November 30, 1931 - December 27, 2019
Jack Sheldon was an American jazz trumpeter, singer, and actor remembered for singing on several episodes of TV's Schoolhouse Rock! cartoon show. His vocals are heard on songs such as "Conjunction Junction" and "I'm Just a Bill".
Sheldon rose to prominence in the West Coast jazz movement of the 1950s, performing and recording with such figures as Stan Kenton, Art Pepper, Gerry Mulligan, and Curtis Counce. Sheldon played the trumpet, sang, and performed on The Merv Griffin Show,
where he became the music director and a close sidekick of Merv.
Marie Fredriksson
May 30, 1958 - December 9, 2019
Marie Fredriksson, Swedish singer for the 1980s pop band Roxette, has died of cancer at age 61.
Roxette is remembered for their 1989 hit "The Look" and also for "It Must Have Been Love" featured on the soundtrack of the 1990 romantic comedy "Pretty Woman."
Fredriksson died on December 9, 2019 in Djursholm, Sweden at the age of 61 from complications from a brain tumor.
Doug Lubahn
December 19, 1947 - November 20, 2019
Doug Lubahn, who play bass guitar on three Doors albums and refused an invitation to join the band full-time, died at the age of 71.
Lubah can be heard on 1967's Strange Days, 1968's Waiting for the Sun and 1969's Soft Parade. He also worked with Pat Benatar, Billy Squier and Ted Nugent, among others.
The Doors never had a permanent bassist. Keyboardist Ray Manzarek played a Fender-Rhodes piano bass, but his bass parts were not considered strong enough during recording, so studio bassists were brought in.
Lubahn was introduced to The Doors by producer Paul Rothchild, with whom he was working on a record for his band, Clear Light. During the Strange Days sessions, Rothchild asked Lubahn, at the band's request, to officially join The Doors. He declined, as he wished to remain with Clear Light.
Robert Freeman
December 5, 1936 - November 7, 2019
| 10/26/2019 | 71 | Paul Barrere | Little Feat, guitarist | | Los Angeles, California |
Paul Barrere
July 3, 1948 - October 26, 2019
Paul Barrere, a member of Little Feat, has died at age 71. He had been battling liver cancer.
Barrere joined Little Feat in 1972, three years after the band was founded by Lowell George. Barrere later played with Phil Lesh and Friends and also toured with Bob Dylan.
George Chambers
September 26, 1931 - October 12, 2019
George 'Pops' Chambers, singer and bassist with the Chambers Brothers, has died at the age of 88.
The Chambers Brothers were best known for the 1968 single 'Time Has Come Today,' which blended traditional blues and gospel influences with cutting-edge psychedelic rock. The brothers
got their start in music as members of the choir at their Baptist church while growing up in Mississippi. George relocated to Los Angeles in the mid-Fifties after his time in the US army. His brothers Lester, Willie and Joe soon followed him West.
The four brothers spent several years touring around Southern California as a gospel outfit, but by the Sixties they were running in folk circles and even earned a slot at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival. Eventually, the Chambers Brothers added Brian Keenan on drums, making them one of just a handful of interracial groups at the time.
Keenan suffered a fatal heart attack in 1985.
Ginger Baker
August 19, 1939 - October 6, 2019
Ginger Baker, the dynamic drummer who helped bring Cream to the forefront of Rock 'n' Roll, has died at age 80.
Baker formed Cream along with Eric Clapton and the late Jack Bruce. He also played with Blind Faith, Hawkwind and Fela Kuti in a long and varied career.
Born Peter Edward Baker in Lewisham, south London, he was nicknamed Ginger for his flaming red hair. He was an avid bicyclist and hoped to compete in the Tour de France, but at age 16 he had a run in with a taxicab.
His strong legs led him pursue drumming instead. In 1962, joined Alexis Korner's Blues Incorporated on the recommendation of Charlie Watts, who left the band to join the Rolling Stones. Baker then joined with
bassist Jack Bruce in the Graham Bond Organisation. International fame came when Eric Clapton joined with them to form Cream.
Cream was one of rock music's first "supergroups", fusing blues and psychedelia on songs like Strange Brew, Sunshine of Your Love, Badge and I Feel Free. They sold more than 35 million albums and were awarded the world's first ever platinum disc for their LP Wheels of Fire.
The group split after two years and four albums, with a farewell concert at London's Royal Albert Hall in 1968.
