Music Deaths: Jerry Herman, Wrote "Hello, Dolly"

JERRY HERMAN, 88

Died 26 December 2019

Composer, lyricist.  Wrote "Hello, Dolly" which became a big hit for Louis Armstrong in 1964.

Also wrote "Mame."

Music Deaths: Neil Innes, the Seventh Monty Python Member

NEIL INNES, 74

Died 29 December 2019

Musician, comedian.  member of the satire bands Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band and the Rutles.  Considered the seventh member of the Monty Python troupe.

All I can say is go to You Tube and watch videos.  Especially the George Harrison "Pirate Song"

Real funny guy.

Music Deaths: Norma Tanega: "Walking My Cat Named Dog"

NORMA TANEGA, 80

Died 29 December 2019

Singer, songwriter.  Worked with Dusty Springfield.

A real one-hit-wonder with the song "Walking My Cat Named Dog"  (#22-1966).  Hit #22 in UK and #3 in Canada.  The idea for the song came from when she was living in New York City in an apartment building that didn't allow dogs.  So, she kept a cat instead and name it "Dog."  She took the cat out for walks.

I don't know, I once tried to take the family cat out for a walk and didn't have much luck.  The leash just didn't work.

Music Deaths: Sleepy LaBeef, Rockabilly/Early RnR, Country

THOMAS PAUSLEY LaBEEF, 84

Died 26 December 2019

Born in Smackover, Arkansas  (Population 1,865). (How's that for a small town name?) Received the name "Sleepy" because of a sleepy eye.

Never had a pop top 40, but two songs hit on the country charts "Every Day" #73 in 1968) and "Blackland Farmer" (#67-1971).

If you like rockabilly or early 50s type rock and roll with a dose of country, give a listen on You Tube.

Music Deaths: Kenny Lynch, British Hit Maker in 1960s, On First Tour With Beatles

KENNY LYNCH, 81

Died 18 December 2019

Actor, entertainer, singer, songwriter.  Had Top 40 UK singles in the early 1960s.  Never had a Top 100 hit in the United States.

In 1963, toured with the Beatles on their first British tour.  Helen Shapiro was the top act on the tour.  He also is known as the first artist to cover a Beatles song, "Misery."

UK Hits:

1960  Mountain of Love  #33
1962  Puff (Up in Smoke)  #33
1962  Up On the Roof    #10
1963  You Can Never Stop Loving Me  #10

Music Deaths: Jack Scott: Hit Maker 1958-1961

I take these names from the Hope I Die before I get Old site.

JACK SCOTT, 83

Died 12 December 2019

Singer, Rock and Roll/Rockabilly

Canadian/American singer and songwriter.

Inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2011 and called the greatest Canadian  rock and roll singer of all time.  He had 19 songs hit the Billboard Hot 100, including four Top Tens from 1958 to 1961.

His Top Tens:

My True Love  #3
Goodbye Baby  #8
What In the World's Come Over You  #5
Burning Bridges   #3

Well worth giving a listen on You Tube.

Gone in 2019, But Not Forgotten-- Part 4: "Little Girl"

MOVING IN STEREO--  Cars    Ric Ocasek   Died September 15
DANGEROUS TYPE--  Cars

TIME HAS COME TODAY--  Chambers Brothers   George Chambers
Died October 12, oldest of the brothers.

ROCKIN' INTO THE NIGHT--  .38 Special   Larry Junstrom   Their first radio hit.  Their bassist from start to finish who was originally with Lynyrd Skynyrd.  Died October 6.

LITTLE GIRL--  Syndicate of Sound    Don Baskin  One hit wonder band out of San Jose, Cal.,   Lead singer and rhythm guitarist died October 22.  Almost sang it as a rap song.

UNCLE JON'S BAND--  Grateful Dead     Robert Hunter   Wasn't in the band, just their lyricist, but what a lyricist.  Died September 23.
TOUCH OF GRAY--  Grateful Dead

TIME LOVES A HERO--  Little Feat    Paul Barrere  Guitarist  Died October 26.

I FEEL FREE--  Cream    Ginger Baker  Died October 6.
SUNSHINE OF YOUR LOVE--  Cream

RoadDog

Gone in 2019, But Not Forgotten-- Part 3: "Oh, Pretty Woman"

PRETTY WOMAN--  Roy Orbison      Fred Foster    Producer for Roy Orbison on his big hits  Died February 20.  Started Monument Records.  Produced many Roy Orbison hits, some of them:

Only the Lonely
Running Scared
In Dreams
Crying

Also expanded to R&B and Soul with Joe Simon, Arthur Alexander and Ivory Joe Hunter.  Important in Dolly Parton's early career.  Also produced Willie Nelson, Ray Stevens and Kris Kristofferson

LOVE TO LOVE--  UFO     Paul Raymond   Guitarist and keyboardist.  Died April 13.

FRESH AIR--  Quick Silver Messenger Service     Gary Duncan died June 29.  San Francisco Sound.

LET'S WORK TOGETHER--  Canned Heat     Founding bassist Larry Taylor   Also known as "The Mole.  Died August 19.

