Farewell to Millie and Bobby

The lack of gigs and music festivals has meant that there is little positive to write about music-wise. Car boots and charity shops are closed, as are record shops, so on-line is the only way of buying records these days. Fortunately I have plenty of records to listen to - enough for a few more months, if not years, of lock down (let's hope not).

Music deaths continue however, the latest being Millie Small, at the age of 73, whose 1964 hit 'My Boy Lollipop' brought ska to the consciousness of everyone. Born in Clarendon, Jamaica, Millie's high pitched voice could first be heard on duets with Owen Gray and Roy Panton on Coxsone Dodd's Studio One label.She came to the attention of Chris Blackwell who brought her to the UK where she enjoyed almost immediate success with her second Fontana release 'My Boy Lollipop', arranged by Ernest Ranglin. Follow ups included 'Sweet William' and the Marv Johnson cover 'I Love The Way You Love' but later releases were less successful. Her career got a boost in the late sixties with the emergence of reggae and she had several LPs released on Trojan, including a mix of solo songs and duets with Jackie Edwards. Sadly Millie's career faded and by 1987 she admitted to a journalist that she was destitute. Eventually she was recognised by the Jamaican government who awarded an Order of Distinction but in the UK, where she lived for most of her life, she was largely forgotten until she gave her first in-depth interview to US journalist Tom Graves in 2016.     https://www.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&v=Wy310bS69PU    https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/may/06/millie-small-obituary?CMP=share_btn_fb&fbclid=IwAR03OlpTePLCaQf9vqb_XrGBxkr9PgzasChAyMk1V9TmeKoXgC-v2AleBSo

Another recent death is that of Bobby Lewis, at the impressive age of 95. Originally from Indianapolis he moved to Detroit aged 12 before running away from a foster home two years later. He made a record for Chess in 1952 - 'Mumbles Blues' - and was managed for a while by Nat Parnopol, who later managed Jackie Wilson. Bobby 's recording of 'Tossin' and Turnin' for the Beltone label was the biggest US hit of 1961, spending seven weeks at number one. Follow ups included 'One Track Mind' (a personal favourite of mine), 'I'm Tossin' and Turnin' Again' and 'What A Walk'. By this time Bobby was almost blind and the demise of Beltone in 1963 began a steady decline in record sales. I was lucky enough, however, to see Bobby perform at Viva Las Vegas in 2015 alongside Eugene Pitt of the Jive Five and Herb Cox of the Cleftones. Aged 90 at the time, he had to be helped to the stage and lifted by two security men when he stood to sing, but he gave it his all on his two biggest hits and 'I'm So Glad I'm Living In the USA'.    https://www.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&v=Wy310bS69PU

Other recent deaths include;
Dave Greenfield, keyboard player with The Stranglers, who has died of COVID 19 aged 71. His playing on such records as 'Golden Brown' helped make The Stranglers one of the most accomplished punk bands of the late seventies and eighties.
Tony Allen was a Nigerian drummer who played with Fela Kuti's band and was one of the founders of Afrobeat.
Alfred 'Uganda' Roberts was a New Orleans drummer who recorded at Allen Toussaint's Sea-Saint studio on records by The Meters and Allen Toussaint and also performed with Professor Longhair, Willie Tee and the Wild Magnolias.
The Vinyl Word raises a glass to them all.
Music deaths come thick and fast these days and now it's the turn of Florian Schneider, one of the founder members, along with Ralf Hutter, of the German electronic music group Kraftwerk. I was a huge fan of the group in the seventies - still am - and greatly enjoyed their classic albums, from 'Autobahn' in 1974, through 'Radio-Activity'. 'Trans Europe Express', 'The Man Machine' and 'Computer World'. German precision at its finest. Florian is top centre in the album cover photo below.