1938-2005
Spencer Dryden was the drummer for the Jefferson Airplane, who was the first San Francisco psychedelic rock group of the 1960s to achieve national recognition.
The Jefferson Airplane's most famous albums included "Surrealistic Pillow" (1967), which included the hit singles "Somebody to Love" (#5-1967) and "White Rabbit" (#8-1967), as well as "After Bathing At Baxter's" (1967), "Crown Of Creation" (1968) and "Volunteers" (1969.)
Spencer Dryden died at his home in Petaluma, California on January 10, 2005 of cancer. He was 66.
Singer/songwriter/guitarist Jimmy Griffin was the co-founder of the 1970s soft rock group Bread with David Gates. Bread's biggest hits were "Make It With You" (#1 single in 1970), "It Don't Matter To Me" (#10-1970), "If" (#4-1971), "Baby I'm-A Want You" (#3-1971), "Everything I Own" (#5-1972), "The Guitar Man" (#11-1972), "Aubrey" (#15-1973) and "Lost Without Your Love" (#9-1976)
Jimmy Griffin died on January 11, 2005 at his home near Nashville, Tennessee of complications from cancer. He was 61.
Ray Charles did the most to devise a new form of Soul Music by merging '50s R&B with gospel-powered vocals, adding plenty of flavor from contemporary jazz, blues, and (in the '60s) country. Ray Charles' singing style was among the most emotional and easily identifiable of any 20th-century performer, up there with the likes of Elvis Presley and Billie Holiday.
Blind since the age of six (from glaucoma), Charles studied composition and learned many instruments at the St. Augustine School for the Deaf and the Blind. His parents had died by his early teens, and he worked as a musician in Florida for a while before using his savings to move to Seattle in 1947. He got his first Top Ten R&B hit with "Baby, Let Me Hold Your Hand" in 1951. Charles' first recordings came in for their fair share of criticism, as they were much milder and less original than the classics that would follow, although they're actually fairly enjoyable, showing strong hints of the skills that were to flower in a few years.
Ray Charles' biggest hits were "I Got a Woman" (1955), "What'd I Say" (1959), "Georgia On My Mind" (1960), "Hit The Road Jack" (1961), "I Can't Stop Loving You" (1962) and "You Don't Know Me" (1962)
On June 10, 2004, Ray Charles died of liver disease at his home in Beverly Hills, CA. He was 73.
J.J.
Jackson
1942?
- 2004
Jackson died on March 17, 2004 of an apparent heart attack in Los Angeles, CA. He was 62.
John Whitehead was murdered in Philadelphia, PA on May 11, 2004. Whitehead and his friend Oemidd Johnson were working on a vehicle behind his Philadelphia house when two men approached and opened fire. Johnson survived with a bullet wound to the buttocks, but Whitehead was shot in the neck and killed. He was 55.
Paul
Atkinson
1946-2004
On April 1, 2004, Paul Atkinson died of liver and kidney disease in Santa Monica, CA. He was 58.
Jan Berry was one-half
of the 1960s duo Jan & Dean. Outside of the Beach Boys, Jan & Dean
were the most popular surf music artists of the 1960's. Jan Berry &
Dean Torrance met at University High School in West Los Angeles, where
they were classmates and members of the football team. While in high school,
Jan & Dean with some other friends (including Arnie Ginsburg) formed
a doo-wop group called the Barons. They recorded a song in Jan's garage
entitled "Jennie Lee" which eventually became a #8 single in the U.S, credited
to Jan & Arnie. After "Jennie Lee" was recorded, Dean Torrance joined
the Army Reserve. When Dean was finished with his stint in the Reserve,
Arnie joined the Navy. As a result, Jan & Arnie evolved into Jan &
Dean. The first song that Jan & Dean recorded was "Baby Talk" which
peaked at #10 nationally in 1959. In the 1960's, Jan & Dean's biggest
hits were "Surf City" (#1-1963), "Drag City" (#10-1964), "Dead Man's Curve"
(#8-1964) and "The Little Old Lady (From Pasadena)" (#3-1964.) The
duo's success ended on April 19, 1966 with Jan Berry getting into a near-fatal
automobile accident. He wasn't even believed to be alive when the police
arrived at the wreck of his Corvette Stingray and there was barely any
heart beat when he was cut out of the car. It took years for Berry to recover
even partially, learning how to walk and talk all over again. Jan &
Dean made a comeback in 1978 after their biographical film entitled "Dead
Man's Curve" aired on TV.
