Obits..... (Page 1 of 2)

US country band The Chicks have said they are “shocked and saddened” by the death of founding member Laura Lynch aged 65 following a car accident.

The Texas Department of Public Safety confirmed to the PA news agency that Lynch died on Friday after being involved in a two-vehicle collision.

Lynch was one of the founding members of the group in 1989, featuring on their first three albums, before departing the group in the mid-1990s. The US band was originally founded as The Dixie Chicks by Martie Maguire, Emily Strayer, Lynch and Robin Lynn Macy. Macy later left the group and Lynch was replaced by Natalie Maines. Before Lynch left, the band released three albums together – their 1990 debut Thank Heavens For Dale Evans, 1992’s Little Ol’ Cowgirl and 1993’s Shouldn’t A Told You That.

The group got its commercial breakthrough in 1998 with their fourth album Wide Open Spaces, with Maines leading the vocals. It was followed up by 1999’s Fly, 2002’s Home, 2006’s Take The Long Way – which all went to number one in the US album charts.

Anthony "Tony" Michael Clarkin (24 November 1946 – 7 January 2024)

Tony Clarkin, best known as the guitarist of the rock band Magnum. He was the sole songwriter throughout Magnum's history, writing all of the material on their 22 studio albums as well as on two studio albums by Magnum spin-off group Hard Rain. On 9 January 2024, Magnum announced on their Facebook page that Clarkin had died on 7 January. He was 77. The previous month the band revealed that he was diagnosed with a rare spinal condition, which brought about the cancellation of their Spring 2024 tour.

Anthony Michael Clarkin was born and grew up in the Shard End area of Birmingham, which spawned a number of bands tagged with the 'Brum Beat' label. Leaving school to train as a Ladies hairdresser he soon quit to join his first band The Boulevards with former school friends. They began to develop their own style by playing Clarkin's songs at a residency at The Railway Inn, in Birmingham's Curzon Street, in 1976. Joining Clarkin and Catley were drummer Kex Gorin and bassist Dave Morgan (later a member of ELO) and Mark Stanway keyboard player joined in 1980 and remained until 2016. Their most notable success during these early years was the Jeff Glixman produced Chase The Dragon (1982) which reached number 17 in the UK Albums Chart, and  included several songs that would be mainstays of the band's live set, notably "Soldier of the Line", "Sacred Hour" and "The Spirit".

It was not until the band came into association with manager Keith Baker, their breakthrough album came in 1985 with On a Storyteller's Night which featured the single "Just Like an Arrow". This success continued in the following years when Baker introduced the band to Queen drummer Roger Taylor. He produced Vigilante in 1986, the top 5 album Wings of Heaven in 1988, and the Keith Olsen produced Goodnight L.A. which reached number 9 in the UK Albums Chart in 1990.

In mid 1995, Clarkin announced the band were to split following a farewell tour of the UK and Europe. Clarkin commented: "The break since the middle of the Nineties was definitely necessary for me. Since the end of the Seventies, in fact since we embarked on the preparations for our debut recording Kingdom of Madness, not a single month had gone by in which I didn't work for Magnum, composed for the group, or at least thought of them permanently. For almost twenty years, all my thoughts had revolved around the band. I needed a break to clear my head and to be able to devote myself to the band again with renewed energy."

Eventually, Clarkin and Catley re-launched Magnum with the album Breath of Life in 2002 on SPV. They were again joined by Stanway, with former Hard Rain bassist Al Barrow and former-Thunder drummer Harry James. This was subsequently followed by Brand New Morning in 2004. Magnum completed work on a new studio album, Princess Alice and the Broken Arrow with drummer Jimmy Copley released on 26 March 2007, that also marked the return of cover artwork by Rodney Matthews. The album entered the UK Albums Chart at number 70, the first time Magnum had charted in the UK since 1994. It also reached number 4 on the BBC Rock Albums Chart and number 60 in Germany, the band's biggest market along with Scandinavia outside of the UK.

Magnum's latest album, Here Comes The Rain, is due for release this coming Friday, January 12, via SPV/Steamhammer.