Following Cream's demise, Baker teamed up with Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood to form Blind Faith, followed by the ambitious 10-piece Ginger Baker's Air Force, which combined his interests in jazz and Afro-fusion.
In 1992 Baker played with the hard rock group Masters of Reality with bassist Googe and singer/guitarist Chris Goss on the album Sunrise on the Sufferbus.
His memoir Hellraiser: The Autobiography of the World's Greatest Drummer was published in 2009.
Baker died on October 6, 2019 in a hospital in Canterbury, England. He was 80.
| 9/23/2019 | 78 | Robert Hunter | Grateful Dead, lyricist | | San Rafael, California |
Robert Hunter
June 23, 1941 - September 23, 2019
Robert Hunter, who wrote some of the Grateful Dead's most iconic lyrics, has died at the age of 78.
Hunter met 18-year-old Jerry Garcia when an old girlfriend - who Garcia was now dating - introduced them. The two began playing music together and formed a short-lived duo called "Bob and Jerry."
Hunter began contributing lyrics to the Grateful Dead in 1967. His words are heard in songs ranging from "Friend of the Devil" and "Ripple" to "Dark Star" and "Touch of Grey."
When the Grateful Dead was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994, Hunter was with the band, becoming the only non-performing band member to have been given such a honor.
Following the dissolution of the Grateful Dead in 1995, Hunter successfully continued his writing career, working on new songs with Jim Lauderdale, Elvis Costello, Cesar Rosas, and Bruce Hornsby, among others. He occasionally played solo acoustic guitar and
opened for the regrouped Dead for their 2004 tour.
Hunter died at his home in San Rafael, California on September 23, 2019, leaving behind his wife Maureen, whom he married in 1982.
| 9/15/2019 | 75 | Ric Ocasek | Cars, singer/songwriter | | New York, New York |
Ric Ocasek
March 23, 1944 - September 15, 2019
Ric Ocasek, lead singer, songwriter and rhythm guitarist for the New Wave rock band Cars, has died at age 75.
Richard Theodore Otcasek was born in Baltimore, Maryland. When he was 16 years old, his family moved to Cleveland, Ohio where his father worked as a systems analyst for NASA.
Ocasek met future Cars bassist Benjamin Orr in Cleveland in 1965 when he saw Orr perform on the Big 5 Show, a local musical variety program. They played together in various bands in Columbus and Ann Arbor, Michigan, before relocating to Boston in the early 1970s.
In Boston, they formed a folk rock band called Milkwood and released one album, How's the Weather, on Paramount Records in early 1973.
Ocasek founded the Cars in late 1976, and went on to record numerous hit songs from 1978 to 1988. He played rhythm guitar and sang lead vocals for a majority of songs (bassist Benjamin Orr was lead vocalist on the remaining tracks).
Orr died of cancer in 2000.
In 2010, Ocasek reunited with the surviving original members of the Cars to record their first album in 24 years, titled Move Like This, which was released on May 10, 2011.
In 2018, Ocasek was inducted into the Rock and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Cars.
Ocasek was found dead at his New York City townhouse by his wife Czech-born supermodel Paulina Porizkova on September 15, 2019. He had been recovering from surgery.
| 9/13/2019 | 70 | Eddie Money | singer/songwriter | Esophageal cancer | Los Angeles, California |
Eddie Money
March 21, 1949 - September 13, 2019
Singer Eddie Money, remembered for 80's hits including "Two Tickets to Paradise" and "Take Me Home Tonight," has died at age 70.
Born Edward Joseph Mahoney in Brooklyn, New York, he developed an early interest in singing and played with several high school bands.
At the age of 18, he tried to follow in the footsteps of his police officer grandfather, father, and brother as a New York City Police Department trainee but quit to pursue a career in music.
In 1968, he moved to Berkeley, California and changed his name to Eddie Money. After gaining the attention of promoter Bill Graham, he secured a recording contract with Columbia Records, releasing his debut album in 1977.
The album scored with singles such as "Baby Hold On" and "Two Tickets to Paradise."
| 9/5/2019 | 76 | Jimmy Johnson | studio musician | Kidney Failure | Florence, Alabama |
Jimmy Johnson
February 4, 1943 - September 5, 2019
Jimmy Ray Johnson, a member of the Muscle Shoals, Alabama group of studio musicians known as the "Swampers," had died at age 76.
