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Any Major Lamont Dozier Songbook

September 27th, 2022 3 comments

 

A few weeks ago we marked the death on August 8 of Lamont Dozier with a mix of songs he wrote at Motown with the brothers Brian and Eddie Holland. This is a sequel to the Any Major Holland-Dozier-Holland Songbook, covering almost exclusively the post-Motown era, during which Dozier still worked with the Hollands, but also with others and on his own.

Holland-Dozier-Holland split from Motown acrimoniously. Having founded the Invictus label, which created some of the greatest early-‘70s soul music, the trio were precluded by a lawsuit from crediting themselves for the songs they wrote. That’s how the fictional Edith Wayne, a pseudonym for HDH, came to co-write soul classics such as Band Of Gold, Give Me Just A Little More Time, Dangling On A String, Everything’s Tuesday, Westbound No. 9, Too Many Cooks (Spoil The Soup), and others.

The legal strife with Berry Gordy Jr was nasty business, but according to Dozier it was exactly that: just business. So by the mid-1970s, the Hollands worked with Motown again, in a delightful twist producing The Supremes, the band which in the 1960s they had produced to superstardom (and listen to Freda Payne’s Deeper And Deeper to hear some of that residual Supremes-like magic). On The Supremes’ 1976’s hit album High Energy, only Mary Wilson was left of the classic line-up. Sharing the lead by then was Scherrie Payne, Freda’s younger sister. But on the featured track, the Dozier co-written Don’t Let My Teardrops Bother You, Wilson takes the lead.

Before Scherrie joined The Supremes in 1973, she was in the Invictus band The Glass House, featured here with the gospel-funk track Heaven Is There To Guide Us, for which she received a co-writer’s credit, as she did for Crumbs Off The Table, a Glass House track covered here by Dusty Springfield.

There are two other songs with a faith-based theme here, both glorious grooves. The Sylvers’ Touch Me Jesus and Harrison Kennedy’s Sunday Morning People (which attacks the hypocrisy of people in the pews). In their original versions, by The Glass House (actually recorded by Darlene Love’s The Blossoms) and The Honey Cone respectively, both songs featured on the excellent Saved! The Soul Edition mix.

Perhaps the second-most surprising cover artist here, after Motörhead, is Donny Osmond. He covers the Chairmen of the Board’s glorious Dangling On A String. One might fear the worst, since Donald’s artistic reputation did not hinge on his powress as a traditional soul man. In the event, it is an agreeable interpretation — and not surprisingly, since co-writer Brian Holland produced the 1977 album this comes from.

Motörhead’s contribution from 1977, Leaving Here, is the only song here that belongs firmly in the Holland-Dozier-Holland Motown era. It was one of the trio’s earliest compositions, having been first released as a single in 1963 by Eddie Holland. It made no commercial impression, but in 1977, Lemmy and his pals Phil and Eddie recorded the song as their debut single. It’s not like Motörhead were deep-tracking obscure Motown material; their inspiration was a 1965 recording by the group The Birds, which counted among its members a fresh-faced Ronnie Woods.

The mix kicks off with Odyssey’s magnificent version of Going Back To My Roots, a song Dozier wrote on his own and recorded in 1977. Hugh Masekela helped Dozier infuse the song with its Afro-pop sensibility, which the Odyssey cover retained (including the Yoruba chant). It had already been covered by Richie Haven, but Odyssey had a huge hit with it in Europe in 1981. It topped the charts in South Africa, the home which Masekela could not return to… Dozier’s original featured on Any Major Originals: Soul Vol. 1).

Most tracks here were co-written by Dozier with others; the writing credits can be found in the ID3 tags of the song files. On 12 of the 30 tracks here, Ron Dunbar got a co-writing credit, mostly alongside that of Edith Wayne. Dunbar left us in April 2018. Dozier later claimed that Dunbar, an A&R man for Invictus, served as a composing front for Brian Holland, again because of the legal troubles with Motown. Dozier and Dunbar can sort that out in pop heaven.

This mix features 30 tracks. If you want to cut it in a standard CD-R, take tracks 1-22. The mix includes home-produced covers, and the above in an illustrated PDF. PW in comments.

