A
Phil Brodie Band Muso Page
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BIRTHS/DEATHS:
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OBITUARIES:
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MEMORIALS
" Let
us remember the great talent each possessed "
Oliver
Sain
March 1st
1932
~ October 28th
2003
Saxophone player, band leader, songwriter, producer, studio
owner and all-around St. Louis music legend, Oliver
Sain, has sadly died from a bone cancer that had followed on from a previous bladder
cancer he developed in 1995. He was 71.
Oliver Sain
was born in Dundee, Mississippi, into a musical family with his pianist stepfather
Willie Love, and his grandfather was guitarist Dan Sane. Oliver developed his
skills as a saxophone player, as a boy, making his own horns - bugles and trumpets.
Oliver's influences were mainly Charlie Parker and Louis Jordan. He also played
drums and piano and like many musicians he cut his teeth playing around his home
town with other teenage musicians and listening to the greats. In 1950 he was
drafted into the Army serving one year of the two in Korea.. Soon after he was
playing drums with artists such as Sonny Boy Williamson, and Howlin' Wolf, and
he also played with Elmore James and Little Milton where he was front man in the
horn section; it was in in these early days he met up with Ike Turner too. Oliver
moved to St. Louis in 1959. His first recording was with Little Milton; a song
he wrote himself "Same old blues", in the old Technisonic studio on
the Bobbin label, then moved on to writing songs and recording for other artists
on the Bobbin record label, Albert King, Fontella Bass, Howling Wolf, Barbara
Carr, Bobby McClure. In 1966 he set up his own recording studio called the Archway
Studio on Natural Bridge Boulevard in St. Louis. He started recording lots of
Blues & Gospel, and the likes Ike and Tina, Cleophus Robinson, the O'Neal
twins, Zella Jackson Price, David Dee and course his own hits. Over the years
nearly every musical style has been recorded there, from Phil Perry's smooth vocal
group The Montclairs, to avant-gardist Julius Hemphill's Coon Bid-ness and from
to Loretta Lynn to Puff Diddy! During the 1970's Oliver became popular on the
dancefloor with hits such as 'Bus Stop', 'Booty Bumpin', 'Party Hearty' and 'Feel
Like Dancing'. He struck a chord with fusion fans with his 1981 album entitled
'So Good (In The Morning)', an album that contained the popular melody 'Cruisin
On Sunset'. In 1995, he had a cameo role in the crime thriller "Cover Story".
Apart from his busy studio life, Oliver toured extensively throughout his life
with his band around the States and Europe. He performed, live, right up until
his passing; 1994 he was diagnosed with cancer of the bladder, but the illness
did little to slow him down and he remained an institution of the St. Louis live
music circuit, playing each Thursday evening at BB's Jazz, Blues & Soups until
his death. In the months prior to his death he was working on a new album, of
all his writings - still unreleased. One of his big wishes was for St. Louis to
promoter their music. QUOTE: "Not enough Dixieland! And this is a river town!
They (city leaders) should have street musicians everywhere, but instead they
sell everything but music! I think the future of St. Louis blues music looks good,
but we need to get younger talent involved, although I see a lot of younger musicians
are latchin' on and learnin' to play the blues. The blues in St. Louis are strong;
people want to hear this music, but we need to promote the great talent in this
city more. The city fathers don't value blues like they do in Memphis and New
Orleans. Those cities sell their music as part of their product and St. Louis
needs to do the same. But here it's not like that. They don't care! they're strictly
politicians". Oliver Sain exerted an influence on the evolution of St. Louis
soul and R&B that is rivaled only by that of his close friend and infrequent
collaborator Ike Turner.
Robert
Quine
December 30th
1942 ~ May 31st 2004
Daring,
groundbreaking punk guitarist Robert Quine, was sadly found dead in his New york
apartment.
The 61 year old musician died of a heroin overdose Memorial Day
weekend. He had been suffering severe depression after the recent death of his
wife and did not want life without her.
