a Phil Brodie Band Info Page
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MAY: Charts ~ MAY: On This Day ~ MAY: Quiz
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"Births & Deaths"
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MAY
SADLY DEPARTED
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MAY BIRTHDAYS

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PASSED ~ RESPECT

May 1st
1965: Spike Jones (53) comedian, actor, bandleader, drums; Spike Jones & his City Slickers; the emphasis was on comedy, primarily doing dead-on satires of popular songs on the hit parade and taking the air out of pompous classical selections as well. He appeared in dozens of films & had his own TV show ().
1986: Hugo Peretti (69) US songwriter and record producer, owned part of Avco Records and then established H & L Records (Hugo & Luigi) which they operated until retiring at the end of the 1979 ().
1992: Sharon Redd (46) US singer, disco diva (pneumonia complications).
2006: Johnny Paris/John Pocisk (65) The saxophone player who led the instrumental band Johnny and the Hurricanes, known for their rocking renditions of traditional tunes such as "Reveille" and "Red River Valley." (Leukaemia).
2006: Big Hawk/John Edward Hawkins (36) US rapper from Houston and a founding member of the late DJ Screw's rap group the Screwed Up Click (gunned down).
2008: Jim Hager (61) American country music singer and television actor; one half of The Hager Twins, with his identical twin Jon, also known as the Hager Brothers, a duo of American country music singers and comedians who first gained fame on the TV series Hee Haw. signed with Capitol Records in 1969 and hit the country charts with "Gotta Get To Oklahoma ('Cause California's Gettin' To Me)". (heart attack) b. Aug 30th 1946.

May 2nd
1985: Larry Clinton (75) US big band composer, bandleader, trumpeter; known for his practise of rearranging the works of famous composers like Debussy and Tchaikovsky and adding lyrics was known as "swinging the classics." His version of Debussy’s "Reverie", with vocalist Bea Wain, was particularly popular (He died in Tucson, Arizona).
1989: Bennie Benjamin (81) hugely successful songwriter in a partenership with the legendary composer George David Weiss. In 1968, he became a music publisher, starting his own company named for himself. He was inducted into the Songwriters' Hall of Fame in 1984 (New York City).
1998: hide/Hideto Matsumoto ()Japanese guitarist; X Japan/solo (After a night out drinking, he was found hanged with a towel tied to a doorknob in his Tokyo apartment. Three fans died in copycat suicides, of the 50,000 people who attended his funeral, nearly 60 were hospitalized and about 200 received medical treatment in first aid tents)

May 3rd
1935: Cecil Irwin (32) US tenor saxophonist, clarinet, big band arranger; mostly known for his membership in several of the great Earl Hines bands of the '20s and '30s (A traffic accident that occurred outside of Des Moines, IA, while he was on tour)
1972: Les Harvey (27) brother of the late Alex Harvey and member of Stone The Crows (electrocuted on stage)
1997: Narciso Yepes (69) Spanish classical guitarist; He was granted many honours including the Gold Medal for Distinction in Arts, conferred by King Juan Carlos I; membership in the Academy of “Alfonso X el Sabio”; an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Murcia, and the National Music Prize of Spain (He died in Murcia)
2001: Billy Higgins (64) American drummer; played on Ornette Coleman's first records, beginning in 1958, then freelanced extensively with hard bop and other post-bop players, including Bo Diddley, Donald Byrd, Dexter Gordon, Joe Henderson, Milt Jackson, Jackie McLean, Pat Metheny, Hank Mobley, Thelonious Monk, Lee Morgan, David Murray, Art Pepper, Sonny Rollins, Mal Waldron, and Cedar Walton. He played on over 700 recordings, including recordings of rock and funk (?)

