RIP- musicians

[Jules Gray]

Toots.  

[Bingers (Chris)]

Toots Hibbert, aged 77.  

I have been listening to Toots a fair bit over the summer and was watching him on an old Willie Nelson TV special on Sky Arts just a couple of nights ago.

I was doing exactly the same at probably the same time! Weird   RIP Toots one of the original reggae masters

[bassline (Mike)]

  Sad, sad, sad. I was excited about going to see him at Bearded Theory this year. When it was postponed he sent this message :

A little message from Toots: –

Message to my friends all over the world.

My prayers are with you in this time of trouble, but I am confident in the victory of good over evil, that is why my promoters and my team have worked very very hard to reschedule Toots and the Maytals’ world tour. I will be coming to UK and Europe from August this year to sing and celebrate a new beginning with each and every one of you. So have faith, keep your tickets and stay healthy.

Signed Toots on the 19/03/2020 from my home in Jamaica

R.I.P Toots.

[Bridgwit (Bridget)]

Saw Toots with Sam & Dave at one of HM’s Golden Jubilee concerts. What a night that was!

RIP Toots  

[bassline (Mike)]

Lee Kerslake of Uriah Heep and Blizzard Of Ozz.  

I saw him do his stuff a couple of times, a good singer and songwriter as well as a drummer.

R.I.P Lee.

[fat Billy(Bill)]

Lee Kerslake of Uriah Heep and Blizzard Of Ozz.  

I saw him do his stuff a couple of times, a good singer and songwriter as well as a drummer.

R.I.P Lee.

Saw Uriah Heep a few times back in the 70s, great band, I still play demons and wizards regularly. Its would seem that all those we saw back in the day are dying off.

[Andy]

Pamela Hutchinson, a member of the Grammy-winning R&B group The Emotions, has died at the age of 61.

[davidmjs]

Eddie Pumer of Kaleidoscope and Fairfield Parlour.