Jan Berry died on March 26, 2004 in Los Angeles, CA of unknown causes. He was 62.
Bobby
Hatfield
1940-2003
Bobby Hatfield along with Bill Medley made up the Righteous Brothers, probably the most influential "Blue-Eyed Soul" duo of the 1960's. The white Southern California duo were an established journeyman doo wop/R&B act before an association with Phil Spector produced one of the most memorable hits of the 1960s, "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" (#1-1965.) The Righteous Brothers other big hits were "Just Once In My Life" (#9-1965), "Unchained Melody" (#4-1965), "Ebb Tide" (#5-1966), "(You're My) Soul and Inspiration" (#1-1966), "Rock And Roll Heaven" (#3-1974) and "Unchained Melody" returned to the American Top-20 in 1990 as a result of the popularity of the movie "Ghost" which featured the 1965 hit on it's soundtrack. The Righteous Brothers continued to tour the oldies circuit off and on in the 1980s and 1990s.
On November 5, 2003, the Righteous Brothers were to give a concert in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Just before the concert, Bobby Hatfield was found dead in his hotel room. Hatfield died of heart failure due to acute cocaine intoxication. He was 63.
Robert Palmer was one of most popular singers from the 1980's whose "Addicted to Love" video, featuring the sharply dressed Palmer and miniskirted models, became one of MTV's most-played clips and sparked protests from some feminists. Outside of his slick 80's videos, Robert Palmer was also known for his clever combination of rock, rhythm and blues, and reggae sounds as well as for his dress sense and respect for his fans.
Robert Palmer was born in Batley, Yorkshire, in 1949, but spent the majority of his youth on the island of Malta. At the age of 19, Palmer returned to England where he sang with the Alan Bown Set and a soul group, Vinegar Joe, before beginning a solo career in 1974.
Robert Palmer's biggest hit singles were "Every Kinda People" (#16-1978), "Bad Case of Loving You (Doctor, Doctor)" (#14-1979), "Addicted To Love" (#1-1986), "I Didn't Mean to Turn You On" (#2-1986) and "Simply Irresistible" (#2-1988.) Palmer was also the lead singer for the supergroup The Power Station. The supergroup also included Duran-Duran's John & Andy Taylor and Chic's Tony Thompson. The Power Station's biggest hit singles were "Some Like It Hot" (#6-1985) and their cover version of T. Rex's "Get It On (Bang a Gong)" (#9-1985)
Robert Palmer died of a sudden heart attack in Paris, France on September 26, 2003. He was 54 years old.
Barry
White
(1944-2003)
Barry White (aka the Walrus of Love) was the king of 1970's Pillow Talk/R&B/Disco music with such hits as "Can't Get Enough Of Your Love, Babe" (#1-1974), "You're The First, My Last, My Everything" (#2-1974) and "Never, Never Gonna Give Ya Up" (#7-1973.) Barry White died on July 4, 2003 in Los Angeles as a result of kidney failure and a stroke he suffered in September, 2002. White was 58 years old.
Noel Redding was the bass-player for the Jimi Hendrix Experience from 1966 until the Experience's break-up in 1969. A year later was when Hendrix passed on. Redding died in the town of Clonakilty in southern Ireland on May 11, 2003 of unknown causes. He was 57 years old.
The
7 Astronauts Aboard the
Space Shuttle Columbia - Mission STS-107
February
1, 2003
Maurice Gibb along with his brothers Barry and Robin made up the most successful pop group of the 1970's....the BeeGees (short for Brothers Gibb.) Maurice Gibb was the bass player, keyboard player and background vocalist for the group. The BeeGees had nine No. 1 songs, wrote dozens of hits for other artists, and sold more than 110 million records — placing them fifth in pop history behind Elvis Presley, the Beatles, Michael Jackson and Paul McCartney. The BeeGees formed in Australia in 1958 and moved to England (their birthplace) in the 1960's where the BeeGees had hits singles like "To Love Somebody", "I've Gotta Get A Message To You", and "I Started A Joke." In 1971 was the BeeGees' first American #1 single...."How Can You Mend A Broken Heart." When Disco Music starting hitting big in the Mid-1970's, the BeeGees rolled with the changes with #1 singles like "Jive Talkin'" (1975) and "You Should Be Dancing" (1976.) 1977 was the year that the movie "Saturday Night Fever" starring John Travolta hit the Big Screen and the soundtrack (composed and performed by mainly the BeeGees) became one of the best selling movie soundtracks ever and gave the BeeGees 3 more #1 singles in 1978 including "How Deep Is Your Love," "Stayin' Alive" and "Night Fever." On January 8, 2003, Maurice Gibb had emergency surgery for an intestinal blockage. He suffered cardiac arrest before the operation. Gibb died on January 12, 2003 in Miami, Florida at the age of 53.
