Phil Phillips RIP and others

One of the real highlights of the Ponderosa Stomp in 2005 was the appearance of Phil Phillips, a Louisiana singer who had not performed for many years. It took a great effort of will for him to sing his massive 1959 hit 'Sea Of Love', but so great was the audience reaction that he sang it a second time. It was truly a spine tingling moment. Now Phil has died on his 94th birthday and I regret that I was not among the group of Woodies who visited him at his home on a subsequent visit. 'Sea Of Love' has been widely covered, including by Marty Wilde at the time, and was the inspiration for the 1989 film of the same name starring Al Pacino. It was produced by Eddie Shuler and released on Khoury Records, before being picked up by Mercury when local sales exploded.
Phil's career failed to take off as an album he recorded was not released. Phil was unhappy about the unfavourable deal he had. But he did record intermittently. One such 45 was 'The Evil Dope', a
spoken word record released on the Lanor label about the evils of marijuana. Phil begins 'Little boy, little girl, this is THE Phil Phillips, king of the world' and goes on to recount how a young man loses his money and eventually his life as a result of dope. When I visited Church Point, Louisiana in 1998 I chatted to label owner Lee Lavergne and bought a brand new copy of the single.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_T8PHEAHOBs  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIfaYswjzYo
Another much more high profile death in recent days is that of Kenny Rogers, aged 81, who can lay claim to being the most successful country singer ever, certainly so far as the UK is concerned. Starting off singing rockabilly in native Texas, he joined a jazz group called the Bobby Doyle Three and found success as a

member of the New Christy Minstrels. Kenny along with group members then formed the First Edition and, with Kenny's name in the lead, had a great success in the late sixties with 'Ruby Don't Take Your Love To Town', 'Just Dropped In (to See What Condition My Condition Was In' and 'Something's Burning'. among others. His career really took off when he went solo and recorded some of the most memorable songs of the era, including 'Lucille', 'Coward Of The County' and 'The Gambler'. Duets with Dottie West, Kim Carnes, Sheena Easton and, most notably, Dolly Parton on 'Islands In the Stream' merely cemented his star status. I saw Kenny on one of his London visits and was impressed: truly a star right up to his death.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDOznxiEcdM    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hx4gdlfamo
There have been several other music deaths recently. The most recent is that of Liverpool based Cy Tucker, aged 76, who was the city's first coronavirus fatality. Cy played with the Beatles and Cilla Black and had a couple of 45s released on Fontana in 1963/4, including 'My Prayer'..   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhAxXBJ5QO8
Another recent death is that of Californian folk singer Julie Felix, who became well known in the UK in the late sixties after signing for Decca and appearing regularly on TV shows such as 'The Frost Report' and her own series 'Once More With Felix'. Best known possibly for the children's song 'Going To The Zoo', and 'Some Day Soon', Julie's other hits, in the early seventies, included 'If I Could (El Condor Pasa)' and 'Heaven Is Here' and she had over 20 albums released.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAzG2lGlLyY