Muddy Waters (Born McKinley Morganfield)
April 4, 1914 – April 30, 1983
Although he was born in Mississippi, Muddy Waters is considered the Father of Chicago Blues. By electrifying the delta blues of his youth, Waters almost singlehandedly influenced the British blues explosion of the ’60s. Acts like the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin and Cream might not have been born if it weren’t for Muddy Waters. By the early 1950s, Waters, along with his sidemen, Little Walter and Howlin’ Wolf were the biggest draw in Chicago, and in 1958, he set out to conquer the UK, who until that point had only known the acoustic blues of the likes of Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee. Indoing so, Waters sparked a musical revolution. Waters died in his sleep of natural causes on April 30, 1983.
Leslie “Lester” Bangs
December 13, 1948 – April 30, 1982
As a writer for Cream and Rolling Stone magazines, Lester Bangs was a highly influential rock music journalist. Bangs’ first review to be published came in 1969 when he answered a Rolling Stone ad looking for readers’ reviews. He sent in a negative critique of the MC5’sKick Out The Jams, and never looked back. Bangs wrote for the magazine until 1973 when he was fired for allegedly being too critical and disrespectful toward the musicians he wrote about. Bangs relocated to Detroit where he edited and wrote for Cream. It was Cream that Bangs began to build his reputation as a brilliant if not confrontational music journalist. In the ensuing years, he contributed to Playboy, the Village Voice and NME. Bangs died of an accidental overdose at the age of 33. Drugs he had been taking to treat a cold adversely interacted with each other.
Miss Zola Taylor had the honor of being the female member of the Platters during their most prolific years of 1954 to 1962, and thereby contributing vocals to some of the most influential songs in all of R&B. And in one of popular music’s stranger stories, Taylor insisted she was Frankie Lymon’s second wife although she had no proof. And many years later, she unsuccessfully sued to gain ownership of Lymon’s catalog. The story of Frankie Lymon and his loves was made into the 1998 film, Why Do Fools Fall In Love in which Taylor is portrayed by Halle Barry. Zola Taylor passed away from pneumonia in 2007 at the age of 69.
Along with being a beat writer, Richard Fariña was a folk singer-songwriter who performed and recorded with second wife, Mimi Fariña, sister of Joan Baez. As a counterculture author, Fariña had stories published in the Transalantic Review and Mademoiselle. He also wrote the critically acclaimed and cult favorite novel, Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up To Me. Considered a protest singer, Fariña’s music career was born around 1961 in the Greenwich Village folk scene. At the time, he was married to Carolyn Hester who introduced him to Bob Dylan, thus launching a friendship that would eventually lead him to meet Joan Baez and younger sister, Mimi. After divorcing Hester, Fariña married Mimi and together they moved to the central coast of California where they began writing songs together. Mimi & Richard Fariña signed to Vanguard Records who released three albums, one of which after Richard’s untimely death. Just two days after the release of Been Down So Long, the Farinas were home celebrating Mimi’s 21st birthday. During the party, Richard got on the back of a friend’s motorcycle for a ride. Allegedly driving at a high rate of speed, the driver lost control of the bike on a windy road, causing it to crash. Richard Fariña was killed instantly at the age of 29.
At the time of his death of a heart attack in 1999, Darrell Sweet was co-founder and drummer for the Scottish hard rock band, Nazareth. By the 1975 release of Hair Of The Dog, Nazareth were bona fide international superstars. And as if the title track weren’t great enough, Hair Of The Dog also begat rock’s definitive version of “Love Hurts,” perhaps the greatest power ballad of it’s generation. Sadly, Sweet died of a heart attack he suffered at the New Albany Amphitheater where the band were scheduled to take the stage later that evening. He was 51.
Marl Young was a pianist and arranger who moved from Chicago to Los Angeles in 1947 and became instrumental in bringing the white and black music unions together in the early ’50s. In 1957, Young became the first African American selected to the board of directors of Local 47. He stayed active on the board until 2008. In 1962, Desi Arnaz invited Young to play piano as part of the live audience warm-up band for “The Lucy Show.” Eight years later, he was the show’s music director, becoming the first black music director of a major television show. Marl Young passed away in a medical rehabilitation center where he was battling prostate cancer. Exact cause of death has not been released.
Jack of all trades, Mick Ronson was one of those sidemen that brought out the best in those he played with. Whether it was David Bowie or Ian Hunter, Ronson’s contributions to their music helped define ’70s glam rock. But he was much more than a guitar-for-hire, as he was just as adept at songwriting, producing and arranging. Ronson’s direct influence can heard be on albums he either performed on or produced by the likes of Lou Reed, Morrissey, Bob Dylan, Roger McGuinn, David Johansen, Van Morrison, Elton John, Roger Daltrey and John Mellencamp. Ronson died of liver cancer on April 29, 1993 at the age of 46.
