Recent music deaths

As mentioned in an earlier post, I've been away in Jamaica for the last couple of weeks. This was my first overseas trip in two years and it was great to escape from the cold winter in England to some Caribbean subshine. But from a music point of view it was something of a let down as there is a curfew in place and no live music in the evenings. I got to visit Bob Marley's birthplace and mausoleum at Nine Mile which was interesting and I did some record digging in Montego Bay and Ocho Rios, without much success it has to be said. But we found a locals bar in Runaway Bay where the music was good and the company friendly, and, with a the help of a rented car, saw a good bit of the what is a beautiful island. Meanwhile there was the inevitable spate of music deaths, underlining yet again the alarming decline in numbers of original artists still around.

One of those was Freddie Hughes, one of the Bay Area's foremost soul singers, who died aged 79. Based in Oakland, Freddie enjoyed success in 1968 with 'Send My Baby Back'. He first recorded in tha late fifties with a group called the Markeets and then joined the Four Rivers, who sang back up for James Brown, Richard Berry and Big Mama Thornton. Later he suffered from confusion with the similarly named West Coast soul artist Fred Hughes who had a hit with 'Ooh Wee Baby' on Brunswick. When I visited San Francisco in 2014 Freddie had a regular gig with Chris Burns at the Royal Cuckoo bar where I saw him and was impressed by his smooth soulful voice. He toured the UK some years ago and had a compilation album released by Ace which he claimed he did not receive any royalties for. The photo above shows Freddie with me, while the one below shows Freddie at the Royal Cuckoo.

Another recent death. at the age of 85. is that of Fred Parris, who was lead singer of the Five Satins and who wrote their classic doowop song 'In The Still Of The Night'. The song was later covered by many artists, including the Beach Boys, and was used in 'Dirty Dancing'. I saw Fred Parris and a later version of the Five Satins at the Long Island Doowop weekend in 2014 and he is pictured below.

We also say farewell to Dallas Frazier, a singer/songwriter, who wrote 'Alley Oop', a big hit in 1960 for the Hollywood Argylls, and had a hit himself with 'Elvira' in 1966. He was best known as a songwriter with credits including 'There Goes My Everything' (Jack Greene but a big hit in the UK for Engelbert Humperdinck), and 'Beneath Still Waters' (Emmylou Harris).

Other artists to have passed on recently include Don Wilson, who was a founding member and rhythm guitar player with the Ventures, who had so many great instrumental hits in the sixties.

Also Sonny Turner, who replaced Tony Williams as lead singer of the Platters in 1959 and who moved them into soul with hits such as 'I Love You 1000 Times'. 'Washed Ashore' and 'With This Ring' between 1966 and 1968.

Also, of course, to Meat Loaf at the age of 74, whose death has been widely reported. I can't say that I followed his career closely, but I do recall his excellent videos promoting 'Bat Out Of Hell' and 'Dead Ringer For Love' which were both rock super hits. I forgot in my original post to include Rosa Lee Hawkins, a member of New Orleans' top female group the Dixie Cups. who were regulars at Jazzfest and whose hits included 'Chapel of Love', 'People Say', 'You Should Have Seen The Way He Looked at Me' and 'Iko Iko'. I was always a big fan of the group and my photo shows them performing at Jazzfest in 1993.

Ronnie remembered

I promised to write more on Ronnie Spector who sadly died recently. What better than to re-publish my review of her excellent show at the Barbican in 2015 when she gave a master class in spine tingling vocals as well as giving an insight into her inspirations and challenges. The photos below were taken at at her gig at the Town and Country 2 in 1991 - another great show - including one with me.

Wonderful? Magical? Mesmerising? You can pick your own superlative to describe Ronnie Spector's show at the Barbican in London last night and I don't think anyone in the audience would argue. It seems that Ronnie pays a visit to London every few years around Christmas time to remind us how good she still is. There was no Santa outfit this time, as she's donned once or twice in the past (although she did sing Frosty The Snowman as part of her encore), but as a seasonal present to her fans the show was just what we wanted.

