MUSICIANS WHO DIED IN APRIL 2019
MUSICIANS WHO DIED IN APRIL 2019
APRIL 5
DAVEY WILLIAMS / (66) AMERICAN PUNK ROCK AND AVANT-GARDE GUITARIST (ALSO BASS CLARINETIST) AND MUSIC CRITIC. HIS MAIN THING WAS FREE IMPROV. WAS WELL KNOWN AS A MEMBER OF CURLEW, AN AMERICAN EXPERIMENTAL FREE JAZZ BAND FOUNDED BY MULTI SAX PLAYER AND COMPOSER GEORGE CARTWRIGHT, WHICH INCLUDED CELLIST TOM CORA, GUITARIST FRED FRITH, DRUMMER PIPPIN BARNETT OR BASSIST BILL LASWELL, AND SOMETIMES AMY DENIO. IN THE 1970's STARTED WORKING AND RECORDING WITH LaDONNA SMITH, AN AVANT-GARDE VIOLINIST, VIOLIST AND PIANIST, WHOM HE MET IN 1973. TOGETHER THEY STARTED THEIR OWN LABEL TRANSMUSEQ RECORDS TO RELEASE THEIR MUSIC AND OTHER ARTISTS LIKE ANDREA CENTAZZO, EUGENE CHADBOURNE, DAVE LIEBMAN OR JOHN ZORN. DAVEY WILLIAMS PLAYED IN A PUNK ROCK BAND FUZZY SONS IN THE EARLY 1990's. IN 1981 CO-FOUNDED A JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL MUSIC THE IMPROVISER.
APRIL 13
PAUL RAYMOND (73) / ENGLISH ROCK, JAZZ AND POP KEYBOARDIST AND GUITARIST. STARTED JANUARY 1964 AS A JAZZ MUSICIAN. PLAYED POP IN PLASTIC PENNY, THEN BLUES IN CHICKEN SHACK (1969-1971) AND IN SAVOY BROWN (1971-1976). IN JULY 1976 RAYMOND JOINED UFO AND IN 1977 RECORDED WITH THEM THEIR FAMOUS LIGHTS OUT ALBUM, THEN OBSESSION (1978), LIVE STRANGERS IN THE NIGHT (1979), GEORGE MARTIN PRODUCED NO PLACE TO RUN (1980). IN 1980 JOINED MICHAEL SCHENKER GROUP AND MADE ONE NIGHT AT BUDOKAN (1982). IN 1983 JOINED UFO BASSIST PETE WAY'S WAYSTED AND MADE VICES. PAUL RAYMOND WORKED WITH UFO 1976–1981, 1984–1986, 1993–1998 AND 2003–2019.
APRIL 15
JOE TERRY (78) / (BORN JOE TERRANOVA) AMERICAN DOO-WOP AND ROCK AND ROLL SINGER, MEMBER OF DANNY & THE JUNIORS, FIVE GUYS WHO MET AT HIGH SCHOOL AND STARTED SINGING TOGETHER IN THE MID 1950's ORIGINALLY AS THE JUVENAIRS. DANNY RAPP WAS THE LEAD SINGER AND JOE TERRY A BARITONE. IN DECEMBER 1957 DANNY & THE JUNIORS HAD A NATIONAL HIT "LET'S GO TO THE HOP" THROUGH A LAST MINUTE SUBSTITUTION INVITATION FROM DICK CLARK TO SING IN HIS AMERICAN BANDSTAND TV SHOW. IN 2008, ARTIE SINGER, WHO CO-WROTE "AT THE HOP", REVEALED THAT DICK CLARK DEMANDED HALF OF THE PUBLISHING PROCEEDS FOR PLAYING THE SONG. DICK INDEED. THEIR NEXT BIG HIT WAS "ROCK AND ROLL IS HERE TO STAY" IN 1958. BOTH SONGS WERE WRITTEN BY THEIR FIRST TENOR SINGER DAVE WHITE. IN 1983 DANNY RAPP COMMITTED SUICIDE AND JOE TERRY BECAME THE LEAD SINGER. THE BAND'S HITS WERE COVERED FREQUENTLY E.G. BY ELVIS PRESLEY, THE BEACH BOYS, URIAH HEEP OR SHA-NA-NA AT THE WOODSTOCK FESTIVAL IN AUGUST 1969. SOMETIMES WERE PARODIED LIKE BY THE GREAT ALTERNATIVE TENTACLES LABEL COWPUNK BAND DASH RIP ROCK WHO CHANGED THE TITLE TO "LET'S GO SMOKE SOME POT".
