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Thursday, Dec 13 2018, 2PM
RIP Ed King (September 14, 1949 – August 22, 2018 - aged 68) Prior to his work with Lynyrd Skynrd. King was a founding member of the LA-based band Strawberry Alarm Clock. This mid-1960s psychedelic pop band was most famous for their 1967 single “Incense and Peppermints.”
RIP Mickey Jones (June 10, 1941 — February 7, 2018 - aged 76) His career as a drummer had him backing up acts such as Trini Lopez, Johnny Rivers, and Kenny Rogers and The First Edition, as well as Bob Dylan on his 1966 world tour. Jones had 17 gold records from his musical career of over two decades.
RIP Brian Henry Hoooper (Died April 20, 2018 at the age of 55) In a career spanning three decades, Hooper toured extensively, worked with Kim Salmon and the Surrealists, Rowland S. Howard, Penny Ikinger, Spencer P. Jones, Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds and many more, as well as becoming vital to the Beasts of Bourbon's uniquely swampy, uncompromising sound.
RIP John Henry "Jabo" Starks (October 26, 1937 – May 1, 2018 - aged 80) Jabo Starks was one of two drummers closely identified with James Brown during his heyday in the 1960s and ’70s. The other was Clyde Stubblefield. Both drummers played on some of Brown’s best-known albums, including “Sex Machine,” “I Got the Feelin’,” “Say It Loud — I’m Black and I’m Proud” and “Cold Sweat.” Starks drummed on singles like “Get Up I Feel Like Being a Sex Machine,” “Super Bad” and “The Payback.”
All those songs, like most of Brown’s work, have had long afterlives. They have been sampled in songs by hip-hop artists like L. L. Cool J, Kendrick Lamar, A Tribe Called Quest, the Roots, the Black Eyed Peas and Kool Moe Dee.
Jabo Starks died on May 1, 2018 at his home in Mobile, Ala at the age of 80. He had leukemia and myelodysplastic syndromes and had been in hospice care for about a week.
Jabo Starks played with James Brown's backing band (who also recorded their own music) through1975
Mr. Starks joined Bobby (Blue) Bland’s band in 1959 and played on some of his hits, including “Turn On Your Love Light,” “I Pity the Fool” and “That’s the Way Love Is.” He left to join Brown’s band in 1965 and stayed with him until the mid-1970s, when he began touring and recording with B. B. King.
RIP Scott Hutchison (20 November 1981 – 10 May 2018). as a Scottish singer, songwriter, guitarist and artist. He was the founding member and primary songwriter of the indie rock band Frightened Rabbit, with whom he recorded five studio albums, and created the artwork for each release. Hutchison studied illustration at the Glasgow School of Art, before forming Frightened Rabbit in 2003. Initially a solo project, Hutchison collaborated with his brother Grant on the band's debut album, Sing the Greys (2006), and recorded the band's critical breakthrough, The Midnight Organ Fight (2008), as a three-piece, following the collapse of a romantic relationship.
Hutchison disappeared on 9 May 2018, and his body was found the following day on the banks of the Firth of Forth. Presumably taking his own life. If You or anyone you know is in crisis and needs immediate help, call the toll-free, 24-hour hotline of the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (1-800-273-8255)
William "Billy" McCarthy played this in Tribute to Scott Hutchison of Frightened Rabbits. Recorded October 12th, 2018
RIP Dolores O'Riordan (died on Monday, January 15th in London at the age of 46) The Cranberries were formed in 1989 under the name Cranberry Saw Us. They changed their name after O’Riordan took over as lead singer in 1990. In the next few years, they sold over 40 million records worldwide., with eight top 20 singles on the Modern Rock Tracks chart. O'Riordan died while in a London for a recording session as a result of accidental drowning in a hotel bathtub due to sedation by alcohol intoxication. She was buried on January 23rd after a service at Saint Ailbe's Roman Catholic Church, Ballybricken, County Limerick.
RIP Pete Shelley (17 April 1955- 6 December 2018 Aged 63) Peter Campbell McNeish, AKA Pete Shelley. Best Known as the leader of Buzzcocks. Shelley formed Buzzcocks with Howard Devoto after the two met at Bolton Institute of Technology in1975 and subsequently traveled to London to see the Sex Pistols. Then debuted in 1976 in Manchester, opening for the Sex Pistols.
RIP Hugh Masekela (April 4 1939 – 23 January 23 2018) In 1984, Masekela released the album Techno Bush. The album’s single, "Don't Go Lose It Baby," peaked at number two for two weeks on the dance charts. In 1987, he had a hit single with "Bring Him Back Home". The song became an unofficial anthem of the anti-apartheid movement and an anthem for the movement to free Nelson Mandela.
