian music veteran Jerry Doucette dies at 70 in Delta, B.C.
‘His music will live on forever,' says Juno-winning musician's son
David P. Ball · CBC News
Posted: Apr 19, 2022 3:05 PM PT
Vancouver guitarist and singer Jerry Doucette died at age 70 on Monday.
The Juno-winning rocker behind the 1977 hit single Mama Let Him Play died surrounded by family after a battle with cancer, his son said.
Fellow Vancouver musician Dalannah Gail Bowen was one of Doucette's live backup singers in the 1970s.
"I was a Doucette girl," she told CBC News. "When Jerry put the guitar on, it was just magical — he took it to another level … He knew how to work a crowd.
"With Mama Let Him Play, he went national. It changed his life and his relationship with music."
'Such iconic songs — and a very nice guy'
The album featuring his Billboard Top-100 hit single earned platinum certification. People who know Doucette describe him as kind, captivating on stage, and doggedly persistent.
Longtime bandmate Mark Ibarra said the Doucette band's original lineup was his main inspiration as a drummer. When Ibarra moved to Vancouver over two decades ago, his one hope was to play with the icon.
"As a kid, when I first started playing drums, I used to play along to Jerry's albums," Ibarra told CBC News. "One day Jerry called me and said, 'OK, you're coming with me' ... When Jerry called, I would always say yes."
His son told CBC News his father's music "will live on forever."
"To see the joy that he brought to so many is something very special and something that I will always hold close," Gerry Doucette, Jr. said in an interview Tuesday. "His music will live on forever, and hopefully he will inspire others to pick up the guitar and follow their dreams — that was a big one for him."
A draw to nostalgia is changing Canada's music industry
Ibarra recalled one show at the Rock the Lake Festival in Kelowna in August 2016. Doucette told him he was feeling unwell before collapsing.
But it didn't stop his performance.
"All of a sudden, he went down in the middle of our set," Ibarra said. "They had called the paramedics over and had him on oxygen ... But he went right back on stage and he just blew everyone away.
"He had people holding him up while he played his guitar, and he played 'Mama' like he never played it before. He just kicked it like he never did."
He didn't go to hospital until after his set; his health declined after that.
Mark Rankin, guitarist and co-founder of the Vancouver rhythm and blues band The Mojo Stars, recalled playing a New Westminster, B.C., charity show with Doucette in 2014 — an annual fundraiser for children with disabilities Doucette supported for years.
"A lot of folks, like myself, were influenced by him as songwriters," Rankin told CBC News. "He was such a great guitar player, such a great singer, and such iconic songs — and a very nice guy."
Two of Doucette's own longtime bandmates — keyboardist Kenny Boychuck and bassist Trevor Newman — would later join Rankin's band, and Ibarra would occasionally play with The Mojo Stars live.
"His songs were very much the soundtrack for a lot of people, especially of my generation," Rankin said. "He'll be very missed by an awful lot of people."
‘His music will live on forever,' says Juno-winning musician's son
David P. Ball · CBC News
Posted: Apr 19, 2022 3:05 PM PT
Vancouver guitarist and singer Jerry Doucette died at age 70 on Monday.
The Juno-winning rocker behind the 1977 hit single Mama Let Him Play died surrounded by family after a battle with cancer, his son said.
Fellow Vancouver musician Dalannah Gail Bowen was one of Doucette's live backup singers in the 1970s.
"I was a Doucette girl," she told CBC News. "When Jerry put the guitar on, it was just magical — he took it to another level … He knew how to work a crowd.
"With Mama Let Him Play, he went national. It changed his life and his relationship with music."
'Such iconic songs — and a very nice guy'
The album featuring his Billboard Top-100 hit single earned platinum certification. People who know Doucette describe him as kind, captivating on stage, and doggedly persistent.
Longtime bandmate Mark Ibarra said the Doucette band's original lineup was his main inspiration as a drummer. When Ibarra moved to Vancouver over two decades ago, his one hope was to play with the icon.