Robert Quine was born in Akron, OH, he started learning the piano, his early influences
included James Burton, Ritchie Valens, and Buddy Holly. In 1958, he got a guitar
and by the time he enrolled at Earlham College in Richmond, IN, he was playing
Link Wray and Ventures covers with a local band. Soon Robert turned to the blues
of John Lee Hooker and Lightnin' Hopkins and jazz players like John Coltrane,
Miles Davis before getting into the rougher R&B sounds of the Rolling Stones.
As
a college student, he hosted a radio programme where he concentrated on blues
and later jazz music. Robert
first saw the Velvet Underground while he was studying law at Washington University
in St. Louis, MO, in 1969 and became an immediate fan. . He moved to San Francisco
in late '69 and struck up a friendship with the Velvets. Robert did not like the
Californian music scene and in 1971 he moved to New York where he met up with
Richard Hell. When Richard Hell formed a new band, Robert joined him and Richard
Hell & the Voidoids was born. The band became one of the most popular and
acclaimed bands on New York's budding punk rock scene,
they recieved rave reviews and critics soon singled
out Robert's gritty but stylish lead guitar for special praise. In 1982 Robert
joined the Lou Reed band and features on The Blue Mask album. Lou and Robert worked
on and off on a few projects over the years between the two strong character clashes.
In 1985 he become a much in demand, some say choosey, studio musician, prefering
to play in the shadows with the musicians he wanted to work with and liked to
record with, rather than touring. Although sadly (and wrongly) this made Robert
an overlooked guitar player in the media. He went on to record with the likes
of Tom Waits; Scritti Politti; Wiseblood; John Zorn; Brian
Eno; Marianne Faithfull; Matthew Sweet; Lloyd
Cole; Matthew Sweet; Dim Stars; Suzanne Rhatigan; Hal Willner; The Odds; Sion;
They Might Be Giants; Mike Mainieri; Mikel Erentxun; Material; Corin Curschellas;
Reiss; Material; Kazuyoshi Saito; The Odds; Wayne Kramer; Andre Williams; The
Velvet Underground; Lloyd Cole; Richard Hell; Michael DuClos; Tom Clark and the
High Action Boys; Lys Guillorn; Linda Lunch; Fred Maher and many others. Sadly
Robert's wife, Alice, died unexpectedly in August 2003 and he fell into a deep
depression. Robert could not live without his beloved Alice and was tragically
found dead in his apartment 5 days after his second suicide attempt. Rock critic
and friend Lester Bangs once said of him: "Someday Quine will be recognized
for the pivotal figure that he is on his instrument — he is the first guitarist
to take the breakthroughs of early Lou Reed and James Williamson and work through
them to a new, individual vocabulary, driven into odd places by obsessive attention
to On the Corner-era Miles Davis."
James "Jimmy" Garrett
1927 ~ March 5th 1993
James Garrett
was the music director and road bassist with the Supremes who helped them develop
from a narrow rock style into the top female group in popular music history.
Mr. Garrett, 66, died of complications of diabetes in Teaneck, N.J. He is survived
by his wife, a son James of Ontario, Calif.; daughters, Shirley Jackson and Anita
of Cleveland and Grace of Dover, Del.; two sisters; three brothers; nine grandchildren;
and seven great-grandchildren.
SORRY
I CANNOT
FIND A
PHOTO OF THIS
SADLY FORGOTTEN ~ MOTOWN MUSICIAN
Jimmy was born
in Cleveland and spent part of his childhood in Detroit and Chicago. He played
in the band at old Central High School and studied at the Cleveland Institute
of Music. He also attended military music school and played with a Navy band in
Washington, D.C., during World War II. After the war Jimmy played with blues man
Robert Lockwood Jr. and studied with many top jazz bass players, including the
legendary Oscar Pettiford. During the 1950s, he played in leading Cleveland jazz
clubs including the Tia Juana, Town Casino and Cedar Gardens. He accompanied and
traveled with top musicians, including Charlie (Yardbird) Parker, John Coltrane,
Dizzy Gillespie and Billie Holiday. He played with Ray Charles at a bar near Mr.
