MUSICIANS WHO DIED IN OCTOBER 2022
MUSICIANS WHO DIED IN OCTOBER 2022
OCTOBER 2
BÉLA SZAKCSI LAKATOS (79) / HUNGARIAN PIANIST AND COMPOSER : JAZZ, CLASSICAL, GYPSY JAZZ. PIANO SINCE HE WAS 9, STUDIED CLASSICAL MUSIC, GOT INTO JAZZ. IN 1970 GOT THE SECOND PRIZE WITH THE ALADAR PEGE QUARTET AT THE MONTREUX JAZZ FESTIVAL. RECORDED WITH SPECIAL EFX, MADE FOUR SOLO ALBUMS FOR THE GRP RECORDS. WORKED WITH FRANK ZAPPA, JACK DeJOHNETTE, JOHN PATITUCCI, BOB MINTZER, DAVE WECKL.
OCTOBER 6
FRED CATERO (89) / AMERICAN RECORD PRODUCER AND ENGINEER. WORKED IN NYC FOR CBS RECORDS/COLUMBIA, IN MID-1960s MOVED TO SAN FRANCISCO COLUMBIA RECORDS WHERE HE RECORDED BOB DYLAN, AL KOOPER, SANTANA, JANIS JOPLIN, TOWER OF POWER, AARON COPELAND, MEL TORMÉ, LINDA RONSTADT, OFTEN AT THE AUTOMATT. IN THE 1980's WENT INDIE AND STARTED HIS OWN LABEL, CATERO RECORDS FOR JAZZ ARTISTS LIKE HERBIE HANCOCK.
OCTOBER 7
RONNIE CUBER (80) / AMERICAN JAZZ SAXOPHONIST, WHO PLAYED BARITONE SAX, BUT ALSO TENOR, SOPRANO, CLARINET, FLUTE, MAINLY HARD BOP AND LATIN JAZZ. MADE 18 SOLO ALBUMS. STARTED IN 1959 IN MARSHALL BROWN'S NEWPORT YOUTH BAND. THEN WITH SLIDE HAMPTON (1962), MAYNARD FERGUSON (1963-1965), GEORGE BENSON (1966-1967), LEE KONITZ NONET (1977-1979), FRANK ZAPPA IN THE MID-1970s (ZAPPA IN NEW YORK), THE MINGUS BIG BAND. WORKED WITH B.B. KING, PAUL SIMON, ERIC CLAPTON, THE J.GEILS BAND, DR. LONNIE SMITH, NICK BRIGNOLA, HORACE SILVER, GRANT GREEN, SAM JONES, JIMMY McGRIFF, DR. JOHN, TOM SCOTT, EDDIE PALMIERI, RANDY BRECKER, GERALD WILSON, IDRIS MUHAMMAD, THE GADD GANG, PATTI AUSTIN, DAVID CLAYTON-THOMAS, BILLY JOEL. A MEMBER OF THE SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE BAND.
OCTOBER 13
VERCKYS KIAMUANGANA MATETA (78) / CONGOLESE SAXOPHONIST, COMPOSER, BANDLEADER, PRODUCER, RECORD LABEL FOUNDER, MUSIC-BUSINESS EXECUTIVE. FIRST INDIGENOUS AFRICAN WHO WAS A RECORD LABEL OWNER (ÉDITIONS VÉVÉ). HIS STAGE NAME VERCKYS WAS THE MISHEARD SURNAME OF KING CURTIS. FOR SOME TIME VERCKYS PLAYED WITH TPOK Jazz (EARLIER KNOWN AS OK Jazz) WHERE TP STOOD FOR "TOUT PUISSANT" (MEANING ALL MIGHTY). IT WAS ONE THE MOST POPULAR BANDS IN AFRICA AND AT ONE POINT HAD MORE THAN 50 MEMBERS.
