re: Endless Sleep - The Obituary Thread

Walter Theodore "Sonny" Rollins (September 7, 1930 – May 25, 2026) one of the greatest jazz saxophonists of all time, has died aged 95. No cause of death was given but the statement said “the Saxophone Colossus” died at his home in Woodstock, New York, on Monday afternoon. The statement quoted Rollins reflecting on death: “I think when the creative person ends, he continues in the next existence. I’m a person who believes this life isn’t the be-all and end-all of everything. A spiritual person doesn’t feel like that.”

With a catalog of more than 60 albums released from the late-1940s onwards, including collaborations with Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, John Coltrane and others.

In a seven-decade career, Rollins recorded more than sixty albums as a leader. His 1956 album Saxophone Colossus was selected for preservation by the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress in 2016. A number of his compositions, including "St. Thomas", "Oleo", "Doxy", and "Airegin", have become jazz standards. Rollins was often called "the greatest living improviser". Rollins was the last survivor of the 57 jazz musicians depicted in the 1958 photograph A Great Day in Harlem.

Wiik page for more details

Steelpan player Robert Greenidge, probably best known for his long time membership in Jimmy Buffett's Coral Reefer Band, died June 7, 2026 due to complications from a stroke.

Born into a musical family on Trinidad, Greenidge began playing the pans at age 8 and was touring internationally in his teens. Besides his association with Buffett, Greenidge contributed to albums by Carly Simon, Ringo Starr, Robert Palmer, John Lennon & Yoko Ono, JJ Cale, and Earth, Wind & Fire. He performed on Grover Washington Jr.'s Grammy Award winning song Just the Two of Us.

Dexter Gilman Wansel (August 22, 1950 – May 31, 2026) was an American R&B and jazz fusion singer, arranger, musician, composer, conductor, synthesist and A&R director.

Dexter Wansel was born in Philadelphia on August 22, 1950. He began as an errand boy backstage at the Uptown Theater in Philadelphia[2] from 1959 through 1963 for his step-uncle Georgie Woods. There he met many great artists who encouraged him to pursue music. During high school, he and his friend, Stanley Clarke, performed in bands together.

In 1970, after being honourably discharged from the United States Army, Wansel quietly joined the ranks of synthesists like Wendy Carlos and Dick Hyman, when he began programming the EMS VCS 3 'Putney' and the ARP 2600 for sessions at Sigma Sound Studios both credited and uncredited. From the early to mid 1970s, Wansel also played keyboards for groups such as Instant Funk, Yellow Sunshine, and MFSB. After signing with Philadelphia International Records, as in-house songwriter/producer/arranger, he established a songwriting relationship with the lyricist Cynthia Biggs.

He also collaborated with other writers such as Bunny Sigler, T. Life, Vinnie Barrett and Kenneth Gamble.[2] Wansel produced, wrote, arranged, played keyboards and synthesized hits for artists at Philadelphia International Records as well as numerous other labels. In 1977, he produced the Grammy-winning album Unmistakably Lou by Lou Rawls.

Walter Parazaider (March 14, 1945 – June 17, 2026) was an American woodwind musician who was a founding member of the rock band Chicago. He was best known for being one-third of Chicago's brass/woodwind section alongside Lee Loughnane and James Pankow.
Parazaider was a multi-instrumentalist. He played a wide variety of wind instruments, including saxophone, flute, and clarinet. He also occasionally played guitar.

Inspired by the Beatles hit "Got to Get You Into My Life", Parazaider became enamored of the idea of creating a rock 'n' roll band with horns. Early practice sessions at Parazaider's house included guitarist Terry Kath and drummer Danny Seraphine, who were both friends during his teenage years. Another friend who became involved was future Chicago producer James William Guercio.[citation needed]

The band, originally called The Big Thing, eventually became Chicago with the addition of Lee Loughnane on trumpet, James Pankow on trombone, Robert Lamm on keyboards, and Peter Cetera on bass. Parazaider's primary musical role in the band has consisted of playing woodwinds on James Pankow's horn arrangements. Never a prolific writer, Parazaider's compositional contributions ("It Better End Soon: 2nd Movement", "Free Country", "Aire", "Devil's Sweet", "Window Dreamin'") have been few relative to the other members.

