Category Archives: Departures

On This Day – Big Boy, Big Gone

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On this day in 1974 the man who wrote That’s All Right covered so famously by Elvis died. Arthur Big Boy Crudup was born in Mississippi in 1905. He became a blues singer and made his way to Chicago. He did not really do too well there as he was living in a packing crate […]

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On This day – Keith Moon

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On this day in 1978 Keith Moon died. He overdosed on a drug called Heminevrin. Ironically this had been prescribed to help him over alcohol withdrawal symptoms. “Moon the Loon” joined The Who in 1964 after Doug Samden left and played on all their albums from “My Generation” (1865) to “Who Are You” released just […]

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Les Paul

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Les Paul has died, aged 94. He suffered from complications associated with pneumonia. It is too easy when talking about music to use lots of superlatives which only leads to them being devalued. So, when I say that Les Paul was one of the true greats of popular music that is exactly what I mean. […]

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John Henry Hammond

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John Hammond died on this day in 1987. JH was one of those people who were enormously influencial but often overlooked.  Often given credit where it was not deserved but denied the credit that was due to him. John Hammond was a record producer rather than a talent scout.  Back in the early ’30s he […]

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Departed on this Day

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Judy Garland died on this day in 1999 while Fredastaire died on this day 2 years earlier. OK so are you asking whether JG & FA are really “real rock” people?  Too right they are.  FA was obsessed with perfection but what made him real rock was his refusal to treat the audience as dummies. […]

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Jon Lord Passes Away.

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When did I stop saying “died”?  Jon Lord died today. Born in 1941 Lord was a huge influence on keyboard players that followed him.  (You may detect that I am not the biggest fan of keyboard players, never as sexy as guitar players, let alone sax players) having said that, he was one of rock […]

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Bob died 30 Years Ago – But Danny Did NOT Do It!

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30 years ago today Bob Marley died of  acral lentiginous melanoma.  ALM is a form of skin cancer that unlike other melanomas is not related to exposure to sun light. During a charity football match in 1977 Danny Baker (a fine broadcaster and music lover) trod on BM’s toe, breaking it.  The ALM was first […]

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Sam Phillips Dies 30 July 2003

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Sam Phillips did more than most to shape popular music in the 50s and 60s. As Owner and leading light of the mighty Sun Records he discovered or developed Presley, Roy Orbison, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, Conway Twitty, Jerry Lee Lewis and more. Inpite of this roll call of talent it is easy to forget […]

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Michael Jackson Why Wait Till He’s Dead ? (part 2)

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I touched on this in a previous post. It now seems that Michael Jackson has sold 2.3 million albums in the last 2 weeks, in thew States alone.  Good news for the owners of the state. (Expect more legal wrangling).  My question remains the same, why now?  Are we so stupid that we forget about […]

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On This day – Brian Jones

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1969, is it really 40 years ago? Brian jones was found dead in his swimming pool. He was the original guitatist with the Stolling Bones, arguably their best period – when they still played blues based rock.  Jones’ influences were jazz and blues with him citing Elmore james, Robert Johnson (see my article Records that […]

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