MUSICIANS WHO DIED IN DECEMBER 2019
MUSICIANS WHO DIED IN DECEMBER 2019
DECEMBER 5
JERRY NAYLOR (80) / AMERICAN COUNTRY, ROCKABILLY AND ROCK AND ROLL SINGER, BROADCASTER AND INSPIRATIONAL SPEAKER. 1961-1964 THE LEAD SINGER OF THE CRICKETS.
JON COMER (43) / AMERICAN PROFESSIONAL SKATEBOARDER. THE FIRST SKATER WITH A PROSTHETIC LIMB (HAD AN AMPUTATED LOWER LEG). THE AWARD WINNING DOCUMENTARY NEVER BEEN DONE (THE JON COMER STORY) WITH SOUNDTRACK MUSIC BY LES CLAYPOOL, JACK JOHNSON, ANIMAL LIBERATION ORCHESTRA, FEATURED HIM.
DECEMBER 7
JOE McQUEEN (100) / AMERICAN TENOR SAXOPHONE PLAYER. QUIT PLAYING BASKETBALL AND FOOTBALL AND TOOK UP SAX BECAUSE HIS COUSIN, HERSHELL EVANS PLAYED SAXOPHONE WITH COUNT BASIE IN THE 1930's. AFTER BEING RIPPED OFF BY HIS BAND'S LEADER IN OGDEN, UTAH WHILE ON TOUR, McQUEEN AND HIS WIFE DECIDED TO SETLLE DOWN IN OGDEN. LATER HE BACKED UP PASSING MUSICIANS INCL. LOUIS ARMSTRONG, CHARLIE PARKER, DUKE ELLINGTON, LESTER YOUNG, DIZZY GILLESPIE, CHET BAKER, PAUL GONSALVES, CAB CALLOWAY, NAT KING COLE, RAY CHARLES, COUNT BASIE. IN 1962 McQUEEN PERFORMED WITH HOAGY CARMICHAEL. APRIL 18 HAS OFFICIALLY BEEN JOE McQUEEN DAY IN UTAH SINCE 2002. FIFTY YEARS AGO DIAGNOSED WITH THROAT CANCER, THIS HEAVY SMOKER UNDERWENT SURGERY AND CONTINUED PLAYING THREE-HOUR GIGS TILL ABOUT 100.
DECEMBER 8
MURRAY BOWLES (68) / AMERICAN HARDCORE PUNK PHOTOGRAPHER, COMPUTER PROGRAMMER IN SILICON VALLEY. HE WAS ALSO A VIOLA PLAYER IN THE COUNTRY PUNK BAND THE SHITKICKERS AND THE PENINSULA SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA. THE PSO STARTED IN 1949 AND OFTEN FEATURED GREAT SOLOISTS LIKE GARRICK OHLSSON OR JAZZ ARTISTS LIKE CHRIS BRUBECK OR JULIAN LAGE. HE ALSO USED TO DJ FOR THE MRR RADIO AT SOME POINT. BUT IT ALL STARTED IN 1982 WHEN TIM TONOOKA ASKED MURRAY TO WRITE REVIEWS FOR HIS FANZINE RIPPER, THEN TO TAKE PHOTOGRAPHS WHEN HE COULD NOT. FROM RIPPER HE MOVED TO MRR (MAXIMUM ROCKNROLL) FANZINE AND FOR NEARLY FOUR DECADES MURRAY BOWLES DOCUMENTED THE HARDCORE SCENE, ESPECIALLY THE EAST BAY PUNK SCENE. HE IS SAID TO HAVE PHOTOGRAPHED THOUSANDS OF BANDS. SOME OF THEM ARE CLASSICS AND LEGENDS TODAY: MINOR THREAT, MINUTEMEN, SNFU, OPERATION IVY, CRUCIFIX, FANG, FILTH, VERBAL ABUSE, DEAD KENNEDYS, AGENT ORANGE, NAKED RAYGUN, BUTTHOLE SURFERS, GREEN DAY, NEUROSIS. MURRAY BOWLES IS FEATURED ON GREEN DAY'S DOOKIE ALBUM COVER. AS A MUSICIANS HE WAS IN BANDS THE CLOTS, DING DANG, THE SHITKICKERS AND COLLABORATED WITH MANY MORE. IN 1987 MAXIMUM ROCKNROLL PUBLISHED HIS PHOTOZINE IF LIFE IS A BOWL OF CHERRIES, WHAT AM I DOING IN THE PIT? IN 1995 IN OAKLAND, BOWLES FOUNDED EAST BAY MENACE RECORDS.