1. Odyssey – Going Back To My Roots (1981)
2. Angela Clemmons – Give Me Just A Little More Time (1982)
3. Donny Osmond – Dangling On A String (1977)
4. Lamont Dozier – Why Can’t We Be Lovers (1974)
5. Flaming Ember – Westbound No. 9 (1971)
6. The Honey Cone – While You’re Out Looking For Sugar (1969)
7. Ronnie Dyson – Band Of Gold (1970)
8. Chairmen Of The Board – Everything’s Tuesday (1970)
9. 100 Proof Aged In Soul – Too Many Cooks (Spoil The Soup) (1971)
10. McKinley Jackson & Politicians – Love Machine (1971)
11. Dusty Springfield – Crumbs Off The Table (1972)
12. Harrison Kennedy – Sunday Morning People (1972)
13. Freda Payne – Deeper And Deeper (1970)
14. The Glass House – Heaven Is There To Guide Us (1971)
15. The Sylvers – Touch Me Jesus (1972)
16. The Blossoms – Cherish What Is Dear To You (1972)
17. The Jones Girls – Come Back (1972)
18. James Gilstrap – Put Out The Fire (1975)
19. Millie Jackson – You Created A Monster (1977)
20. Ben E. King – Let Me Live In Your Life (1978)
21. The Supremes – Don’t Let My Teardrops Bother You (1976)
22. Holland-Dozier – New Breed Kinda Woman (1973)
Bonus Tracks:
23. Syreeta – Mind, Body And Soul (c.1969)
24. Dionne Warwick – Don’t Burn The Bridge (That You Took Across) (1973)
25. The Originals – Sweet Rhapsody (1975)
26. Margie Joseph – All Cried Out (1976)
27. Alison Moyet – Invisible (1984)
28. Boy George – To Be Reborn (1987)
29. The Style Council – Hanging On To A Memory (live) (1984)
30. Motörhead – Leaving Here (1978)

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More Songbooks:
ABBA
Ashford & Simpson
Barry Gibb Vol. 1
Barry Gibb Vol. 2
Bill Withers
Bob Dylan Volumes 1-5
Brian Wilson
Bruce Springsteen
Burt Bacharach & Hal David Vol. 1
Burt Bacharach & Hal David Vol. 2
Burt Bacharach’s Lesser-Known Songbook
Carole Bayer Sager
Carole King Vol. 1
Carole King Vol. 2
Chuck Berry
Cole Porter Vol. 1
Cole Porter Vol. 2
Elton John & Bernie Taupin
Holland-Dozier-Holland
John Prine
Jimmy Webb Vol. 1
Jimmy Webb Vol. 2
Jimmy Webb Vol. 3
Laura Nyro
Leonard Cohen
Neil Diamond
Paul McCartney Vol. 1
Rod Temperton
Sly Stone
Steely Dan

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Any Major Charlies

September 15th, 2022 2 comments

Here’s a mix that riffs on a current event, in as far as that event inspired the theme: songs by people called Charles or derivations of that name. It’s basically an excuse to put together a collection of good songs that span various genres. You’ll know some of the Charlies featured, and you may discover a few you might not have known.

As for the Saxe-Coburg-Gotha chap (Windsor is really a made-up stage name), well, good luck to him. After 70 year of his mummy on the throne, the poor sap can’t really succeed. Not that I care much for the robber baron institutions that drain public purses, whether in Britain, Thailand or Eswatini. All systems of inherited privilege are objectionable. I’d not want to take part in the servility that props up aristocracies, with the bowing and scraping and bootlicking and letting miscreants of various levels of sweatiness get away with rape and murder. In the words of a Chuck not featured on this mix: Fight the Power!

But you don’t come here for my outbursts of civic sagacity, but for the music. So here’s the mix of people called Charles, Charley, Charlie, Chuck, Chas, Chaz, Charlotte or Carla, including a track featuring Inez Foxx (with brother Charlie), who died last month. And, fittingly, the Chuck Jackson track was produced by Carole King.

As always, the mix is timed to fit on a standard CD-R, and includes home-curtsied covers. PW in comments.

1. Carla Thomas – Stop Thief (1967)
2. Inez & Charlie Foxx – Hurt By Love (1964)
3. Chuck Jackson – I Don’t Want To Cry (1961)
4. Chuck Berry – No Particular Place To Go (1964)
5. Charlie Rich – Rebound (1959)
6. Charles Brown – Trouble Blues (1947)
7. Charles Trenet – La Mer (1946)
8. Charlie Watts Quintet feat. Bernard Fowler – My Ship (1993)
9. Ray Charles with Willie Nelson – Seven Spanish Angels (1984)
10. Bobby Charles – I Must Be In A Good Place Now (1972)
11. Chuck Pyle – Colorado (2007)
12. Charlotte Kendrick – Feels Right (2007)
13. Charlie Dore – Pilot Of The Airwaves (1980)
14. Charles & Eddie – Would I Lie To You (Acoustic Version) (1992)
15. Charlie Singleton – Sorry Charlie (1989)
16. Chas & Dave – Ain’t No Pleasing You (1982)
17. Charley Pride – Does My Ring Hurt Your Finger (1967)
18. Charlie Daniels Band – Long Haired Country Boy (1974)
19. Sonny Charles & The Checkmates – Black Pearl (1969)
20. Charles Wright & The Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band – Road Without An End (1970)
21. Carla Whitney – Wisdom Song (1975)
22. Chuck Brown & The Soul Searchers – Come On And Boogie (Part 1) (1980)
23. Tina Charles – I Love To Love (1976)
24. Chaz Jankel – Without You (1983)