The Swampers made contributions to hits by Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett, Percy Sledge, the Rolling Stones, Paul Simon and dozens of other acts in the 1960s and '70s.
Reb Foster
March 18, 1936 - August 25, 2019
James Dennis Bruton, known professionally as Reb Foster, was a radio DJ who worked at a variety of stations, settling in at KRLA in Los Angeles in 1962. He was involved in the Beatles'
arrival in Los Angeles in August, 1964. He also owned the Revelaire Club in Redondo Beach, California
In the 1970s, he managed bands including The Turtles, Three Dog Night, Everpresent Fullness, and Steppenwolf.
He retired in 1987 and returned to live in his hometown, Amarillo, Texas.
| 8/1/2019 | 32 | Zombie Boy | Lady Gaga | Suicide | Montreal, Canada |
Zombie Boy
August 7, 1985 - August 1, 2019
Heavily tattooed model/actor Rick Genest, known as Zombie Boy, has died near Montreal of a reported suicide.
Zombie Boy is remembered for his appearance in
Lady Gaga's 2011 video for the song 'Born This Way'.
Genest was found dead after a fall from the balcony at his Plateau-Mont-Royal apartment. Some relatives and friends believe it was an accident, but police classified the death as a suicide.
No note was left and his autopsy found no trace of drugs.
| 7/22/2019 | 81 | Art Neville | Meters / Neville Brothers | | New Orleans, Louisiana |
Art Neville
December 17, 1937 - July 22, 2019
Arthur Lanon Neville, a member of the Neville Brothers and a fixture of the New Orleans music scene, has died. He was 81.
Art Neville was a founding member of The Meters, an influential New Orleans Band. In 1978 Neville and his brothers Cyril, Aaron and Charles formed The Neville Brothers.
| 7/16/2019 | 66 | Johnny Clegg | Savuka | Pancreatic cancer | Johannesburg, South Africa |
Johnny Clegg
June 7, 1953 - July 16, 2019
Johnny Clegg, a South African musician who founded the band Savuka, and also recorded as a solo act, has died at 66.
Clegg, sometimes called "The White Zulu", was an important figure in South African popular music and resistance to apartheid.
His songs mixed Zulu with English lyrics and African music with various Western styles.
| 6/29/2019 | 72 | Gary Duncan | Quicksilver Messenger Service, guitarist/singer | Fall | Woodland, California |
Gary Duncan
September 4, 1946 - June 29, 2019
Gary Duncan, guitarist for the San Francisco based psychedelic band Quicksilver Messenger Service, has died at age 72.
He had fallen a few days earlier, suffered a seizure and multiple cardiac arrests and never regained consciousness.
Quicksilver Messenger Service's founding lineup consisted of Duncan, Freiberg, guitarist John Cipollina (Who died in 1989), drummer Greg Elmore (Duncan's bandmate in their former outfit, The Brogues) and multi-instrumentalist Jim Murray.
Following a breakout set at the 1967 Monterey International Pop Festival, Quicksilver Messenger Service signed with Capitol Records.
Their 1968 eponymous debut album and 1969's Happy Trails both featured Duncan. He then left the band for a year and was replaced by keyboardist Nicky Hopkins.
Duncan rejoined the band for a New Year's Eve show at Winterland; he brought Dino Valenti, with whom he been collaborating, with him. Hopkins stayed on for next two albums, recording Just for Love and What About Me with the band in Hawaii.
These sessions produced the band's biggest hit "Fresh Air."
In 1975, the original lineup reunited for the album "Solid Silver." The opening cut, "Gypsy Lights" was written and sung by Duncan.
| 6/23/2019 | 100 | Dave Bartholomew | trumpeter/bandleader/composer | Heart Failure | Metairie, Louisiana |
Dave Bartholomew
December 24, 1918 - June 23, 2019
Dave Bartholomew was a trumpeter, bandleader, composer, arranger, and record producer in the New Orleans music scene.
Bartholomew was active in many musical genres, including rhythm and blues, big band, swing music, rock and roll, New Orleans jazz, and Dixieland.
He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991.
| 6/21/2019 | 76 | Elliot Roberts | Music manager / record executive | | Los Angeles, California |
Elliot Roberts
February 25, 1943 - June 21, 2019
Elliot Roberts (born Elliot Rabinowitz in the Bronx, New York City) was a music manager, record executive and a founder of Asylum Records.