"As a kid, when I first started playing drums, I used to play along to Jerry's albums," Ibarra told CBC News. "One day Jerry called me and said, 'OK, you're coming with me' ... When Jerry called, I would always say yes."
His son told CBC News his father's music "will live on forever."
"To see the joy that he brought to so many is something very special and something that I will always hold close," Gerry Doucette, Jr. said in an interview Tuesday. "His music will live on forever, and hopefully he will inspire others to pick up the guitar and follow their dreams — that was a big one for him."
A draw to nostalgia is changing Canada's music industry
Ibarra recalled one show at the Rock the Lake Festival in Kelowna in August 2016. Doucette told him he was feeling unwell before collapsing.
But it didn't stop his performance.
"All of a sudden, he went down in the middle of our set," Ibarra said. "They had called the paramedics over and had him on oxygen ... But he went right back on stage and he just blew everyone away.
"He had people holding him up while he played his guitar, and he played 'Mama' like he never played it before. He just kicked it like he never did."
He didn't go to hospital until after his set; his health declined after that.
Mark Rankin, guitarist and co-founder of the Vancouver rhythm and blues band The Mojo Stars, recalled playing a New Westminster, B.C., charity show with Doucette in 2014 — an annual fundraiser for children with disabilities Doucette supported for years.
"A lot of folks, like myself, were influenced by him as songwriters," Rankin told CBC News. "He was such a great guitar player, such a great singer, and such iconic songs — and a very nice guy."
Two of Doucette's own longtime bandmates — keyboardist Kenny Boychuck and bassist Trevor Newman — would later join Rankin's band, and Ibarra would occasionally play with The Mojo Stars live.
"His songs were very much the soundtrack for a lot of people, especially of my generation," Rankin said. "He'll be very missed by an awful lot of people."
This post was edited on 4/21/22 at 4:15 pm
Posted on 4/20/22 at 7:42 pm to Mizz-SEC
LINK
quote:
Joe Messina, the prolific guitarist whose work with the Funk Brothers can be heard on an array of Motown classics, died Monday, April 4, the Detroit Free Press reports. He was 93.
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“As one of the original Funk Brothers, Joe Messina leaves a lasting legacy as one of the creators of the Motown sound,” Robin Terry, CEO and chairwoman of the Motown Museum, told the Free Press. “A powerhouse talent, he was personally recruited by Berry Gordy and made a massive impact during the label’s most formative years. We are thinking of his family and fans, and will continue to celebrate his musical contributions for generations to come.”
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Messina was one of several musicians Gordy recruited from the Detroit jazz scene when he launched Motown at the end of the Fifties and needed to put together a house band (he was also one of a handful of white musicians in a group that was radically integrated for its time).
Messina was one of three guitarists the Funk Brothers had on hand during Motown’s heyday — Robert White and Eddie Willis being the other two — and he specialized in giving songs a simple but distinctive rhythmic backbeat. His steady guitar work can be heard augmenting the work of the bass and drums on seminal hits like Martha and the Vandellas’ “Dancing in the Streets,” the Four Tops’ “I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch)” and the Temptations’ “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg.”
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Messina played on records by virtually every major Motown act, from Diana Ross and the Supremes to Smokey Robinson and the Miracles to Stevie Wonder. Additionally, his work is all over what’s arguably the label’s most important release, Marvin Gaye’s 1971 classic, What’s Going On. (On top of all his Motown work, as Billboard notes, Messina pioneered an alternative playing technique known as the Interval Study Method, which made use of diatonic and chromatic scales.)
quote:
In a 2005 interview with the Musicians Hall of Fame, Messina reflected on his career as a guitarist in general, and the work he did with Motown. He admitted that when he first joined the Funk Brothers, he figured the gig was just a steady job and steady paycheck. “Of all the jobs I had, I figured would be the least important,” he said. “Of course, it did take care of business… I figured that was my money music. Motown was for fun, it was a job. And it ended up being the good one.”