DECEMBER 24
DAVE RILEY (59) / AMERICAN MUSICIAN, BASS GUITAR PLAYER, KNOWN AS A MEMBER OF THE PUNK ROCK BAND BIG BLACK SINCE 1984. BIG BLACK (1981-1987), WAS FOUNDED BY STEVE ALBINI WITH TWO MUSICIANS FROM NAKED RAYGUN: GUITARIST SANTIAGO DURANGO AND BASSIST JEFF PEZZATI. DAVE RILEY PLAYED ON TWO STUDIO ALBUMS ATOMIZER (HOMESTEAD, 1986) AND SONGS ABOUT FUCKING (TOUCH AND GO, 1987), AND TWO LIVE ALBUMS SOUND OF IMPACT (HOMESTEAD, 1986) AND PIGPILE (TOUCH AND GO, 1992). APART FROM PLAYING BASS, RILEY DID BACKING VOCALS, PLAYED SAXOPHONE, PIANO AND PERCUSSION. HE WAS ALSO AN ASSISTANT AUDIO ENGINEER FOR PARLIAMENT AND FUNKADELIC - GEORGE CLINTON'S WEIRD FUNK BANDS. GOT CREDITED ON TROMBIPULATION AND THE ELECTRIC SPANKING OF WAR BABIES ALBUMS. IN 1990 PLAYED BASS GUITAR, PIANO AND PERCUSSION ON THE ALPHA CUE ALBUM BY ART PUNK DUO ALGEBRA SUICIDE.
DECEMBER 27
GARRETT LIST (76) / AMERICAN TROMBONIST, VOCALIST AND COMPOSER. IN THE MID-SIXTIES ATTENDED THE JUILLIARD SCHOOL OF MUSIC, WHERE HE MET LUCIANO BERIO AND DENNIS RUSSELL DAVIES, WITH WHOM HE FOUNDED THE JUILLIARD ENSEMBLE. THROUGH THIS GROUP HE ALSO MET HENRI POUSSEUR AND PIERRE BOULEZ. IN THE 1970s GOT INTO FREE JAZZ AND MET JOHN CAGE, STEVE LACY, FREDERIC RZEWSKI AND LaMONTE YOUNG. GARRETT LIST WAS A MEMBER OF THE FAMOUS ITALIAN EXPERIMENTAL GROUP MUSICA ELLECTRICA VIVA. RECORDED WITH ANTHONY BRAXTON, ARTHUR RUSSELL, JOHNNY COPELAND, MORTON FELDMAN, WILLEM BREUKER, KESHAVAN MASLAK, CHRISTIAN WOLFF, LA MONTE YOUNG, FREDERIC RZEWSKI.
DECEMBER 29
NEIL INNES (75) / ENGLISH WRITER, COMEDIAN AND MUSICIAN. WORKED WITH MONTHY PYTHON AND PLAYED IN THE RUTLES AND BONZO DOG DOO-DAH BAND. STILL STUDYING AT GOLDSMITHS' COLLEGE IN LONDON, INNES WITH VIVIAN STANSHALL AND LEGS "LARRY" SMITH FOUNDED THE BONZO DOG DADA BAND, LATER RENAMED THE BONZO DOG DOO-DAH BAND, THEN SHORTENED TO THE BONZO DOG BAND. INNES WROTE THEIR BIGGEST HIT SINGLE "I'M THE URBAN SPACEMAN" (1968). IT WENT TO #5 IN THE UK CHARTS AND WON AN IVOR NOVELLO AWARD THE SAME YEAR. THE B-SIDE WAS WRITTEN BY VIVIAN STANSHALL. THE SINGLE WAS PRODUCED BY SOME APOLLO C. VERMOUTH WHICH WAS A PSEUDONYM OF PAUL McCARTNEY AND GUS DUDGEON. INNES AND STANSHALL WROTE ANOTHER OF THEIR POPULAR HITS "DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE" FEATURED IN THE BEATLES' 1967 TV FILM MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR.
ALASDAIR GRAY (85) / SCOTTISH WRITER AND ARTIST, ACADEMIC, POET AND MURALIST. WRITING HIS FIRST NOVEL LANARK (1981) TOKK HIM ABOUT 30 YEARS. ACCORDING TO THE GUARDIAN IT IS "ONE OF THE LANDMARKS OF 20TH-CENTURY FICTION.
VAUGHAN OLIVER (62) / BRITISH GRAPHIC DESIGNER KNOWN FOR WORKING WITH THE BRITISH INDEPENDENT RECORD LABEL 4AD AND THEIR ARTISTS, ESPECIALLY THE PIXIES. OLIVER WAS THE AUTHOR OF THE ARTWORK OF THE PIXIES' ALBUMS: COME ON PILGRIM (1987), SURFER ROSA (1988), DOOLITTLE (1989), BOSSANOVA (1990), TROMPE LE MONDE (1991), INDIE CINDY (2014), HEAD CARRIER (2016), BENEATH THE EYRIE (2019) AND MANY SINGLES AND EPs.
Previous page: MUSICIANS WHO DIED IN NOVEMBER 2019
Next page: MUSICIANS WHO DIED IN 2018