"We at SPV/Steamhammer are devastated about the passing of Tony," says Olly Hahn, head of the label. "We can't believe that he's gone. For 22 years the whole team and I had the pleasure to work with him, 22 years of fantastic music, trust and loyalty. We are forever grateful for this. Rest in peace, Tony!"

Wayne Kramer, April 30, 1948 – February 2, 2024. R.I.P.

Wayne Kramer, the co-founder and guitar-vocalist of rock band MC5, has died aged 75.

The band confirmed the news on their official social media pages, writing, alongside a picture of Kramer: ‘Wayne S. Kramer “PEACE BE WITH YOU”

A cause of death has not been revealed.

The band, formed in 1963, released their debut album in 1969, titled Kick Out The Jams. MC5 were made of vocalist Rob Tyner, guitarists Kramer and Fred ‘Sonic’ Smith, bassist Michael Davis and drummer Dennis Thompson. Tyner died in 1991 aged 46, and Smith died in 1994, also aged 46. They both died of heart attacks.

In 2018, Kramer published his memoir, The Hard Stuff, and in recent months was said to be planning a world tour for the latest incarnation of the MC5, with new music.

Fans and the other musicians have taken to social media to pay tribute after the news. Singer Alice Cooper shared an image on his own Instagram page, writing: ‘Today we lost longtime friend – and sometimes collaborator – Wayne Kramer of the MC5. RIP.’

Rage Against The Machine guitarist Tom Morello also penned a lengthy tribute, writing: ‘Brother Wayne Kramer was the best man I’ve ever known. He possessed a one of a kind mixture of deep wisdom & profound compassion, beautiful empathy and tenacious conviction.

Kramer is survived by his wife and son.

Forrest Richard "Dickie" Betts (born December 12, 1943 – April 18, 2024) R.I.P.

Born in West Palm Beach on December 12, 1943, and raised in Bradenton, Florida, Betts grew up in a musical family listening to traditional bluegrass, country music and Western swing. He started playing ukulele at five and, as his hands got bigger, moved on to mandolin, banjo, and guitar. At sixteen and feeling the need for something "a little faster", he played in a series of rock bands on the Florida circuit, up the East Coast and into the Midwest before forming Second Coming with Berry Oakley in 1967. According to Rick Derringer, the "group called the Jokers" referenced in "Rock and Roll, Hoochie Koo" was one of Betts' early groups.

Betts joined several bands in the ’60s and eventually formed a band with bassist Berry Oakley. One fateful night in 1969, their band jammed with another local group featuring Duane and Gregg Allman, marking the birth of the Allman Brothers Band. In addition to matching band leader Duane Allman lick for lick, Betts also wrote such memorable songs as “Revival” and the instrumental tour de force “In Memory of Elizabeth Reed.” After Duane Allman and Berry Oakley were killed in accidents a year apart in 1971 and 1972, the Allman Brothers worked through their sorrow, with Betts writing and singing the group’s biggest hit, “Ramblin’ Man.” Members of the band ventured into solo careers in 1973, and when the ABB officially split up in 1976, he formed Dickey Betts and Great Southern. The ABB reformed in 1978, but soon split again.

In 1989, their 20th anniversary, the Allman Brothers Band regrouped again. The chemistry that resulted from the unique two-guitar approach of Warren Haynes and Betts made the Allman Brothers Band once again one of the most compelling groups in the country. The band enjoyed continued success throughout the ’90s, being inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, winning their first Grammy, and amazing audiences with their powerful live performances.

Betts married his fifth wife, Donna, in 1989. He has four children: Kimberly, Christy, Jessica and Duane. Christy is married to Frank Hannon of the band Tesla. Duane, named for Betts' former bandmate Duane Allman, is also a musician and has performed and recorded with his father. In August 2018, Betts suffered a mild stroke and had to cancel upcoming tour dates with his Dickey Betts Band. He was in critical yet stable condition at a Florida hospital following an accident at his home in Osprey, Florida. An operation was planned for September 20, 2018. He successfully underwent surgery to relieve swelling on his brain. In a statement posted on his website, Betts and his family said the "outpouring of support from all over the world has been overwhelming and amazing. We are so appreciative." Although he briefly resided in Georgia during the formative years of the Allman Brothers Band, he has lived in Florida's Sarasota metropolitan area for most of his life

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wa4DCp6cl2U

Duane Eddy (April 26, 1938 – April 30, 2024) R.I.P.