Parazaider performs the highly recognizable flute solo in the Chicago hit "Colour My World", which became a popular 'slow dance' song at high school proms during the 1970s. The band's 1973 hit "Just You 'n' Me" also features a Parazaider solo, on soprano sax.

David Clayton Thomas - the voice of Blood, Sweat and Tears. Dead at 84.

RIP

Victor Edward Willis (July 1, 1951 – June 30, 2026) was an American singer-songwriter, who co-founded the disco group Village People. He performed as their lead singer and was co-songwriter for all of their most successful singles. In the group, Willis performed costumed as a policeman or naval officer. The son of a Baptist preacher, Willis developed his singing skills in his father's church. With training in acting and dance, Willis went to New York and joined the prestigious Negro Ensemble Company. He appeared in many musicals and plays, including the original Broadway production of The Wiz in 1976, and subsequently, the Australian production.

Willis wrote and recorded several albums in the mid-1970s for independent labels and eventually was introduced to French disco producer Jacques Morali. Morali, who dubbed him the "young man with the big voice", approached Willis and said, "I had a dream that you sang lead vocals on my album and it went very, very big".[

Freddy “Boom Boom” Cannon Dies: ‘Palisades Park’ & ‘Tallahassee Lassie’ Rock & Roller Was 89

By Greg Evans
July 18, 2026 12:58pm

Freddy “Boom Boom” Cannon, the early rock & roller who scored big, joyful radio hits with, among others, 1959’s “Tallahassee Lassie” and 1962’s “Palisades Park,” died yesterday, July 17, at a California hospice facility following a brief battle with cancer. He was 89.

His death was announced by Tom Cuddy, a longtime friend and iHeart Radio producer. Cuddy noted that Cannon’s children Conny Weber and Billy Cannon were with him in the days before his passing.

Cannon, who earned the nickname “Boom Boom” from the percussive power of his songs as well as the double entendre of his last name, took a spot in the post-Elvis/pre-Beatles rock & roll landscape through a string of hits and, perhaps more significantly, repeated appearances on Dick Clark’s American Bandstand musical variety series.

While Clark’s program introduced Cannon to TV audiences – at first when the show was produced locally in Philadelphia and later when it went national – the singer-guitarist would also appear on such music programs of the era as Shindig, Hullabaloo, Where the Action Is and, later, The Midnight Special.

“Freddy didn’t do ballads,” Cuddy said. “Dick Clark once told me that every time he hosted an oldies concert, he asked Freddy to open it, because he knew Freddy would get the audience on their feet with up-tempo rock and roll.”

In addition to “Tallahassee Lassie” (cowritten with The Four Seasons’ Bob Crewe) and “Palisades Park,” the latter remembered for its prominent use of circus calliope sounds as a recurring motif, Cannon’s other hits included “Way Down Yonder In New Orleans,” “Too Much Monkey Business,” “Action” (used as the theme song for Clark’s Where The Action Is series), “Transistor Sister” and “Abigail Beecher.”

Born Frederick Anthony Picariello Jr. on December 4, 1936, in Lynn, Massachusetts, Cannon lived in the state until his late teens, enjoying some musical success in the Boston area before he and his wife Jeanette moved to Philadelphia at the encouragement of TV host Clark, who had become aware of Cannon’s music through “Tallahassee Lassie.” Clark suggested Cannon re-edit and overdub the recording with the stronger bass drums that would become Cannon’s trademark sound and nickname inspiration.

Cannon is thought to hold the record for appearing on American Bandstand over the years, with estimates putting the number of his visits to over 100.

