MUSICIANS WHO DIED IN AUGUST 2021
MUSICIANS WHO DIED IN AUGUST 2021
AUGUST 1
PAUL COTTON (78) / AMERICAN ROCK, COUNTRY ROCK, COUNTRY AND POP GUITARIST, SINGER, SONGWRITER, A MEMBER OF THE BAND POCO. SINCE HIS HIGH SCHOOL TIMES WAS IN DIFFERENT GROUPS. IN 1965 IN CHICAGO FORMED (WITH KAL DAVID AKA DAVID RASKIN) A PSYCHEDELIC / BLUES / COUNTRY ROCK BAND CALLED THE ROVIN' KIND. THEY MOVED TO CALIFORNIA AND BECAME ILLINOIS SPEED PRESS (USING TRADEMARK TWIN LEAD GUITAR SOUND). THEY PLAYED REGULARLY AT HOLLYWOOD'S WHISKY A GO GO AND APPEARED AT THE FIRST NEWPORT POP FESTIVAL (SURPRISINGLY NOT IN NEWPORT BUT IN CALIFORNIA). ILLINOIS SPEED PRESS MADE TWO ALBUMS AND SPLIT. IN 1970 JIM MESSINA LEFT POCO AND SUGGESTED PAUL COTTON (RECOMMENDED BY PETER CETERA FROM CHICAGO) AS HIS REPLACEMENT. COTTON WROTE SOME CLASSIC POCO SONGS LIKE "BARBADOS", "INDIAN SUMMER", "RIDE THE COUNTRY", "BAD WEATHER", "DOWN IN THE QUARTER", "BREAK OF HEARTS" AND 1978 NEW ORLEANS-INSPIRED BIG HIT FROM THE LEGEND ALBUM "HEART OF THE NIGHT".
AUGUST 4
JEAN "BINTA" BREEZE (65) / BORN JEAN LUMSDEN, JAMAICAN WRITER, DUB POET, PERFORMER, EDUCATOR. EARLY PARTICIPANT OF THE SISTREN THEATRE COLLECTIVE, FOUNDED IN JAMAICA IN 1977, WHICH FOCUSED ON OPPRESSION OF WOMEN, POVERTY, RACE, IMPERIALISM. MOST FOUNDING MEMBERS WERE WORKING-CLASS SINGLE MOTHERS. BREEZE IS KNOWN AS THE FIRST JAMAICAN FEMALE DUB POET. IN 1981 PERFORMED WITH MUTABARUKA, IN 1985 VISITED LONDON, INVITED BY LINTON KWESI JOHNSON TO PERFORM AT THE INTERNATIONAL BOOK FAIR OF RADICAL BLACK AND THIRD WORLD BOOKS. PUBLISHED 9 BOOKS OF POETRY, MOSTLY BY BLOODAXE BOOKS AND 5 ALBUMS RELEASED BY LKJ (LINTON KWESI JOHNSON), 57 PRODUCTIONS (PERFORMANCE POETRY ORGANISATION) AND THE INDEPENDENT HARDCORE PUNK AND SKA / REGGAE / DUB NYC LABEL ROIR (REACHOUT INTERNATIONAL RECORDS). IN 1986 CONTRIBUTED TWO TRACKS "GET BACK" AND "REALITY" TO THE WOMAN TALK: CARIBBEAN DUB POETRY ALBUM. SHE RECORDED TRACKS AND EENA ME CORNER WITH THE DENNIS BOVELL DUB BAND. IN 2012 BREEZE WAS VERY HAPPY TO RECEIVE MBE, THOUGH WAS CRITICIZED BY HER POLITICAL FRIENDS.