Peter Daltrey (from FB): "Families are bonded by flesh and blood. We are all links in an endless chain. We are aware of those who preceded us in the finite past. We know that many will follow us into the infinite future.
Being in a gang creates a bond of friendship. It can be fun, exciting, dangerous ...inclusive as we grow from childhood to the adult years. Mates, pals.... friends...until we move on.
But being in a band is different. It is more intense than friendship. More immediate than the past and the future. More cerebral than flesh and blood.
Music is the unbreakable bond. The creation of that music is the joint enterprise of the group. Nothing else matters. The life beyond the band's focus diminishes, becomes hazy and indistinct. Every waking hour reverberates with major and minor heartbeats. And melody.
Ed's creative genius produced melodies that once heard could not be forgotten. Whether it be the hooks and punchy choruses of our many singles...or the lilting refrains on epic album tracks. Melodies that I have been told by fans can literally make you cry.
As a musician Ed was inventive and skilled in coaxing previously unheard sounds from the guitar. He created psychedelic soundscapes that were original, mesmerising and exhilarating. Dream-like vistas that swept across the stereo sound field...and all from just six electric strings.
And then he would pick up a simple gut-strung acoustic and accompany me with an exquisite delicate melody that was sensitive and timeless.
I joined the band after Dan and Ed and Steve had already bonded. They needed a singer Ed told me and invited me along. And so began our life as a band.
We were a funny bunch: this little quartet. We were a band, musicians...but we didn`t do drugs and alcohol was of little interest. We were mostly broke so a lemonade shandy would suffice after our twice-weekly rehearsals at the local school hall. If we were feeling flush we might treat ourselves to a half of cider – which was always enough to get Steve giggling. We would sit in the local nursing our one drink for as long as possible talking about our hopes for the future, our youthful dreams of stardom. But after enough of this Steve would jump up, “Oh, come on, let`s get down the chippy!”
We were musicians but we never mixed with other musicians, never went to see bands play, didn`t know any other bands. We loved music. We worshipped the Beatles. But we lived in our own Kaleidoscope world. Insulated from everyday normality by our combined protective dream.
We were very soon aware that simply playing Stones and Beatles covers was never going to be enough. Songwriting duties naturally fell to Ed and I...he would write the music. I would write the lyrics...and together with Steve and Dan we would work out arrangements, honing the song into a finished piece.
It was these songs that secured us our recording contract. And so began our life as a real band.
We released many singles and two albums as Kaleidoscope. But a couple of years down the line we were disillusioned by our lack of success and we were ready to quit. But David Symonds came along and gave the band a new focus...and a new name. As Fairfield Parlour we were even more ambitious. We each picked up new instruments. Ed was contributing piano to tracks and amazed us all by becoming something of a virtuoso on the sitar.
But even after the first single, Bordeaux Rose, became a turntable hit and the album, From Home to Home, garnered excellent reviews success was always just out of reach. We didn`t know it at the time of signing our recording contract in January 1967, but we had hitched our musical wagon to the worst record company in Britain at that time. The singles got airplay, the fans wanted to buy them, but they found their record shop never had copies. Fontana`s distribution arm was a limp and useless limb. After traumatic experiences at the 1970 Isle of Wight festival and a Royal Albert Hall performance, we embarked on our most ambitious recording project: the concept album, White Faced Lady.
Crucial to the musical narrative that linked each piece and drove the underlying story were Ed's orchestral arrangements. Ed had progressed from chugging out Chuck Berry rockers to writing for a full orchestra. We all stood back in awe.
But Fate wasn't finished with us...and through no fault of our own we lost our recording contract. And went off to live our lives in civvy street.
But no 9 to 5 timeclock-punching job was going to be enough for Ed. He was soon working at Capital Radio as a producer and gaining a fine reputation in the business. So much so that he went on to work with his hero Duane Eddy...and all the way up to Paul McCartney, securing awards for his work on the way.
The most common comment about Ed from anyone who knew him was: “He`s such a nice guy...”
The band stayed in touch over the decades and met infrequently to discuss the business of the reissuing of our albums. The band had been rediscovered by new younger generations of music fans. We were delighted of course. Albums that had once been overlooked were now collector's items, fetching over a thousand pounds for original copies. Our first, Tangerine Dream, was voted one of the greatest psychedelic albums of all time...
Well, well, well.....
---
We made music not for ourselves...but for others to enjoy. Ed poured his heart and soul into that music. You can hear it on every track. This humble man, a self-taught musician, a faithful friend, lived and breathed his music. He was the beating heart of the band.
Families can look into the future and hope that their line continues. That flesh and blood endures.
Gangs of friends can look back on their youth and be glad that they came together if only briefly for a shared growing experience.
But a band wants more. We want our music to live forever...long after we are gone. Immortality. That thought comforts me: perhaps in ten or twenty years...who knows? Perhaps in a hundred years someone somewhere will sit one quiet evening to listen to The Sky Children and be transported by Ed's magical melody and the dulcet sound of his out of tune twelve string guitar.
Fly on, Ed.........fly on.........."

[quodlibet (Ian)]

Darn. Kaleidoscope & Fairfield Parlour were great. I still dig out "From Home To Home" every now & then. RIP.  

[RobertD]

W.S. ‘Fluke’ Holland. Legendary drummer with Johnny Cash & The Tennessee Three.

[Jim]

W.S. ‘Fluke’ Holland. Legendary drummer with Johnny Cash & The Tennessee Three.

Thats them all dead now😓

[davidmjs]

Jimmy Winston.  Original Small Face.

[Jules Gray]

Jimmy Winston.  Original Small Face.

The Tall Face.

Jules

[Bingers (Chris)]

Helen Reddy age 78

[fat Billy(Bill)]

Helen Reddy age 78

Shame, a secret indulgence of mine back when it wasn't cool or safe to like artists like her (at least not in my school)
She'd been ill for a bit I believe

[Andy]

Helen Reddy age 78

Shame, a secret indulgence of mine back when it wasn't cool or safe to like artists like her (at least not in my school)
She'd been ill for a bit I believe

Addison's and Alzheimer's,  it seems.  

[GubGub (Al)]

Helen Reddy age 78

I don't know a huge amount of her music but Angie Baby has always been a favourite.

[fat Billy(Bill)]

Helen Reddy age 78

I don't know a huge amount of her music but Angie Baby has always been a favourite.

yup thats the one that did it for me too.

[RobertD]

Country singer and terrific songwriter Mac Davis

[Jules Gray]

Country singer and terrific songwriter Mac Davis

He wrote In the Ghetto amongst other fine Elvis songs.  Travel on well, Mac.

Jules