(1944-2002)
John Entwistle was the
bass player for one of the Greatest and Loudest Live Groups of
Rock'n'Roll.....The Who.
The Who was known for such hits as "My Generation," "Pinball Wizard" and
"Won't Get Fooled Again." Entwistle is probably the most influential bassist
in rock music. Before Entwistle came along as a member of the Who, bassists
seldom stood out for their playing and few casual listeners knew or cared
what purpose the four-stringed instrument served -- after John Entwistle
came along, everyone knew.
John Entwistle was born in the London suburb of Chiswick on October 9, 1944. He was a member of the Confederates with Pete Townshend while still in grammar school in 1959. Trained in both the piano and the French horn, he is one of the most musically accomplished teenagers ever to play in a skiffle band. Invited by Roger Daltrey to join his band, the Detours, Entwistle accepted, and was joined soon after by Townshend. With the addition of drummer Keith Moon, this band, later renamed the High Numbers and finally the Who, became part of the second wave of successful British invasion acts, getting their recording act together in 1964 and 1965. The Who had started out with Daltrey and Townshend sharing guitar chores, until Daltrey gave the instrument up. The change to a single guitar was vital to Entwistle (nicknamed "The Ox"), who had to play extremely loud and complex parts to compensate for the absence of a rhythm guitar -- the result was that, from the Who's first singles to their last, Entwistle's bass work was some of the most complex and audible in rock music. He played fills, counter-melodies, and all manner of material, and stood out doing it. Moreover, he tended to stand out precisely by not standing out -- Townshend had his windmill strumming technique, Daltrey was the lead singer, and Moon was so animated on the drums that he was scary, but amid this pandemonium on stage, Entwistle simply stood there and played, providing an anchor that kept the band from flying off in all directions, both visually and musically. As a songwriter, he wasn't nearly as prolific as Townshend, but Entwistle had a bizarre sense of humor that contrasted very nicely with Townshend. From "Boris the Spider" and "Whiskey Man" to "My Wife," Entwistle had a knack for capturing dark humor that lightened up every Who album, and even managed to contribute a couple of songs to Tommy.
John Entwistle was found dead on June 27, 2002 in his hotel room at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada on the eve of the Who's 3-month United States tour which was scheduled to begin in a small club at the hotel the next night. According to an autopsy, Entwistle suffered a heart attack brought on by a "significant amount of cocaine." The tour went on without Entwistle. The Who's drummer Keith Moon died in 1978 of a drug overdose.
GEORGE
HARRISON
(1943-2001)
George Harrison was the lead guitarist for the most successful group in Rock-n-Roll history....the Beatles. Harrison was born February 25, 1943 (some sources say he was born February 24, 1943) in Liverpool, England. In the 1950's, George was one of several Britons inspired to learn to play the guitar when skiffle music was huge in England. Harrison had a lot of dedication to learn the guitar which impressed his school pal, Paul McCartney. In the late 1950's, George was invited to join the Quarry Men, the group that was founded by John Lennon and that Paul was a member of. George Harrison provided the band with a lyrical style of playing in which every note mattered. George said in later years that it was he who taught Lennon how to play the guitar properly.
The Quarrymen evolved into Johnny & the Moondogs, the Silver Beatles, and finally the Beatles in 1960. The early Beatles consisted of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Harrison, Stu Sutcliffe, and Pete Best. In 1960, the Beatles were invited to play in a nightclub in Hamburg, Germany. Harrison was only 17 at the time, which meant that he could not be in any nightclub after midnight. As a result, he was eventually deported from West Germany. In 1961, Stu Sutcliffe left the group to stay in Hamburg and study Art. Sutcliffe died of a brain hermorrage in 1962. When the Beatles got a recording contract from EMI-Parlophone Records in 1962, Pete Best was replaced by Ringo Starr.
Beatlemania hit Europe big-time in 1963 then the United States and the rest of the world in 1964. On the early Beatles' records, Harrison's lead guitar was often buried beneath John Lennon's rhythm guitar. Plus as a songwriter, George had to play second-fiddle to many of the Beatle songs written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney. As a personality, George Harrison was private and quiet in contrast to Lennon's savage wit, McCartney's romanticism, and Ringo's teddy-bear like innocense. That earned Harrison the nickname "the Quiet Beatle." If George spoke up at a press conference or even played a scene in the Beatles' first 2 movies..."A Hard Day's Night"(1964) and "Help"(1965), people had listened closely.