In 1987, Hugh Masekela appeared with Paul Simon on his Graceland album tour alongside South African musicians Ladysmith Black Mambazo and again in 2012 on the 25th anniversary of the Grammy Award-winning album's release.
RIP Klaasje van der Wal, the Shocking Blue bass player, Klaasje (“Claw-Shay”) van der Wal died on February 13th at the age of 69. Shocking Blue was a fairly influential Dutch psych rock band formed in The Hague in 1967. They had numerous international hit singles and sold over 13.5 million records by 1973 before disbanding. But most famously, the first Nirvana song every played on KEXP was a Shocking Blue cover, called “Love Buzz.”
RIP Mike Carroll, longtime Austin musician Mike Carroll, singer for 1980s blues-punk garage band Poison 13 and later with the Lord High Fixers and Total Sound Group Direct Action Committee, died after a weeks-long battle with bacterial meningitis on January 17th. Carroll had been a roadie for seminal Austin punk band the Big Boys in the early 1980s when two members of that band, guitarist Tim Kerr and bassist Chris Gates, teamed with him to form new band that also included guitarist Bill Anderson and drummer Jim Kanan. Poison 13 appeared on the Austin episode of MTV’s “The Cutting Edge” in 1985 alongside acts such as the True Believers, Daniel Johnston and Timbuk3
RIP Randy Rampage (February 21, 1960 – August 14, 2018 - aged 58) Randall Desmond Archibald AKA Randy Rampage, was a founding member, bass player and vocalist of the Vancouver hardcore band D.O.A., and the lead singer of the thrash metal band Annihilator in 1988–1989 and again from 1998 to 2000. D.O.A. was one of the main early touring punk bands that influenced the early Seattle punk and hardcore scene. They played at Seattle’s first punk club The Bird in 1978 and are credited with popularizing the term Hardcore. Rampage played on D.O.A.'s seminal early punk albums Something Better Change and Hardcore '81, as well as 2002’s Win the Battle and 2007’s Northern Avenger.
RIP Tony Kinman (May 4th, 2018 aged 63) Along with his brother Chip, Kinman was a founding member of the California punk band The Dils. Their song “You’re Not Blank” was used in the 1978 Cheech & Chong movie Up In Smoke, during the battle of the bands scene.
In 1981, the brothers relocated to Austin and formed the country punk band Rank & File with Alejandro Escovedo. The band released two albums, Long Gone Dead (1984) and Rank and File (1987) before disbanding in 1987.
Tony and his brother Chip continued performing in Austin-based groups Blackbird and Cowboy Nation.
RIP Charlie Quintana (January 29, 1962, El Paso, Texas – March 12, 2018 - aged 56) also known as Chalo Quintana or Chalo, was an American rock and punk drummer. He is best known as a founding member of the band The Plugz and as the drummer for the punk rock band Social Distortion from 2000 to 2009.
He was a member of 1970s latino punk band The Plugz (which became a popular roots band in the 1980s), Cruzados, The Havalinas, Izzy Stradlin & the Ju Ju Hounds, and toured and/or recorded with Joan Osborne, John Doe, Cracker, Bob Dylan, Mark Curry, Jimmy and the Mustangs, 47C and many others. Quintana joined Social Distortion in 2000 as the replacement for Chuck Biscuits (of D.O.A. and Danzig)
RIP Jill Janus (September 2, 1975 – August 14, 2018 aged 42) Jill Janus was the lead singer of American heavy metal bands Huntress, The Starbreakers and Chelsea Girls. In 2009, she recruited members of the metal band Professor to join her newly formed band Huntress, with whom she released three albums and toured extensively. While she was in Huntress, Janus stated that each Huntress album respectively focused on a part of her life. Janus based each of the Huntress's albums on a part of the Triple Goddess in neopaganism. Janus took her own life at the age of 42 near Portland, Oregon. In her own words, Janus was a “longtime sufferer of mental illness” and spoke publicly about these challenges in hopes of guiding others to address and overcome their mental illness. If you or someone you know is in crisis and needs immediate help, call the toll-free, 24-hour hotline of the NAtional Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (1-800-273-8255)
RIP Aretha Franklin (August 16th, aged 76) Franklin was born on March 25, 1942 in Memphis, Tenn. Music was prominent in her home. Her father C.L. Franklin was a Baptist Minister, often called the man with a “million-dollar voice” for incorporating singing into his sermons. Her mother, Barbara Siggers Franklin, was a pianist and vocalist. Her mother passed away in 1948 and Aretha was often in the care of gospel singer Mahalia Jackson, who would become a mentor to the future Queen of Soul. Franklin has been the reigning Queen of Soul since the launch of her musical career in the 1960s. She is an 18-time Grammy Award winner, and the first female performer to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Franklin recorded 112 charted singles on Billboard, 17 top ten pop singles, 100 R&B entries and 20 number-one R&B singles, becoming the most charted female artist in the chart's history. Franklin is one of the best-selling musical artists of all time, having sold over 75 million records worldwide.