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In Memoriam – August 2022

September 7th, 2022 6 comments

This In Memoriam drops a bit later than usual due to travel commitments. In as far as this unpaid gig is concerned, the travelling couldn’t have been worse timed (though it otherwise was a great trip), for August was harvest time for the Reaper, with ‘60s soul taking a hit in particular. Especially poignant: The Seekers’ lead singer Judith Durham died just ten days after Tom Springfield, the man who wrote all those hits that made her and The Seekers so famous in the 1960s. Tom’s life story is also quite something… Also worth noting: The Grim Reaper claimed the singer of a band called Grim Reaper.

The Cricket
The music has finally died with the passing of the final surviving member of Buddy Holly’s Crickets. Jerry Allison, who has died at 82, was the man who gave Holly’s great hit Peggy Sue its title. Buddy initially had as the song’s heroine Cindy Lou, but Allison asked him to rename it Peggy Sue, because that was the name of his estranged girlfriend — and future wife. This earned Allison a songwriting credit, and quite rightly, because Holly couldn’t have made those percussive P and G sounds with the name Cindy. The drummer also co-wrote That’ll Be The Day (credited) and Not Fade Away (uncredited).

Allison stuck to drumming on the Crickets’ records, but also tried his hand at singing — which clearly was not his most potent power — on a couple of singles. In 1958 he released the single Real Wild Child — a song he had heard Johnny O’Keefe play on stage in Australia — under the moniker Ivan, and with Buddy Holly on guitar. It featured on Any Major ABC of the 1950s. His second single, with a b-side titled That’ll Be Alright, was released, coincidentally, the day after Buddy Holly died in the plane which Allison didn’t take.

After Buddy’s death in 1958, bassist Joe B. Mauldin (died 2015) and guitarist Niki Sullivan (died 2004) soon left the group, but Jerry successfully continued the Crickets franchise — which Mauldin rejoined in 1976 — performing until his retirement in 2016. The Crickets were no hit machines, but they were influential, releasing original versions of future hits, such as I Fought The Law (written by guitarist Sonny Curtis, on The Originals: The Classics) and More Than I Can Say (Curtis and Allison, The Originals: 1980s Vol. 1)

The Hitmaker
With the brothers Holland, Lamont Dozier formed a veritable hit-machine for Motown. The landmark hits Holland-Dozier-Holland wrote and produced for acts like The Supremes, Four Tops, Martha And The Vandellas are listed in the notes for Holland-Dozier-Holland Songbook, which dropped a week after Dozier’s death.

It was with Motown that the young Dozier got his first break as a singer, releasing a few singles, mostly co-written by Berry Gordy, on the subsidiary Anna label, first as Lamont Anthony and eventually under his own name. These went nowhere, but by 1962 Gordy teamed the young singer up with another young vocalist, Brian Holland, who’d already scored hits as the co-writer of Please Mr Postman and Little Stevie Wonder’s Fingertips. They released some singles as a duo that went nowhere. But the two were also put to work behind the scenes, being entrusted especially with the hitherto luckless teenage trio The Supremes. They had little success, until Brian’s brother Eddie, also a Motown recording artist, joined them as lyricist.

After falling out with Berry Gordy, Holland-Dozier-Holland founded their own label, Invictus, in 1970. There their charges included the Freda Payne, Chairmen Of The Board, 100 Proof Aged In Soul, Flaming Embers, Glass House, Honey Cone. They produced and co-wrote hits — for contractual reasons as Edith Wayne — such as Band Of Gold, Give Me Just A Little More Time, Everything’s Tuesday, Too Many Cooks (Spoil The Soup), Sunday Morning People, or Westbound No. 9.

On that label Dozier released his biggest solo hit, Why Can’t We Be Lovers, a US #9. In 1973 he split from the Holland brothers and released a string of very good solo albums, including the acclaimed and pleasingly-titled Black Bach, with Dozier featured on the cover in the form of a bust. In 1977 he released Going Back To My Roots, later covered to great success by Odyssey (Dozier’s original featured on Any Major Originals: Soul Vol. 1)

Later in his career he worked with Phil Collins on his Grammy-winning song Two Hearts and the Four Tops’ (quite awful) Loco In Acapulco, and wrote the musically great but lyrically awkward Invisible for Alison Moyet.

The Sandy
The musical career of Olivia Newton-John in many ways followed the way of her character in Grease. First there was the clean-cut Sandy Olsson from Australia singing about the banks of the Ohio in such a way that few noticed that she was wholesomely trilling about a murder. Then Livvy flicked her tongue, said “Tell me about it, stud”, and did songs like Totally Hot and Physical, which were not about the agreeable properties of a spicy vindaloo or bracing aerobics. Totally Hot featured on Any Major Disco Vol. 2.