Roberts helped develop the careers of many singer/songwriters from the late 1960s and 1970s. He was Neil Young's manager for over 50 years.
He also managed singer Joni Mitchell for many years, as well as
Crosby, Stills and Nash, America, Tom Petty, Tracy Chapman and many others.
Roberts formed the Geffen-Roberts Company with David Geffen, them helped Geffen to create Asylum Records in 1970. In 1972, Asylum merged with Elektra Records to form Elektra/Asylum Records. After splitting with Geffen, Roberts set up Lookout Management.
Details on the cause of his death are not available.
| 6/6/2019 | 77 | Dr. John | pianist/singer/songwriter | Heart Failure | |
Dr. John
November 20, 1941 - June 6, 2019
Dr. John, legendary New Orleans musician, has died at age 77.
Born Malcolm John Rebennack in New Orleans, and nicknamed "Mac," he was better known by his adopted stage name of Dr. John.
When he was about 13 years old, Rebennack met blues pianist Professor Longhair and soon began performing with him. At age 16,
Rebennack quit high school to focus on playing music. He performed with several local New Orleans bands including Mac Rebennack and the Skyliners, Frankie Ford and the Thunderbirds, and Jerry Byrne and the Loafers.
He had a regional hit with a Bo Diddley-influenced instrumental called "Storm Warning" on Rex Records in 1959.
Rebennack became involved in illegal activities in New Orleans, using and selling narcotics and running a brothel. He was arrested on drug charges and sentenced to two years in a federal prison at Fort Worth, Texas. When his sentence ended in 1965, he moved to Los Angeles, adopted the stage name of Dr. John,
and collaborated with other New Orleans transplants. He became a "Wrecking Crew" session player appearing on works for a variety of artists including
Sonny & Cher, Canned Heat on their albums Living the Blues (1968) and Future Blues (1970), and Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention on Freak Out! (1966).
Dr. John solo recordings include his debut LP, Gris-Gris (1968), Babylon (1969), Remedies (1970) and The Sun, Moon, and Herbs (1971) and Gumbo (1972). His 1973
release, In the Right Place, included his Top Ten hit "Right Place, Wrong Time."
In the Movies, Dr. John appears in the Band's opus, The Last Waltz and the sequel Blues Brothers 2000.
Dr. John appears as himself in the second season of NCIS: New Orleans, playing his hit "Right Place, Wrong Time".
Dr. John was the inspiration for Jim Henson's Muppet character, Dr. Teeth.
Dr. John won 6 Grammy Awards and became a member of the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame in 2011.
| 5/31/2019 | 71 | Roky Erickson | 13th Floor Elevators, singer/songwriter | | Austin, Texas |
Roky Erickson
July 15, 1947 - May 31, 2019
Roky Erickson, a founding member of psychedelic rock pioneers the 13th Floor Elevators, has died at age 71.
Erickson co-founded the 13th Floor Elevators with bandmate Tommy Hall in late 1965. The band's first album, The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators, was released in 1966
and scored a hit with Erickson's song "You're Gonna Miss Me".
In 1967, the band followed up with Easter Everywhere, featuring "Slip Inside This House", and a noted cover of Bob Dylan's "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue". The album Live was released in 1968 by the band's record label, International Artists, with little to no input from the band. It featured audience applause dubbed over studio recordings of cover versions, alternate takes, and older material.
Bull of the Woods (1969) was the 13th Floor Elevators' final album on which they worked as a group and was largely the work of Stacy Sutherland. Erickson-due to health and legal problems-and Tommy Hall were only involved with a few tracks, including "Livin' On" and "May the Circle Remain Unbroken".
| 5/30/2019 | 69 | Leon Redbone | singer/songwriter | | New Hope, Pennsylvania |
Leon Redbone
August 26, 1949 - May 30, 2019
Quirky musician Leon Redbone, who performed renditions of jazz, blues, and Tin Pan Alley classics, has died at age 69 years.
His signature style of Panama hat, dark sunglasses, and black tie made Redbone quite recognizable.
Born Dickran Gobalian in Cyprus, he moved around the world with his family, settling on Toronto, Canada in the early 1960s, where he changed his legal name to Leon Redbone.