Posted on 4/26/22 at 5:43 pm to Kafka
Posted on 4/29/22 at 10:30 am to Perfect Circle
Klaus Schulze (August 4, 1947 – April 26, 2022) He was a German electronic music pioneer,composer and musician. He also used the alias Richard Wahnfried and was briefly a member of the Krautrock bands Tangerine Dream, Ash Ra Tempel, and the Cosmic Jokers before launching a solo career consisting of more than 60 albums released across six decades.
In 1969, Schulze was the drummer of one of the early incarnations of Tangerine Dream for their debut album Electronic Meditation. Before 1969 he was a drummer in a band called Psy Free. He met Edgar Froese from Tangerine Dream in the Zodiac Club in what was then West Berlin. In 1970 he left this group to form Ash Ra Tempel with Manuel Göttsching and Hartmut Enke. In 1971, he chose again to leave a newly formed group after only one album, this time to mount a solo career. In 1972, Schulze released his debut album Irrlicht with organ and a recording of an orchestra filtered almost beyond recognition. Despite the lack of synthesizers, this proto-ambient work is regarded as a milestone in electronic music.
His follow-up album, Cyborg, was similar but added the EMS VCS 3 synthesiser.
In 1976, he was drafted by Japanese percussionist and composer Stomu Yamashta to join his short-lived "supergroup" Go ,also featuring Steve Winwood, Michael Shrieve, and Al Di Meola. They released two studio albums (Go in 1976 and Go Too in 1977) and one live album (Go Live from Paris, 1976), which went on to become a cult favourite.
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In 1969, Schulze was the drummer of one of the early incarnations of Tangerine Dream for their debut album Electronic Meditation. Before 1969 he was a drummer in a band called Psy Free. He met Edgar Froese from Tangerine Dream in the Zodiac Club in what was then West Berlin. In 1970 he left this group to form Ash Ra Tempel with Manuel Göttsching and Hartmut Enke. In 1971, he chose again to leave a newly formed group after only one album, this time to mount a solo career. In 1972, Schulze released his debut album Irrlicht with organ and a recording of an orchestra filtered almost beyond recognition. Despite the lack of synthesizers, this proto-ambient work is regarded as a milestone in electronic music.
His follow-up album, Cyborg, was similar but added the EMS VCS 3 synthesiser.
In 1976, he was drafted by Japanese percussionist and composer Stomu Yamashta to join his short-lived "supergroup" Go ,also featuring Steve Winwood, Michael Shrieve, and Al Di Meola. They released two studio albums (Go in 1976 and Go Too in 1977) and one live album (Go Live from Paris, 1976), which went on to become a cult favourite.
Music
more music
Posted on 4/30/22 at 4:48 pm to bleeng
LINK
Judy Henske - "Wade In The Water"
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Judy Henske, a groundbreaking singer during the 1960s folk revival who released a series of cult-classic albums and achieved international success as a songwriter, has died. She was 85.
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Known for her fervent, dramatic vocal style and commanding stage presence, Henske stood out from her folk music peers. Her ability to temper her rousing renditions of traditional material like “Wade in the Water” and “Love, Henry” with ribald on-stage humor set her apart from typical coffeehouse performers. Henske’s 1964 single “High Flying Bird” anticipated the folk-rock revolution of the following years, opening doors for the psychedelic likes of Janis Joplin and Grace Slick. The song, written by Billy Edd Wheeler, was later covered by Richie Havens, Jefferson Airplane and many others.
quote:Judy Henske - "High Flying Bird"
Dubbed “The Queen of the Beatniks” by producer Jack Nitzsche, Henske’s vivid personality and razor-sharp wit made her a legendary figure beyond the recording industry. Woody Allen drew upon her personal style and small-town background for the title character of his film Annie Hall. Crime fiction author Andrew Vachss included her as a musical leitmotif in a series of novels. Her friendship circle was wide and fiercely loyal, including such diverse notables as Phil Ochs, Jackson Browne, Pauline Kael, Eve Babitz and Shel Silverstein.
