Clay Hammond RIP + Marvin Sease & Tura Satana

Clay Hammond, one of the very best of soul/blues vocalists, has died aged 74. I was lucky enough to see him perform a couple of times - at the Porretta Soul Festival in 2001, the year it was held in Bologna, and at Utrecht. He had a superb voice, having been an original member of gospel group The Mighty Clouds of Joy, and was the writer of Part Time Love, a big hit for Little Johnny Taylor. He recorded for Galaxy and Kent, as well as DuoDisc - the 45 pictured is a different song from the one made famous by Roy C. Here's the B-side of that record Dance Little Girl on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hZArOO0vus

Thanks also to Dave for alerting me to the death at 64 of Marvin Sease, one of the biggest Southern soul stars, whose raunchy lyrics to songs such as Candy Licker meant that he got little airplay in the US, and none at all in the UK, where this genre is not appreciated these days. A great voice. Here's his classic on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAITv1AFN0c


A word too about Tura Satana, glamorous star of Russ Meyer's 1965 cult movie Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! who has died aged 72. What a girl she was! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHLk5T9bh0U http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0YcN0MkBKI