His visibility and chart success – he scored three Top 10 songs and 29 Top 100 – led to a fan base that would include such future superstars as Mick Jagger and Led Zeppelin’s Robert Plant, who once told Cannon during a backstage visit that he and his Zeppelin bandmates loved “Tallahassee Lassie” so much they recorded a blues version of it (if true, the recording has never surfaced).

Jagger has said in interviews that “Tallahassee Lassie” inspired the Stones’ hit “Brown Sugar,” noting, “The groove is similar to Freddy’s song.” (The Stones recorded their own cover of “Tallahassee Lassie” in 1978, with the song surfacing as a bonus track on the band’s 2011 re-issue of Some Girls.)

Another fan was a young Stephen King, who mentioned Cannon in at least four of his books, most notably in the time-travel novel 11/22/63, in which “Palisades Park” features prominently.

Over a career that spanned 70 years, Cannon, a longtime resident of Oxnard, California, performed on bills with some of the top musical performers the early rock & roll era, including Chuck Berry, Fats Domino, Little Richard, Chubby Checker, Jerry Lee Lewis, Bo Diddley, Connie Francis and Brenda Lee.

Cannon was working on music at his home in Oxnard right up to his death, Cuddy notes. He currently has a Top 20 song in the United Kingdom on the Heritage Charts with a number he recorded this year called “All She Wants To Do Is Dance.” The song is also in regular rotation on the Sirius XM 1960s channel.

Cannon’s songs have appeared in such films as George Clooney’s Confessions of a Dangerous Mind and 2011’s X-Men: First Class. The MeTV horror host Svengoolie has featured Cannon’s music and recently paid tribute to the singer with an airing of 1965’s Village of the Giants, which includes an acting performance by Cannon.

According to Cuddy, Cannon was scheduled to do what would have been his final interview on July 11 with longtime friend and NYC DJ Cousin Brucie Morrow, but was forced to cancel when he was hospitalized the day prior.

Cannon published his autobiography Where the Action Is (with Mark Bego) in 2011.

In addition to his children Conny and Billy, Cannon is survived by sister Mary Lou, son-in-law Jim, daughter-in-law Beth, five grandchildren and seven great grandchildren. He was pre-deceased by his son John, who died this past April 13, and wife Jeanette, who died in 2024.

Daughter Weber said in a statement, “We would like to thank everyone for their love and support throughout our dad’s life. He will be remembered as a rock and roll icon. His music will live forever in our hearts.”

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Jagger has said in interviews that “Tallahassee Lassie” inspired the Stones’ hit “Brown Sugar,” noting, “The groove is similar to Freddy’s song.” (The Stones recorded their own cover of “Tallahassee Lassie” in 1978, with the song surfacing as a bonus track on the band’s 2011 re-issue of Some Girls.)

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It's a great cover by The Stones. The Stones understandably couldn't find room for it on Some Girls since there's really not a weak track on the album. But they should have put it on Emotional Rescue.

Ray Gomez:
Born in Morocco in 1953 and relocated to Spain when he was twelve, Ray’s first tryst with success was with POP-TOPS whose take on the perennial “Mamy Blue” became a massive hit in 1971, but two years later Gomez found himself in the UK thanks to an invitation extended by fellow guitarist, George Harrison, and soon after a jam with Carmine Appice resulted in the youngster’s move to the US.

A supergroup with the drummer didn’t happen, though, and neither did Ray’s stint with John Lennon, yet once there, it didn’t take him long to get acquainted with Stanley Clarke – and the star was born. Ray’s work on “School Days” and a few more of the bassist’s records over the following decade is exemplary, as is what Gomez did on Lenny White’s “Big City” and several Narada Michael Walden’s platters.

Later, he shone on albums by Cat Stevens and Chaka Khan, Jeremy Spencer and Roy Buchanan, Jack Bruce and Aretha Franklin, Alphonso Johnson and Joachim Kühn.