She was already a well-known singer when she represented Britain in the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest with a gospel-flavoured song, Long Live Love. While Swedish entry ABBA won, Newton-John finished joint 4th (The story of that Eurovision is recounted on the ABBA Recovered mix post)

Like Sandy, Olivia was never in the cool crowd. She hung out with Cliff Richard, after all. But she came from a pretty cool family. Born in Cambridge, England, her maternal grandfather was German Nobel-awarded scientist Max Born. Her father, Bryn Newton-John, worked on the Enigma project at Bletchley Park during World War 2. In that position, he arrested the leading Nazi Rudolf Hess.

The Guitar Wrecker
If you hear a guitar on any of those legendary Phil Spector records of the 1960s, chances are that you’re hear Bill Pitman playing, usually alongside fellow guitarist Tommy Tedesco, and Hal Blaine on drums. If the ukelele opening of Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head puts you instantly in a good mood, thank Pitman for that.

The session guitarist, who has died at 102, played on innumerable hits alongside his colleagues from the Wrecking Crew collective. While the members of bands like The Beach Boys, The Monkees or The Association were doing other things, the Wrecking Crew recorded their music. In the case of the Beach Boys, it was under Brian Wilson’s direction. He had Pitman play on the Pet Sounds album and on hits such as Good Vibrations.

The Wrecking Crew once even stood in for The Byrds, doing the instruments on their debut hit single, Mr. Tambourine Man. Pitman was on guitar that day. The other session-Byrds were Hal Blaine (drums), Larry Knechtel (bass), Jerry Cole (guitar) and Leon Russell (keyboards).

And we can thank Pitman for Phil Spector the Producer. Pitman’s only ever guitar lessons pupil was a teenage Phil, back in the 1950s. It was Pitman who advised Spector that he wouldn’t cut it as a professional jazz guitarist. Spector took his advice and became a songwriter, arranger and producer instead.

Like many other Wrecking Crew members, Pitman made his start in jazz, backing acts like Peggy Lee, Mel Tormé, Buddy Rich, Orrin Tucker and others. His father had been a musician, and Bill wanted to become a musician already at the age of five, in 1925. Coming from that generation and background, the pop and rock music Pitman helped to create was really foreign to him. The running joke was that if Pitman didn’t like a recording, it was sure to become a hit.

Apart from appearing on pop hits and as sideman on jazz records, Pitman also played on countless movie and TV scores, including (for TV) Star Trek, Bonanza, Ironside and (most recognisably) The Wild, Wild West, and (on film) Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Paint Your Wagon, M*A*S*H, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Dirty Dancing and Goodfellas.

The Impression
Before there was The Impressions, there was The Roosters, founded in Chatanooga in 1958 by Sam Gooden with the brothers Arthur and Richard Brookes. By 1960, they had recruited Jerry Butler and Curtis Mayfield in Chicago and changed their name. In 1962 Butler and the Brookes brothers left to reduce The Impressions as a trio, with Mayfield, Gooden and Roosters alumnus Fred Cash. When Mayfield left in 1970 to be replaced by Leroy Hutson, and when Hutson left to be replaced by a string of other lead singers, Gooden and Cash remained in the band throughout until The Impressions’ farewell tour in 2018.

Gooden rarely took the lead on the group’s songs, but was often prominently heard on call-and-response songs, such as the gospel-tinged It’s All Right. With Gooden’s death at 87, Cash is the last surviving member of the classic 1962-70 line-up of The Impressions.

The Jazz Giant
One of the giants of jazz whose names is known mainly to fans of the genre has died at 93. Creed Taylor produced a Who’s Who of Jazz from the 1950s onwards, and in the 1960s he helped bring the bossa nova to the US, producing the landmark 1963 album by Stan Getz & Joao Gilberto which featured The Girl From Ipanema. He’d produce many more records by those two legends, as well as by Astrud Gilberto and Antonio Carlos Jobim.

Two years earlier, Taylor had produced Ray Charles’ landmark album Genius + Soul = Jazz. In the 1960s he founded CTI Records, on which (or its subsidiary Kudu) he nurtured the careers of jazz fusion greats such as of George Benson, Grover Washington Jr, Bob James, Hubert Laws, Stanley Turrentine, Eumir Deodato, Walter Wanderley, and others.  Also produced by Taylor on CTI were acts like Chet Baker, Gabor Szabo, Milt Jackson, Paul Desmond, Patti Austin, Yusef Lateef, Jeremy Steig, and Nina Simone. He also produced Esther Philips hit disco version of What A Difference A Day Makes.

