Latest music deaths

It's been a while since I paid tribute to musicians who have died but, inevitably, there have been quite a few. Richard Pratt was a member of Blue Magic, a Philadelphia based soul group, who enjoyed a number of hits in the early seventies produced by Norman Harris. They had success in the R and B charts with 'Spell', 'Look Me Up' and 'Stop To Start' but their biggest success came with 'Sideshow' and 'Three Ring Circus'. They continued to record during the seventies but their ballad style eventually lost out to the disco sound.

Joni James, who has died at the age of 91, was a singer of pop ballads who had the distinction of being the first American artist to record at the Abbey Road studio where she made five albums. Her first hit, for MGM, was 'Why Don't You Believe Me' in 1953 and others included 'Have You Heard', 'Your Cheating Heart', 'Almost Always', 'You Are My Love' and 'I Need You Now'. Her last significant hit was 'My Last Date (With You)', a vocal version of the Floyd Cramer hit.

The death of Gary Brooker last month attracted quite a bit of coverage, not surprisingly given his early success with the Paramounts, the global hit 'A Whiter Shade of Pale' with Procul Harum and later work with Eric Clapton and George Harrison among others. Gary grew up in Southend on Sea and formed the Paramounts with his friend Robin Trower in 1962. They had some success with covers of 'Poison Ivy', 'Little Bitty Pretty One, 'I'm The One Who Loves You' and 'Bad Blood'. After forming Procul Harum in 1966 Gary hit the jackpot with 'A Whiter Shade of Pale' but many years later the song's authorship was challenged in court by organist Matthew Fisher who played the distinctive intro. Fisher eventually won a partial victory after a hard fought legal battle. Other Procul Harum hits included 'Homburg', 'Quite Rightly So and 'A Salty Dog'.

There are a few other deaths to catch up on. Blues guitarist Milton Hopkins, cousin of Sam 'Lightning' Hopkins, who has died at the age of 88, played with the Upsetters and was band leader for B B King and others. He played on recording sessions for Duke/Peacock in the early fifties and was on stage in Houston on Christmas Day, 1954, the day that Johnny Ace tragically died allegedly playing Russian Roulette. Another blues and jazz artist to have died is Ernie Andrews at the age of 94. Ernie's career as a singer began in the forties when he had a hit with 'Soothe Me'. He performed with the Harry James band, Kenny Burrell and Cannonball Adderley among others and became a leading musical figure on Central Avenue in Los Angeles. Another death is that of singer and guitarist Don Craine, who was a founder member of the Downliners Sect who were one of the better English beat groups of the sixties and whose recordings included 'Baby What's Wrong', 'Little Egypt', 'Wreck of the Old 97' and 'Bad Storm Coming'.