AUGUST 13
PIL TRAFA (62) / BORN ENRIQUE CHALAR, ARGENTINE PUNK ROCK / POST PUNK SINGER AND COMPOSER. IN 1981 IN BUENOS AIRES, A GUITARIST WITH POLISH ROOTS, HARI "B" (BORN PEDRO BRAUN) FOUNDED A PUNK ROCK BAND LOS VIOLADORES (THE VIOLATORS) WITH SINGER PIL TRAFA, BASSIST STUKA (GUSTAVO FOSSA) AND DRUMMER SERGIO GRAMATIKA. SOON HARI LEFT, STUKA BECAME GUITARIST AND THE NEW BASS PLAYER WAS ROBERT "EL POLACO" ZELAZEK. THE BAND EXISTED 40 YEARS WITH SOME SPLITS AND REUNIONS ON THE WAY. PIL TRAFA WAS THE ONLY PERMANENT MEMBER. HE WAS A PIONEER OF PUNK IN SPANISH IN LATIN AMERICA. THE MILITARY GOVERNMENT IN ARGENTINA CENSORED THE NAME LOS VIOLADORES, SO THEY ALSO PLAYED AS LOS VOLADORES (THE FLYING ONES). LOS VIOLADORES MADE 11 STUDIO ALBUMS AND 5 LIVE ONES. IN1992 PIL TRAFA FORMED A NEW PUNK GROUP PILSEN, WHICH MADE TWO ALBUMS AND RECORDED WITH STEVE JONES OF THE SEX PISTOLS, CAMPINO OF DIE TOTEN HOSEN AND THE TRAIN ROBBER RONALD BIGGS. IN 1999 WITH STUKA FORMED THE DUO STUK@PIL, RELEASING ONE ALBUM. IN 2004 FIRST SOLO RECORD, IN 2015 HIS NEW BAND LOS VIOLADORES DE LA LEY MADE AN ALBUM PRODUCED BY THE BUZZCOCKS BASSIST STEVE DIGGLE.
AUGUST 24
CHARLIE WATTS (80) / ENGLISH GRAPHIC ARTIST AND JAZZ DRUMMER WHO BECAME FAMOUS PLAYING DRUMS NEARLY SIX DECADES FOR THE R&B GROUP THE ROLLING STONES, LATER A ROCK AND POP SUPERSTAR BAND. WATTS WAS INTERESTED IN JAZZ AS A CHILD COLLECTING 78 RPM RECORDS OF CHARLIE PARKER, THELONIOUS MONK, JELLY ROLL MORTON. AT 13 WAS INTO DRUMMING, FIRST KIT AT 14. AFTER LEAVING ART SCHOOL, PLAYED JAZZ AND WORKED AS GRAPHIC DESIGNER. IN 1961 JOINED BLUES INCORPORATED LED BY ALEXIS KORNER. SINCE JANUARY 1963 PERMANENT MEMBER OF THE ROLLING STONES, PLAYING FIRST GIG AT THE EALING JAZZ CLUB ON 2 FEBRUARY 1963. CHARLIE WATTS DESIGNED EARLY ROLLING STONES RECORD COVERS AND THEIR TOUR STAGES. IN 1964 HE PUBLISHED A CARTOON DEDICATED TO CHARLIE PARKER, ODE TO A HIGH-FLYING BIRD. LATE 1970s JOINED EX-ROLLING STONE IAN STEWART AND HIS BOOGIE-WOOGIE BAND ROCKET 88. IN 1980s TOURED THE WORLD WITH BIG BAND INCLUDING EVAN PARKER, JACK BRUCE, COURTNEY PINE. IN 1991 LED A JAZZ QUINTET DEDICATED TO CHARLIE PARKER. THE CHARLIE WATTS QUINTET MADE WARM AND TENDER (1993) AND LONG AGO AND FAR AWAY (1996) WITH JAZZ STANDARDS. CHARLIE WATTS / JIM KELTNER PROJECT ALBUM WAS DEDICATED TO ELVIN JONES, MAX ROACH AND ROY HAYNES. IN APRIL 2009 THE CHARLIE WATTS TENTET MADE A LIVE ALBUM WATTS AT SCOTT'S RECORDED AT THE RONNIE SCOTT'S JAZZ CLUB IN LONDON. WATTS AND HIS WIFE SHIRLEY OWNED AN ARABIAN HORSE FARM AND THEY OFTEN BOUGHT HORSES IN POLAND.
FRITZ McINTYRE (62) / BRITISH POP, SOUL, POST-PUNK KEYBOARDIST, SONGWRITER AND SINGER, KNOWN AS A MEMBER OF THE ORIGINAL LINE-UP OF SIMPLY RED (1985-1995 PICTURE BOOK TO LIFE). CO-WROTE MANY SONGS WITH LEAD SINGER MICK HUCKNALL. RELEASED SOLO ALBUM, THEN PLAYED CCM IN CANADA AND US.
AUGUST 28
FRANCESC BURRULL (86) / SPANISH COMPOSER, ARRANGER AND JAZZ PIANIST. HIS LATIN COMBO MADE 12 ALBUMS, LATIN QUARTET 7. WORKED WITH TETE MONTOLIU AND RECORDED TWO ALBUMS WITH HIM PLAYING VIBRAPHONE. ARRANGED FOR AND WORKED WITH LLUÍS LLACH. ALSO COLLABORATIONS WITH SIDNEY BECHET, BILL COLEMAN, CHET BAKER, DON BYAS, JEAN-LUC PONTY, PAQUITO D'RIVERA AND WITH JOAN MANUEL SERRAT THE NOVA CANÇÓ (THE NEW SONG) MOVEMENT WHICH PROMOTED CATALAN MUSIC AND OPPOSED THE DICTATOR FRANCISCO FRANCO REGIME AND HIS REPRESSION OF THE CATALAN LANGUAGE.