Among others he produced before that on labels such as ABC Paramount, MGM, A&M and especially Verve were — deep breath now — Chris Connor, Herbie Mann, Kal Winding, Quincy Jones, Lambert Hendricks & Ross, Buddy Rich, Gene Krupa, Jack Teagarden, Dizzy Gillespie, John Coltrane, Gene Ammns, Sonny Stitt, Cal Tjader, Bill Evans, Gil Evans, Anita O’Day, Pat Thomas, Lalo Schifrin, Jimmy Smith, Coleman Hawkins, Kenyon Hopkins, Wes Montgomery, Willie Bobo, Johnny Hodges, Donald Byrd, Jackie & Roy, Little Eva, Roland Kirk, Nat Adderley, Milton Nascimento, Eric Gale, Idris Muhammad, Phil Upchurch, Keith Jarrett, Roland Kirk, and many others.

The Seeker
In the 1960s, Judith Durham was the global voice of Australian pop as the lead singer of The Seekers. The group found their breakthrough in 1964 after making an impression on board of a cruise liner sailing from Australia to the UK. Instead of returning down under as planned, they stayed in the UK, and went on to put together a string of international hits. These included six UK Top 10 hits, including two #1s (I’ll Never Find Another You and The Carnival Is Over, both in 1965). Their biggest hit worldwide was Georgy Girl in 1965.

Durham left The Seekers in 1968 to start a solo career, with no great chart success outside Australia, while band member Keith Potger went on to have a string of hits with The New Seekers. The latter had a hit in 1971 with a song from a Coca-Cola ad; in 1966 The Seekers had recorded a different commercial for the brand, with Durham on vocals.

The Hitwriter
Just ten days before Durham, the writer of all those hits for The Seekers died at 88. Tom Springfield started his string of 1960s hits as a member of The Springfields, which featured his sister Mary, better known as Dusty Springfield, on vocals. They had a number of UK hits, and broke in the US with the country-ish Silver Threads And Golden Needles.

Born Dionysius Patrick O’Brien to Irish parents in London, Tom trained in the 1950s to be a spy, for which he had to immerse himself in Russian culture. The spy thing didn’t work out, but it inspired him in his songwriting, especially in his second-most famous song, The Carnival Is Over (the most famous, obviously, is Georgy Girl).

Springfield retired from music in the early 1970s.

The Girl Band Pioneer
R&B pioneer Della Griffin has died at 100, having made her greatest contribution to music in the 1950s. In 1951 she was the leader of one of the first R&B girl groups, The Enchanters (not to be confused with the 1960s doo-wop band of that name), which Griffin served as lead singer and as drummer — at a time when women were not expected to swing the sticks. Griffin also played the alto saxophone and piano.

The Enchanters released a string of records on Jubilee in 1951/52, but soon two of the foursome left the group. The other half, Griffin and Gloria Alleyne (later more famous as Gloria Lynne) carried on as The Dell-Tones. The new group released a number of records on Brunswick and toured extensively, but never broke through. In 1957, Griffin and some variation of the ever-changing Dell-Tones line-up joined forces with doo-wop pioneers The Orioles to form a The Kings And Queens, releasing one single. Soon the members of the Dell-Tones went their own ways, with Griffin taking time out from music in an (unsuccessful) bid to have a family. While Griffin never had children, she fostered more than a dozen children, many of whom would visit her daily till her final day.

After returning to music in the 1960s, Griffin was mainly a stage performer rather than recording artist, and having moved into jazz, with a voice more than reminiscent of that of her friend Billie Holiday. Her first solo record came out only in 1978, produced by The Orioles’ leader Sonny Til. Three more albums followed in the 1990s.

The Motown & Stax Singer
She was the first female singer to be signed to Berry Gordy’s Tamla label and had The Miracles and The Marvelettes backing her, but Mable John, who has died at 91, never broke through on the Motown roster. After Gordy let her go in 1962, she joined The Raelettes, Ray Charles backing singers, until in 1966 she signed for Stax. John had some success there with her Porter/Hayes-penned debut single, Your Good Thing (Is About to End), but never broke through. In 1968 she rejoined The Raelettes until leaving secular music for gospel in 1973. John returned briefly in 1991 on Motown’s UK subsidiary, Motorcity, with a very good dance record titled Time Stops.

Mable John featured on the Any Major Soul mixes covering 1960-63, 1966 and 1967.

The Soul Sister
On the same day as Mabel left us, fellow underrated soul singer Inez Foxx departed at the age of 79. Foxx made her name as an explosive live act with her brother Charlie. They made a breakthrough early in their career in 1963 with Mockingbird, their soul reworking of a famous lullaby, which — like many of their singles, credited only to Inez. It would be covered later by the likes of James Taylor & Carly Simon and Aretha Franklin. The Foxxes couldn’t replicate the success of that #7 pop hit, perhaps hamstrung by an unmerited perception that they were a novelty act.