Garrett's home at E. 69th St. and Cedar Ave. While in New York City in 1961 his
future wife, Ella, hired him to back her while she sang at the famed Small's Paradise
in Harlem. "He also played with Count Basie every Sunday and whatever bass
players were in town came just to watch him work," Ella Garrett said. Jimmy
Garrett joined Motown records in Detroit in 1962 and played with such greats as
Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, the Temptations, George Benson, the Four Tops and
Smokey Robinson. He was named music director of the Supremes while on tour with
them in England. "Earlier directors had lacked his training and did not provide
the versatile arrangements that Mr. Garrett did", his wife said. He also
set trends in stage appearance when he arrived at Motown, she said. "He had
a beard, but (Motown founder) Berry Gordy told him he had to shave. He said he
would quit first. Pretty soon, everybody had beards, even Mr. Gordy," Ella
Garrett recalled. In 1972, when Motown sadly moved to LA, Jimmy played on the
"Today and Tonight" television shows, in Broadway musicals and with
the Cab Calloway band. He toured the world and worked in Japan for more than a
year. He performed during the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, South Korea. James 'Jimmy'
Garrett received many awards for his musicianship as well as citations for the
four times his groups played for the royal family in England. He had appeared
in groups on the Ed Sullivan Show seven times. ~
with courtesy of cleveland.com
Roy
Orbison
April 23rd 1936
~ December 6th 1988
The legendary singer songwriter, guitarist, Roy Orbison,
The Big O, the most unique voice in the history of rock n roll, sadly died of
a fatal heart attack whilst visiting his mother in Nashville, He was 52.
Roy Kelton Orbison was born in Vernon, Texas, to Nadine
and Orbie Lee. The music loving family moved to Fort Worth in 1943 to find work,
3 years later they moved to the small oil town of Wink. Roy had been given a guitar
on his 6th birthday, his father and uncle helped teach him to play it. He wrote
his first song "A Vow of Love" in 1944 while staying at his grandmothers.
In 1945 he entered and won a contest on KVWC in Vernon and this led to his own
radio show singing the same songs every Saturday. By the time Roy was 13 he had
formed his own band "The Wink Westerners". The band appeared weekly
on KERB radio in Kermit, Texas. Roy graduated from Wink High School in 1954. He
attended North Texas State College in Denton, Texas for a year, and enrolled at
Odessa Junior College in 1955 to study history and English. Roy also married Claudette
in 1955, for who he wrote the song "Claudette". (a hit for The Everley
Brothers) The band, now renamed "The Teen Kings" appeared weekly on
local TV, where they met Johnny Cash, who put them in touch with his record producer,
Sam Phillips, of Sun Records. Roy achieved his first commercial success with Sam
Phillips in June 1956 with "Ooby Dooby", a song written by friends of
Orbison from college. But Sun Records were more hillbilly than Roy, so staying
with his love, music, he took a job at Acuff-Rose Music in Nashville as a songwriter,
and given a contract by RCA, but eventually Chet Atkins referred him to Fred Foster,
the owner of Monument Records, where he moved after his contract with RCA ended
in 1959. Throughout his stay at Monument Records, his backup band was a group
of outstanding studio musicians led by Bob Moore. Under Fred Fosters guidance
Roy developed his own sound, his voice so distinctive & unique with a four-octave
vocal range, never heard before or since in rock n roll. The early 60's see's
Roy an international star, with chart topping tracks such as "Only The Lonely",
"Running Scared", "Oh, Pretty Woman", "In Dreams",
"Love Hurts", "Dream Baby", "Blue Angel", "Great
Pretender", "Blue Bayou" "In Dreams", "Crying"
and tours with the Beatles as his warm up band in 1963, The Beach Boys in 1964,
and with The Rolling Stones in 1965, having a huge influence on all these bands.
In 1963 he struck up a life long friendship with the Beatles, and it was Roy who
encouraged them to tour America. Tragidy struck in 1966, he lost Claudette in
a motorcycle accident, and two years later he lost 2 of his 3 sons in a house
fire. He met his second wife, Barbara, in August 1968, in Leeds, England, and
they were married in Nashville on May 25, 1969. Roy signed with MGM Records in
1966, starring in MGM Studios' western-musical motion picture The Fastest Guitar
Alive. Throughout the 60's and early 70's Roy remained on the top, with many world
wide hits. His 1972 rendition of "Danny Boy" is considered one of the
best recordings ever made of this ever popular ballad. Roy continued to have a
very strong fan base in Europe, but not so much in his native USA until the 80's.