Redbone first appeared on stages in Toronto in the early 1970s, but it was his television appearances on the first season of TV's Saturday Night Live that introduced him to a wide audience. He later was a frequent guest on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. He was also a guest on A Prairie Home Companion.
He sang the theme songs to the 1980s TV shows Mr. Belvedere and Harry and the Hendersons. He released eighteen albums in his lifetime.
Redbone died of complications from dementia at age 69. At the time of his death he was living in Bucks County, Pennsylvania in hospice care.
| 5/13/2019 | 97 | Doris Day | singer / actress | | Carmel Valley Village, California |
Doris Day
April 3, 1922 - May 13, 2019
Doris Day (born Doris Mary Kappelhoff) was an American actress, singer, and animal welfare activist who first rose to fame as a big band singer. She broke through in 1945 with two No. 1 recordings, "Sentimental Journey" and "My Dreams Are Getting Better All the Time" with Les Brown & His Band of Renown.
She left the Les Brown Band to embark on a solo career and recorded more than 650 songs from 1947 to 1967.
Doris Day had a 20-year career as a motion picture actress. She played the title role in Calamity Jane (1953). Her best-known films are those in which she co-starred with Rock Hudson, chief among them 1959's Pillow Talk, for which she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress. She also worked with James Garner on both Move Over, Darling (1963) and The Thrill of It All (1963), and also starred alongside Clark Gable, Cary Grant, James Cagney, David Niven, Jack Lemmon, Frank Sinatra, Richard Widmark, Kirk Douglas, Lauren Bacall and Rod Taylor in various movies.
She won an Academy Award for Best Original Song "Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be)" which appeared in the 1956 Alfred Hitchcock movie The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956) with James Stewart.
Doris Day was married four times. She had a son, Terry Melcher, while married to first husband, trombonist Al Jorden. Terry was a musician and record producer in the 1960s. He died in 2004.
| 4/13/2019 | 73 | Paul Raymond | UFO / Michael Schenker Group, guitars / keyboards | Heart Failure | |
Paul Raymond
November 16, 1945 - April 13, 2019
UFO guitarist and keyboard player Paul Raymond has died of a heart attack at 73.
Paul Raymond joined UFO in 1976, replacing their first keyboardist, Danny Peyronel. Raymond played on the classic albums Lights Out, Obsession, and No Place to Run, and on the live album Strangers In The Night.
Previously, Raymond had replaced Christine McVie in British blues band Chicken Shack - Christine later joined Fleetwood Mac. He was also a member of Savoy Brown and played with former UFO guitarist Michael Schenker in MSG, and with another UFO veteran, Pete Way, in Waysted.
At the time of his death, UFO had just started on their final world tour, dubbed "Last Orders: 50th Anniversary".
| 3/26/2019 | 56 | Ranking Roger | English Beat / General Public, vocalist | Cancer | Birmingham, England |
Ranking Roger
February 21, 1963 - March 26, 2019
Roger Charlery, better known as Ranking Roger, the vocalist of British bands General Public and the English Beat, has died at age 56.
Roger joined ska revival pioneers the English Beat in the late 1970s. The band released three albums: I Just Can't Stop It (1980), Wha'ppen? (1981) and Special Beat Service (1982).
In 1981, Joe Strummer and Mick Jones of The Clash invited Roger to sing on a version of "Rock the Casbah" which was released in 2015.
After The Beat's 1983 break-up, Roger and Dave Wakeling formed General Public with former members of Dexys Midnight Runners and Horace Panter of The Specials and
released the album All the Rage, featuring the hit single "Tenderness".
Roger released Radical Departure, his first solo album, in 1988
| 3/25/2019 | 78 | Bill Isles | O'Jays, vocalist | Cancer | Oceanside, California |
Bill Isles
January 5, 1941 - March 25, 2019
Bill Isles, an original member of the chart-topping R&B group The O'Jays, has died at his Oceanside, California home. He was 78.
Isles co-founded a singing group called the Mascots with friends in Canton, Ohio, in 1958. They changed their name to the Triumphs and released their first single in 1961. In 1963, they changed their name to The O'Jays after getting pivotal advice from a Cleveland DJ named Eddie O'Jay.
Bill Isles was featured on successful singles including "Lonely Drifter" and "Lipstick Traces" before he quit the group in 1965 to get married. He returned to be the band's tour manager from 1971 to 1974.
