Dave Sampson RIP
Very sad to hear of the death of Dave Sampson, one of the stars of the Tales From The Woods 2Is shows in 2008 and 2012. He was 73. Dave's biggest pop success , with his group the Hunters, was Sweet Dreams, released on Columbia in 1960, which peaked at number 29. Despite some decent follow ups, including If You Need Me, Why The Chicken, Easy To Dream and Wide Wide World, this was his only chart success, but he showed at the second 2Is show in 2008 that he retained his smooth vocal style (see photo below).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ps4LtR2gKo4
Another recent death, at the age of 92, is that of Franny Beecher, lead guitarist with Bill Haley and the Comets from 1954 to 1962, whose jazzy-flavoured guitar work can be heard to good effect on many of Haley's records. After Bill's death Franny rejoined the Comets and toured with them until 2006.
On a happier note, the Vinyl Word is pleased to hear that Tales From The Woods House Band's ace guitarist John Spencely is out of hospital after his recent operation for the removal of a brain tunour and is on his way to recovery. Ger well soon John: we are all looking forward to seeing you back on top form again soon.
posted by Nick @ 10:13 am
4 Comments
4 Comments:
Nice tributes Nick.
Nice tributes Nick.
Fast work Nick - excellent
Lee
It was a year after Dave's passing that I read the sad news via Facebook. I was very saddened indeed as I am a big fan of Dave and still cannot understand why he never became a top star.It was a great bonus when the compilation C/D was issued .Dave was a dab hand at issuing his 45s with great tracks on both sides which showed that he cared about his fans.After the C/D was issued I actually wrote to Dave saying how pleased we all were to finally get his output on C/D. I was in for a pleasant surprise when I received a reply from Dave a few day's later.Not only did he send me a letter but along with it he sent a signed photo (dedicated to me )of himself with J L LEWIS + a cassette tape containing unissued tracks including,YOU SEND ME, RUNNING SCARED.DON'T BE CRUEL .etc.Dave asked me to keep them safe in case they might get bootlegged and that I was not to pass them on to anyone else. I still treasure this cassette but since that time something happened that led to Dave 'falling out with me' and this has bugged me for so long. I never gave the cassette to anyone and only left it with my dear,late brother Wal for 2 nights so he could have a listen.Wal was also a big fan of Dave and also a very honest guy so I was not worried about anything happening to the tape. I returned home to Malta and took the tape with me.I wrote to Dave some weeks later but he never answered and from that day every letter and card that I sent to Dave was never answered and this saddened me very much indeed and has continued so up until this day.I tackled my brother about it because something had upset Dave but he assured me that he had not given the tape to anyone else but he did contact a DJ at MERCIA SOUND RADIO and mentioned that he had heard some different songs by Dave.I dont know if Wal got a track 'AIRED ' on the radio and it was heard locally not only in COVENTRY but surrounding areas also. I know that Wal was very excited at the tape and maybe he did something without thinking about the legality of things. I somehow feel that one of the tracks was heard on the air ,maybe by Dave or someone that knew him, and thought that I may have pirated the tracks he had given me. I wrote to Dave again but he never gave me a reason why he never bothered with me anymore .I would never,ever try to make money by such underhanded means especially out of someone I liked and respected so much but it has been a noose around my neck for so long now.I can only say truthfully to Dave's family that I did not pirate those precious tracks and to also offer my sincere belated condolencies to them.I have the RECORD COLLECTOR magazine every month and was very disappointed that they never gave him a mention either in life or death. I wrote and told them that it was about time they did a tribute feature on him but they went on about they had so many legal aspects to look into etc,and that they knew so little about him .If things changed the may consider something one day they told me.Sincerely, Fred Chatland
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