COME DANCING--  Kinks    Ian Gibbons    Keyboardist  Died August 1.

BABY HOLD ON--  Eddie Money  Died
GIVE ME SOME WATER--   Eddie Money

Name That Tune (from the above songs):  "They Put Up A Parking Lot On A Piece Of Land Where The Supermarket Used To Stand."  Answer below.


"Come Dancing"

Gone in 2019, But Not Forgotten-- Part 2: "Eye of the Tiger"

SHE--  Monkees       Peter Tork   Died February 21.  Keyboardist and bass guitar.
SHADES OF GRAY--  Monkees

POOR MAN'S SON--  Survivor  Stephan Ellis, bassist. Died Feb. 28.   Joined in 1981
EYE OF THE TIGER--  Survivor  Well, big thanks to Sylvester Stallone here.

KICKS--  Paul Revere & the Raiders    Wrecking Crew session drummer Hal Blaine on these two.  Drummed on 150 Top Tens and 40 #1s.   Some other songs:  Johnny Angel, Ringo, Surf City, Mr. Tambourine Man,  Monday Monday,  Windy, Mrs. Robinson, Bridge Over Troubled Water and I Think I Love You.   Played on most of Raiders and Beach Boys hits.
GOOD VIBRATIONS--  Beach Boys

MISERLOU--  Dick Dale    Died March 16   The King of the Surf Guitar.

RIGHT TIME, WRONG PLACE--  Dr. John    Died June 6  Born Malcom John Rebennack Jr.    Winner of six Grammy awards.  One of the Sounds of New Orleans.

I HEAR YOU KNOCKING--  Dave Edmunds      Dave Bartholomew  Died June 23     Two of New Orleans' best dying in the same month.  Wrote this song.  Wrote "Ain't That a Shame" and others for Fats Domino.
 
THE SUN AIN'T GONNA SHINE ANYMORE--  Walker Brothers   Scott Walker died March 23.  A trio who called themselves the Walker Brothers, but they weren't related.  Always reminds me of the Righteous Brothers.

Name That Tune (from the above songs):  "You Went Away And Left Me Long Time Ago."  Answer below.  --RoadDog


"I Hear You Knocking"

Gone in 2019, But Not Forgotten-- Part 1: "Look Through Any Window"

From Bob Stroud's January 5, 2020, Rock and Roll Roots.  For a more complete list of musician deaths last year, click on Music Deaths 2019 in the labels area beneath this.

LOOK THROUGH ANY WINDOW--  Hollies  The first death of 2019 , Jan. 5, was original Hollies bassist Eric Haydock.  This song was either the first or second 45 I ever bought.
I CAN'T LET GO--  Hollies

TUMBLING DICE--  Rolling Stones      Clydie King died January 7.  Made  mark as a back up singer.  Sang on these two songs.
SWEET HOME ALABAMA--  Lynyrd Skynyrd

SON OF A PREACHER MAN--  Dusty Springfield  Reggie Young, session guitarist with Memphis Boys, American Sound Studios in Memphis, Tennessee died Jan. 17.  Also a member of Jimmy Buffett's Coral Reefer Band on first several albums.  Played on Box Tops "The Letter,"  "Cry Like a Baby,"  "Sweet Caroline" by Neil Diamond,  Elvis Presley's "Suspicious Minds" and "Kentucky Rain" and "In the Ghetto,"  "Down in the Boondocks" Billy Joe Royal and B.J. Thomas'"Hooked On a Feeling."
DRIFT AWAY--  Dobie Gray

SUMMERTIME BLUES--  Blue Cheer   Paul Whaley, drummer, died Jan.28 of blues metal band.  Reportedly the loudest band on the planet.

Name That Tune (from the above songs):  "And When His Daddy Would Visit He'd Come Along."  Answer below.  --RoadDog


"Son of a Preacher Man"

Music Deaths: Marie Fredriksson of Roxette

MARIE FREDRICKSSON, 61

Died December 9, 2019

Swedish pop singer and songwriter and lead vocalist of the pop duo Roxette with Per Gessle.    They had six hits on Billboard Hot 100 charts that went to #2 or higher.

The Look #1 1989
Listen to Your Heart  #1  1989
Dangerous  #2  1989
It Must Have Been Love  #1   1990
Joyride  #1   1991
Fading Like a Flower (Every Time You Leave)  #2   1991

Music Deaths: Herb Cox of the Cleftones

HERB COX, 81

Died 8 December 2019

Lead singer with the vocal group Cleftones.

Born in 1939.  In 1955, two singing groups, the Clefs and Silvertones combines and used part of their names.  Black dd-wop group from Queens, New York.

Their biggest hit was the one minute 56 seconds long "Heart and Soul" (#18-1961).  But also had Top 100 songs with "You Baby You" and "Little Girl of Mine."  I've been listening to the Cleftones on You Tube and they should have had a huge hit with "Little Girl of Mine" (#57-1956), even bigger than "Heart and Soul."

Music Deaths: Jerry Naylor, Former Member of Crickets

JERRY NAYLOR, 80

Died 5 December 2019

Rock and Roll, Country singer.  Member and lead vocalist of the Crickets from 1961 to 1964.  The Crickets were Buddy Holly's back-up band.  He joined two years after Buddy Holly's death.
The Crickets had much more success in Britain than the U.S.