The O'Jays went on to great fame in the 1970s with hit songs such as "Back Stabbers" and "Love Train." The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2005.
Scott Walker
January 9, 1943 - March 22, 2019
Scott Walker (born Noel Scott Engel) was a singer-songwriter, composer and record producer known for his 1960s work with the Walker Brothers and for his distinctive baritone voice.
Walker's success was largely in the United Kingdom.
| 3/16/2019 | 81 | Dick Dale | "The King of Surf Guitar" | | Loma Linda, California |
Dick Dale
May 4, 1937 - March 16, 2019
Dick Dale, the King of Surf Guitar, has died at age 81.
| 3/11/2019 | 90 | Hal Blaine | drummer | | Palm Desert, California |
Hal Blaine
February 5, 1929 - March 11, 2019
Hal Blaine, drummer and member of the famed Wrecking Crew whose worked appears on numerous hit recordings, has passed at age 90.
Blaine was one of the most recorded drummers in the history of music. His drumming appears on recordings by artists as diverse as Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, the Beach Boys, Simon & Garfunkel, Neil Diamond, and the Byrds.
He was one of the regular players in Phil Spector's de facto house band, which Blaine nicknamed "The Wrecking Crew". He estimated that he played on over 35,000 recordings, including 6,000 singles.
Blaine is a member of the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame, and a recipient of the 2018 Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
| 3/4/2019 | 49 | Keith Flint | The Prodigy, vocalist | Suicide | Essex, England |
Keith Flint
September 17, 1969- March 4, 2019
Keith Flint, singer for the English band The Prodigy, is dead at 49 from an apparent suicide.
The Prodigy scored two number one singles, "Firestarter" and "Breathe" both released in 1996.
Stephan Ellis
March 1, 2019
Stephan Ellis, the former bassist for Survivor, has died at the age of 69.
Ellis joined Survivor in time to help the band record their 1981 album, Premonition, resulting in their first Top 40 hit, "Poor Man's Son." One year later, Sylvester Stallone approached Survivor to record a song for Rocky III, resulting in the band's signature hit, "Eye of the Tiger."
After leaving Survivor, Ellis and the band's ex drummer, Marc Droubay, formed a group with guitarist Rod McClure called Club M.E.D. that released an album, Sampler, in 1990.
Survivor frontman Jimi Jamison died in his home in Memphis, Tennessee, in 2014 at the age of 63. Former Survivor drummer Kyle Woodring died in 2009.
Andy Anderson
January 30, 1951 - February 26, 2019
Andy Anderson, an English drummer best known for his work with the Cure, has died of terminal cancer at age 68.
Anderson joined The Cure when original drummer Lol Tolhurst moved to keyboards. He drummed on the albums Japanese Whispers, The Top, and Concert in addition to the singles "Love Cats" and "The Caterpillar".
Anderson also worked as a studio musician and can be heard on many recordings. He also produced television commercials and worked for record companies and charities.
Mark Hollis
January 4, 1955 - February 24, 2019
Mark Hollis, the lead singer and principal songwriter of the English band Talk Talk, has died at age 64.
Hollis wrote or co-wrote most of Talk Talk's hits including "It's My Life" and "Life's What You Make It."
| 2/21/2019 | 77 | Peter Tork | Monkees, bassist | | Mansfield, Connecticut |
Peter Tork
February 13, 1942 - February 21, 2019
Frank Gagliano
February 7, 2019
Frank Gagliano, founding member and keyboardist of the St. Louis, Missouri rock band Mama's Pride, has died at 68.
Mama's Pride released the self-titled album Mama's Pride in 1975; it was produced by Grammy Award winning producer Arif Mardin.
The band's second album Uptown & Lowdown was released in 1977.
The band toured with Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Allman Brothers, The Charlie Daniels Band, The Outlaws, Todd Rundgren, Alice Cooper, Reo Speedwagon, and Heart.
Ronnie Van Zandt of Lynyrd Skynyrd had expressed interest in producing the band's third album, shortly before his death in 1977.
The band spent the majority of 1978 on tour with Gregg Allman as his backing band for his 1978 solo tour. The group disbanded in 1982.
| 1/29/2019 | 66 | James Ingram | R&B Singer | Brain Cancer | Los Angeles, California |
James Ingram
February 16, 1952 - January 29, 2019
James Ingram, R&B singer and two-time Grammy Award winner, had died at age 66.