Leroy Carr was a blues singer, songwriter and pianist who didn’t quite fit the old blues man stereotype of the day. As a suave young man from Indianapolis, his style of crooning would be more Nat King Cole than Muddy Waters; more Ray Charles than Robert Johnson. And because of (or in spite of) that, he was one of the most popular blues men of the Depression era. Some of his most popular recordings were with Scrapper Blackwell, with whom he recorded some 100 sides. His most famous song, “How Long Blues,” was later covered by Eric Clapton. Carr passed away of the effects of alcohol at just 30.
Vern Gosdin was nicknamed “The Voice” for a reason. He had one of the most beautifully soulful singing voices in all of country music, and if honky tonk had a Mount Rushmore, Vern Gosdin would likely sit alongside George Jones, Merle Haggard, Lefty Frizzell and Buck Owens. Gosdin scored several hits throughout the ’70s and ’80s, including “Set ‘em Up Joe,” “Chisled In Stone,” and “If You’re Gonna Do Me Wrong (Do It Right).” Gosdin began singing as a child in his Alabama church. In the early ’60s he moved to Los Angeles where he became an integral part of the blossoming west coast country scene. He soon signed to Capitol Records where he released a few marginal hits. But it wasn’t until he moved to Atlanta, retired and then came out of retirement that he hit his stride with a series of chart toppers throughout the ’80s. Vern Gosdin passed away in a Nashville hospital after suffering a stroke in recent weeks.
Tommy Caldwell was best known as the bassist the Marshall Tucker Band from 1973 until his death in 1980. The charismatic performer was the crowd pleaser of the band . He also sang backup and wrote some of their songs, including “Melody Ann,” their only song on which he sang lead. His final performance with the band came on the night of April 19, 1980 which was later released as Live On Long Island. Caldwell died just ten days later from injuries he suffered in a jeep accident.
The now-infamous flying Pig that was mistakenly unleashed during Roger Waters’ Coachella Music Festival set is dead. In typical rock star fashion, the once bloated Pig’s life came to a tragic end near the grounds of his favorite desert oasis, the Hideaway Country Club. Rumors that the Hideaway Country Club is actually a detox facility have been squashed by local caddies. In one of the most horrific deaths in rock ‘n’ roll history, Pig’s body was mysteriously severed in two by an unknown assailant in what appeared to be a horrific Holiday Feast fashion. Though reminiscent of the Black Dahlia murders of late ’40s Los Angeles, no word yet if James Ellroy has been brought in to investigate. Parts of Pig’s butchered body were discovered and tossed into the dumpster by a Steve Stoltz (La Quinta) who later gathered the remains in order to collect the $10,000 and 4 Coachella tickets for life offered by the festival. In a shocking testament to Pig’s bloated condition at the end of his life, wife Susan Stoltz told Reuters, “We didn’t even know what it was then, but that’s all I hear about now.” In a startling twist, neighbor Judy Rimmer (La Quinta) found additional remains in her driveway. And even though the reward specified the “safe return” of Pig, both parties will share the prize. Born with the 1977 release of Pink Floyd’s Animals, Pig led a storied life. He lent backing vocals to and appeared on the cover of the Animals album, and later graced the front of subsequent remix and anniversary packages, t-shirts, DVDs and key chains. He even spent some time as a body-paint model, once posing for a painting that famously appeared on the back of a nude woman (see below). And although Pig was celebrated at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, his biggest honor came when he appeared on the April 19, 1996 episode of The Simpsons. But times got hard on Pig when Pink Floyd went their separate ways, forcing him to live off the fat he collected during his glory years of the ’70s, ’80s and early ’90s. Years of drugged out swinging with that inflatable teacher from The Wall was soon replaced by a life of avoiding the inevitable luau. But the new millennium saw things pick up for Pig as Roger Waters began introducing him to a brand new audience. Theater shows became arena shows. Then came his triumphant Hollywood Bowl show in June of 2007. Pig was back. And less than a year later, Waters was ready to take him to the next level…the super-alternative rock festival in the desert of California, the mecca that is called Coachella, where the world’s alterna-youth come together to celebrate all that is music. It is a culture that is a far cry from Pig’s lazy days of floating over the dilapidated factories of England. And sadly it was too much too fast, so Pig did like so many aging fat rock stars before him, he sought the solace of the one place he didn’t fit in, the golf course. It was here that Pig’s revived dreams came crashing down to earth as this noble beast was deflated like the ego of a once great rock star. He was 31.
B.W. Stevenson (Born Lewis Stevenson)
October 5, 1949 – April 28, 1988
Born in Dallas, TX, B.W. Stevenson was singer-songwriter of country pop songs. He had one big hit, 1973’s “My Maria,” which reached #9 on the Billboard pop singles chart. The song became a #1 country hit for Brook & Dunn in 1996. Stevenson died while undergoing heart valve surgery on April 28, 1988. He was 38.
