Herb Reed and Lou Pride

The Grim Reaper has been busy while I've been away in hospital over the last week, claiming the lives of several musicians from various genres who were at the top of their fields.
Herb Reed, who was 83, was the last surviving original member of the Platters, who were without doubt the biggest doowop group of the 50s, recording classics such as Only You, The Great Pretender, Twilight Time and Smoke Gets In Your Eyes. He sang bass on over 400 tracks and came up with the group's name when he realised that DJs were calling records platters. When doowop declined in the early 60s the Platters found a new lease of life with smooth soul hits like With This Ring and Washed Ashore and Herb kept the name alive by touring and eventually gaining the rights to the group's name after various fake Platters sprung up. Picture shows the Platters with Herb (far left). Here's more in the Telegraph: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/9314992/Herb-Reed.html

Lou Pride, 68, was a dynamic soul singer who was often described as 'Chicago blues meeting Memphis soul'. Popular with Northern soul fans among others, he made several memorable visits to the UK, including a performance at the 100 Club a few years back. His first record was the great I'm Com'un Home In The Morn'un and later records included Look Out On Love, We're Only Fooling Ourselves, You've Got To Work For Love and Been Such a Long Time. Here's Lou's classic. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9WgdrSGKzU
Another recent death is that of Doc Watson, aged 89, a renowned guitarist, songwriter and singer of blue grass, folk, country and blues. Also, not really in my area of interest, Bob Welch, who was a member of Fleetwood Mac for a few years in the early seventies and later formed a hard rock band called Paris and had a couple of solo hits.