STEVE ROBERTS (68) / AKA STEVIE ZE SUICIDE, BORN STEPHEN ROBERTS. SON OF A JAZZ MUSICIAN, BRITISH PUNK ROCK DRUMMER AND VOCALIST WHO PLAYED WITH THE PUNK ROCK PIONEERS UK SUBS (1981-1982, 1987, 2002). STEVE ROBERTS REPLACED PETE DAVIES, THE FIRST SUBS' REGULAR DRUMMER, WHO LEFT IN JUNE 1980 AFTER UK SUBS HAD RECORDED THEIR BIGGEST SELLER, THE THIRD ALBUM (AND THEIR FIRST LIVE ONE) CRASH COURSE (UK No.8) MADE LIVE AT THE RAINBOW THEATRE. WHEN STEVE ROBERTS JOINED THE SUBS THEIR SOUND BECAME HARDER AND HEAVIER. HE PLAYED ON THE FOURTH ALBUM DIMINISHED RESONSIBILITY AND THE NON-ALBUM SINGLE "KEEP ON RUNNING (TILL YOU BURN)" BOTH THEIR LAST TO CHART IN THE UK. ROBERTS WAS ALSO ON THE NEXT ONE, ENDANGERED SPECIES (RELEASED 1982) BUT WAS FIRED AT THE END OF 1981. IN 1982 RELEASED HIS OWN ALBUM DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM? ON THE EXPLOITED RECORD COMPANY. HE PLAYED WITH THE DAMNED, THE EXPLOITED (TROOPS OF TOMORROW) AND CYANIDE. IN 2010 BECAME A GLAM SINGER AND FORMED STEVIE Z AND THE SPIDERS WITH DRUMMER OF THE PUNK BAND SEMA4. WROTE AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL BOOKS ROCK AND ROLL CHRONICLES, FOLLOWED BY FRAGILE BUTTERFLY. HE SUFFERED FROM DEPRESSION AND HAD ALCOHOL PROBLEMS, WAS CONVICTED FOR DRUNK DRIVING AND CRASHING INTO ANOTHER CAR. FINALLY COMMITTED SUICIDE.
OCTOBER 18
ROBERT GORDON (75) / AMERICAN PUNK ROCK AND NEO-ROCKABILLY SINGER. FIRST INFLUENCED BY ROCK AND ROLL AND R&B, DEBUT RECORDINGS AT 17. TO NYC IN 1970, JOINED THE PUNK ROCK BAND THE TUFF DARTS. IN 1976 THEY RECORDED THREE SONGS FOR A COMPILATION ALBUM TITLED LIVE AT CBGB's WITH OTHER NYC BANDS. ROBERT GORDON ALSO APPEARED IN A PUNK / NEW WAVE FILM UNMADE BEDS WITH DEBBIE HARRY FROM BLONDIE AND A PUNK VISUAL ARTIST AND WRITER DUNCAN HANNAH (WHO DIED IN JUNE 2022). THE FILM WAS MADE BY A PIONEERING PUNK FILMAKER AMOS POE, WHO ALSO MADE THE FAMOUS THE BLANK GENERATION FILM IN 1976.
OCTOBER 19
JOANNA SIMON (85) / AMERICAN MEZZO-SOPRANO AND JOURNALIST, THE DAUGHTER OF PUBLISHER RICHARD L. SIMON (IN NYC IN 1924, CO-FOUNDER OF SIMON & SHUSTER BOOK COMPANY, THE THIRD LARGEST ON THE US - 2,000 TITLES A YEAR) AND CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVIST ANDREA HEINEMANN SIMON, ELDER SISTER OF SINGER-SONGWRITER CARLY SIMON, SINGER AND COMPOSER LUCY SIMON, PHOTOGRAPHER PETER SIMON AND A NIECE OF THE JAZZ WRITER AND DRUMMER GEORGE T. SIMON WHO PLAYED WITH THE GLENN MILLER ORCHESTRA. DIED FROM THYROID CANCER A DAY BEFORE HER 86th BIRTHDAY AND A DAY BEFORE HER SISTER LUCY SIMON.