Judy Henske - "Wade In The Water"
Posted on 5/3/22 at 5:31 pm to Kafka
LINK
quote:
Guitar Shorty, the blues guitarist born David William Kearney who was an influence to Jimi Hendrix and Buddy Guy, has died at the age 87.
The musician’s passing was announced by his record label, Alligator, in a statement posted yesterday (21 April). According to the label, the artist – born David William Kearney – passed away from “natural causes” in his Los Angeles home on Wednesday (20 April).
Kearney was renowned for his unconventional guitar playing, husky singing voice and energetic performances, which even involved backflips and front rolls
quote:
In his twenties, the sought-after musician opened for Ray Charles and Guitar Slim, and met Jimi Hendrix in Seattle while touring with influential soul artist Sam Cooke.
According to Alligator, Hendrix would often go AWOL from the US army to catch Kearney’s performances.
“Jimi told me the reason he started setting his guitar on fire was because he couldn’t do the back flips like I did,” Shorty told Alligator.
Born in Texas in 1943, Kearney took an interest in guitar at a young age, inspired by the likes of BB King, Guitar Slim and T-Bone Walker.
Kearney soon joined Walter Johnson’s 18-piece orchestra as featured guitarist and vocalist, and, supported by singer-songwriter Otis Rush in 1957, released his first single on independent label Cobra Records.
Moving to Los Angeles in 1971, Kearney also opened for his idols BB King and T-Bone Walker and he eventually settled there to play gigs locally.
Over his seven decade-long career, Guitar Shorty released 10 full-length solo recordings with his 2004 Alligator Records debut, Watch Your Back, being his best-selling record. His final album, Trying To Find My Way Back, came out in 2019
Posted on 5/19/22 at 2:51 pm to Kafka
Evángelos Odysséas Papathanassíou professionally known as Vangelis
(March 29, 1943 – May 17, 2022)
He was a Greek musician and composer of electronic, progressive, ambient, jazz, and orchestral music. He was best known for his Academy Award-winning score to Chariots of Fire (1981), as well as for composing scores to the films Blade Runner (1982), Missing (1982), Antarctica (1983), The Bounty (1984), 1492: Conquest of Paradise (1992), and Alexander (2004), and for the use of his music in the 1980 PBS documentary series Cosmos: A Personal Voyage by Carl Sagan.
Vangelis began his career working with several pop bands of the 1960s such as The Forminx and Aphrodite's Child, with the latter's album 666 (1972) going on to be recognized as a progressive-psychedelic rock classic. Throughout the 1970s, Vangelis composed scores for several animal documentaries, including L'Apocalypse des Animaux, La Fête sauvage and Opéra sauvage; the success of these scores brought him into the film scoring mainstream. In 1975 he set up his new 16-track studio, Nemo Studios in London, which he named his "laboratory". In the early 1980s, Vangelis formed a musical partnership with Jon Anderson, the lead singer of progressive rock band Yes, and the duo released several albums together as Jon & Vangelis.
In more recent years, Vangelis continued composing, working on stage productions and more solo albums, occasionally returning to earlier works like his two iconic soundtracks to expand on their themes (like he did for the stage version of Chariots Of Fire). He also made it a career-long point to pay tribute to the culture of his home country, with Variety saying that Greece’s prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis returned the favor this week in a statement that referred to Vangelis as “a pioneer of electronic sound.”
Chariots of Fire video
Aphrodite's Child: 666 full album
Blade Runner: Main Theme
(March 29, 1943 – May 17, 2022)
He was a Greek musician and composer of electronic, progressive, ambient, jazz, and orchestral music. He was best known for his Academy Award-winning score to Chariots of Fire (1981), as well as for composing scores to the films Blade Runner (1982), Missing (1982), Antarctica (1983), The Bounty (1984), 1492: Conquest of Paradise (1992), and Alexander (2004), and for the use of his music in the 1980 PBS documentary series Cosmos: A Personal Voyage by Carl Sagan.