AUGUST 29
LEE "SCRATCH" PERRY (85) / AKA "THE UPSETTER", BORN RAINFORD HUGH PERRY, JAMAICAN RECORD PRODUCER AND SINGER, PRODUCTION, MIXING AND STUDIO TECHNIQUES INNOVATOR DEALING WITH DUB, SKA, ROCKSTEADY, REGGAE AND ELECTRNIC STYLES. PRODUCED OVER 1,000 RECORDINGS IN MORE THAN 60 YEARS. WORKED WITH AND PRODUCED BOB MARLEY AND THE WAILERS, JUNIOR MURVIN,THE HEPTONES,THE CONGOS, MAX ROMEO, THE CLASH, ADRIAN SHERWOOD, ARI UP OF THE SLITS, BEASTIE BOYS, THE ORB AND OTHERS. LEE "SCRATCH" PERRY CONTRIBUTED TO THE SONG "POLICE AND THIEVES" BY JUNIOR MURVIN, LATER COVERED BY THE CLASH. IN 1967 RECORDED A ROCKSTEADY SINGLE "RUN FOR COVER" AS LEE "KING" PERRY. IN 2003 HIS ALBUM JAMAICAN E.T. GOT A GRAMMY FOR THE BEST REGGAE ALBUM. PERRY'S NICKNAME WAS UPSETTER AFTER THE TITLE OF HIS SONG "I AM THE UPSETTER", AND THAT IS WHY HIS BAND WAS ALSO CALLED THE UPSETTERS (ORIGINALLY GLADDY'S ALL-STARS). ITS LATER LINEUP EVOLVED INTO BOB MARLEY AND THE WAILERS.
RON BUSHY (79) / AMERICAN DRUMMER, PSYCHEDELIC ROCK, HARD ROCK, KNOWN AS A MEMBER OF IRON BUTTERFLY WHICH HE JOINED IN 1966. TOGETHER WITH THE FOUNDER DOUG INGLE, ERIK BRANN AND LEE DORMAN CONSTITUTED IRON BUTTERFLY'S CLASSIC LINEUP. RON BUSHY WAS THE ONLY MEMBER WHO PLAYED ON ALL OF THEIR SIX STUDIO ALBUMS, INCLUDING THE FAMOUS IN-A-GADDA-DA-VIDA (#4 ON THE BILLBOARD CHART) RELEASED IN 1968 AND SELLING EIGHT MILLION COPIES THAT YEAR, WHICH MADE IT THE BIGGEST SELLER IN HISTORY THEN. IT FINALLY SOLD OVER THIRTY MILLION COPIES. IRON BUTTERFLY HAD MANY LINEUPS AND RON BUSHY TOOK PART IN A FEW LATER REUNIONS. THE FOUNDER DOUG INGLE REMAINS THE ONLY SURVIVING MEMBER OF THE CLASSIC IRON BUTTERFLY AND ALSO IN-A-GADDA-DA-VIDA LINEUP.
JOHN DRAKE (74) / BORN JOHN BRAKE, AMERICAN ROCK SINGER. AT 14 HE MET A YOUNGER GUITARIST TED NUGENT AND THEY STARTED THE ROYAL HIGH BOYS. THEN IN THE LOURDS (1959 - 1963) ALSO WITH TED NUGENT. THEN IN THE AMBOY DUKES (FORMED 1964 IN CHICAGO, LATER MOVED TO DETROIT) ALSO WITH NUGENT. THE AMBOY DUKES PLAYED PSYCHEDELIC ROCK AND ACID ROCK AND ARE CONSIDERED PROTO-PUNK. JOHN DRAKE APPEARED ON THEIR FIRST TWO ALBUMS THE AMBOY DUKES (1967) AND JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE MIND (1968). AFTER THE AMBOY DUKES, HE FRONTED THE JOHN DRAKE SHAKEDOWN. THE AMBOY DUKES PLAYED A REUNION GIG AT THE 2009 DETROIT MUSIC AWARDS AND DID A DUET WITH SUZI QUATRO (ALSO FROM MOTOR CITY) AT THE 2013 DETROIT MUSIC AWARDS.
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