A few years ago Ronnie was playing in small, intimate venues like the Town and Country 2 and Dingwall's and it's a sign of her 'living legend' status that she now plays the all seated Barbican. The place may lack atmosphere but the sound was top notch, as was the band, and Ronnie, backed by some new young Ronettes, two of whom look very much like the originals, showed that her excellent voice, along with her beehive hairdo, is very much intact.
The show consisted of her life story, with spoken reminiscences introducing each song. Introduced as the Rose of Spanish Harlem she began with the Ronettes' second big hit Baby I Love You which gave an indication of what was to come. Between songs Ronnie sat at a podium, briefly forgetting her microphone at times, and recalled the first paying gigs with sister Estelle and cousin Nedra when they were known as Ronnie and the Relatives. The three girls got their first break when they were waiting outside the Peppermint Lounge, dressed up to the nines no doubt with Cleopatra style eye make up, when the manager mistook them for the dancers and invited them to do the twist in the club with Joey Dee and the Starliters. They put Kleenex in their bras to fill out their slim teenage figures she recalled. Keep On Dancing, a track unreleased at the time, illustrated this period in her career, followed by What'd I Say, another early track from The Fabulous Ronettes LP.
Ronnie's early inspiration was Frankie Lymon, who she remembered having recorded a live album at the London Palladium, and she loved doowop, she said, as she moved in to the Students' So Young, another early track. In early 1964 the Ronettes toured the UK with the Rolling Stones and in memory of this she sang Irma Thomas's Time Is On My Side, which was covered by the Stones. More Ronettes numbers followed with Is This What I Get For Loving You and Paradise, a track unreleased at the time written by Harry Nilsson. Throughout the show, archive film clips were being shown at the back of the stage and one of them featured the girls on Dick Clark's American bandstand, where their song Do I Love You was introduced strangely as 'native American music'. Other classics followed in the form of You Baby, Chapel Of Love (a hit for the Dixie Cups), (Walking) In The Rain, The Best Part Of Breaking Up and I Wish I Never Saw The Sunshine, a tribute to her late sister Estelle.
All of these numbers were sung with energy and emotion and reminded me how poor many of today's songs are compared with these wonderful Brill Building efforts. Ronnie referred briefly to her 'seven years out of show business', but there was no mention of the reason for that - her murdering ex husband and genius record producer Phil. Instead she moved on to her later career with You Can't Put Your Arms Around A Memory, a Johnny Thunders song she recorded with Joey Ramone. If Frankie Lymon was her inspiration in the fifties then Amy Winehouse still inspires her today, she said, as she sang Back To Black sounding very like Amy I thought.
Finally it was time for the Ronettes' biggest hit Be My Baby, which brought the rapt audience to its feet. After a pause she returned for Frosty The Snowman and I Can Hear Music - a suitable song to end a show which will remain in the memory for a long time. Come back soon Ronnie.

Ronnie Spector RIP

I am away in Jamaica at the moment - my first foreign trip for two years - so slightly behind on the news. But waking up this morning to learn that Ronnie Spector has died feels like a real punch in the gut. When I get home I will post some photos of occasions when I've seen Ronnie perform. For now I can only reminisce about the pleasure that superb, slightly quavery voice has given me over the years. 'Be My Baby', 'Baby I Love You' 'Walking In The Rain' were all smash hits in the personal top ten that I kept at the time. and when I saw the Ronettes, with their tight skirts beehive hair and exotic make up performing on 'Ready Steady Go' I was entranced. The memory stays with me vividly and I collected every record I could by them, including their only LP 'The Fabulous Ronettes' on London. I followed Ronnie's career and her travails with Phil Spector over the years but didn't see her perform again until 1990 when she did a show at the Town and Country 2 and I got myself photographed with her. She was everything I remembered and hoped for with her warm yet emotional voice and I felt a lump in my throat and a tear in my eye as she sang her hits. Very few singers have that effect on me. I saw her quite a few times after that, memorably at the Ponderosa Stomp and at what became regular annual visits to London around Christmas time. It's hard to believe that she's gone she always seemed so powerful on stage. Apparently she could be a demanding diva off stage. But if anyone had the right to be demanding after what she went through with Phil, it was Ronnie. RIP