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Thursday, Dec 18 2014, 6AM
We kick off our annual show in honor of musicians who have passed away with Jeff Buckley's haunting cover of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah". Stick with us as we remember many of the talented people who have died this year by playing their music.
We begin our remembrance with Benjamin Curtis, founder of The Secret Machines, School of Seven Bells, and UFOFU as well as drumming for Tripping Daisy, who died at 35 of T-cell Lymphoblastic Lymphoma, a rare type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Bell passed away December 29th 2013, after last year's memorial show. This song, a cover of Joey Ramone, was the last song Bell ever recorded.
Wendy Rene was a Stax Records soul singer in the 1960s. She was given her stage name by the late, great Otis Redding. Her work was recently re-released by Seattle's Light in the Attic records. She passed away December 16th from complications of a stroke.
Bobby Womack was a legendary soul singer, songwriter, and producer. He was slated to play Bumbershoot this year, but sadly passed away June 27th at the age of 70. He wrote and originally recorded the Rolling Stones first #1 hit "It's All Over Now", and perhaps his biggest hit was "Across 110th Street". Later in his 50-year career he also recorded and performed with Gorrillaz.
Portland band Pink Martini lost 43 year old percussionist Derek Rieth in August. Reith committed suicide.
Rusty York was an American musician and member of the Rockabilly Hall of Fame. Rusty York achieved Hall of Fame status with his Rockabilly song "Sugaree." He passed away January 26th, 2014.
The Everly Brothers were one of the biggest acts in early rock and roll era, and one of the most important vocal duos of all time. Phil Everly passed away January 13th, and is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as well as the Country Music Hall of Fame.
Gary Burger was the front man of the enigmatic early garage rock band The Monks. On March 14, Burger died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 72. The Monks were founded by GIs stationed in Germany in the '60s. While their one album, 1966's 'Black Monk Time,' didn't sell well, it became a cult classic and was re-issued by Light in the Attic in 2009 to great acclaim.
Bob Montgomery was a songwriter who wrote "Back in Baby's Arms" for Patsy Cline. He passed away December 4th.
Bob Montgomery was a songwriting partner and best friend of Buddy Holly, performing together as the duo "Buddy and Bob" while teenagers in high school. Initially, they were playing a variety of bluegrass music that evolved to the rockabilly sounds. Montgomery co-wrote some of Holly's songs, such as "Heartbeat", "Wishing", and "Love's Made a Fool of You" as well as the pop standard "Misty Blue". He passed away December 4th.
Gerry Goffin wrote this hit for The Monkees. One of the many songwriters who took up shop in New York's Brill Building, Goffin often worked with his then-wife Carole King, wrote lyrics for dozens of hits ranging from Little Eva's 'The Loco-Motion' to 'Will You Love Me Tomorrow' by the Shirelles. Following their divorce in 1969, he continued to write hits with other composers well into the '80s. He died on June 19 at the age of 75.
Another hit written by the late Gerry Goffin.
Legendary American folk singer Pete Seeger passed away January 27th of natural causes. Seeger, whose body of work included the songs "If I Had a Hammer," "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?" and "Turn! Turn! Turn!" influenced generations of singer-songwriters, was 94 years old.
Jesse Winchester, a singer-songwriter who penned hits for artists such as Patti Page, Elvis Costello, and Jimmy Buffett, died of cancer April 11th. He was 69. A true "songwriter's songwriter," Jesse Winchester was loved by such names as Bob Dylan and Elvis Costello, but moving to Canada to avoid the Vietnam War greatly affected his career. He died April 11 at the age of 69 following a long battle with cancer of the esophagus.
Carla Rotolo was an artist, folksinger and folk music researcher. In the early 1960s Carla was an assistant to the eminent folklorist and musicologist Alan Lomax . She was involved with the Greenwich Village folk scene, and helped launch Bob Dylan's career.
Ian Curtis of Joy Division was either friends or lovers (depending on who you ask) with Belgian-born journalist and music promoter Annik Honoré, who supposedly inspired this song. Honoré died July 3rd at the age of 56.
Michael H. Shamberg, who died November 1, was an American music video producer and filmmaker known for his work with the British band, New Order. Shamberg, who was closely associated with Factory Records and New Order throughout his career, was responsible for producing some of the band's best known music videos, including True Faith and Blue Monday.
John Gustafson, who memorably collaborated in the ’70s with Ian Gillan and Roxy Music, died September 11th at 72. He had once been deemed the “second most important bassist ever to come out of Liverpool” for his work in the groundbreaking early-’60s power trio the Big Three. Gustafson was also part of the well-received prog group Quatermass.
Frankie Knuckles, a record producer and DJ known as the Godfather of House music, died at 59. His debut album Beyond the Mix (1991), released on Virgin Records, contained "seminal work", "The Whistle Song", which was the first of four number ones on the US dance chart. Knuckles continued to work as a remixer through the 1990s and into the next decade.
Mark Bell was a former teenage breakdancer, Bell was one half of seminal Warp Records act LFO – one of the most important of the ‘bleep-n-bass’ acts to emerge from the North of England in the early 1990s, and the group behind the still-classic 1991 LP Frequencies - an easy pick for one of the best electronic LPs on the 1990s. Bell later went on to work extensively with Björk, collaborating on the bulk of her albums from 1997’s Homogenic onwards, and other notable collaborators include Depeche Mode (whose Exciter album he produced) and Deltron 3030.
DJ E-Z Rock was half of the team that put out the platinum hit "It Takes Two", On April 27, 2014 Biz Markie announced on Twitter that DJ E-Z Rock had died after suffering from a diabetic seizure. He was 46.