May 4th
1937: Noel Rosa (26) Brazilian composer, songwriter, guitarist and banjo player. One of the greatest names in Brazilian popular music, giving a new twist to samba, combining its Afro-Brazilian roots with a more urban, witty language and making it a vehicle for ironic social commentary. He wrote around 250 successful compositions (tuberculosis).
1979: Leo Addeo (64) US sax, clarinet, orchestrator for Hugo Winterhalter. He was one of RCA's key house arrangers for most of the 1950s and 1960s (?)
1987: Paul Butterfield (44) American blues harmonica player, singer, The Paul Butterfield Blues Band/solo; one of the earliest Caucasian exponents of the Chicago-originated electric blues style.(drug and alcohol overdose).

May 5th
1959: Hal McIntyre (44) saxophone, clarinet; Glenn Miller/own band; American bandleader and a founding member of the Glenn Miller Orchestra (he died in a house fire at his home in Los Angeles)
1972: Reverend Gary Davis (76) blind blues/gospel guitarist & singer, his finger picking style was extremely influential (heart attack).
1982: Cal Tjader (56) vibraphonist and percussionist with the Dave Brubeck Trio/own mambo bands (he was born on tour, he also died on tour. On the road with his band in Manila, he collapsed from a heart attack)
1986: Billy Mackel (73) American guitarist with the Lionel Hampton Band ()
1992: Jean-Claude Pascal (64) French singer; He won the 1961 Eurovision Song Contest for Luxembourg singing "Nous Les Amoureux" We the lovers ()
2004: Clement Seymour "Coxsone" Dodd (72) Jamaican record producer who was influential in the development of ska and reggae in the 1950s, '60s and beyond. He held regular Sunday evening auditions in search of new talent, and it was here that he first found Bob Marley, singing as a part of The Wailin' Wailers (heart attack).
2004: Ritsuko Okazaki (44) Japanese singer-songwriter; she became involved in earnest with anime and composed several songs for Wedding Peach, Fruits Basket and Love Hina. She formed the duo Melocure in 2002 with singer-songwriter Megumi Hinata (died suddenly from septic shock as a result of septicemia).
2006: Naushad Ali (86) Indian music director; regarded as a pioneer of Indian music, one of the foremost music directors and composers for Bollywood films (old age).
2008: Thomas Boggs (63) American drummer, former member of the Box Tops; founder and CEO of Huey's Restaurant Chain around Memphis, USA.(cancer related) b. ??
2008: Jerry Wallace (79) American country music singer, his better-known songs include "Primrose Lane", "Shutters And Boards", "In The Misty Moonlight", "Otoko no Sekai" and "If You Leave Me Tonight I'll Cry" (heart failure). b. Dec 15th 1928.

May 6th
1992: Marlene Dietrich (90) German cabaret singer, chorus girl and film actress in 1920s Berlin, she became a Hollywood movie star in the 1930s, a World War II frontline entertainer, and finally an international stage show performer from the 1950s to the 1970s, eventually becoming one of the entertainment icons of the 20th century. (died peacefully of natural causes in Paris, France).
2002: Otis Blackwell (69) American songwriter, singer, and pianist whose work significantly influenced rock 'n' roll. His compositions include Little Willie John's "Fever", Jerry Lee Lewis' "Great Balls of Fire" and "Breathless", Elvis Presley's "Don't Be Cruel", "All Shook Up" and "Return to Sender" (with Winfield Scott), and Jimmy Jones' "Handy Man".[Not be confused with songwriter and producer Robert "Bumps" Blackwell].(heart attack)
2004: Barney Kessel (80) American jazz guitarist; A "first call" guitarist at Columbia Pictures, during the 1960s Kessel became one of the most in-demand session guitarists in America, and is considered a key member of the group of first-call session musicians now usually known as The Wrecking Crew (brain tumor).
2006: Grant McLennan (48) Australian singer, songwriter, guitarist;The Go-Betweens/solo. His 1983 composition 'Cattle & Cane' was named by the A.P.R.A as one of the 10 greatest Australian songs of all time.(died in his sleep at home in Brisbane from a heart attack).
2007: Ðorde Novkovic (63) Croatian songwriter; he wrote the song "Don't Ever Cry" for Put, the first Croatian representative in the Eurovision Song Contestand also co-owned and managed the Croatia Records label (stroke).
2008: Franz Jackson (95) American saxophonist and clarinetist of the Chicago jazz school. Notable as one of the last surviving jazz artists to have recorded pre-1940, he was still active well into his 90s in various jazz clubs of Chicago. In 1996, he received the Jazz Master Award from Arts Midwest.() b. Nov 1st 1912.