Franklin was continually celebrated for her accomplishments as a musician and as an activist, winning Grammys as recent as 2008, and receiving the Kennedy Center Honors in 1994.
RIP Yvonne Staples (April 10, 2018 Aged 80) Yvonne Staples was an R&B singer, best known for her work with her family band, The Staple Singers.
Yvonne was not an original member of the Staple Singers when it was formed by Roebuck “Pops” Staples in 1948, or when they began recording in 1953. However, when her brother Pervis was drafted for the Vietnam War, Yvonne stepped in to sing baritone. The first Staple Singers album to feature Yvonne was 1971’s The Staple Swingers.
Around this time, the Staple Singers began to enjoy success with a mainstream R&B audience. They scored 10 top 10 R&B hits over the course of the 1970s, with singles like “I’ll Take You There” and “Let’s Do It Again.”
In 1999, Yvonne was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Staple Singers. The group also won a lifetime achievement honor at the Grammy Awards in 2005.
Yvonne Staples died of colon cancer
RIP Charles Neville (December 28, 1938 – April 26, 2018 - aged 79) Charles was an American R&B and jazz musician best known as part of The Neville Brothers. As an influential saxophone player, Neville was known as “Charlie the horn man.” Charles's saxophone playing was especially notable on the title track of their best-selling album, Yellow Moon, and helped earn the group its only Grammy, for best pop instrumental performance, for the album's, "Healing Chant".
Matt "Guitar" Murphy (June 15, 2018) was the guitarist for The Blues Brothers and also portrayed the husband of Aretha Franklin's character in the Blues Brothers' movie. n 1948, Murphy moved to Chicago, where he joined the Howlin' Wolf Band, which at the time featured Little Junior Parker.[2] In 1952, Murphy recorded with Little Junior Parker and Ike Turner, resulting in the release, “You’re My Angel”/“Bad Women, Bad Whiskey”(Modern 864), credited to Little Junior Parker and the Blue Flames.
RIP Hardy Fox Hardy Fox (October 30, 2018.) primary composer and producer for the avant-garde American arts collective The Residents. Throughout the group's existence, the individual members of The Residents have attempted to operate under anonymity, preferring instead to have attention focused on their art output. In public, the group appears silent and costumed, often wearing eyeball helmets, top hats and tails—a long-lasting costume now recognized as its signature iconography.
In 2017, Hardy Fox, long known to be associated with the Residents, identified himself as the band's co-founder and primary composer. At the same time, he revealed himself to be the artist operating under the pseudonym Charles Bobuck. In September 2018 Fox added to his website the dates "1945–2018", although he was known to be alive (but unwell) after the dates were published. Fox died on October 30, 2018, from brain cancer, aged 73
RIP Mark E. Smith Mark E. Smith, the one constant in The Fall, died on January 24th after a long battle against lung and kidney cancer at 60 years old. His health had been particularly bad during 2017, which led to wheelchair-bound performances. A heavy smoker, Smith had long suffered from throat and respiratory problems.
Quite possibly the most prolific band of the British post-punk movement, they released thirty-two studio albums as of 2017, and more than three times that number when one includes live albums and compilations. Their final album, New Facts Emerge, was released last July.
RIP Nick Knox (March 26, 1953 – June 15, 2018 - age 60) an American drummer, best known for his work with The Cramps.
Having replaced Miriam Linna, Knox was drummer of The Cramps from 1977 to 1991. This was during the peak of the band’s popularity, and Knox was credited with bringing a new tightness to their sound. He stayed on longer than any of the band’s other drummers.
Knox died of cardiogenic shock
RIP Rachid Taha (18 September 1958 – 12 September 2018 Aged- 59) Taha was born in 1958 in Algeria and moved to Lyon, France with his family at age 10. His Algerian roots played an integral role in his formative music. In his early 20s, he founded the nightclub Les Refoulés (“The Rejects”) [PRONOUNCED: lay ray-fool], where he created multi-cultural mash-ups by splicing elements of Arabic pop songs with backbeats from artists like Led Zeppelin, Bo Diddley and Kraftwerk.
