R B Greaves/Sonny Childe RIP + a 'strange fish'

Sorry to hear of the death, aged 68, of R B Greaves, a nephew of Sam Cooke, best known as the writer and singer of Take A Letter Maria. Born in Guyana at a US army base, he grew up in a Seminole Indian reservation before moving to England in 1963. Once there he recorded under the name of Sonny Childe, releasing a single on Decca and a further two on Polydor, plus an LP called To Be Continued. Photo shows his second single (not the Mary Wells song). Here it is on Youtube  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SImjovXV1fM
Returning to the States, he wrote 'Maria', but it was recorded by Tom Jones and Stevie Wonder, before he recorded it himself for Atco under the name of R B Greaves, at the instigation of Ahmet Ertegun, at Muscle Shoals. Other records included covers of Always Something There To Remind Me and A Whiter Shade Of Pale. He released an LP on Atco which included a track called Home To Stay, which is surely one of the eeriest songs ever written - about a soldier coming home and apparently singing from his coffin! Excellent song though.

*  A quick Final Word for rockabilly singer and guitarist Nick Curran, who played with Ronnie Dawson, recorded as a solo artist and later played with the Fabulous Thunderbirds.

* On a different topic, I said on the blog when he died last October, that Jimmy Savile was a strange fish. Just how strange a fish he was, neither I nor the general public knew. The revelations of sex with under age girls have been shocking, and the rubbishing of his reputation has been total, with his name being removed from a road named after him in Scarborough and his gravestone being taken away (no doubt to stop it being defaced). His charity efforts, which were considerable, have been forgotten in this avalanche of oppobrium. Of course, it's all a bit pointless, as it's far too late to have the accusations challenged in court. But it's a reminder of just how fleeting fame can be. Now he is not famous - just imfamous. How about that then Jimmy.