Inez also co-wrote The Drifters hit I Love You 1000 Times with then-husband Luther Dixon. She recorded until the mid-1970s, including a very good solo album, At Memphis, in 1973. A track from that features here and another on Any Major Soul 1973: Vol. 1.

The Composing Pianist
If you have seen a film made in the past 50 years, you very likely will have heard at some point the work of film score composer and pianist Michael Lang (not to be confused with the Woodstock impresario of the same name who died in January). He recorded more than 2,500 film scores, and worked as a musician with virtually every major film composer, including John Williams, Jerry Goldsmith, Alan Silvestri, James Horner, Henry Mancini, John Barry, Elmer Bernstein, Dave Grusin, John Debney, Jerry Fielding, Bill Conti, John Barry, Danny Elfman, James Newton Howard, Randy Newman, and Hans Zimmer.

Lang also served as sideman and session pianist to many stars, including Leonard Cohen, Seals & Crofts, Cass Elliott, Harry Nilsson, Ray Charles, Barbra Streisand, Herb Alpert, Natalie Cole, Ella Fitzgerald, Neil Diamond, Aretha Franklin, Marlena Shaw, Sarah Vaughn, Billy Preston, Judy Collins, Lalo Schifrin, Stan Getz, Tom Waits, Jose Feliciano, Marvin Gaye, Lionel Richie, Kenny Rogers, Vince Gill, Milt Jackson, Frank Zappa, Lee Ritenour, Bud Shank — and Lamont Dozier, who followed Lang three days later.
The Rhinestone
In August I posted the Any Major Party mix, including The Rhinestones’ Party Music. A week later Rhinestones singer and guitarist Kal David died. He also featured on The Rhinestones’ One Time Love, which opened the Not Feeling Guilty Mix Vol. 12, which dropped earlier this year.

Born David Ruskin, he first made music in the early 1960s as the leader of a Chicago band called Kal David and The Exceptions. Fellow members included Peter Cetera, who’d later join Chicago, and Marty Grebb, who’d join The Buckinghams. David and Grebb (who died in January 2020) would find each other again in The Fabulous Rhinestones.

Before that, David and future Poco guitarist Paul Cotton (In Memoriam – July 2021) recorded a couple of albums as Illinois Speed Press. With the Fabulous Rhinestones/Rhinestones, he released three very good but commercially less than successful albums. With his wife, Lauri Bono, he recorded several more albums. He also backed other musicians, including Bonnie Raitt, Ringo Starr, John Mayall, BB King, Johnny Rivers and Robbie Dupree.

Since 1995, David voiced the animatronic lounge singer Sonny Eclipse at Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Café at Walt Disney World.

The Condor Pasa
When in 1965 Simon & Garfunkel played at the Théâtre de l’Est parisien in Paris, they shared the bill with a Peruvian folk outfit called Los Incas, who played a tune called El Condor Pasa. Paul Simon was so taken with the sound of Los Incas that he became friends with the frontman, Polish-born Jorge Milchberg, and even toured with the band. When Simon asked Milchberg about El Condor Pasa, he was told that it was Milchberg’s arrangement of an old folk tune. So Simon wrote English lyrics which he and Garfunkel recorded their vocals over Los Incas’ base track.

Milchberg, who has now died at 93, had not been clear on the facts. El Condor Pasa had in fact been written in 1913 by Daniel Alomía Robles and originally recorded by Orquesta del Zoolagico (featured on Any Major Originals: The Classics); Milchberg has rearranged the tune, demonstrably not an old folk song, in 1963. After an amicable court case — Simon was gracious about it, as was only right, and the Robles family absolved him of any responsibility — the writing credit went to Robles, Simon & Milchberg.

The Mystery
It is fitting that her death went unreported for almost a month, because Q Lazzarus was the most elusive of artists, literally so. In the 1980s, the singer born as Diane Luckey performed with her backing band The Resurrection (of course) while she was also gigging as a taxi driver.

One day, film director Jonathan Demme got into her cab. At the time, she was playing a demo of her song Goodbye Horses, in preparation for a recording session the next day. Demme was impressed by the song, and upon learning that the artist was his driver herself, Demme became a fan.

In 1986, he used her song The Candle Goes Away in Something Wild. Two years later, he featured Goodbye Horses in Married To The Mob, and again in 1991 in Silence Of The Lambs (the scene in which where serial killer Buffalo Bill applies make-up in front of a mirror). In Philadelphia, Demme used Q Lazzarus’ cover of the Talking Heads’ Heaven.

Despite all that exposure, Q Lazzarus never had a recording contract. After Philadelphia, she simply vanished for two decades. Not even her friends knew where she was, and locating her became something of an obsession for some. She was rediscovered in 2019 by documentary-maker Eva Aridjis — when she was a passenger in a cab Q Lazzarus was driving! They became friends, and Aridjis began putting together a documentary on the singer; it will now appear posthumously.As always, this post is reproduced in illustrated PDF format in the package, which also includes my personal playlist of the featured tracks. PW in comments.