Late 70's sees him in poor health, Roy had triple heart bypass surgery on January
18, 1978. In 1980, he teamed up with Emmylou Harris to win the 1981 Grammy Award
for Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with "That Lovin' You Feelin'
Again". He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987, the
induction speech made by Bruce Springsteen. His pioneering contribution was also
recognized by the Rockabilly Hall of Fame. He re-recorded his 1961 hit song, "Crying,"
as a duet with k.d. lang in 1987 for the soundtrack of the motion picture, "Hiding
Out". The song would earn the Grammy Award for Best Country Collaboration
with Vocals. In the late 80's, Roy, Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Jeff Lynne and
Tom Petty got together and formed the great band the Traveling Wilburys, His last
appearance, a few days before his death, was at an awards ceremony in Antwerp,
where Roy gave his only public rendition of the hit "You Got It". Many
artists and bands have covered Roy’s songs, including Van Halen, Linda Ronstadt,
Al Green, The Everly Brothers, Johnny Cash, Led Zeppelin, Count Basie, Dwight
Yoakam, Buddy Holly, John Mellencamp, Kitty Wells, Chris Isaak, Waylon Jennings
and Glen Campbell.
QUOTES: producer Don Was, commenting on Orbison's writing
skills, said: "He defied the rules of modern composition"; Songwriter
Bernie Taupin referred to him "Far ahead of the times, creating lyrics and
music in a manner that broke with all traditions"; Will Jennings called him
a "poet, a songwriter, a vision"; Barry Gibb of the Bee Gees referred
to him as the "Voice of God"; and the great Elvis Presley proclaimed
him "the greatest singer in the world".
George
Harrison
February 24th
1943 ~ November 29th 2001
The great Beatle star, singer, songwriter,
producer, actor, guitarist George Harrison sadly died at an undisclosed locacation
in the hills surrounding Hollywood. George had been battling lung cancer which
had spread to his brain. He was 58 & survived
by his wife, Olivia Trinidad Arias & son, Dhani Harrison.
George Harrison was born in Liverpool, England, where he attended Dovedale Infants
School, near Penny Lane, then attended Liverpool Institute for Boys (the Liverpool
Institute for Performing Arts). At school he was a loner and not the brightest
student. It was here where he met Paul McCartney. By February of 1958 was playing
lead guitar in the band called The Quarry Men that eventually became The Beatles.
His early influences included Chuck Berry, Carl Perkins and Chet Atkins. After
leaving school in 1959, he took a job as an apprentice electrician at Blacklers
Stores in Liverpool. As a lead guitarist in the Beatles, George's guitar solos
very retricted and controlled by Paul McCartney, at times note for note. If Paul
wasn't doing this George Martin was, George never really had the freedom to be
himself. He wrote his first song, "Don't Bother Me", in 1963, which
appeared on the second Beatles album ('63s With the Beatles), on Meet the Beatles!
