Sadly, it's that time of year when we look back and reflect on some of the people from the world of music who have died during in the last twelve months.
We have lost a lot of people, some at the end of long and distinguished careers and some still in their prime - and unfortunately, this list in quite selective and by no means exhaustive.
January 2024:
19th - Mary Weiss, aged 75.
Weiss was in the 60s girl group, The Shangri-Las, famous for their global number one The Leader Of The Pack, in 1964. In later life, Weiss also became a successful interior designer.
23rd - Frank Farian, aged 82.
Farian was the German born producer famous for working with (and founding) late 70s cheesy disco greats, Boney M, and 80s smooth popsters, Milli Vanilli. It was after an unfortunate 'live' error with the latter, where it was discovered that the duo were only lip-synching to a track sung by session singers - something it turned out he did regularly with his charges.
The Shangri-La's: The Leader Of The Pack (TV appearance, 1964)
February:
2nd - Wayne Kramer, aged 75
Wayne Kramer was the lead guitarist with late 60s garage rock and proto-punk legends, the MC5, and also worked in film and TV production. He succumbed to pancreatic cancer in February.
3rd - Aston 'Family Man' Barrett, aged 77
Barrett was the bandleader with The Wailers, Bob Marley's backing band - with that role leading to his Family Man nickname (given to him before he had any children of his own). He was both the co-producer and arranger of the Wailers' albums. After a series of strokes, he died of heart failure.
7th - Mojo Nixon, aged 66
Neill McMillan Jr, a.k.a. Mojo Nixon, made his name in the world of psychobilly (a punk / rock n roll fusion). He also regularly presented a radio show on Sirius's Outlaw Country channel and turned his hand to acting, appearing as Jerry Lee Lewis's drummer, James Van Eaton, in the biopic Great Balls Of Fire! (with Dennis Quaid and Winona Ryder).
14th - Ian Amey, aged 79
Ian Amey was better known to his fans during the 60s as 'Tich', one fifth of Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich - famous for six Top10 UK hits, most notable, The Legend Of Xanadu. He also had a spell with The Troggs in the 1970s.
The MC5: Kick Out The Jams (Live on Beat Club, 1972)
Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich: The Legend of Xanadu (Live on Beat Club, 1968)
March:
10th - Karl Wallinger, aged 66
Welsh born Karl Wallinger had a stint in the choir school at Eton College, which earned him a music scholarship to noted public school, Charterhouse, but is perhaps best known for the band he formed in 1986, World Party, who had hits with Ship Of Fools and She's The One (later covered by Robbie Williams). Prior to that, he had already made a name for himself, working with Mike Scott in The Waterboys, playing a big part in fleshing out their sound during third album This Is The Sea, which includes their best known tune, The Whole Of The Moon. Having suffered a brain aneurysm in 2001, he died from a stroke at his Hastings home.
17th - Steve Harley, aged 73
The Cockney Rebel, Steve Harley (born Stephen Nice) died of cancer this year. He will be forever best known for his 1975 hit Make Me Smile (Come Up And See Me), which sold 1.5 million copies and has been covered more than 120 times . He got into horse racing and ownership in the early 80s and that became his main passion through the rest of his life. He died of cancer just a few months after announcing it on his website.
25th - Chris Cross, aged 71
Not to be confused with the solo artist Christopher Cross (Ride Like The Wind etc.), Chris Cross made his name as the bass player in post-punk / new wave legends, Ultravox, playing in both the John Foxx and Midge Ure eras.
Steve Harley (with Simple Minds): Make Me Smile (Live BBC concert, 2016)
Ultravox: Young Savage (Audio only - great bit of punk from John Foxx era)
April:
18th - Dickey Betts, aged 80
Dickey Betts was already a seasoned pro guitarist on the Florida rock circuit, by the time he helped co-found legendary southern blues rockers The Allman Brothers Band in 1969, who would go on to have hits with songs like Jessica (which he wrote, inspired by his own daughter of the same name) and Ramblin' Man. He worked his way through five marriages, suffered a mild stroke in 2018 and then died from cancer and COPD in April of this year.
24th - Mike Pinder, aged 82
Birmingham born Pinder, was a founding member of the Moody Blues in 1964, with Denny Laine, Ray Thomas, Clint Warwick and Graeme Edge. He played through the early hits like Go Now, into the Justin Hayward era, and also in their brief late 70s reformation. Later on, he worked on music for Atari and moved to California, where he died after suffering for years with dementia.
