Dewey Martin (Born Walter Midkiff)
September 30, 1940 – January 31, 2009
Dewey Martin is best remembered as the drummer of Buffalo Springfield. Martin first began playing in a group while still in high school and soon was playing in combos around the Ottawa area. He later moved to Nashville where he played on tracks by such greats as Roy Orbison, the Everly Brothers, Patsy Cline and Carl Perkins. He became part of Faron Young’s band, and decided to stay in California when they went out there on tour. In 1966, he became the founding drummer for Buffalo Springfield and stayed with the band until they broke up in 1968. Martin continued working in various bands and on numerous recordings well into the 2000s. He died of what is believed to have been natural causes on January 31, 2009. He was 68.
Barbara Cowsill was the performing mother of the Cowsills, the real life inspiration of The Partridge Family. The family began playing together in the late ’50s and began making records in 1965. In 1967, the group was signed to MGM Records and Barbara joined her children in time to record their first album. The album included the single, “The Rain, The Park and Other Things” which climbed to #2 on the pop charts and sold in the neighborhood of three million copies. Over the next few years, the group scored million-selling hits with “Indian Lake” and “Hair.” In 1969, the family were offered their own sitcom playing themselves, but that the part of Barbara would be played by actess, Shirley Jones. They declined the offer without Barbara, so the show was re-cast and re-christened The Partride Family. Since the ’70s, the group has continued to peform and record in various forms. Barbara Cowsill passed away from emphysema on January 31, 1985. She had been a heavy smoker since the age of 15.
Slim Harpo (Born James Moore)
January 11, 1924 – January 31, 1970
Slim Harpo was one of the benchmark artists of “post-war rural blues” of the 1940s. Beginning his career as Harmonica Slim in the clubs of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, his moniker was changed when he began recording for Excello Records in the late ’50s. Harpo was considered one of the best harmonica players in blues and he proved it on such blues staples as “I Got Love If You Want It,” “Rainin’ In My Heart,” and “I’m A King Bee,” later recorded by the Rolling Stones. He died of a heart attack at the age of 46.
Professor Longhair (Born Henry Byrd; aka Roy Byrd)
December 19, 1918 – January 30, 1980
Photo by Lindsay Shannon
Professor Longhair was a New Orleans rhythm and blues pianist and singer whose career spanned some thirty years. Longhair was a street hustler before turning his focus on playing the piano professionally in the late ’40s. He made several albums throughout his career, mostly considered among the best of the New Orleans genre. He was also a crowd pleasure at the most respected music festivals in the world, New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, Newport Jazz Festival and the Montreux Jazz Festival. Longhair suffered and heart attack and died while asleep. He was 61 years old.
Sam “Lightnin’” Hopkins
March 15, 1912 – January 30, 1982
Meeting Blind Lemon Jefferson at the age of eight was likely the moment that sent Lightnin’ Hopkins down the blues highway. But it wasn’t until 1946 that Hopkins got his break when he was convinced by Aladdin Records to go to Los Angeles to record with pianist Wilson Smith. It was the beginning of one of the most prolific runs in music history, as Hopkins made as many as 1000 recordings over the course of his career, believed to be the most of any bluesman. During the ’60s, Hopkins benefited from the blues and folk revival that lead to him playing alongside Pete Seeger and Joan Baez at Carnegie Hall. Lightnin’ Hopkins died of cancer on January 30, 1982. He was 69 years old.
Sean Finnegan was the hard pounding drummer for the early ’80s hardcore band, Void. Formed in 1980, Void was there for the early days of legendary Dischord label. He died of a heart attack at the age of 43. At the time of his death, Finnegan was working on the HBO series, The Wire.
Hank Crawford
December 21, 1934 – January 29, 2009
Hank Crawford was an alto saxophonist who, besides making several of his own acclaimed jazz recordings, was a sideman to some of the biggest names in popular music. Over the years he’s recorded with such greats as Eric Clapton, B.B. King, and Ray Charles for whom he was musical director in the early ’60s. As an arranger, Crawford has worked with the likes of Etta James and Lou Rawls. Hank Crawford passed away at the age of 74. He had been suffering from the results of a stroke for many years.