Their first hit while he was lead singer was "Don't Ever Change", a Carole King/Gerry Goffin song, that went to #5 in Britain.  It was the very first song that the Beatles performed live on the BBC in 1963.

Music Deaths: Don Baskin of the Syndicate of Sound "Little Girl"

DON BASKIN, 73

Died October 22, 2019

I missed this one but heard he had died on Bob Stroud's Rock and Roll Roots show Gone But Not Forgotten on Jan. 5, 2020.

Member of Syndicate of Sound, a garage rock band out of San Jose, California, who had just one really big hit with "Little Girl" which went to #8 in 1966.  One of my all-time favorite songs.  Don was guitarist and vocalist.

Essentially talked his way through "Little Girl."  Early rap?

WXRT's Musicians Who Died in 2019: In Memorium

From WXRT, 93.1 FM in Chicago.

Dr. John, 78

Robert Hunter, 78  Grateful Dead

Nesal Casal, 50

Art Neville, 81

Peter Tork, 77   Monkees

Daryl Dragon, 76   Captain & Tennille

Ric Ocasek, 75  Cars

Ginger Baker, 80, Cream

Paul Barrere, 71   Little Feat

Roky Erickson, , 71  psychedelic rock

Eddie Money, 70

For more musicians, check out this blog's Music Deaths 2019 in the labels section beneath this.

Tune Into Bob Stroud's Gone But Not Forgotten Show in Chicago's WDRV, 97.1 FM

Tomorrow, Jan. 5, 2020, Bob Stroud will have his annual Rock and Roll Roots Show salute to those musicians we lost in 2019.  It runs from 7 am to 10 am, CST and streams at www.wdrv.com.

I have been keeping a list all year as well and you can look at it at the Music Deaths 2019 label to the right of this.

--RoadDog

The Drive's A to Z, Still in the Letter "S": "Street Fightin' Man"

STRANGE MAGIC--  ELO
STRANGE WAY--  Firefall
STRANGER--  Billy Joel

STRANGLEHOLD--  Ted Nugent
STRAWBERRY FIELDS FOREVER--  Beatles
STREET FIGHTIN' MAN--  Rolling Stones

THE STROKE--  Billy Squier
STRUTTER--  Kiss
STUCK IN THE MIDDLE WITH YOU--  Stealers Wheel

SUBDIVISIONS--  Rush
SUBSTITUTE--  Who
SUDDENLY LAST SUMMER--    Motels

SUFFRAGETTE CITY--  David Bowie
SUGAR MAGNOLIA--  Grateful Dead
SUGAR MOUNTAIN--  Neil Young

SUITE: JUDY BLUE EYES--  CSN
SUITE MADAM BLUE--  Styx
SULTANS OF SWING--  Dire Straits

SUMMER BREEZE--  Seals & Crofts
SUMMER OF '69--  Bryan Adams
SUN KING MEDLEY--  Beatles

SUNDAY, BLOODY SUNDAY--  U2
SUNDAY PAPERS-- Joe Jackson
SUNNY AFTERNOON--  Kinks

This Sunday, Bob Stroud will be doing his annual Gone But Not Forgotten on his Rock and Roll Roots show on Chicago's Classic Rock, WDRV, 97.1 FM, the Drive.  It streams.  From 7 am to 10 am CST.  This will about those musicians who died in 2019.  You can also look at my Music Deaths in 2019 to get a more complete list.


Name That Tune (from the above):  "Got My First Real Six String Bought It At The Five-And-Dime."  Answer below.  --RoadDog


"Summer of '69"

Music Deaths: Howard "Sparky" Childress of the Sparkletones

HOWARD "SPARKY" CHILDRESS, 76

Died 2 December 2019

Guitar player with rockabilly band Sparkletones (also known as Joe Bennett & the Sparkletones.

Teenage band (they were ages 14-17) from Spartanburg, S.C.  Had a #17 in 1957 with "Black Slacks."  That kicked off with "BBBbRRrrr" and was 1:57 of try to keep up.   Also had a #42 in 1957 with "Penny  Loafers and Bobby Socks."

Give them a listen on You Tube.

Music Deaths: Irving Burgie, Wrote "Banana Boat (Day-O) and Other Calypso and Caribbean Folk Songs

IRVING BURGE, 95

Died 29 November 2019

Wrote many songs for Harry Bellafonte in the late 1950s.

Wrote the songs:

Banana Boat (Day-O)
Island in the Sun
Jamaica Farewell
Mary's Boy Child

His songs have sold over 100 million records around the world.  In 1966 wrote the lyrics to Barbados National Anthem.

Music Deaths: Douglas Lubahn, Bassist on Doors Albums

DOUGLAS LUBAHN, 71

Died 20 November 2019

American psychedelic, rock and jazz rock bassist.    Featured on three albums by the Doors.Played on their debut album and on seven of ten tracks of "Strange Days" album.  During those sessions, was invited to join the band full-time but turned it down.

Played on all but two tracks of "Waiting for the Sun."