As we draw to the end of another year, it is always a good time to take stock and reflect on those from the music world we have lost along the way.
There were more than a few of the grand 'old guard' this year and, sadly, more than a few that might have gone on to give us a few decades more of enjoyment.
Incredibly, this is only a partial list of those who have left us from the world of music - and there will be a few names I'm sure, missing from below, that you will be missing and reflecting on.
So, we raise a glass to them all, as 2023 reaches its final moments....
January:
2nd - Alan Rankine died aged 64. Best known as a member of The Associates, but also a producer for the likes of the Cocteau Twins and the Pale Fountains. Went on to lecture at Stow College, Glasgow, helping establish the student run Electric Honey record label (Belle & Sebastian, Biffy Clyro, Snow Patrol).
10th - Jeff Beck, who replaced Eric Clapton in the Yardbirds, before forming the Jeff Beck Group. Sadly, probably still best known for Hi Ho Silver Lining - despite being one the greatest British blues guitarists of all time.
17th - Van Conner died aged 55. Best known as the bassist with Seattle grunge band, The Screaming Trees.
19th - David Crosby left us at the age of 81. One of the founders of The Byrds, and then Crosby, Stills & Nash (and Young) - and a key part of the 'Cali Sound'.
28th - Tom Verlaine was 73 when he passed. He had founded pioneering post-punk New York legends, Television, with Richard Hell, before going on to a solo career, before reforming and touring with Television again.
February:
9th - Burt Bacharach finally left us at the grand old age of 94! Probably one of the most important people in the whole of twentieth century pop music, especially for his partnership with Hal David. His compositions have been played by more than 1,000 artists and account for at least 73 US and 52 UK Top40 hits. The musical landscape of the last 70 years is impossible to imagine without him in it.
March:
2nd - Steve Mackey was the bass player with Sheffield legends Pulp from 1989 to 2012, but also noted as a producer for the likes of MIA and Florence & The Machine. He died aged 56.
5th - Gary Rossington was a keen baseball player, before he heard the Rolling Stones. He formed Southern rock dinosaurs, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and was the last remaining original - having survived the horrific 1977 plane crash that killed Ronnie Van Zandt and Steve and Cassie Gaines.
April:
4th - Vivian Trimble was the keyboard player with 90s alternative favourites, Luscious Jackson.
25th - Harry Belafonte finally moved on at the age of 96. He had been mentored by no less than Paul Robeson, before forging a distinguished career as a singer, actor (Kansas City, Island In The Sun) and civil rights activist. He is probably best known for the calypso tunes, Day-O and Jump In The Line, but his work crossed many other genres, including blues, folk and gospel.
May:
14th - John Giblin will be forever with me as the bass player with Simple Minds when I got into them in the mid-80s. Giblin, who died aged 71, was a noted session player who also worked with the likes of Kate Bush, Peter Gabriel, Phil Collins and Annie Lennox.
19th - Andy Rourke was one of the 'other two' - the often overlooked, but vital, rhythm section of The Smiths. He would go on to play on some of Morrissey's early solo stuff, and work with Sinead O'Connor, Badly Drawn Boy and The Pretenders.
24th - Tina Turner (Anna Mae Bullock) fought her way to the ripe age of 83. Life started out hard, as the daughter of Tennessee sharecroppers, and got worse, when she entered sixteen years of abusive marriage with Ike Turner. She finally ran away from him in 1976, and thankfully, her career saw a resurgence in 1983.
June:
5th - Astrud Gilberto - The Girl From Ipanema died aged 84. One of the most Brazilian exports (outside of football), Gilberto was a samba and bossa nova singer and writer, best known for singing on the aforementioned tune for Stan Getz. Getz only paid her the usual session fee and seems to have ensured that she didn't get any royalties - which is a shame, as it went on to sell several million copies worldwide.
Astrud Gilberto: The Girl From Ipanema - here
(Live in 1964)
July:
21st - Tony Bennett was another legend we lost this year, four years shy of his century. He went from being in the 255th Infantry on the front lines of Northern France and Germany in 1945, to a twenty times Grammy winner, who recorded over 70 albums and racked up over 50 million sales. Oh, and he managed three US number ones and was recognised as an accomplished painter!
26th - Sinead O'Connor had battled many demons throughout her life, before she finally died aged 56, just 18 months after the tragic death of her son, Shane. She courted much controversy, spoke her truth, got married four times and converted to Islam later in life.
August:
24th - Bernie Marsden was most famously an original member of British rock band Whitesnake and co-wrote, with David Coverdale, many of their biggest hits, including Here I Go Again and Fool For Your Loving. He was also a member of UFO.
Whitesnake: Here I Go Again - here
(Original 1982 music video)
September:
4th - Steve Harwell was a rapper turned rock star with Smash Mouth, who had big hits with Walkin' On The Sun and All Star in the late 1990s. He died aged 56.
October:
11th - Rudolph Isley was one of the founding brothers of the Isley Brothers, distinguished for having US hits across six decades (1950s to 2000s), including Love The One You're With. He left the band in 1989 to pursue his ambition of becoming a church Minister.
The Isley Brothers: Harvest For The World - here
(Audio only)
November:
20th - Mars Williams was a jazz saxophonist who was most notably in British new wave band, The Psychedelic Furs from 1983 to 89, and again from 2005 up to his death. He had also played with The Waitresses, Billy Squier and Billy Idol.
26th - Geordie Walker (born Kevin) had started out studying architecture, but in the end became the legendary guitarist of the original hard rocking goths, Killing Joke. He was living in Prague at the time of his death, aged 64, after suffering a stroke.
30th - Shane MacGowan had been born on Christmas Day, 1958, in Kent, while his Irish parents were visiting relatives. He spent six years in rural Tipperary, before exchanging that for North London. Expulsion from exclusive Westminster School was followed by immersion in the local punk scene, a variety of jobs and the formation of The Pogues. The rest, as they say, is drunken history.
December:
5th - Denny Laine had leapt to fame as lead singer on the Moody Blues UK number one, Go Now, before ending up as a key part of Paul and Linda McCartney's Wings. He contributed singing and songwriting to the band, but also forged a solo career, as well as playing on several of Paul's solo records.
Wings: Mull Of Kintyre - here
(Official music video)