Musically, Harrison introduced the sound of the 12-string Rickenbacker guitar in 1964. Harrison and the Rickenbacker inspired Roger McGuinn, Gene Clark and David Crosby to form the Byrds, a popular folk-rock group in the 1960's. In 1965, Harrison became fascinated with an Indian Instrument called the Sitar. George had persuaded the Beatles to incorporate the Sitar into the Beatle recordings starting with the "Rubber Soul" album in late 1965. Harrison has grown as a songwriter and musician with Beatle songs like "If I Needed Someone" (1965), "Taxman"(1966), "Within You, Without You"(1967), "While My Guitar Gently Weeps"(1968), "Here Comes The Sun"(1969) and "Something"(1969) which Frank Sinatra called "The Greatest Love Song of All Time."
George Harrison will always be remembered for his devotion to Oriental mysticism. In 1967, Harrison persuaded the other Beatles to fly to India and sit at the feet of the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.
After the Beatles broke up in 1970, George Harrison put out his solo album "All Things Must Pass" which included the #1 single "My Sweet Lord"...the first #1 single by an ex-Beatle. Harrison also hit #1 with "Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth)"(1973) and "Got My Mind Set on You" (1988.)
In 1971, Harrison organized rock's first major charity event, the Concert for Bangladesh, which was staged as two shows at New York's Madison Square Garden to help raise money for aid to that famine-ravaged nation. The second of the two all-star shows, which included a then otherwise totally reclusive Bob Dylan, as well as Leon Russell, Eric Clapton, Ringo Starr, and Harrison's one-time mentor on the sitar, Ravi Shankar, was released as a movie and as a very good selling live triple album.
In the mid-'70s, Harrison
formed his own label, Dark Horse Records, but it wasn't until the late
'80s that he found anything like the level of success that he'd enjoyed
on his first solo album. Harrison's albums from the mid-'70s into
the early '80s always had an audience, but except for Somewhere in England
(1981), released in the wake of the murder of John Lennon with the
memorial song "All Those Years Ago," which became a hit in its own right,
none seemed terribly compelling to the public. During this same period,
Harrison embarked on a successful career as a movie producer with the founding
of Handmade Films in 1979, which was responsible for the production of
the Monty Python movie "The Life of Brian" and the cult hit "Withnail and
I." The
company was worth a reported
8.5 million dollars when he sold it in 1994.
In 1987, Harrison made
a return to the top of the charts with his album "Cloud Nine", which featured
his most inspired work in years, most notably a cover of an old Rudy Clark
gospel number called "Got My Mind Set on You," which reached number one
on the charts (as mentioned earlier.) In 1988, Harrison, Bob Dylan, Tom
Petty, Jeff Lynne, and Roy Orbison formed the Traveling Wilburys, who have
since released two very successful albums. It was also around this time
that Harrison appeared with his
former bandmate Ringo
Starr, and Dave Edmunds, Roseanne Cash, and the Stray Cats' Lee Rocker
(who was born the year the Beatles made their first recordings) in a superb
live-in-front-of-the-cameras
rockabilly performance accompanying his one-time idol Carl Perkins, which
was subsequently released on videocassette and laserdisc. All of this success
heralded a short-lived re-emergence for the musician out of private life,
resulting in a 1991 tour of Japan that yielded a live album (Live in Japan).
Harrison had hated concertizing since the harrowing days of the Beatles'
international career, and had done one poorly received concert tour in
the mid-'70s--he seemed more comfortable in 1991, and the album performed
moderately well, driven by the
presence of his then-recent
hits.
He withdrew into private life after that, devoting himself to his life with his second wife and their son, and only re-emerged before the public when necessary, such as defending the Beatles' copyrights in court cases.
Harrison announced in 1998 that he had been treated for throat cancer. In December 1999, Harrison survived a knife attack by an intruder at his mansion in Henley on Thames, Oxfordshire. George was stabbed several times and suffered a punctured lung as a result. In the summer of 2001, rumours started going around that Harrison was still battling cancer. George released a statement asking fans not to worry about the rumours.
On November 29, 2001, George Harrison died in Los Angeles, California of the cancer that he was battling since 1998. He was 58 years old.