May 7th
1992: Nigel Preston (31) UK drummer with The Cult (died in London)
1995: Ray McKinley (84) American jazz drummer, singer and bandleader; Dorsey Brothers, Will Bradley, Glenn Miller, and became leader of the revived Glenn Miller band (?).
1998: Eddie Rabbitt (56) US singer/songwriter; during his career, he scored 26 #1 hits on the country charts and eight Top 40 pop hits.(lung cancer).
2004: Rudi Maugeri (73) Canadian baritone singer; Crew Cuts;also worked as a disc jockey, radio show host and station programmer in both New York and LA.(pancreatic cancer).

May 8th
1967: LaVerne Andrews (55) American contralto singer with The Andrews Sisters. The Andrews Sisters became the best-selling female vocal group in the history of popular music setting records that remain unsurpassed to this day (cancer).
1974: Graham Bond (37) UK keyboard player, one of the great catalytic figures of 60s rock in UK, he has a claim to the title "Father of the British Blues". (suicide, died under the wheels of train at Finsbury Park station, London)
1982: Neil Bogart (39) US record executive. He was a singer in the 1960s before running Cameo-Parkway Records, after which he became an executive at Buddah Records. He is credited with being a key player in the rise of bubblegum pop music during his time working at Cameo-Parkway and Buddah. He founded Casablanca Records in the 70's (cancer).
2008: Eddy Arnold (89) US country music star; with 145 songs on the country charts including 28 number one hits, he ranks among one of the most popular country singers in U.S. history (died in Franklin, Tennessee, just one week short of his 90th birthday).

May 9th
1989: Keith Whitley (34) US country music singer; his career in mainstream country music was brief, but he continues to influence an entire generation of singers and songwriters. His biggest hits include "Don't Close Your Eyes" and "Miami, My Amy" (alcohol poisoning).
2001: James E. Myers (81) American songwriter, actor, producer, and raconteur; maybe best known as the credited co-writer of "Rock Around the Clock" for which he used the pseudonym "Jimmy DeKnight" (leukemia).
2005: Nasrat Parsa (36) Afghani singer; one of the few Afghan singers who had a formal training in classical music. It was these lessons that would prepare him for performing the ghazal that he later became known for in Europe (murdered while on tour in Canada).

May 10th
1979: Carl Martin (73) US multi-musician including conga, percussion, guitar; enjoyed a career that spanned over five decades under several different monikers, including the Four Keys, the Tennessee Chocolate Drops, the Wandering Troubadours and his own trio (?)
1944: Woody Herman Shaw II (44) US jazz trumpet; is often credited with developing an improvisational approach based on larger intervals, like fourths and fifths, instead of the smaller intervals more easily playable on the trumpet (kidney failure). b. Dec 24th 1944
1992: Sylvia Syms/Sylvia Blagman (74) American jazz singer; her major hit was "I Could Have Danced All Night" in 1956. (died on stage of a heart attack). b. Dec 2nd 1917
1999: Shel Silverstein (57) American poet, Grammy Award winning songwriter, musician, composer, cartoonist, screenwriter and author of children's books.He composed original music for several films, and displayed a musical versatility in these projects, playing guitar, piano, saxophone, and trombone. (heart attack). b. Sept 25th 1930
2005: David Wayne (47) American singer for the thrash metal band Metal Church, before he formed the band Reverend, with who he remained active with until his death.(complications following a car crash). b. Jan 1st 1958
2006: Soraya/Soraya Raquel Lamilla Cuevas (38) Columbian-American singer/ songwriter/ guitarist; won a 2004 Latin Grammy Award for the self titled album "Soraya" as "Best Album by Songwriter", and a 2005 Latin Grammy Awards nomination for "Female Pop Vocal Album" for her album El Otro Lado de Mi (cancer). b. March 11th 1969
2006: John Josephus Hicks Jr (64) US international jazz pianist, composer; been on the international jazz scene for over 40 years (died of undisclosed causes). b. Dec 21st 1941