Absolutely gutted this morning to this news. The Grammy-winning artist died of cancer surrounded by family at Williamson Health hospital near his home in Franklin, Tennessee. The rock’n’roll guitarist who achieved solo stardom with a string of instrumental hits in the late 1950s and early 1960s, including Rebel Rouser and the theme to the TV series Peter Gunn, has died at the age of 86.

Born on 26 April in Corning, NY, Eddy began playing guitar at the age of five. He began performing in local radio shows as a child, with a guitar style primarily shaped by the singing cowboys Roy Rodgers and Gene Autry, as well as musicians Les Paul, Chet Atkins and Merle Travis. After moving to Arizona at the age of 13, Eddy linked up with a friend, Jimmy Delbridge, to perform in local shows. They were scouted by aspiring producer Lee Hazelwood, who went on to record Eddy’s first solo single, Movin’ n’ Groovin’ (using a 1957 Chet Atkins model Gretsch 6120)  in 1957, when Eddy was 19. Hazelwood and Eddy developed the distinctive “twang” style, which Hazelwood later adapted for Nancy Sinatra’s smash 1960 hit These Boots Are Made for Walkin.

Eddy had a succession of hit records over the next few years, and his band members, including Steve Douglas, saxophonist Jim Horn, and keyboard player Larry Knechtel, went on to work as part of Phil Spector's Wrecking Crew. According to writer Richie Unterberger, "The singles — 'Peter Gunn', 'Cannonball', 'Shazam', and 'Forty Miles of Bad Road' were probably the best — also did their part to help keep the raunchy spirit of rock and roll alive, during a time in which it was in danger of being watered down." On January 9, 1958, Eddy's debut album, Have 'Twangy' Guitar Will Travel, was released, reaching number five, and remaining on the album charts for 82 weeks. On his fourth album, Songs of Our Heritage (1960), each track featured him playing acoustic guitar or banjo. Eddy's biggest hit came with the theme of the movie Because They're Young in 1960, which featured a string arrangement, and reached a chart peak of number four in America and number two in the UK in September 1960. It became his second million-selling disc. Eddy's records were consistently even more successful in the UK than they were in his native United States, and in 1960, readers of the UK's NME voted him World's Number One Musical Personality, ousting Elvis Presley.

In the 1970s, he produced album projects for Phil Everly and Waylon Jennings. In 1972, he worked with Al Gorgoni, rhythm guitar, on BJ Thomas's "Rock and Roll Lullaby". In 1975, a collaboration with hit songwriter Tony Macaulay and former founding member of The Seekers, Keith Potger, led to another UK top-10 record, "Play Me Like You Play Your Guitar". The single, "You Are My Sunshine", featuring Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings, hit the country charts in 1977.

In 1986, Eddy recorded with Art of Noise, remaking his version of Henry Mancini's "Peter Gunn". The song was a top-10 hit around the world, ranking number one on Rolling Stone's dance chart for six weeks that summer. "Peter Gunn" won the Grammy for Best Rock Instrumental of 1986. It also gave Eddy the distinction of being the only instrumentalist to have had top-10 hit singles in four different decades in the UK. (Although his 1975 top-10 hit featured a female vocal group). The following year, Duane Eddy was released on Capitol. Several of the tracks were produced by Paul McCartney, Jeff Lynne, Ry Cooder, and Art of Noise. Guest artists and musicians included John Fogerty, George Harrison, Paul McCartney, Ry Cooder, James Burton, David Lindley, Phil Pickett, Steve Cropper, and original Rebels, Larry Knechtel and Jim Horn. The album included a cover of Paul McCartney's 1979 instrumental, "Rockestra Theme". In 1982, Duane Eddy's "Rebel Walk" was heard in the musical comedy, Grease 2, featured as background music at the bowling alley, when the T-Birds rushed to face rival Leo Balmudo. Though it was not a part of the original soundtrack, it was mentioned in the film's credits. In 1992, Eddy recorded a duet with Hank Marvin on Marvin's album Into the Light, with a cover version of The Chantays' 1963 hit "Pipeline".