John Martyn (Born Iain McGeachy)
September 11, 1948 – January 29, 2009
John Martyn was a Scottish folk singer-songwriter and guitarist whose career spanned the better part of four decades. With a sound that was equal parts folk, blues, jazz and rock played acoustically through a fuzzbox, Martyn was without peer in the British folk and blues scene of the ’60s and ’70s. Over the course of his career, he has played with the likes of Phil Collins, David Gilmour and Eric Clapton. John Martyn died of double pneumonia in an Ireland hospital. He was 60 years old.
Willie Dixon is best remembered as one of the few main architects of the Chicago blues sound. As a singer, bassist and prolific songwriter, Dixon was one of the most influential figures of the era. He was also considered one of the key bridges between blues and rock ‘n roll. Dixon wrote such blues staples as “Little Red Rooster,” “Hoochie Coochie Man,” and “I Ain’t Superstious” and has been covered by the likes of Led Zeppelin, Cream, the Faces, Bob Dylan, Queen, the Grateful Dead and the Rolling Stones. In later years, Dixon worked to secure royalties and copyrights for blues artists who had been exploited int the past. He suffered from diabetes for many years and succumbed to heart failure at the age of 76.
Ken Jensen was a drummer for Vancouver’s D.O.A., considered by many as one of the founders of hardcore punk. He was killed in a house fire on January 29, 1995. Ken “Dimwit” Montgomery and Simon “Stubby Pecker” Wilde were also one-time members of D.O.A. who died too soon.
William “Cozy” Cole
October 17, 1909 – January 29, 1981
Cozy Cole was a jazz drummer whose career spanned from the 1930s to the 1970s. After his first job backing Wilber Sweatman in 1928, Cole joined up with the great Jelly Roll Morton. He subsequently played with the likes of Benny Carter and Cab Calloway. In 1938, Cole played on Benny Goodman’s “Topsy Part 2,” his lengthy solo being one of the few in history to land in the Top 5 of the pop charts. It peaked at #2 that year. Rock drummers like Cozy Powell are said to be heavily influenced by Cole. Cozy Cole died of cancer on January 29, 1981.
John McCarthy was the lead singer and primary songwriter for Boston-based death metal band, Post Mortem. Formed in March of 1982, Post Mortem were one of death metal’s pioneers. They called it quits in 1994. After years battling diabetes and a pancreatic illness, John McCarthy passed away at the age of 40. No actual cause of death was announced.
Though born in Corpus Christi, future Lynyrd Skynyrd keyboardist, Billy Powell spent much of his “navy brat” youth in Italy until his father passed away when he was just eight years old. Back in the United States, the Powell family settled in Florida and Billy was enrolled in military school where he learned the piano. Noted as a natural with the instrument, Powell continued his training in college and soon took a job as roadie for Lynyrd Skynyrd. Eventually he was offered a spot in the band after Ronnie Van Zant heard him play. But in 1977, tragedy struck just three days after the release of their landmark Street Survivors album when a plane carrying the band crashed into the swamps of Mississippi killing Van Zant, Steve Gaines, Cassie Gaines, and manager Dean Kilpatrick. Powell was one of the survivors. For the time being, Lynyrd Skynyrd was no more, so Powell continued on in such bands as Alias,Vision and the Rossington-Collins Band alongside his former Skynyrd bandmates Allen Collins and Gary Rossington. In 1987 Powell, along with the surviving members of Skynyrd reformed and have been together ever since. In the early morning hours of January 28, 2009, paramedics arrived at Powell’s home, responding to his 911 call, reporting he was having shortness of breath. Finding him unconscious, the paramedics tried unsuccessfully to revive him. He died of what was presumed to be a heart attack at the age of 56.
Billy Fury (Born Ronald Wycherley)
April 17, 1940 – January 28, 1983
Billy Fury was an early British rock ‘n roll star who rivaled the Beatles with his 24 UK hit singles throughout the ’60s. During the mid ’50s. Fury fronted a popular skiffle band, playing a popular form of music that would heavily influence the Beatles. After scoring several hits fronting the Blue Flames (which included Georgie Fame), Fury fired the band and began auditioning for a new band. It was the early ’60s. When John Lennon and his Silver Beatles tried out, they were offered the gig, but only if Lennon fired Stu Sutcliffe. He declined, but only after securing an autograph of Fury. Fury went on to have many British hits and perform in front of countless adoring fans throughout the UK over the next several years. He also took a shot at acting, appearing in a handful of British films. In 1971, Fury underwent the first of three heart surgeries he’d have over the next several years. With his career all but over due to his health problems, Fury filed bancruptcy in 1980. In early 1983, Fury had a new album and tour in the works, but died on January 27, 1983 after being discovered unconscious in his home. He was 42.