LES REED (83) / ENGLISH SONGWRITER, ARRANGER, MUSICIAN AND LIGHT ORCHESTRA LEADER. WROTE TONS OF HIT SONGS LIKE "DELILAH" (1968) AND "IT'S NOT UNUSUAL" (1964) FOR TOM JONES, "THE LAST WALTZ" FOR ENGELBERT HUMPERDINCK (1967), "THERE'S A KIND OF HUSH" FOR HERMAN'S HERMITS (1967) TEN YEARS LATER SUCCESSFULLY COVERED BY THE CARPENTERS (1976). LES REED ALSO WROTE FILM SCORES LIKE THAT FOR THE ONE FEATURING MARIANNE FAITHULL AS A GIRL ON A MOTORCYCLE (1968) WHICH IN THE US WAS TITLED NAKED UNDER LEATHER AND WAS THE FIRST X-RATED FILM.
APRIL 22
DAVE SAMUELS (70) / AMERICAN VIBRAPHONE AND MARIMBA PLAYER OF JAZZ AND LATIN JAZZ MAINLY WITH CONTEMPORARY JAZZ GROUP SPYRO GYRA. MADE 24 ALBUMS WITH THEM AND 10 UNDER HIS OWN NAME AS WELL AS 10 WITH CARIBBEAN JAZZ PROJECT. AS A POPULAR SIDEMAN, SAMUELS RECORDED WITH MANY GREAT ARTISTS LIKE GERRY MULLIGAN (THREE ALBUMS, INCLUDING THE 1974 CARNEGIE HALL CONCERT THAT ALSO HAD CHET BAKER), FRANK ZAPPA (TWO, INCLUDING ZAPPA IN NEW YORK), PAT METHENY, ANTHONY DAVIS, PAUL McCANDLESS, BOB JAMES, PAQUITO D'RIVERA, CARLA BLEY, BOBBY McFERRIN OR EVEN EDDIE BRICKELL.
APRIL 26
PHIL McCORMACK (58) / AMERICAN ROCK SINGER WITH DIFFERENT BANDS, ESPECIALLY KNOWN FOR BEING LEAD SINGER IN SOUTHERN ROCK / METAL GROUP MOLLY HATCHET, FIRST STOOD IN IN EARLY 1992, THEN REGULAR 1995-2019. MOLLY HATCHET'S FOUNDER AND GUITARIST, DAVE HLUBEK DIED IN SEPTEMBER 2017.
APRIL 30
RUSS GIBB (87) / AMERICAN CONCERT PROMOTER, DETROIT RADIO DJ AND VIDEO AND MEDIA PRODUCTION TEACHER. IN 1966 GIBB BOUGHT A BIG LIVE MUSIC VENUE CALLED THE GRANDE BALLROOM. TOGETHER WITH JOHN SINCLAIR, A JAZZ POET, WRITER, POLITICAL ACTIVIST AND A COUNTERCULTURE FIGURE AND SOME OTHERS, STARTED BRINGING MANY GREAT NEW ROCK BANDS FROM PSYCHEDELIC SAN FRANCISCO, EUROPE AND THE REST OF THE US AS WELL AS SUPPORTING LOCAL ARTISTS, MOST FAMOUSLY PROTO PUNK MC5 AND IGGY POP. MC5 EVEN RECORDED THEIR DEBUT LIVE ALBUM KICK OUT THE JAMS. MC5 AND THE STOOGES BECAME HOUSE BANDS PLAYING THE GRANDE EVERY WEEK. SOME OF THE INTERNATIONAL STARS PERFORMING AT THE GRANDE BALLROOM WERE HOWLIN' WOLF, JOHN LEE HOOKER, JANIS JOPLIN, CREAM, THE WHO, THE GRATEFUL DEAD, LED ZEPPELIN, JEFF BECK, PINK FLOYD, PROCOL HARUM. THE AVANT GARDE JAZZ WAS REPRESENTED BY JOHN COLTRANE AND SUN RA. THE VENUE CLOSED DOWN IN 1972 AND SLOWLY BUT SURELY HAS BECOME A RUIN JUST LIKE THE REST OF DETROIT. THE GRANDE BALLROOM WAS INCLUDED IN THE NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES IN DECEMBER 2018. THE STORY OF THE SPACE WAS TOLD IN THE 2012 FILM LOUDER THAN LOVE - THE GRANDE BALLROOM STORY.
RUSS GIBB WAS ALSO KNOWN FOR BREAKING THE "PAUL IS DEAD" STORY ON OCTOBER 12, 1969 ON A DETROIT RADIO STATION. THE DEATH OF PAUL McCARTNEY FAKE NEWS QUICKLY SPREAD AROUND THE US AND THEN THE WORLD.
Previous page: MUSICIANS WHO DIED IN MARCH 2019
Next page: MUSICIANS WHO DIED IN MAY 2019