Jimmy Van Eaton RIP and others

It's time to catch up on a few significant music deaths in the last few days. The latest is that of drummer Jimmy Van Eaton, aged 86, one of the last of the original Sun artists. Born in Memphis, Jimmy, sometimes known as J M, formed a group called the Echoes and shortly after recording a demo for Sun he joined Billy Lee Riley's touring band. He went on to become Sun's session drummer, playing on a string of classic recordings. These included 'Whole Lotta Shakin' Going on'. recorded in a single take, 'High School Confidential', 'Down The Line', 'Raunchy', 'Lonely Weekends', 'Flying Saucers Rock and Roll', 'Uranium Rock', Ubangi Stomp', 'Great Balls of Fire' and 'Red Hot'. I saw Jimmy on several occasions. At the Ponderosa Stomp in 2015 he did an interview session about his time at Sun and played a set with Deke Dickerson on vocals. At Viva Las Vegas in 2018 he took part in a Stars of Sun segment, taking over from fellow drummer W S Holland to back Alton and Jimmy and Narvel Felts. The top photo shows him at the Stomp. Pictured below he is at Viva Las Vegas.

Another death is that of Tony Middleton (89), lead singer of doowop group the Willows who went on to be a signifant name on the Northern Soul scene. He joined a group called the Dovers (which also included famed New York Fury label owner Bobby Robinson) which changed its name to the Five Willows after Tony joined in 1952. Their first record was 'Please Baby' for the PeeDee label, followed by 'My Dear Dearest Darling' for Allen. Theit biggest success was 'Church Bells May Ring' after they had changed their name to the Willows. It was a hit in New York and would have been even bigger if it hadn't been covered by the Diamonds. The group made various other recordings before disbanding in 1965, but Tony moved into the soul scene, recording 'Paris Blues', recalling his time in France in the mid sixties. His recording of the Nat King Cole song 'To The Ends of the Earth' got a UK release on Polydor and is now highly collectable. He visited the UK on several occasions and I saw Tony with the Willows at the Long Island Doowop weekend in 2014 when he sang 'Church Bells May Ring' along with 'Only My heart' and 'Taste of Love' and again in 2016 and 2017 (pictured below).

One of the highlights of my trip to the Americana Fest in Nashville in 2019 was 'Mojo's Mayhem', an afternoon show at Roberts Western World bar where a host of acts gave brief performances, including the North Mississippi All Stars, Carlene Carter, Rosie Flores and the Mavericks. Hosting the event was Mojo Nixon, who has died aged 66. Mojo was a musician and actor best known for the novelty song 'Elvis is Everywhere', which became a regular on MTV. Mojo lampooned the music industry with 'Stuffin' Martha's Muffin' and 'Debbie Gibson is Pregnant with My Two Headed Love Child'. By a weird coincidence Mojo made his acting debut playing Jimmy Van Eaton in the 1989 Jerry Lee Lewis biopic 'Great Balls Of Fire'. Photo below shows Mojo at the Nashville event.

Fianlly the Vinyl Word pays tribute to Aston 'Family Man' Barrett(77) who played bass guitar with Bob Marley's band the Wailers and was the band's leader. Before joining the Wailers he had been with Lee 'Scratch' Perry's band the Upsetters. He was a key part of the Wailers' success throughout the seventies. His 'Family Man' name came about as a result of him seeing his band as a family, not because he was a father - although he went on to father 41 children, 23 daughters and 18 children, according to an interview he gave to the BBC in 2013. Also to Henry Fambrough, original member of the Spinners from its formation in 1954 until his retirement last year. RIP to them all.