Singing in both English and Arabic, Taha rose to prominence as the frontman of Carte de Sejour [PRONOUNCED: cart day say-joor], citing the Clash as a chief influence. He famously met the band in 1981 before a gig in Paris and handed them a demo tape – an event that Taha believes may have inspired the Clash’s 1982 hit “Rock the Casbah.” (He covered the song as a solo artist in 2004, re-titling it “Rock El Casbah.”)
RIP Tony Joe White (July 23, 1943 – October 24, 2018 - aged 75) In 1967, White signed with Monument Records and dabbled in a variety of genres including rock and roll, country and western, and rhythm and blues. Over the next three years, White released four singles with no commercial success in the U.S. "Polk Salad Annie" was written off as a failure by his record label, although it eventually became White's biggest hit.
He released his debut album, Black and White, in 1969. He released 20 albums over the course of his career, but none were as successful as the single “Polk Salad Annie,” which was made famous by Elvis Presley and Tom Jones.
Others who recorded White’s songs included Tina Turner, Ray Charles, Eric Clapton, Willie Nelson, Rod Stewart, Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Dusty Springfield, Nancy Wilson, Etta James, Isaac Hayes, Hank Williams Jr., and more. Common and Kanye West both sampled his song “Stud-Spider.”
RIP Baba Oje (October 26, 2018- aged 87) Arrested Development was formed in 1988 by rapper and producer Todd Thomas ("Speech") and turntablist Timothy Barnwell ("Headliner"). Baba Oje is the group's spiritual elder. He and Speech met at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee when they were both students. Baba Oje was 57 years old at the time.
The group's debut album, 3 Years, 5 Months and 2 Days in the Life Of..., was the number-one album in the Village Voice's 1992 Pazz and Jop Critic's Poll and in The Wire's 1992 Critic's choice. The group won two Grammy Awards in 1993 for Best New Artist and Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group. The debut album sold over 6 million copies worldwide and greatly influenced acts such as The Black Eyed Peas and The Fugees.
A few months later, the group was approached by film director Spike Lee, to compose a song for his upcoming biopic based on the life of Malcolm X. The group then recorded "Revolution", which appeared on the oldies-dominated soundtrack for the film, as well as the second half of its closing credits when the film was released in 1992.
RIP Lovebug Starski (May 16, 1960 – February 8, 2018 - age 57) Kevin Smith AKA Lovebug Starski recorded his first single, "Positive Life," on the Tayster record label in 1981, which was sampled in MARRS’ “Pump Up the Volume.” He released his first album, House Rocker, in 1986, which featured his most successful single, Amityville (The House on the Hill).”
He is one of two people who may have coined the phrase “hip hop.” He claimed to have come up with the phrase while improvising lines with Cowboy of the Furious Five at a party for a mutual friend.
Smith was born in the Bronx and began his career as a record boy in 1971, just as hip hop was coming to prominence in the area. He became the DJ at the Disco Fever club in 1978 and was known for bridging the gap between disco and hip hop in clubs at the time
RIP Jóhann Jóhannsson (19 September 1969 – 9 February 2018) Jóhann was an Icelandic composer who wrote music for a wide array of media including theatre, dance, television and films. His work is characterized by its blending of traditional orchestration with contemporary electronic elements.
He started his musical career in the late 1980s in the proto-shoegaze band Daisy Hill Puppy Farm. They released a couple of EPs which were played by British DJ John Peel and received a fan letter from Steve Albini. He went on to work as a guitarist and producer for Icelandic indie rock bands, like Olympia, Unun and Ham.
Jóhann Jóhannsson's Father paying Tribute to his son
Some of his works in film include the original scores for Denis Villeneuve's Prisoners, Sicario, and Arrival, and James Marsh's The Theory of Everything. Jóhann was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Score for both The Theory of Everything and Sicario, and won a Golden Globe for Best Original Score for The Theory of Everything. He was a music and sound consultant on Mother!, directed by Darren Aronofsky in 2017. His scores for Mary Magdalene and Mandy were released posthumously.
In 1999, Jóhann co-founded Kitchen Motors; a think tank, art organization and music label that encouraged interdisciplinary collaborations between artists from punk, jazz, classical, metal and electronic music. His own sound arose out of these musical experimentations.
Jóhann Jóhannsson with the American Contemporary Music Ensemble performing live in the KEXP studio. Recorded April 20, 2017: www.youtube.com
RIP Richard Swift (March 16, 1977 – July 3, 2018) Richard Swift was a producer, multi-instrumentalist, and singer-songwriter. In addition to releasing music as a solo artist, Swift was also a member of the Shins from 2011 to 2016, was the touring bassist for the Black Keys in 2014, played drums for the Arcs and produced numerous albums with the likes of Foxygen, Guster, the Mynabirds, Sharon Van Etten, and of course Damien Jurado among others. Swift founded and owned National Freedom, a recording studio in Cottage Grove, Oregon.