30th - Duane Eddy, aged 86
Duane Eddy was the guitarist known for his 'twang' and a raft of hits in the late 50s and early 60s produced by Lee Hazlewood, such as Peter Gunn. His distinctive style made an impression on the likes of George Harrison, Bruce Springsteen and Steve Earle. He was working right up to this year, being credited as a collaborator on Mark Knopfler's re-working of his Local Hero theme tune.
The Allman Brothers: Jessica (Live at University of Florida, 1982 - tv viewers may just recognise the tune!)
Duane Eddy: Peter Gunn (Live at Glastonbury, 2011)
May:
7th - Steve Albini, aged 61
Steve Albini was an iconic producer and engineer amongst the indie and alt-rock communities. As well as producing seminal albums like Surfer Rosa for Pixies and In Utero for Nirvana, he ran a studio, Electrical Audio in Chicago and he was noted for not taking royalties for his production work (something that would leave him much poorer than he should have been) . He also had his own well respected bands including Big Block, Rapeman and Shellac. A month after his death from a heart attack, the road his studio was on was renamed Steve Albini Way.
8th - Dennis Thompson, aged 75
A second blow in the year for fans of the MC5, when drummer and last surviving member, Dennis Thompson, passed of a heart attack.
June:
11th - Françoise Hardy, aged 80
Hardy rose to prominence in the 1960s, with her melancholic sing-song style and as part of the yé-yé movement (basically the French version of the British 'beat' scene). She notably sang songs in English, French, German and Italian and had early success with Tous Les Garçons Et Les Filles, a Top40 hit around Europe. She also dabbled with acting, became an astrologer and wrote fiction and non-fiction. She died from lymphatic cancer.
Francoise Hardy: Tout Les Garcons Et les Filles (Live on Dutch TV, 1963)
July:
22nd - Duke Fakir, aged 88
Abdul 'Duke' Fakir was a founder and last surviving member of the Motown legends, The Four Tops, with Levi Stubbs, Renaldo Benson and Lawrence Payton. They achieved almost twenty Top20 hits in the US, most memorably 1966s Reach Out I'll Be There. By 2008 the other three were dead and so Fakir put together new touring versions of the band, and was indeed performing regularly with them until a month or so before his death.
22nd - John Mayall, aged 90
John Mayall was a cornerstone of the British blues scene (often known as the Godfather of British blues), most notably with his band The Bluesbreakers. They were a showcase of the best of British blues talent with line-ups at various times including, John McVie (Fleetwood Mac), Jack Bruce (Cream), Peter Green (Fleetwood Mac), Mick Taylor (Rolling Stones) and of course, Eric Clapton.
28th - Martin Phillipps, aged 61
Phillipps formed and was the sole permanent member of The Chills, a New Zealand band formed in 1980 which became a founder of what would become modern indie rock. They never quite found a level of success their music deserved, perhaps hindered by constant line-up changes and health issues that surrounded Phillipps, largely caused by hepatitis-C that was a direct result of his drug addiction. And while he quit drugs and was cured of hepatitis, his health never properly recovered.
John Mayall w/ Eric Clapton: All Your Love (Live in Liverpool, 2003)
The Chills: Pink Frost (Live on KEXP, 2019)
August:
13th - Greg Kihn, aged 75
Greg Kihn was a rock star, DJ (for a San Francisco classic rock station) and horror author, most noted for his 1980s hits The Breakup Song and Jeopardy. He died following complications from Alzheimer's disease.
Greg Kihn Band: The Breakup Song (live, 1981)
September:
5th - Sergio Mendes, aged 83
Sergio Mendes was a Brazilian musician with 35 albums to his name, of bossa nova often mixed in with some funk. He even got an Oscar nod for his tune Real In Rio, from the 2012 animated movie, Rio. Well respected in the music world, he collaborated over the years with Stevie Wonder, Black Eyed Peas, Erykah Badu, John Legend and Justin Timberlake.
15th - Kenny Hyslop, aged 73
Kenny Hyslop was a Scottish drummer who started out in Slik with Midge Ure, before a brief spell in The Skids. He joined Simple Minds to replace founding drummer Brian McGee, for their Sons & Fascination tour, before also starting work on what would become New Gold Dream. Although he didn't finish the album, he does appear on breakthrough hit Promised You A Miracle. Later on, he wrote for others, was a DJ and taught drums. He died of prostate cancer.
15th - Tito Jackson, aged 70
Tariano 'Tito' Jackson was of course a founder of The Jackson 5, with his brothers Jackie, Michael, Jermaine, Marlon and Randy. As the 21st century dawned and The Jackson 5 finished (Tito and Jackie played right through), Jackson started a solo career as a blues singer. He appeared as a judge on one season of UK celebrity singing show, Just The Two Of Us - and is also noteworthy, because his 2016 song Get It Baby, made him the ninth and final Jackson sibling to have a chart solo hit. He died of a heart attack.