Ingram was born in Akron, Ohio. He began his career with the band Revelation Funk and later played keyboards for Ray Charles. He was nominated for 14 Grammy Awards, winning for best male R&B performance for his song "One Hundred Ways" in 1981 and best R&B performance for a duo or group in 1984 for his duet with Michael McDonald "Yah Mo B There."
Other hits included "Just Once" and "I Don't Have The Heart." His duet with Patty Austin, "Baby Come To Me," topped the Billboard charts in 1983.
Ingram also had successful collaborations with Linda Ronstadt, Quincy Jones, Barry White and Dolly Parton.
With Quincy Jones, he co-wrote Michael Jackson's hit song "P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)"; the song appeared on Jackson's breakthrough "Thriller" album.
| 1/28/2019 | 72 | Paul Whaley | Blue Cheer, drummer | Heart Failure | Regensburg, Germany |
Paul Whaley
January 14, 1947 - January 28, 2019
Paul Whaley, the original drummer for rock band Blue Cheer, has died of heart failure at the age of 72.
He was the son of country music singer Paul Edward Whaley. He played drums with a Davis, California band called the Oxford Circle before leaving the band to join Blue Cheer in 1967.
Blue Cheer's lead singer and bass guitarist, Dickie Peterson, died in 2009.
| 1/19/2019 | 68 | Ted McKenna | The Sensational Alex Harvey Band / Rory Gallagher / The Michael Schenker Group, drummer | | Regensburg, Germany |
Ted McKenna
March 10, 1950 - January 19, 2019
Ted McKenna, the Scottish drummer who played for The Sensational Alex Harvey Band, Rory Gallagher and The Michael Schenker Group, has died at age 68.
His sudden death was due to a hemorrhage suffered during a routine operation for a hernia.
| 1/17/2019 | 82 | Reggie Young | session guitarist | | Nashville, Tennessee |
Reggie Young
December 12, 1936 - January 17, 2019
Reggie Young, guitarist, was a studio musician famed for playing with the studio house band, The Memphis Boys. His studio guitar work can be heard on recordings by
artists such as Elvis Presley, Merrilee Rush, B.J. Thomas, John Prine, Dusty Springfield, Herbie Mann, J.J. Cale, Dionne Warwick, Roy Hamilton, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, the Box Tops, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Merle Haggard, Joey Tempest, George Strait, and The Highwaymen.
Carol Channing
January 31, 1921 - January 15, 2019
Eric Haydock
February 3, 1943 - January 5, 2019
Eric Haydock, a British musician best known as the original bass guitarist of The Hollies, has died at age 75.
Haydock played with The Hollies from December 1962 until July 1966, when he was replaced by Bernie Calvert.
Haydock, along with other members of The Hollies, were 2010 inductees into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame.
| 1/2/2019 | 76 | Daryl Dragon | The Captain & Tennille | Kidney Failure | Prescott, Arizona |
Daryl Dragon
August 27, 1942 - January 2, 2019
"Captain" Daryl Dragon, one half of popular 1970s singing duo The Captain & Tennille, has died of kidney failure. He was 76.
The duo's best-known songs included "Muskrat Love," "Do That to Me One More Time" and "Love Will Keep Us Together."
Dragon was a classically trained pianist. One of his early gigs was as a backup musician for the Beach Boys in the mid-1960s.
Beach Boys lead singer Mike Love that gave Dragon the nickname "Captain Keyboard." Dragon began wearing a nautical captain's hat to go along with the name.
He met Toni Tennille in 1971 and they married in 1975. Though they divorced in 2014, the couple remained close friends. Tennille was by Dragon's side when he passed away.
| 1/1/2019 | 66 | Pegi Young | Neil Young, ex-Wife | Cancer | Mountain View, California |
Pegi Young
December 1, 1952 - January 1, 2019
Pegi Young, ex-wife of rock star Neil Young, has died of cancer at age 66.
Pegi met Neil Young when she was working as a waitress at a diner near Young's home. They married in 1978. Pegi sang backup on several Neil Young songs and often appeared on stage with her husband. Pegi
released four albums of her own work, with the most recent being 2017's 'Raw,' which dealt with her 2014 divorce from Young.
Pegi also co-founded the Bridge School in order to meet the educational needs of their son, Ben, who has a severe case of cerebral palsy.
Neil young remarried with actress Daryl Hannah.
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