Dead at 57 on November 11th, Henry Lee Jackson, known by his stage name Big Bank Hank, was an American old school rapper and manager. Also known as Imp the Dimp, he was a member of the trio The Sugarhill Gang, the first hip hop act to have a hit with the cross-over single "Rapper's Delight" in the pop charts in 1979. He contributed to many documentaries based on the rap music industry.
Bobby Keys was an American saxophone player who performed with other musicians as a member of several horn sections of the 1970s. He appears on albums by The Rolling Stones, Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Who, Harry Nilsson, Delaney Bramlett, George Harrison, Eric Clapton and Joe Cocker, amongst other notable musicians. Keys was a touring musician from 1956 until his death December 2nd.
This song also features Bobby Keys on sax.
Ian Patrick 'Mac' McLagan was an English keyboard instrumentalist, best known as a member of the English Rock bands Small Faces and Faces. He also collaborated with The Rolling Stones and lead his own band from the late 1970s. He died December 3rd.
Dick Wagner, a guitarist for Alice Cooper and Lou Reed, died July 30th from a lung infection. The musician, who also wrote songs with KISS and Aerosmith, was 71. Wagner was best known as Alice Cooper's longtime guitarist, co-writing hits like 'Only Women Bleed' and 'You and Me.'
Guitarist Dick Wagner played on this song when Ace Frehley failed to show up to the studio.
Dick Wagner played a great guitar line on this Velvet Underground tune.
Scott Asheton, the drummer for the Stooges, died on March 15. Apart from frontman Iggy Pop, he was the only member to appear on all of their albums, including their reunion efforts. His brother Ron, who was the guitar player on most of the Stooges' records, passed away in 2009.
Marty Thau, 75, was an American rock and roll entrepreneur and music producer who died of renal failure February 13th. Thau was an American rock 'n' roll entrepreneur and music producer. He was best known as the founder of Red Star Records in 1977, arguably America's first full—fledged post '60s indie punk—new wave label and for being the manager of the New York Dolls and co-producer of Suicide's classic self-titled debut album. In addition to the New York Dolls, he worked with prominent punk and new wave artists such as The Ramones, Blondie, Brian Setzer, Richard Hell & The Voidoids, The Real Kids, The Fleshtones, Martin Rev and Walter Steding for his Red Star label.
Another band that Marty Thau championed.
Tommy Ramone, the drummer for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame band The Ramones, died of cancer of the bile duct. An emigre from Hungary, Ramone (who was born Erdelyi Tamas) was a recording engineer before taking up with The Ramones. Though he only played on the first three albums, he was considered seminal in the formation of the group's sound.
Billy Rath, the bassist best known for his time in the New York-based punk band Johnny Thunders and the Heartbreakers, passed away at the age of 66 after battling a long illness. Rath replaced original Heartbreakers bassist Richard Hell in 1976, prior to the recording of the band’s only studio album, 1977′s ‘L.A.M.F.’
Jamaican rocksteady/reggae pioneer John Holt was a reggae singer and songwriter who first found fame as a member of the Paragons, before establishing himself as a solo artist. This song was a hit for Blondie. He passed away October 19th at 67.
Maya Angelou was a hugely influential author, poet, dancer, actress and singer. In 1957 she released Miss Calypso, part of the American fascination with calypso music in the 50s popluarized by Harry Belafonte. She died May 28th at 86.
Bob Casale aka Bob2 was a founding member of Devo died of heart failure February 17th. The guitar player for the cult-favorite band played on every album the band put out and was part of the band from its inception. He was 61.
A Rolling Stones classic reimagined by Devo. RIP Bob 2.
Bobby Womack was an American singer-songwriter and musician. An active recording artist since the early 1960s, when he started his career as the lead singer of his family musical group the Valentinos and as Sam Cooke's backing guitarist, Womack's career spanned more than 50 years, during which he played in the styles of R&B, soul, rock and roll, doo-wop, gospel, and country.
Womack wrote and originally recorded the Rolling Stones' first UK No. 1 hit, "It's All Over Now" and New Birth's "I Can Understand It" among other songs. As a singer he is most notable for the hits "Lookin' For a Love", "That's The Way I Feel About Cha", "Woman's Gotta Have It", "Harry Hippie", "Across 110th Street" and his 1980s hit "If You Think You're Lonely Now".
Isaiah Randolph "Ikey" Owens (1975 - 2014) was an American keyboardist known for his work with The Mars Volta, Jack White and an array of bands from the Long Beach music scene. Owens died in Mexico while on Jack White tour.
Robert "Throb" Young, the founding guitarist of pioneering Scottish alternative rock band Primal Scream died September 9th at the age of 49. A member of Primal Scream from 1984 to 2006, Young also played bass on Felt's 1989 album Me and a Monkey on the Moon.
We started off with him, but he deserves another mention. Benjamin Curtis was an American guitarist, drummer, and songwriter. He was a founding member of the bands The Secret Machines, School of Seven Bells, and UFOFU. He was also drummer for the band Tripping Daisy from 1997 to 1999.
Rick Parashar (December 13, 1963 – August 14, 2014) was an American record producer. He and his brother Raj founded and built London Bridge Studio in Seattle, WA, in 1985. Aside from composing and performing his own music, he also worked with and developed many local Seattle artists, and was central to the grunge scene. Helmed by Parashar's production and recording services, London Bridge became the center of the Seattle music scene. His credits include Multi-Platinum releases for Temple of the Dog, Alice in Chains, Pearl Jam, Blind Melon and Dinosaur Jr. Parrasher also plays keys on this tune.
Another important album recorded by Rick Parasher at Seatle's London Bridge Studios.
We close out our tribute to artists who passed in 2014 with this fitting tune from Jim Carroll, who himself passed away in 2009.