17th - J.D. Souther, aged 78
John David 'JD' Souther was the so-called "architect of the SoCal sound", writing songs over the years for the likes of Linda Ronstadt and The Eagles. He could have actually joined The Eagles (Gren Frey offered him the chance in 1969), but he instead chose to work as a solo artist and write songs for others. Songs he wrote include, Heartache Tonight and New Kid In Town (The Eagles), The Light Is On (Christopher Cross), Loose Ends (Dan Fogelburg) and Faithless Love (Linda Ronstadt).
Sergio Mendes w/ Black Eyed Peas: Mais Que Nada (Live in 2011)
The Jackson 5: I Want You Back (Live on Ed Sullivan, 1969)
October:
16th - Liam Payne, aged 31
Liam Payne was, of course, one fifth of the massive boy-band One Direction. He had already auditioned twice solo for The X Factor before he was picked up to join One Direction, who placed third and went on to global superstardom. By the time the band went on hiatus in 2016, Payne had already racked up a huge number of co-writing credits. As he went solo, he was able to fuse the pop and R&B of One D with more electronic sounds. He was a frequent contributor to charities including UNICEF, Comic Relief and Trussell Trust (funding 360,000 meals during the Covid pandemic). He tragically fell to his death from a third floor hotel balcony in Argentina.
21st - Paul Di'Anno, aged 66
Paul Di'Anno was the original vocalist for heavy metal legends Iron Maiden, singing with them from 1978 to 1981 and appearing on the bands first two albums. He would go on to record as a solo artist and be apart of a number of other metal bands, such as Gogmagog and Praying Mantis. He had suffered with health issues in later life, including the need for extensive knee surgery, but it seems it was a tear in the sac around his heart that killed him in the end.
25th - Phil Lesh, aged 84
Was a founder and constant member of The Grateful Dead through their thirty year career. He also continued their legacy after that, playing their music with the Phil Lesh and Friends project. He was noted for improvisational style of playing a 6-string bass.
Iron Maiden: Iron Maiden (Live at The Rainbow, 1980)
November:
3rd - Quincy Jones, aged 91
Quincy Jones had a seven decade career which saw him earn a staggering 28 Grammy awards, a Tony, and Emmy and seven Oscar nominations. In the 1950s he was a jazz arranger for the likes of Frank Sinatra and Count Basie. He became a producer, most notably Michael Jackson's three biggest albums (Off The Wall, Thriller and Bad) - and also soundtrack creator (In The Heat Of The Night, The Color Purple etc.). He was a keen social activist too, being an ardent supporter of Martin Luther King Jr, setting up the Institute for Black American Music and co-founding the Black Arts Festival in Chicago. He had two brain surgeries in the 1970s following an aneurysm, which meant he could no longer play trumpet. He died at home in Bel Air, with it later being revealed that he had pancreatic cancer.
December:
17th - Alfa Anderson, aged 78
Alfa Anderson was heading down the path of an educator, with a Masters in English from Columbia University. She also sang in the college choir and appeared semi-professionally in the mid-70s, whilst working as a lecturer by day (at Hunter College in NYC). She first auditioned for Chic in 1977, working as a backing vocalist on their debut LP, Chic. The following year, when one of the original lead singers Norma Jean Wright left, Anderson stepped up and appears on the hits, Le Freak, Good Times and I Want Your Love, where she is the lead vocalist. When Chic dissolved in 1983, she went on the road with Luther Vandross (another former Chic backing singer). After providing vocals for many other artists (including Bryan Adams, Mick Jagger, Sheena Easton and Bryan Ferry), Anderson earned a second Masters in educational leadership and became principal at the El Puente Academy for Peace in Brooklyn. She also continued to record and perform, including as a trio with other former Chic singers Wright and Luci Martin.
We should also note that former Chic backing vocalist Diva Gray also died on 19 November.
Alfa Anderson
Chic: I Want Your Love (Official music video)
Breaking News: And as I finish compiling this list, 2024 throws out one more cruel twist. It has just been announced that legendary BBC Radio veteran DJ Johnnie Walker has died today, aged 79. He had recently retired after a 58-year career, leaving his two shows (Sounds of the 70s and The Rock Show) just two months ago. He has had a long struggle with pulmonary fibrosis. As former colleague Ken Bruce noted today - "So sorry to hear the news about the great Johnnie Walker. Not only was he a wonderful broadcaster but also a man of great personal strength and kindness."
We say rest in peace to all of these creative, wonderful souls - and to the many other talented musicians, producers and writers who died in 2024.
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