in the US in early 1964, and also in A Hard Day's Night. After that, The Beatles
did not record another Harrison song until 1965, when he contributed "I Need
You" and "You Like Me Too Much" to the album Help!. George was
the lead vocal on all the songs he wrote by himself. He also was the lead vocal
on other songs, "Chains", "Do You Want to Know a Secret",
Please Please Me, "Roll Over Beethoven", "Devil in Her Heart",
With the Beatles, "I'm Happy Just to Dance With You" and "Everybody's
Trying to Be My Baby". In 1965, while on tour in the US, David Crosby of
The Byrds introduced George to Indian classical music. He was particually interested
in the sitar, a Hindustani classical stringed instrument and the work of Ravi
Shankar, with whom George later took lessons with on his own sitar. George used
it in many songs, including "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)" and
"Within You Without You". It
was while The Beatles were in the Bahamas filming "Help!", each of them
were presented with a book on riencarnation by a Hindu devotee. This expanded
Georges interest in Indian culture. George and his then wife Pattie, spent several
months in India, meeting various gurus and studying the sitar in more depth. On
his return to UK, George and the other Beatles met Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, who
introduced them all to Transcendental Meditation. In 1969, George produced the
single "Hare Krishna Mantra", performed by himself with the devotees
of the London Radha Krishna Temple, it was in the top 10 throughout the UK, Europe,
and Asia. George embraced
the Hare Krishna tradition, and remained associated with it until his death. By
the late 60's Paul was dissatisfied with Georges guitar playing & bad friction
had built up between them. But Lennon thought his song writing had become as good
as Lennon and McCartneys. In 1969 George co-wrote "Badge" with Eric
Clapton. Notable Harrison compositions from The Beatles' collection include "If
I Needed Someone"; "I Want to Tell You", "Love You To",
"Taxman" , "Within You Without You", "Blue Jay Way",
"Only A Northern Song", "While My Guitar Gently Weeps", which
was strongly influenced by the music of his friend Roy Orbison and featured lead
guitar by Eric Clapton. "Something" and "Here Comes the Sun"
(both from the album Abbey Road), are probably his two best-known Beatles songs.
"Something" is considered one of his very best works, and was even covered
by Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra, who famously deemed it "the greatest
love song of the last 50 years". The Beatles finally split in 1970, George
launched his solo career with the top selling "All Things Must Pass",
the first triple album by a single artist in rock history. George was the first
modern musician to organize a major charity concert. His Concert for Bangladesh
on August 1, 1971, drew over 40,000 people to two shows in New York's Madison
Square Garden with the intention of aiding the starving refugees from the war
in Bangladesh. George brought 6 more albums out in the 70s, which produced 15
singles hits. He also worked with and wrote for Leon Russell, Badfinger, Eric
Clapton, Billy Preston, Cheech & Chong and fellow Beatle Ringo Starr. The
80's sees George writing an autobiography, "I Me Mine" the only ex-Beatle
to do so. After the murder of John Lennon, he modified the lyrics of a song he
had written for Ringo Starr to make it a tribute song to Lennon, "All Those
Years Ago". George was instrumental in forming the Traveling Wilburys with
Roy Orbison, Jeff Lynne, Bob Dylan, and Tom Petty. They brought 2 albums out.
Also the 80's sees him financially backing the Python film 'The Life of Brian'
after EMI Films withdrew. He made several cameo appearances in movies, including
appearing as a nightclub singer in Shanghai Surprise, and as Mr. Papadopolous
in Life of Brian. One of his most memorable cameos was as a reporter in the cult
Beatles parody The Rutles, created by ex-Python Eric Idle. He also made 3 more
albums in the 80's and appeared on 9 hit singles. He toured Japan with Eric Clapton
in 1991, this was Georges final tour.Throughout the 90's George battled with cancer,
having tumors removed from his throat and lung. Then on 30 December 1999, a crazed
fan, Michael Abram, broke into the Harrison's home in Henley-on-Thames, stabbed
George multiple times, ultimately puncturing his lung. George and his wife, Olivia,
fought the intruder and detained him for the police. 35-year-old Abram, who believed
he was possessed by Harrison and was on a "mission from God" to kill
him, was later acquitted on grounds of insanity. In 2001, George appeared as a
guest musician on the Electric Light Orchestra album, Zoom, and wrote a new song,
Horse To The Water, and recorded it with Jools Holland on what was his final recording,
a few weeks before his death, on Jules's album, Small World, Big Band. "Brainwashed"
was the final studio album by George Harrison and was released in 2002, a year
after his death. In 2004, Brainwashed's "Marwa Blues" won the Best Pop
Instrumental Performance Grammy
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OBITUARIES:
2009 . 2008
. 2007
. 2006 . 2005
. 2004 . REQUESTS
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BIRTHS/DEATHS:
JAN
.FEB
.MAR
.APRIL
.MAY
.JUNE
.JULY
.AUG
.SEPT
.OCT
.NOV
.DEC
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