May 11th.
1970: Johnny Hodges (62) American alto and soprano saxophonist and lead player of Duke Ellington's saxophone section. He spent 38 years with Ellington, leaving to lead his own band from 1951 to 1955, returning to the fold shortly before Ellington's triumphant return to prominence via the orchestra's performance at the 1956 Newport Jazz Festival. His playing became the identifying voice of the Ellington orchestra. He also played with Lloyd Scott, Sidney Bechet, Lucky Roberts Chick Webb, many others (heart attack). b. July 25th 1907
1975: "Little" Benny Harris (56) US trumpeter, composer; fixture on 52nd Street in the 40s & 50's taking part in many early bop sessions and playing with Benny Carter, Dizzy Gillespie, John Kirby, Coleman Hawkins, Don Byas, Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk, and many others, composer of "Ornithology," "Crazelogy," "Reets and I", and "Wahoo" (?).b. April 23th 1919
1981: Bob Marley (36) Jamacain singer, songwriter, guitarist; Reggae's most transcendent and iconic figure, he was the first Jamaican artist to achieve international superstardom, in the process introducing the music of his native island nation to the far-flung corners of the globe. His music gave voice to the day-to-day struggles of the Jamaican experience, vividly capturing not only the plight of the country's impoverished and oppressed but also the devout spirituality, their source of strength (lung cancer, brain tumour). b. Feb 6th 1945
2003: Noel Redding (57) UK bass player with Jimi Hendrix Experience /own band/ Phish. He was featured on three seminal albums with Hendrix, 'Are You Experienced?', 'Axis: Bold as Love' and 'Electric Ladyland' (found dead at his home in Ireland). b. Dec 25th 1945
2004: John Whitehead (55) US singer,songwriter, record producer one half of the duo McFadden & Whitehead (murdered by two unknown gunmen while fixing his car on the street outside his Philadelphia home with a friend). b. July 10, 1949
2008: John Rutsey (55) Canadian drummer and co-founding member of Rush; he played drums in Rush from1968 until July 1974. It was during this time that he played on the "Not Fade Away"/"You Can't Fight It" single and the band's eponymous debut LP. He left the band, due to health concerns related to diabetes, which posed problems with extended tours. (died in his sleep of an apparent heart attack) b. 1953
2008: Dottie Rambo (74) American gospel singer, songwriter, and musician; her music is renowned internationally for its simple melodies and articulate, evocative lyrical qualities, often dealing with themes such as heaven, Christian sacrifice, and the born-again Christian experience (as a result of injuries sustained in a bus accident along Interstate 44 just outside of Mount Vernon, Missouri). b. March 2nd 1934

May 12th
1995: Mia Martini/ Domenica Bertè (47) Italian singer and song-writer; She represented Italy at the Eurovision Song Contest twice: in 1977 with "Libera" , and in 1992 with "Rapsodia" (tragically found dead under mysterious circumstances in her apartment at Cardano al Campo, near Milan). b. Sept 20th 1947
2001: Pierino Ronaldo "Perry" Como (88) US singer and TV presenter; sold millions of records for RCA and also pioneered a weekly musical variety television show, which set the standards for the genre and proved to be one of the most successful in television history. His combined success on television and popular recordings was n