OCTOBER 20
LUCY SIMON (82) / AMERICAN COMPOSER OF POP SONGS AND THEATRE MUSIC, THE DAUGHTER OF PUBLISHER RICHARD L. SIMON AND CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVIST ANDREA HEINEMANN SIMON, SISTER OF SINGER-SONGWRITER CARLY SIMON, MEZZO-SOPRANO AND JOURNALIST JOANNA SIMON, PHOTOGRAPHER PETER SIMON AND A NIECE OF THE JAZZ WRITER AND DRUMMER GEORGE T. SIMON WHO PLAYED WITH THE GLENN MILLER ORCHESTRA. 1963-1969 LUCY AND CARLY HAD A FOLK DUO THE SIMON SISTERS MAKING THREE ALBUMS. BREAST CANCER.
BETTYE CRUTCHER (83) / AMERICAN SONGWRITER. THE ONLY FEMALE STAFF WRITER FOR STAX RECORDS (SINCE 1967). WAS ALSO A PART OF THE WRITING TEAM "WE THREE". THEY WROTE HITS FOR JOHNNIE TAYLOR, INCLUDING "WHO'S MAKING LOVE" (TOP 5 IN 1968). IN 1974 MADE HER OWN ALBUM LONG AS YOU LOVE ME. WITH MACK RICE CREATED THE SOUNDTRACK FOR THE KLANSMAN. WROTE SONGS FOR JOHNNIE TAYLOR, ALBERT KING, THE STAPLES SINGERS, SAM & DAVE AND IN THE 1980s, IN NASHVILLE, FOR B.B. KING AND BOBBY "BLUE" BLAND.
OCTOBER 23
AMOU HAJI (94) / "UNCLE HAJI", IRANIAN KNOWN AS "THE DIRTIEST MAN". FOR FEAR THAT SOAP AND WATER MIGHT CAUSE DISEASES, REFUSED TO WASH FOR OVER 60 YEARS. SHORTLY BEFORE HIS DEATH WAS PERSUADED TO WASH. HE DID AND SOON DIED. ALL HIS LIFE HE ATE CARCASS, DRANK WATER FROM PUDDLES AND LIVED IN A HOLE IN THE GROUND.
OCTOBER 24
GREGG PHILBIN (75) / AMERICAN ROCK BASSIST, PLAYED WITH REO Speedwagon (1968-1977). THE BAND WAS FORMED IN CHAMPAIGN, ILLINOIS IN 1967 AND PHILBIN JOINED IN 1968, IN TIME TO BE ON R.E.O. Speedwagon's EPONYMOUS FIRST ALBUM (1971). BEFORE HE LEFT IN 1977, GREGG PHILBIN MADE SIX ALBUMS WITH R.E.O. (NOT VERY SUCCESSFUL) AND IS ON 1977's DOUBLE LP LIVE: YOU GET WHAT YOU PLAY FOR (TOP 40 AND DOUBLE PLATINUM).
OCTOBER 28
JERRY LEE LEWIS (87) / AKA THE KILLER, AMERICAN SINGER, PIANIST, SONGWRITER, ROCK AND ROLL AND ROCKABILLY PIONEER, LEGENDARY AND CONTROVERSIAL ROCK STAR, CALLED "THE FIRST GREAT WILD MAN OF ROCK AND ROLL". MADE FIRST RECORDINGS AS A TEENAGER IN NEW ORLEANS IN 1952. IN 1956 SESSIONS AT SUN RECORDS IN MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE. HAD A BIG HIT COVERING "CRAZY ARMS", BUT THE REAL STARDOM BEGAN IN 1957 WITH THE INTERNATIONAL SUCCESS OF "WHOLE LOTTA SHAKIN' GOIN' ON", ORIGINALLY RECORDED TWO YEARS EARLIER BY BIG MAYBELLE, NOW TURNED INTO AN ENERGETIC ROCK AND ROLL / ROCKABILLY ANTHEM BY JERRY LEE.
