More music deaths

The Grim Reaper has been busy again, taking away a number of musicians and singers of note.

Bobby Martin. who was 82, was synonymous with the Philadelphia Sound, working with Kenny
Gamble and Leon Huff, founders of Philadelphia International Records, to arrange and produce some of the greatest hits of the 1960s and '70s, as well as with many soul musicians of that era.
He is credited with being the first to record Patti LaBelle and creating her stage name in the early sixties and later arranged Philly hits such as Me and Mrs Jones, You'll Never Find A Love Like Mine, Cowboys to Girls and TSOP (The Sound of Philadelphia). He composed the theme of the long-wunning Soul Train TV show and was the arranger, conductor and composer for the MFSB (Mother, Father, Brother, Sister) Orchestra and won a Grammy for his work on the Bee Gees Saturday Night Fever album.   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3nPLfG9gZY
Another death is that of Merseyside-born Jackie Lomax, aged 69, who was a member of a number of notable sixties and seventies bands, including The Undertakers, the Lomax Alliance, Heavy Jelly and Badger. As a solo artist he was signed to Apple and recorded a George Harrison song, Sour Milk Sea, which was unsuccessful. He also recorded a collectable Apple album, Is This What You Want?, with Hal Blaine in Los Angeles. After recording with Heavy Jelly, including an unreleased album featuring songs that he had written, he joined progressive rock band Badger which recorded an Allen Toussaint produced album, White Lady. He spent much of his career on the US West Coast but played at the Cavern Club in 2002 and released his first solo album for 25 years, The Ballad of Liverpool Slim.   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pa1-idUqWTo
One of the most popular British female singers of the 1950s, Joan Regan, has also died aged 85.
Most of her hits were covers of US hits but she appeared on 6-5 Special and had her own TV series. Her biggest UK hits were Ricochet (a Teresa Brewer cover), Someone Else's Roses, If I Give My Heart To You (both originally by Doris Day) and May You Always (a McGuire Sisters cover).
Another Merseyside singer has also died - David Garrick, aged 67, who released well over a dozen 45s in the late sixties and had minor hits with Lady Jane, the Rolling Stones song, and Dear Mrs Applebee, a cover of the record by Flip Cartridge.
* No sooner had I written this than I was told by Pete Gold that rockabilly singer Mac Curtis has died aged 74. Born in Fort Worth, Texas, Curtis made a number of excellent early rockabilly records for King in 1956, including If I Had Me A Woman, and went on to record for a number of labels in the sixties before making a return with some country records for Epic in the late sixties before having records released on Rollin' Rock in the 70s and other labels in the '80s and 90s, including Radar and Hightone.  Below is the LP featuring his King sides, along with those of Charlie Feathers, released in the UK on Polydor.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6mPlRTmNEo
The Vinyl Word raises a glass to them all.