RIP- musicians

[John From Austin]

I got to see Christine a grand total of four times, three with Fleetwood Mac and once with Lindsey Buckingham. My fondest memory is my earliest: On December 1, 1987, the band (Christine, Stevie, Mick, John, Billy Burnette and Rick Vito) played the Frank Erwin Center in Austin. The third and final song of the encore, as I recall, was Christine alone at the piano singing "Songbird" to a hushed crowd of 12,000.

For no good reason (probably poverty), I missed Texas shows in 1982 and 1997.  

[Dan O.]

Incredibly sad news, losing someone whose music you've been listening to for nearly 40 years is hard to take in.

However, as shown by this quote from an interview Christine did with Rolling Stone back in June this year, maybe some of the clues were already there ? :

"Mick Fleetwood has been open about his hopes to see the Rumours lineup come back together for a grand farewell tour, but Christine McVie is highly dubious. “I don’t feel physically up for it,” she says. “I’m in quite bad health. I’ve got a chronic back problem which debilitates me. I stand up to play the piano, so I don’t know if I could actually physically do it. What’s that saying? The mind is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

In theory, McVie could sit at the keyboard to make it easier for her to get through a show, but she says that wouldn’t work in practice. “I couldn’t sit at the rig I play,” she says. “You have to stand up to play the piano and the Hammond Organ is beneath that, so it’s a bit difficult to think about sitting down and doing it. Anyway, I wouldn’t want to do that.”

According to McVie, bassist John McVie is in a similar predicament. “I don’t think John’s up for another tour,” she says. “He’s got health issues, so I don’t know if he would be up for it. You’d have to ask him.”

If a tour does somehow happen, McVie hopes that they’ll find a way to bring Buckingham back into the fold. “I’d always want Lindsey back,” she says. “He’s the best. Neil Finn and Mike Campbell were such a cheerful couple, but Lindsey was missed.”

“But I’m getting a bit long in the teeth here,” she continues. “I’m quite happy being at home. I don’t know if I ever want to tour again. It’s bloody hard work.”

This may disappoint Fleetwood Mac’s legions of fans, not to mention some of her own bandmates, but they’ll be relieved to know she’s not closing the door on a tour completely. “I really can’t say for sure,” she says, “because I could be wrong. So I’ll just leave it open and say that we might.”

[bassline (Mike)]

I got to see Christine a grand total of four times, three with Fleetwood Mac and once with Lindsey Buckingham. My fondest memory is my earliest: On December 1, 1987, the band (Christine, Stevie, Mick, John, Billy Burnette and Rick Vito) played the Frank Erwin Center in Austin. The third and final song of the encore, as I recall, was Christine alone at the piano singing "Songbird" to a hushed crowd of 12,000.

For no good reason (probably poverty), I missed Texas shows in 1982 and 1997.  

To experience that moment was the sole reason I debated with myself about buying a Mac ticket the last time the Rumours line up came around.
I decided that it was worth the money, but I didn't have it available.
The fact that nobody will hear her sing it live again is undescribably sad.
 

[davidmjs]

Jet Black of the Stranglers...84.  An elder statesman of 'punk'.

[Jules Gray]

Jet Black of the Stranglers...84.  An elder statesman of 'punk'.

Jet's been ill for a very long time, but this is still sad news. I love The Stranglers.

Jules

[Lubiloo (Lorna)]

Jet Black of the Stranglers...84.  An elder statesman of 'punk'.

Jet's been ill for a very long time, but this is still sad news. I love The Stranglers.

Jules

Very sad...Me too.

[mickf]

Oh, that's sad.

[davidmjs]

Weird think he was in his 40s when they were at their biggest.  Not sure I ever noticed that at the time tbh.

[ColinB]

I saw The Stranglers numerous times in the 80s and 90s including Hugh's final gig with them at Ally Pally. Jet had had health problems on and off for quite a number of years. At one gig in Manchester in the mid 90s he came on briefly midway thru the show and did a rendition of Old Codger. Just checked my list of gigs and see it was the 6th December 1993.

Listening to The Raven as I type this. RIP Jet Black.

[Dan O.]

Very sad news, Jet was iconic and a great drummer. Apparently, it was a source of personal pride to him that he'd outlived far more rock 'n roll figures such as David Bowie, Lemmy and Lou Reed...

[ColinB]

Very sad news, Jet was iconic and a great drummer. Apparently, it was a source of personal pride to him that he'd outlived far more rock 'n roll figures such as David Bowie, Lemmy and Lou Reed...

And he was three years older than Charlie Watts.

[davidmjs]

Tony Hill of The Answers, The Misunderstood and High Tide

[Col D]

Tony Hill of The Answers, The Misunderstood and High Tide

Between The Misunderstood and High Tide he was also part of a trio with David Bowie and his girlfriend Hermione Farthingale, originally Turquoise and later Feathers. He left to form High Tide after only a few months which might not have been the best career decision he ever made.

[PaulT]

Jim Stewart, co-founder of Stax Records...

Jim Stewart started Satellite Records in 1957 with help from his sister Estelle Axton. She mortgaged her house to buy an Ampex 350 console recorder for the studio. He said of that first studio in Brunswick, Tenn.: "We were so close to the railroad tracks, when the trains came by we had to stop recording. We did not have an insulated building".

They started Stax Records in 1961, the new name taken from the first two letters of their last names. They moved to Memphis and converted an old cinema to a recording studio.

In need of cash, they replaced the concession stand with a record store. And then the hits started coming.

[davidmjs]

The great Manuel Göttsching is being widely reported on social media although I'm not sure if it's confirmed yet.  Krautrock legend, and electronic pioneer of course...

[garrypbrooks]

They're dropping like flies this week!

[GubGub (Al)]

Just months after Julee Cruise, the great Angelo Badalamenti has left us, aged 87.

[wayne stote]

Savoy Brown's Kim Simmonds, sadly. Cancer, apparently.

[John From Austin]

Savoy Brown's Kim Simmonds, sadly. Cancer, apparently.

So sad to hear. I finally crossed Savoy Brown off my bucket list weeks before the pandemic cancellations starting coming in waves, back in February 2020. I would gladly have seen him again. R.I.P.

[Bob Barrows]

Dino Danelli, original drummer of the Young Rascals