Q Lazzarus, c.62, cult singer, on July 19
Q Lazzarus – Goodbye Horses (1991)
Q Lazzarus – White Lines (1991)

Tom Springfield, 88, English musician and songwriter, brother of Dusty, on July 27
The Springfields – Silver Threads & Golden Needles (1962, as writer)
Jean DuShon – I’ll Never Find Another You (1965, as writer)
The Seekers – Georgy Girl (1967, as co-writer)
Dusty & Tom Springfield – Morning Please Don’t Come (1970, as writer)

Dod Copland, 59, lead singer of Scottish punk band Toxik Ephex, on July 28
Toxik Ephex – Final Epitaph (1991)

Nicky Moore, 75, singer of English metal group Samson, on Aug. 3
Samson – Life On The Run (1982)

Margot Eskens, 82, German Schlager singer, on Aug. 4
Margot Eskens (with Jonny Dane) – Cindy, oh Cindy (1959)

Sam Gooden, 87, singer with soul group The Impressions, on Aug. 4
The Impressions – It’s All Right (1963)
The Impressions – Woman’s Got Soul (1964)
The Impressions – Aware Of Love (1967, on lead vocals)

Sandy Dillon, 62, singer-songwriter, on Aug. 4

Michael Lang, 80, pianist and composer, on Aug. 5
Herb Alpert – Rise (1979, on electric piano)
Lionel Richie – Wandering Stranger (1982, on piano)
Natalie Cole & Nat King Cole – Unforgettable (1991, on piano)

Young Slo-Be, 29, American rapper, shot on Aug. 5

Judith Durham, 79, singer of Australian folk-pop group The Seekers, on Aug. 5
The Seekers – A World Of Our Own (1965)
The Seekers – Things Go Better With Coca-Cola (1966)
Judith Durham – The Olive Tree (1967)

Diego Bertie, 54, Peruvian singer and actor, on Aug. 5
Imágenes – Buenos Tiempos (1988, as member)

Daniel Lévi, 60, French singer-songwriter, on Aug. 6
Daniel Lévi – l’envie d’aimer (2000)

Torgny Söderberg, 77, Swedish songwriter, on Aug. 6

David Muse, 73, saxophonist and keyboardist of soft-rock band Firefall, on Aug. 6
Firefall – Just Remember I Love You (1977)

Gord Lewis, 65, guitarist of Canadian rock band Teenage Head, discovered on Aug. 7
Teenage Head – Some Kinda Fun (1982)

Darryl Hunt, 72, bassist with The Pogues, on Aug. 8
The Pogues – Lullaby Of London (1988)

Olivia Newton-John, 73, British-Australian singer, on Aug. 8
Olivia Newton-John – Till You Say You’ll Be Mine (1966)
Olivia Newton-John – A Little More Love (1978)
Olivia Newton John & Cliff Richard – Suddenly (1980)

Lamont Dozier, 81, soul songwriter, producer and singer, on Aug. 8
Lamont Anthony – Let’s Talk It Over (1960, as performer)
The Supremes – Baby Love (1964, as co-writer and co-producer)
Lamont Dozier – Let Me Start Tonite (1974)
Alison Moyet – Invisible (1984, as writer)

Ray Majors, 73, English rock singer and guitarist, announced Aug. 9
Ray Majors – Leave Me Be (2000)

Jussi Hakulinen, 57, Finnish singer-songwriter, on Aug. 9

Della Griffin, 100, R&B and jazz singer and drummer, on Aug. 9
The Enchanters – I’ve Lost (1951, on lead vocals)
The Kings & Queens – I’m So Lonely (1957, on lead vocals)
Della Griffin – But Beautiful (1978)

Abdul Wadud, 75, jazz and classical cellist, on Aug. 10
Michael Franks – Living On The Inside (1978, on cello)

Karina Vismara, 31, Argentine folk singer-songwriter, on Aug. 10

Bill Pitman, 102, Wrecking Crew session guitarist, on Aug. 11
Jeri Southern – Isn’t This A Lovely Day (1958, on guitar)
The Crystals – Da Doo Ron Ron (1963, on guitar)
Nancy Sinatra – These Boots Are Made For Walking (1966, on guitar)

Darius Campbell Danesh, 41, Scottish singer-songwriter, on Aug. 11
Darius – Colourblind (2002)

Zelito Miranda, 68, Brazilian singer, on Aug. 12

Keith Jamieson, 74, Australian country singer-songwriter, on Aug. 12

Egle Martin, 86, Argentine singer and actress, on Aug. 14
Egle Martin – El Dombe (1970)

Rico, c.51, Scottish singer-songwriter, on Aug. 14
Rico & Gary Numan – Crazier (2004)

