More music deaths

It's been a while since I wrote anything about musicians who have died recently. But as ever there have been quite a few. The latest is Jody Miller, a country singer who had several memorable pop hits in the sixties, who has died aged 80. Born in Arizona, she grew up in Oklahoma but started her career in Los Angeles as a folk orientated pop singer. She was introduced to Capitol records by actor Dale Robertson and had initial success with 'He Walks Like A Man'in 1964. She took part in the San Remo Festival the following year performing a song which eventually became a hit for Dusty Springfield as 'You Don't Have To Say You Love Me'. Jody's biggest hit was 'Queen Of The House', an answer song to Roger Miller's 'King Of The Road' which celebrated the role of a housewife and she had further success with the original version of 'Home Of The Brave', a song which championed the right of young people to be different. The song was later covered by Bonnie and the Treasures in a version produced by Phil Spector. She moved further into the country field in the seventies with records such as 'Look At Mine' and 'If You Think I Love You Now (I Just Started)' and covered sixties hits such 'Baby I'm Yours', 'Be My Baby', 'To Know Him Is To Love Him' and 'He's So Fine'. She enjoyed her last country hit in 1977 with 'When The New Wears Off Our Love'. Later she recorded several Christian albums and was inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 1999.

Another not so recent death was that of Ramsey Lewis, aged 87, a pianist and composer who straddled the line between soul and jazz. Born in Chicago, his best known records included 'The In Crowd', 'Wade In The Water', 'Hang On Sloopy' and 'A Hard Day's Night'. During this period he led the Ramsey Lewis Trio which also included Red Holt and Eldee Young. In total he recorded over 80 albums between 1956 and 2021.

I must not forget, either, the death of country artist Loretta Lynn, who died aged 90. Over a 60 year career her hits included 'You Ain't Woman Enough (To Take My Man)', 'Don't Come Home A Drinkin' (With Lovin' On Your Mind)' and 'Coal Miner's Daughter' - the latter being the title of her autobiogrqaphy which became a film in 1980. She had a successful collaboration in the seventies with Conway Twitty and in total had 24 number one country singles and 11 number one albums.

Another death that I have just learned of is that of Motown songwriter Ivy Jo Hunter at the age of 82. A member of the Motown house band, he wrote or co-wrote such hits as 'Sweet Thing' (The Spinners), 'Behind A Painted Smile' (Isley Brothers), 'Dancing In the Street' (Martha and the Vandellas), 'Can You Jerk Like Me' (The Contours) and 'Danger Heartbreak Dead Ahead' (Marvelettes). The photo below shows Ivy receiving a lifetime award from Phil Dick at the Motown A Go Go festival in Detroit in 2019.