Swift died on July 3rd in Tacoma at the age of 41. Swift's family wrote that he “...suffered from alcohol addiction, and it's ultimately what took his life.”
Pickwick covering Lady Luck originally by Richard Swift who also Produced the album.
RIP Avicii AKA Tim Bergling (April 20, 2018- Aged 28) At 16, Bergling began posting his remixes on electronic music forums, which led to his first record deal.[3] He rose to prominence in 2011 with his single "Levels". His debut studio album, True (2013), blended electronic music with elements of multiple genres and received generally positive reviews. It peaked in the top ten in more than fifteen countries and topped international dance charts; the lead single, "Wake Me Up", topped most music markets in Europe and reached number four in the United States.Bergling retired from touring in 2016 due to health problems, having suffered stress and poor mental health for several years.[12] On 20 April 2018, Avicii was found dead in Muscat, Oman. He was buried on 8 June in Stockholm, Sweden.
RIP (January 19, 1992 – September 7, 2018- aged 26) Mac Miller was a rapper and producer from Pittsburgh. A prominent name in hip-hop in the 2010s, his work covered a significant amount of stylistic ground in under a decade. Outside of his own musical work, Miller was a cornerstone of Los Angeles’ hip-hop scene; his Studio City home was famously the best hangout spot in town for musicians and where many now A-listers met and cut collaborations including, Chance The Rapper, Anderson .Paak, Earl Sweatshirt, SZA, Thundercat, Travis Scott, Vince Staples, and ScHoolboy Q among others.
Miller died on September 7 at the age of 26 of an overdose of fentanyl, cocaine, and alcohol. His struggles with substance abuse had been well documented, both in his music and interviews, for many years. His death was met with an outpouring of grief from the hip-hop community - in particular in Los Angeles and his hometown of Pittsburgh
RIP Bernadettte Carroll (21 June 1945 - 5 October 2018 - aged 74) ernadette formed the group The Starlets with Barbara and Jiggs Allbut and Lynda Malzone in 1959. Their first recording, on the Astro label, was "PS I Love You."
After The Starlets disbanded, Bernadette made her first solo recording for the Julia label, "My Heart Stood Still." She then joined with Tommy DeVito and Nick Massi of The Four Seasons to record the song "Nicky," which was Bernadette's first single for the Laurie label. Afterwards, she recorded the national hit "Party Girl," which was produced and co-written by Ernie Maresca.
Throughout the 60s, Bernadette was a backup singer for Connie Francis, Patty Duke, Bobby Hebb and Frankie Valli.
In 1968, Bernadette became the lead singer of The Angels and recorded four sides for RCA Records, including "The Boy With The Green Eyes," written by Neil Diamond. She toured with them for one year.
Known as the French Frank Sinatra who sold over 180 million records over his career. He was advised by Edith Piaf in his early career
RIP Clarence Fountain (June 3rd- aged 88)
The Blind Boys of Alabama (or simply Blind Boys of Alabama) is an American five-time Grammy Award-winning gospel group. They first sang together in the school chorus in 1939 at the Alabama Institute for the Negro Blind in Talladega, Alabama. All members were around 9 years old at the time. The earliest version of the group was known as "The Happyland Jubilee Singers" and originally performed for World War II-era soldiers at training camps in the South. The group's first professional performance was on June 10, 1944. In 1945, the members dropped out of school and began touring the gospel circuit.
The Blind Boys have toured for seven decades and created an extensive discography.
In 1969, Fountain left the group for a decade to try to make it on his own, and the group re-formed with all the original members in the late 1970s.
In 1994, the National Endowment for the Arts awarded a National Heritage Fellowship to Clarence Fountain and the Five Blind Boys of Alabama.
Fountain stopped performing on stage in 2007 but continued to record with the group in studio sessions.
RIP Ralph Carney plays Sax on this record. He was a frequent collaborator with Tom Waits and died December 16th, 2017
RIP Aretha Franklin. Franklin has been the reigning Queen of Soul since the launch of her musical career in the 1960s. She is an 18-time Grammy Award winner, and the first female performer to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Franklin recorded 112 charted singles on Billboard, 17 top ten pop singles, 100 R&B entries and 20 number-one R&B singles, becoming the most charted female artist in the chart's history. Franklin is one of the best-selling musical artists of all time, having sold over 75 million records worldwide.