Mahalia Jackson
October 26, 1911 – January 27, 1972
Mahalia Jackson was a powerful gospel singer who many consider to be the most influential of the genre. After a childhood that consisted of living in a three-room home with twelve other family members, Jackson moved to Chicago at the age of sixteen. Two years later, she met Thomas A. Dorsey, the so-called Father of Gospel Music, who helped launch her career. Over the course of her career, Jackson record upwards of thirty five albums, and a string of million-selling singles, including “Take My Hand, Precious Lord,” her signature song written by Dorsey. Mahalia Jackson died of diabetes and heart failure at the age of 60.
Albert Grossman is best remembered as an artist manager representing, among others, Bob Dylan between 1962 and 1970. He also co-founded the Newport Folk Festival with George Wein in 1959. In 1961, Grossman put three folk singers together, Peter Yarrow, Paul Stookey and Mary Travers, otherwise known as Peter, Paul and Mary. Over the years, Grossman also represented John Lee Hooker, Ian & Sylvia, Odetta, Janis Joplin, and the Band. Grossman also built the legendary Bearsville Recording Studio outside of Woodstock, NY and formed Bearsville Records. Acts like Todd Rundgren, Foghat, NRBQ and Jesse Winchester recorded for the label. On January 25, 1986, Albert Grossman died of a heart attack while flying from the U.S. to London aboard the Concorde. He was 59 years old.
Corey Daum (Born Corey James)
1970(?) – January 24, 2009
Corey Daum At Bottom Left
Corey Daum was a guitarist for heavy metal stalwarts, Lizzy Borden from 1989 to 1996. Daum was killed on a Nashville highway when the driver of the vehicle in which he was a passenger crashed into a concrete wall. The alleged drunk driver was charged with vehicular homicide. Corey Daum was 39 years old when he died.
James Sheppard was a doo wop singer best remembered as the lead singer of The Heartbeats and later, Shep and the Limelites. Formed in Queens, New York in 1960, Shep and the Limelites scored a big #2 pop hit with “Daddy’s Home” a year later. The instantly recognizable song was covered by many in years to come, most notably by Jermaine Jackson in 1972. The group disbanded in 1966 but was reformed by Sheppard a couple of years later. On January 24, 1970. James Sheppard was found beaten, robbed and shot to death in his car on the Long Island Expressway.
John Mills, Jr.
October 19, 1910 – January 23, 1936
John Mills, Jr. with guitar
John Mills, Jr. along with his three brothers made up the Mills Brothers, a popular jazz vocal quartet throughout most of the ’30s, ’40s and ’50s. John Jr. sang bass in the group and played guitar. Their songbook included such hits as “Tiger Rag,” “Dinah,” and “St. Louis Blues.” As the boys were just starting to establish themselves on the world stage, tragedy struck while on their first European tour as John Jr. came down with pneumonia with which he struggled for several months. After they assumed he was well, the group headed back to England where John Jr. once again became sick, only this time resulting in his sudden death on January 24, 1936. The guys eventually regrouped and struck out again with their father, John Sr. filling the vacant slot. They would remain active in one form or another well into the ’90s.
