More sad losses to the world of music this week with the deaths of Olivia Newton John, Lamont Dozier, Darryl Hunt and (slightly outside music) Raymond Briggs. All of them have work that will outlive them.
Olivia Newton John, forever famous as Sandy in Grease and as such a formative influence on those of us who grew up in the 70s and 80s, died age 73. Her earlier career as a singer of country, soft rock and Dylan songs and her 80s success with singles such as Physical made her a part of the pop firmament.
Lamont Dozier, as part of Motown's in house signwriting team along with Eddie and Brian Holland, wrote more great songs than almost anyone else I can think of. That song you love, that makes you hit the floor when it's played at a wedding or a party, that makes you turn up the radio and sing along- Lamont wrote it. This one, as performed by Martha And The Vandellas, for example...
Darryl Hunt, bassist in The Pogues, died aged 72. He joined the band in 1986 when Cait O'Riordan left and played on If I Should Fall From Grace With God, Peace And Love and Hell's Ditch while Shane was still in The Pogues and then the post- Shane albums Waiting For Herb and Pogue Mahone. Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah was a single in 1988, The Pogues in full on rocking mode.
Raymond Briggs was a writer and illustrator whose books had a massive impact on many of us. His Father Christmas books were brilliant for children in the 70s and 80, depicting Santa as a grumpy and contrary man who had the misfortune to work on Christmas Eve. We read it every year at Christmas. Even more than that though, Briggs wrote and illustrated When The Wind Blows, a horrific tale of nuclear destruction published in 1982, at the height of tension between Reagan's USA and the crumbling Soviet Union. For those of us growing up in the early 80s a nuclear war in Europe seemed like a possibility. Briggs' tale of a couple, Jim and Hilda, attempting to survive a nuclear attack, taking the doors of their hinges to construct an inner refuge shelter and eventually succumbing to radiation sickness, with bleeding gums, vomiting, diarrhoea, hair falling out and lesions, was terrifying to read and never forgotten. Threads, the Protect And Survive adverts and Frankie Goes To Hollywood's Two Tribes, When The Wind Blows- it's a wonder we ever got out of bed. 'Another sausage dear?'
