Three more soul and blues artists pass on

Sadly it's time to pay tribute to a trio of soul and blues artists who have died recently. Bobby Hendricks, who has died at the age of 84, had success in both the rock and roll and early soul fields. He was a member of the Crowns, the Swallows and the Flyers before joining the Drifters where he sang lead on 'Drip Drop' in 1958. He went solo and had a big hit with 'Itchy Twitchy Feeling' which reached number five in the US R and B charts. Further singles included 'Little John Green', backed with 'Sincerely My Lover', released in the UK on Top Rank, and 'I'm Coming Home' on Mercury. For over 40 years he toured with Bill Pinkney's Original Drifters but made a rare solo appearance at Viva Las Vegas in 2016 (pictured above) and made a big impact. I wrote at the time: 'First up was Bobby Hendricks, looking great in a smart dark suit, brown shirt and white hat, who was backed by Lil Mo and the Dynaflos. Kicking off with Clyde McPhatter's 'A Lover's Question', he continued with 'Drip Drop', a song he sang lead on while with The Drifters. Then it was Drifters material with 'Fools Fall In Love' and 'Money Honey', the ballad 'A Thousand Dreams' and his big solo hit 'Itchy Twitchy Feeling'. Mesmerising stuff from a singer who I thought I would never get to see.'

Another recent death is that of Baton Rouge blues guitarist James Johnson, aged 82, who played with Slim Harpo and whose guitar playing was behind the 'chicken scratch' on 'Baby Scratch My Back'. He played on many of Harpo's classic sides including 'Rainin' In My Heart' and made regular appearances around Baton Rouge. James appeared at the Ponderosa Stomp in New Orleans in 2011 (pictured below) alongside Warren Storm and Lazy Lester in an Excello tribute.

The third recent death is that of Jimmy Thomas (83) who was a vocalist with Ike Turner's Kings of Rhythm and later with the Ike and Tina Turner Revue. Jimmy recorded several solo singles for Sue and two of Ike Turner's labels and met up with Denny Cornell and Tony Visconti when Ike and Tina's Revue toured the UK in 1966 who encouraged him to learn production. He recorded 'Where There's A Will (There's A Way)' for Mirwood and relocated to London in 1969. His 45 'The Beautiful Night' was released on Parlophone in 1969 but withdrawn and later became a Northern Soul favourite, making the original single highly collectable. He wrote and produced an album called 'Abyss' for John Abbey's Contempo label in 1973 and went on to form his own Osceola label in 1979.