Editorial (written
November 30, 2001): I was very saddened by the latest news about
George Harrison. It's ironic that I was born the same day the Beatles released
the LP "Rubber Soul" in America
(December 6, 1965.) "Rubber Soul" was the Beatles' album that separated
the Beatles from Top-40 teeny-boppers to serious singer/songwriters. I
starting listening to the Beatles about the time I was 3 or 4 years. The
Fab-4 Beatles were my rock-and-roll idols throughout the 1970's (when it
was more cool to like KISS or Disco Music), and into 1980's, 1990's and
today. I just turned 15 when John Lennon was shot to death by a deranged
fan in 1980. Hearing the news the morning after was like being hit by 2
shock waves. The first shock wave was when I heard on the radio "John Lennon
was shot last night" and the second was a few seconds later when I heard
from the radio "Lennon died a short time later." Unlike John Lennon's
death, we all saw the writing on the wall about the cancer George Harrison
had been battling for 3 years. Even with the writing on the wall, it hasn't
sunk in yet that the lead guitarist for the most successful musical group
in history is gone. The fact that "Sir Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr are
the only 2 members of the Fab 4-Beatles that are still alive" hasn't sunk
in yet either. George Harrison was the first Beatle to have a #1 single
in America as a solo artist--"My Sweet Lord" (1970.) It was George who
wrote and sung lead on the Beatles song "Something" in 1969 that Frank
Sinatra called "The Greatest Love Song of All Time." Almost 15 years before
LiveAid and USA for Africa (rock music used to help feed the hungry children
of the world); George organized the Concert for Bangladesh in 1971
at Madison Square Garden in New York City to help raise money for the starving
children of the Asian country. George Harrison may have been the "Quiet
Beatle" but his contributions to the Beatles during the 1960's, to his
Post-Beatle songs and to humanity speaks a "Great Loud Volume." He will
be missed greatly, but his great contributions will live on forever. Rest
in Peace, George Harrison.
---David W. White
Lifelong Beatle-fan & President of Whitester Radio
RON
TOWNSEND
(1933-2001)
Ron
Townson was the heavy-set centerpiece singer for the Grammy-winning pop
group
The
5th Dimension. The 5th Dimension combined the sounds of pop,
jazz,
gospel
and rhythm and blues for such 1960s hits as ``Aquarius/Let the Sun Shine
In,' and the Laura Nyro songs ``Wedding Bell Blues' and ``Stoned Soul Picnic.'
The
group won four Grammys in 1968 for the Jimmy Webb tune ``Up, Up and Away.'
Townson was born in St. Louis, Missouri in 1933. Ron began singing at age 6 in school and church choirs. He attended Lincoln University in Jefferson City, Mo., where he directed choirs, and moved to Los Angeles in 1957. In 1965, he and a childhood friend, LaMonte McLemore, formed a singing group called the Versatiles that was soon renamed The 5th Dimension at the suggestion of Townson's wife. Other original members were Florence LaRue, Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis.
Early on, some critics dismissed the smooth-sounding group as black singers trying to sound white. Townson said in 1970: ``I know some people accuse us of singing white, but it makes me laugh, it is based on ignorance. People sing styles. They don't sing colors. You can always get to any race, creed or religion with music."
As
various members left The 5th Dimension in the 1970s to pursue solo projects,
Townson formed the group Ron Townson and Wild Honey. Later, he reunited
with
McLemore
and LaRue in a new version of The 5th Dimension that included Phyllis Battle
and Greg Walker. Townson also appeared on television and in films, including
the 1992 movie ``The Mambo Kings.'
Declining health forced Townson to retire in 1997, ending a career that saw him tour with such music legends as Nat King Cole and Dorothy Dandridge.Ron Townson died on August 2, 2001 of renal failure at his home in Las Vegas after a four-year battle with kidney disease. He was 68.
"PAPA"
JOHN PHILLIPS
(1935-2001)
John Phillips was a singer/song-writer whose music helped shape the 1960's Folk-Rock movement. John was the founding member of the popular 1960's folk-rock group "The Mamas & Papas" whose biggest hits were "California Dreamin" & "Monday, Monday." Phillips also helped organize the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival, which introduced artists such as Jimi Hendrix and the Who to American audiences. Additionally, he wrote or co-wrote songs for other artists, including "San Francisco (Be Sure To Wear Flowers in Your Hair)" for Scott McKenzie in 1967 & "Kokomo," a No. 1 hit for the Beach Boys in 1988. John died of heart failure on March 18, 2001 in Los Angeles, California. He was 65.