Svika Pick, 72, Polish-born Israeli singer and songwriter, on Aug. 14
Dana International – Diva (1998, as co-writer)

Butch Thompson, 78, jazz pianist and clarinettist, on Aug. 14

Tokollo Tshabalala, 45, member of South African kwaito trio TKZee, on Aug. 15
TKZee – We Love This Place (1998)
TKzee – Fiasco (2000)

Hans Magnusson, 73, saxophonist of Swedish dansband Thorleifs, on Aug. 15

Steve Grimmett, 62, singer of English heavy metal band Grim Reaper, on Aug. 15
Grim Reaper – Never Coming Back (1985, also as co-writer)

Kal David, 79, rock and blues guitarist and singer, on Aug. 16
Illinois Speed Press – Here Today (1969, as member)
The Fabulous Rhinestones – Living On My Own Time (1972, as lead singer and writer)
Kal David & Lauri Bono – Are You Lonely For Me Baby (2018)

Roy Tyler, singer with The Gospel Hummingbirds, announced Aug. 17
Gospel Hummingbirds – That Same Thing (1991)

Eva-Maria Hagen, 87, German actress and cabaret singer; mother of Nina, on Aug. 16
Eva-Maria Hagen – Und als wir ans Ufer kamen (1981)

Rolf Kühn, 92, German jazz clarinettist and bandleader, on Aug, 18
Rolf Kühn & His Orchestra – Playmate (1974)

Warren Bernhardt, 83, jazz pianist, on Aug. 19
Warren Bernhardt – Manhattan Update (1980)

Ted Kirkpatrick, 62, drummer, songwriter of Christian metal band Tourniquet, on Aug. 19

Jorge Milchberg, 93, founder of Peruvian folk bands Los Incas & Urubamba, on Aug. 20
Los Incas – El condor pasa (1963, also as arranger)
Urubamba – Kacharpari (1981, also as co-writer)

Helen Grayco, 97, jazz singer, actress, on Aug. 20
Helen Grayco – Teach Me Tonight (1954)

Monnette Sudler, 70, jazz guitarist, on Aug. 21
Monnette Sudler – Other Side Of The Gemini (1990)

Zalo Reyes, 69, Chilean singer, on Aug. 21

Robert Williams, 72, Greek singer and composer, on Aug. 21
Robert Williams – I Believe You’re The One (1978)

Fredy Studer, 74, Swiss jazz drummer and percussionist, on Aug. 21

Jaimie Branch, 39, jazz trumpeter and composer, on Aug. 22

Jerry Ivan Allison, 82, drummer of The Crickets and songwriter, on Aug. 22
Buddy Holly and The Crickets – That’ll Be The Day (1957)
Ivan – That’ll Be Alright (1959)
The Crickets – My Little Girl (1963)
Nanci Griffith – I’ll Move Along (1997, on percussions)

Stuart Anstis, 48, ex-guitarist of British metal band Cradle of Filth, announced Aug. 22

Margaret Urlich, 57, New Zealand singer, on Aug. 22
Margaret Urlich – Slipping Away (1999)

Piotr Szkudelski, 66, drummer of Polish rock band Perfect, on Aug. 22

Creed Taylor, 93, jazz producer, founder of CTI Records, on Aug. 23
The Creed Taylor Orchestra – Out Of This World (1960)
Ray Charles – One Mint Julep (1961, as producer)
Stan Getz & Joao Gilberto – Desafinado (Off Key) (1963, as producer)
Grover Washington – Mister Magic (1975, as producer)

Carlo Nuccio, 69, drummer, on Aug. 24
Tori Amos – Precious Things (1991, on drums)

Kimmo Blom, 52, Finnish singer, announced Aug. 25

Joey DeFrancesco, 51, jazz organist and saxophonist, on Aug. 25
Joey DeFrancesco feat. Joe Doggs – But Not For Me (2003; Doggs is Joe Pesci)

Mable John, 91, soul singer, on Aug. 25
Mabel John – Who Wouldn’t Love A Man Like That (1960)
Mable John – Same Time, Same Place (1967)
Mable John – Time Stops (1991)

Inez Foxx, 79, soul singer, on Aug. 25
Inez & Charlie Foxx – Mockingbird (1963)
Inez & Charlie Foxx – Tightrope (1967)
Inez Foxx – Let Me Down Easy (1973)

Luke Bell, 32, country singer-songwriter, discovered on Aug. 29

John Duckworth, 79, drummer of garage rock band Syndicate of Sound, announced Aug. 29
Syndicate Of Sound – Rumors (1966)

Ted Butterman, 87, Dixie jazz trumpeter, on Aug. 31

Mark Shreeve, 65, British songwriter, electronic music composer with Redshift, on Aug. 31
Mark Shreeve – The Ice Queen (1986)

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