Richard Berry was an American singer and songwriter, best known as the composer and original performer of the rock standard “Louie Louie”. He was born in Extension, Louisiana, and moved with his family to Los Angeles as a baby. He began singing and playing in local doo-wop groups, recording with several of them including the Penguins, the Cadets and the Chimes, before joining the Flairs (who also recorded as the Debonaires and the Flamingoes) in 1953. The Flairs’ record “She Wants To Rock”, on Modern Records, featured Berry’s bass vocals, and was an early production by Leiber and Stoller. When, a few months later, that pair needed a bass voice for their production of the Robins’ “Riot In Cell Block #9″ on Spark Records, they recruited Berry to provide the menacing introduction to the song – uncredited, as he was contracted to Modern. Berry’s voice was also used at Modern, again uncredited, as the counterpoint to Etta James on her first record and big hit, “The Wallflower (Dance with Me, Henry)”, and several of its less successful follow-ups. Berry also recorded with several other groups on the Modern and Flair labels, including Arthur Lee Maye and the Crowns, and girl group the Dreamers (who later became the Blossoms). By the end of 1954, he left the Flairs to form his own group, the Pharaohs, while also continuing to work with other groups as a singer and songwriter. One of these was a Latin and R&B group, Rick Rillera and The Rhythm Rockers. In 1955, Berry was inspired to write a new calypso-style song, “Louie Louie”, based on The Rhythm Rockers version of René Touzet’s “El Loco Cha Cha“, and also influenced by Chuck Berry’s “Havana Moon”. Richard Berry and the Pharaohs, recorded and released the song on Flip Records in 1957, originally as a B-side. It became a minor regional hit, and, when the group toured the Pacific Northwest, several local R&B bands began to adopt the song and established its popularity. “Louie Louie” finally became a major hit when the Kingsmen’s raucous version – with little trace of its calypso-like origins other than in its lyrics – became a national and international hit in 1963. The nearly unintelligible (and innocuous) lyrics were widely misinterpreted as obscene, and the song was banned by radio stations and even investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The song has been recorded over 1,000 times, but, because Berry sold its copyright cheaply in 1959, he received little financial reward for its success for many years. Berry continued to write and record in the late 1950s, including such numbers as “Have Love, Will Travel” (which would later become a local hit for the Sonics), but with little commercial success, and also continued as a performer. His other songs also included “Crazy Lover“, recorded on their 1987 debut album by the Rollins Band. During the 1980s, “Louie Louie” received a number of unprecedented accolades, with hundreds of cover versions being issued on CD compilations and played on radio marathons. In 1986 and again in 1993, Berry finally received substantial financial benefits for writing the song. In February 1996, he performed for the final time, reuniting with The Pharaohs and The Dreamers for a benefit concert in Long Beach, California. However, his health declined, and he died of heart failure in 1997. – From wikipedia
Dewey Martin is best remembered as the drummer of Buffalo Springfield. Martin first began playing in a group while still in high school and soon was playing in combos around the Ottawa area. He later moved to Nashville where he played on tracks by such greats as Roy Orbison, the Everly Brothers, Patsy Cline and Carl Perkins. He became part of Faron Young’s band, and decided to stay in California when they went out there on tour. In 1966, he became the founding drummer for Buffalo Springfield and stayed with the band until they broke up in 1968. Martin continued working in various bands and on numerous recordings well into the 2000s. He died of what is believed to have been natural causes on January 31, 2009. He was 68.
Barbara Cowsill was the performing mother of the Cowsills, the real life inspiration of The Partridge Family. The family began playing together in the late ’50s and began making records in 1965. In 1967, the group was signed to MGM Records and Barbara joined her children in time to record their first album. The album included the single, “The Rain, The Park and Other Things” which climbed to #2 on the pop charts and sold in the neighborhood of three million copies. Over the next few years, the group scored million-selling hits with “Indian Lake” and “Hair.” In 1969, the family were offered their own sitcom playing themselves, but that the part of Barbara would be played by actess, Shirley Jones. They declined the offer without Barbara, so the show was re-cast and re-christened The Partride Family. Since the ’70s, the group has continued to peform and record in various forms. Barbara Cowsill passed away from emphysema on January 31, 1985. She had been a heavy smoker since the age of 15.
Slim Harpo was one of the benchmark artists of “post-war rural blues” of the 1940s. Beginning his career as Harmonica Slim in the clubs of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, his moniker was changed when he began recording for Excello Records in the late ’50s. Harpo was considered one of the best harmonica players in blues and he proved it on such blues staples as “I Got Love If You Want It,” “Rainin’ In My Heart,” and “I’m A King Bee,” later recorded by the Rolling Stones. He died of a heart attack at the age of 46.
Meeting Blind Lemon Jefferson at the age of eight was likely the moment that sent Lightnin’ Hopkins down the blues highway. But it wasn’t until 1946 that Hopkins got his break when he was convinced by Aladdin Records to go to Los Angeles to record with pianist Wilson Smith. It was the beginning of one of the most prolific runs in music history, as Hopkins made as many as 1000 recordings over the course of his career, believed to be the most of any bluesman. During the ’60s, Hopkins benefited from the blues and folk revival that lead to him playing alongside Pete Seeger and Joan Baez at Carnegie Hall. Lightnin’ Hopkins died of cancer on January 30, 1982. He was 69 years old.
Sean Finnegan was the hard pounding drummer for the early ’80s hardcore band, Void. Formed in 1980, Void was there for the early days of legendary Dischord label. He died of a heart attack at the age of 43. At the time of his death, Finnegan was working on the HBO series, The Wire.