Eddy's "Rebel Rouser" was featured that same year in Forrest Gump. Oliver Stone's Natural Born Killers used "The Trembler", a track written by Eddy and Ravi Shankar. Also in 1994, Eddy teamed up with Carl Perkins and The Mavericks to contribute "Matchbox" to the AIDS benefit album Red Hot + Country produced by the Red Hot Organization. Eddy was the lead guitarist on Foreigner's 1995 hit "Until the end of Time", which reached the top 10 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart. In 1996, Eddy played guitar on Hans Zimmer's soundtrack for the film Broken Arrow. More recently he appeared on albums by The Pretenders as well as Robert Plant & Alison Kraus' Raising Sand

In October 2010, Eddy returned to the UK at a sold-out Royal Festival Hall in London. This success prompted the subsequent album for Mad Monkey/EMI, which was produced by Richard Hawley in Sheffield, England. The album, Road Trip, was released on June 20, 2011. Mojo placed the album at number 37 on its list of "Top 50 albums of 2011." Eddy performed at the Glastonbury Festival on June 26, 2011.

For an 80th-birthday tour in 2018, Eddy returned to the UK in concerts with Liverpudlian singer-songwriter Robert Vincent, performing on October 23 at the London Palladium,[21] and October 30 at Bridgewater Hall in Manchester. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994.

Eddy's favored guitar was a 1957 Chet Atkins Gretsch 6120 guitar that he bought at Ziggie's Music in Phoenix, Arizona in 1957 (for which he had traded in his gold top Gibson Les Paul Standard guitar from the early 1950s plus monthly payments of $17). From 1959's The "Twangs" the "Thang" LP he also used a Danelectro six-string bass guitar.

Eddy was the first rock and roll guitarist to have a signature model guitar, as in 1961 the Guild Guitar Company introduced the Duane Eddy signature models DE-400 and the deluxe DE-500. A limited edition of the DE-500 model was reissued briefly in 1983 to mark Eddy's 25th anniversary in the recording industry. In 1997, 40 years after he had bought his Gretsch Chet Atkins 6120, Gretsch started production of the Duane Eddy Signature Model, the Gretsch 6120-DE. In 2004, the Gibson Custom Art and Historic Division introduced the new Duane Eddy Signature Gibson guitar. A new Gretsch G6120DE Duane Eddy Signature model was released in spring 2011 and in 2018 Gretsch released the G6120TB-DE Duane Eddy 6-string bass model.

At least I managed to see him, in concert; about 10 years ago when he released the Road Trip album. As it was co-written and produced by Richard Hawley (in Sheffield), he did a UK tour with Richard's band, and it was a blast.

John Mayall OBE  29 November 1933 - 22 July 2024  R.I.P.

British music pioneer John Mayall has died, aged 90. The Bluesbreakers lead was known as the "father of British blues" after the release of his 1967 album, Blues Alone. Mayall died, aged 90, at his home in California, a post published to his Instagram page on 23 July confirmed.

Mayall was credited with fostering talent including Eric Clapton and Mick Fleetwood, who both played in the Bluesbreakers before leaving to form their own bands, Cream and Fleetwood Mac respectively. Others who passed through the Bluesbreakers on their way to greater fame included John McVie and Peter Green of Fleetwood Mac; Mick Taylor, who went on to spend five years with the Rolling Stones; and Canned Heat's Harvey Mandel and Larry Taylor. Mayall often emphasised his interest lay in making music, not creating stars. "I'm a band leader and I know what I want to play in my band - who can be good friends of mine," he told the Southern Vermont Review. "It's definitely a family. It's a small kind of thing really."