 In 1977 Guitarist Jimmy McCulloch left Wings to help re-form The Small
Faces. He had played with Paul  McCartney’s band on the Venus and Mars and Wings At the Speed
of Sound albums, as well as on the Wings Over America tour. He died two years
later at the age of 26. Drummer Joe English also left at this time, joining
Sea Level.
In 1976, Fleetwood Mac’s self-titled album hit number 1 after being
on the charts for over a year. Songs such as Over My Head and Rhiannon
helped the album reach the 5 million mark in sales in the U.S. alone. And
after group members heard a cover of Say You Love Me by Shirley
Eikhard, the band added a splash of guitar to their own version and released
it as a single. It would go on to be the best charting song from the album.
In 2000 Andy Williams got his singing voice back after getting a second
opinion about his condition. A node was found on his throat the previous
fall, causing the crooner to cancel a recent tour. Bing Crosby and Julie
Andrews both  had surgery for similar conditions, but Crosby’s voice came out
lower, while Andrews had to stop singing entirely. Williams took a second
doctor’s advice to wait and see if the node would disappear, and it did. He
began the ninth season performing at his own Moon River Theatre with his
voice intact. The very next day, Andrews settled her lawsuit with the New
York doctors that ruined her singing career.
In 1978 Keith Moon (drummer of The Who) died
on September 7th. He had just seen the movie, The Buddy Holly
Story starring Gary Busey, and returned to his London apartment. It had
previously been Harry Nilsson’s pad, and the same one that watched Mama Cass Elliot
die of a heart attack in 1974. Moon died of a drug overdose.
In 2002 The Frankie Miller tribute concert was
held at the Glasgow Barrowlands. Money was being raised for the Drake Music
Project, a music therapy charity helping Miller and many others with
debilitating injuries. The  Sensational Alex Harvey Band, Nazareth, Gallagher & Lyle,
Hamish Stuart, former Thin Lizzy guitarist Brian Robertson, ex-Genesis singer
Ray Wilson and Joe Walsh gave their all for Miller, as did newer and more
local acts like Clare Grogan and The McCluskey Brothers. Walsh was heard on
the classics, Desperado, Life’s Been Good, Rocky Mountain Way and Amazing
Grace. Miller attended the show, but was still recovering from a 1994 brain
hemorrhage, and so was unable to join in. The studio tribute CD, Something
Old, Something New, Something Borrowed but Most Definitely Blues was released
a couple of months after the seven hour concert.
In 1996, Cat Stevens signed copies of his
first album in 18 years. Most of the album was spoken-word and was titled,
The Life of the Last Prophet. It was also released under his Muslim name,
Yusuf Islam. His birth name in the summer of 1947 was Steven Demetre
Georgiou, but chose Cat Stevens because he thought it was very distinctive, and
a name that people would remember.
In 1955 Little Richard entered a New Orleans studio to begin two days
of recording. Out of the sessions came Tutti Frutti, but in a cleaner
version, thanks to lyricist Dorothy LaBostrie. Richard coined the phrase,
“a-wop-bop-a-loo-bop- a-lop-bam-boom,” while working as a dishwasher to support his
family. The official recording session was going nowhere and so everyone took
a break at a nearby inn. Richard used the restaurant piano to play his
raucous version of an unknown song, Tutti Frutti. After it was cleaned up and
put down onto tape, the song managed to make it into the top 20 early the
following year.
In 1962 The Four Seasons had their first number 1 hit. Sherry led the
way for another eleven top 10 hits before the end of the decade. Two more
were added in the mid-1970s. December 1963, Rag Doll, Walk Like a Man, Big
Girls Don’t Cry and Sherry all hit number 1. A special, enhanced version of
Big Girls Don’t Cry is available on Curb Records’ 1988 release, The Four
Seasons Hits Digitally Enhanced, as is the extended version of December 1963,
which re-entered the top 20 in 1994.
In 1982 Chicago had
the number 1 song, with Hard to Say I’m Sorry. It was their second song,
after If You Leave Me Now, to make it to the top, and would go on to be their
biggest single. The group had changed record companies  after their last studio album bombed, going “aluminum, maybe
plywood,” as one member of the band described it. Most of their previous
albums had been certified gold. Hard to Say I’m Sorry put them back onto the
charts after more than two years, and it had been almost five years since
they had a top 10 hit. Chicago would continue with their renewed success for
the rest of the 1980s, with songs like Hard Habit to Break, Will You Still
Love Me? and You’re Not Alone.
In 1988 Guns N’
Roses hit it big with, Sweet Child O’ Mine. It was number 1 and was taken
from the album, Appetite for Destruction. The song was written for Rose’s
girlfriend, Erin Everly. Yes, she is the daughter of Don Everly, of The
Everly Brothers. Axl and Erin were married briefly in 1990. Welcome to the
Jungle and Paradise City were also top 10 hits taken from Appetite. The
former song is popular at hockey games, especially when fights break out.
On September 18th
1970 Jimi Hendrix died. He knew he was in trouble
when he phoned his manager, Chas Chandler,  and left the message, “I need help bad, man,” on Chandler’s
answering machine. Two weeks earlier, Hendrix left a Denmark stage with the
words, “I’ve been dead for a long time,” after he was poorly received. Three
days after the death, Eric Burdon appeared on TV claiming that there was a
suicide note. The last album released while Hendrix was still alive was
1970’s live album, Band of Gypsys.
In 1970 The Beatles finally gave up their reign as Best Group on
Melody Maker’s annual poll. They had disbanded months earlier, and Led
Zepplin moved in to take over. Zep had released two amazing albums in 1969,
and songs like You Shook Me, Dazed and Confused, Communication Breakdown,
Whole Lotta Love, Heartbreaker, What is and What Should Never Be and Ramble
On were already enough to grant any group superstar status.
In 1999 Ozzy Osbourne wrote a letter to the folks at the Rock and Roll
Hall of Fame, in response to their nomination of Black Sabbath into the
esteemed hall. The letter stated, “Just take our name off the list. Save the
ink. Forget  about us. The nomination is meaningless, because it’s not voted
on by the fans. It’s voted on by the supposed elite for the industry and the
media, who’ve never bought an album or concert ticket in their lives, so
their vote is irrelevant to me. Let’s face it, Black Sabbath has never been
media darlings. We’re a people’s band and that suits us just fine.” They
didn’t get in that year.
|
FAREWELLS
1
Johnny Burnette 1964
4
Dottie West 1999
6
Tom Fogerty 1999
7
Keith Moon 1978
16
Marc Bolan 1977
17
Frankie Vaughan 1999
18
Jimi Hendrix 1970
19
Gram Parsons 1973
20
Jim Croce 1973
25
John Bonham 1980
28
Miles Davis 1991
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