Vangelis began his career working with several pop bands of the 1960s such as The Forminx and Aphrodite's Child, with the latter's album 666 (1972) going on to be recognized as a progressive-psychedelic rock classic. Throughout the 1970s, Vangelis composed scores for several animal documentaries, including L'Apocalypse des Animaux, La Fête sauvage and Opéra sauvage; the success of these scores brought him into the film scoring mainstream. In 1975 he set up his new 16-track studio, Nemo Studios in London, which he named his "laboratory". In the early 1980s, Vangelis formed a musical partnership with Jon Anderson, the lead singer of progressive rock band Yes, and the duo released several albums together as Jon & Vangelis.
In more recent years, Vangelis continued composing, working on stage productions and more solo albums, occasionally returning to earlier works like his two iconic soundtracks to expand on their themes (like he did for the stage version of Chariots Of Fire). He also made it a career-long point to pay tribute to the culture of his home country, with Variety saying that Greece’s prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis returned the favor this week in a statement that referred to Vangelis as “a pioneer of electronic sound.”
Chariots of Fire video
Aphrodite's Child: 666 full album
Blade Runner: Main Theme
Posted on 5/22/22 at 1:56 am to bleeng
LINK
quote:
Bob Neuwirth, Folk Singer-Songwriter Who Had Profound Impact on Bob Dylan, Dead at 82
Multi-faceted artist also co-wrote Janis Joplin’s “Mercedes Benz” and introduced the singer to “Me and Bobby McGee”
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Throughout his multi-decade career, Neuwirth moved back and forth between the worlds of music and art, largely and happily under the radar, although his connections with classic rock made him a legend. Dylan fans remember him for his caustic cameos in Don’t Look Back, director D.A. Pennebaker’s movie of Dylan’s 1965 U.K. tour, as well as Neuwirth’s appearances in the 1975 Rolling Thunder Revue tour. Joplin fans recognize him by way of her a cappella classic “Mercedes Benz,” which the two co-wrote with poet Michael McClure. In the private-collector art world, Neuwirth was renowned for exhibitions of his paintings, and Velvet Underground diehards recall his Nineties work with John Cale. Neuwirth also introduced Joplin to “Me and Bobby McGee,” written by his friend Kris Kristofferson; Joplin recorded the song just days before her 1970 death.
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When you’re around people like that, you’re not driven to be a musician,” Neuwirth said in 1989 of his collaborations. “I had other outlets. I was a painter, so it never occurred to me to do any of those other things.”
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Born in Akron, Ohio, on June 20, 1939, Neuwirth first attended Ohio University before moving to Boston in 1959 to attend the School of the Museum of Fine Art on an arts scholarship. After a side trip to Paris, he returned to Boston, working in an art supply store and learning to play banjo and guitar, which led him to become part of the early Sixties Cambridge folk scene. “Painting is how I got into folk music, in a way,” he said in 1989. “I sort of put myself through art school as a folk singer. It was always my secondary art, and my part-time job.”
Neuwirth began visiting the similar scene developing in New York’s Greenwich Village (partly, he once joked, because the weed was more readily available). At one point in a club there, he met Dylan, with whom he shared a caustic, cutting sense of humor and hipster persona. “Right from the start, you could tell that Neuwirth had a taste for provocation and that nothing was going to restrict his freedom,” Dylan wrote in Chronicles Volume 1. “He was in a mad revolt against something. You had to brace yourself when you talked to him.” Dylan also referred to Neuwirth as “a bulldog.”
quote:Bob Neuwirth's pants
As one singer who played with Dylan told Rolling Stone in 1972, “Neuwirth was a scene maker, a very strong cat. When he got to New York in 1964, he started hanging around Dylan. And Dylan started to change at that time. Part of it was Neuwirth, he was a real strong influence on Dylan. Neuwirth had a negative attitude, stressing pride and ego, sort of saying, ‘Hold your head high, man, don’t take shite, just take over the scene.’ He was the kind of cat who could influence others, work on their egos and support those egos. His whole negative attitude fell in perfectly with what Dylan was feeling.”
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