D.H. PELIGRO (63) / BORN DARREN HENLEY, AMERICAN PUNK AND HARDCORE PUNK DRUMMER DRUMMER, BEST KNOWN AS A MEMBER OF THE PUNK LEGEND DEAD KENNEDYS, FORMED IN SAN FRANCISCO IN 1978. D.H. PELIGRO JOINED DEAD KENNEDYS IN FEBRUARY 1981, REPLACING THEIR FIRST DRUMMER, AND WORKED WITH THE DKs IN THE YEARS 1981-1986, 2001-2008, 2009-2022), APPEARING ON 12 ALBUMS. AFTER DEAD KENNEDYS BROKE UP IN 1986, PELIGRO JOINED RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS IN 1988 AND CO-WROTE THREE SONGS FOR THEIR MOTHER'S MILK ALBUM. LATER FRONTED HIS OWN BAND PELIGRO AND OTHER BANDS LIKE REVEREND JONES AND THE KOOL AID CHOIR AND AL SHARPTON'S HAIR AND THE HELLIONS. HE ALSO PLAYED SHORTLY WITH BANDS THE HELLETIONS, JUNGLE STUDS, NAILBOMB, THE FEEDERZ. LOCK-UP, THE TWO THREE STOOGES. IN 2003 APPEARED IN THE DOCUMENTARY AFRO-PUNK AND RECORDED WITH MOBY.
OCTOBER 29
ROBIN SYLVESTER (71-72) / ENGLISH ROCK BASS GUITARIST AND SOUND ENGINEER, A MEMBER OF THE AMERICAN ROCK BAND RatDog FOUNDED BY BOB WEIR OF THE GRATEFUL DEAD AND THE DOUBLE BASS PLAYER ROB WASSERMAN IN 1995. SYLVESTER JOINED IN 2003, REPLACING WASSERMAN. ROBIN SYLVESTER BEGAN AS A CHOIR BOY, THEN ASSISTANT AT ABBEY ROAD STUDIOS WHEN THE BEATLES RECORDED THEIR WHITE ALBUM. INSPIRED BY PAUL McCARTNEY TO TAKE UP BASS. WORKED WITH DANA GILLESPIE, THE BEACH BOYS, RY COODER, CHUCK BERRY, BO DIDDLEY, MARTY BALIN, MARY WELLS, BILLY PRESTON, THE DRIFTERS, THE COASTERS, DEL SHANNON, CHRISTINE McVIE, FREDDY FENDER, VINCE WELNICK AND MANY OTHERS.
OCTOBER 30
MIKE COSSI (85) / BORN MACIEJ KOSSOWSKI, POLISH-BORN AMERICAN JAZZ, ROCK AND POP SINGER, TRUMPETER, COMPOSER AND ARRANGER. STUDIED POLISH PHILOLOGY AND TRUMPET. WAS AN ACTOR OF THE LEGENDARY STUDENT THEATRE BIM-BOM, PLAYED IN TRALABOMBA JAZZ BAND, THEN 1963-1967 IN CZERWONO-CZARNI, A PIONEERING ROCK GROUP, WHO MADE THE FIRST POLISH ROCK AND ROLL RECORD AND PLAYED WITH THE ROLLING STONES. MACIEJ KOSSOWSKI WORKED ALSO WITH OTHER ROCK AND JAZZ GROUPS TAJFUNY, BIZONY, ZBIGNIEW NAMYSŁOWSKI GROUP, THE WARSAW STOMPERS. SINCE 1967 HAD A SOLO CAREER AND HIS BIGGEST HITS "WAKACJE Z BLONDYNKĄ" ("HOLIDAYS WITH A BLONDE"), "DWUDZIESTOLATKI" ("TWENTY-YEAR-OLDS"), "AGATKO, POCAŁUJ" (KISS ME, AGATKA") WERE EXTREMELY POPULAR. SINCE 1969 LIVED IN NEW YORK, WHERE HE DIED ABANDONED AND FORGOTTEN.
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