Tom “Big Daddy” Donahue
May 21, 1928 – April 28, 1975
Tom Donahue was a ground breaking disc jockey who took a San Francisco foreign language station and transformed it into America’s first “free form” station which would become the model for FM album oriented stations across the country. Donahue started his radio career in South Carolina in 1949, but moved to the Bay Area after the payola scandal where he started a record label for the Beau Brummels who he discovered and managed. e also produced concerts and opened a psychedelic club. In 1972, he became the GM of KSAN and encouraged the on-air talent to dig deep into the albums, play songs from different genres and eras, and inject political commentary. The station became an instant hit with the counter-culture, so Donuhue and his wife, Raechel successfully brought his idea to Los Angeles stations, KPPC and future legend, KMET. Similar stations spread across the country through the rest of the ‘70s. Donahue suffered a fatal heart attack on April 28, 1975.
If Delta Blues has a flash point, it was most likely Charley Patton. His gritty voice, passionate singing and flashy guitar playing made him a local celebrity throughout the juke joints and plantation dances of the 1920s South. He’s influenced no less than John Lee Hooker, Muddy Waters and Robert Johnson. As stated at allmusic.com, “He epitomized the image of a ’20s sport blues singer: rakish, raffish, easy to provoke, capable of downing massive quantities of food and liquor, a woman on each arm, with a flashy, expensive-looking guitar fitted with a strap and kept in a traveling case by his side, only to be opened up when there was money or good times involved.“
He was the blues’ first superstar. Patton died of heart failure on April 28, 1934 at the age of 43.
Big Ron O’Brien was a popular disc jockey who in recent years could be heard in the afternoons on Philadelphia rock station, WOGL 98.1. O’Brien’s love for radio began in high school where he worked at the school’s station, and soon thereafter, he was spinning records at Kansas City’s KUDL. Over the rest of his career, O’Brien worked at such stations as KISS in Los Angeles, WRKO in Boston, WCAR in Detroit, and WNBC in New York where he worked alongside Howard Stern. He died of complications from pneumonia on April 27, 2008. He was
Al Hirt was given his first trumpet at six and by sixteen, he and friend Pete Fountain were already playing professionally around New Orleans. After a tour of duty as a bugler in WWII, went to work in various swing bands, backing the likes of Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsey and Jimmy Dorsey. He settled back in New Orleans by the ’50s, becoming an integral part of the city and its musical heritage. Over the next two decades, more than twenty of his albums appeared on the Billboard pop charts. One of Hirt’s other loves was football, and in 1967, he became a minority owner of the New Orleans Saints. Al Hirt died at 76 of liver failure after spending a year in a wheelchair due to edema in his leg.
Vicki Sue Robinson had many accomplishments in music, theater and film, but it would be her smash it “Turn The Beat Around” that would forever make her a disco queen. Her life as an entertainer began at age six when she joined her mother on stage at the storied Philadelphia Folk Festival. At sixteen she was on Broadway as a cast member of Hair. She landed a couple film roles, most notably Going Home and To Find A Man and by 1973, she was performing in the Broadway production of Jesus Christ Superstar. Then in 1975, while singing backing vocals on a friend’s album, she was offered a contract with RCA Records. 1976 saw the release of her debut, Never Gonna Let You Go, that included the smash hit, “Turn The Beat Around.” The album went to number one on the Billboard pop charts and earned Robinson a Grammy nomination. Robinson’s career continued to flourish through early 2000, but she never matched the success of that first album. Besides making her own records, her later years found her doing plenty of session work as well as acting on film and stage. And of course, “Turn The Beat Around,” continued to find new audiences thanks to a popular cover by Gloria Estefan and from Robinson’s live appearances on the disco revival circuit. Robinson died from cancer on April 27, 2000 at just 46.
Arziel “Z.Z.” Hill
September 30, 1935 – April 27, 1984
ZZ Hill was a Texas blues singer who’s soulful style was also sometimes referred to as Southern Fried Soul. Hill began his career singing gospel in the late ’50s and moved to California in the early ’60s to begin making R&B records for Kent Records. His career continued to grow through the ’60s, ’70s but by the ’80s it began to sputter. And then in 1982, he released Down Home, which not only sparked new life into his career, but into the entire soul-blues genre. It remained on the soul charts for almost two years and spawned a couple of singles, “Down Home Blues,” and “Somebody Else Is Steppin’ In,” which are considered to be blues standards. But success was short lived and Hill suffered a fatal heart attack on April 27, 1984.
William “Count” Basie
March 24, 1904 – April 26, 1984
Count Basie is one of most important jazz musicians and band leaders in American history. Born in Red Bank, New Jersey in 1904, Basie was encouraged by his mother to learn the piano, paying 25 cents a lesson for the young boy. Dropping out of junior high school, he took a job at a local movie house where one day when the regular pianist failed to show up for work, Basie took over playing behind the silent films. He never looked back. By his late teens he was playing at local parties, dances and talent shows, and when he wasn’t playing, he was hustling for his next gig. In the mid ’20s, Basie was fully immersed in the jazz scene that was building in Harlem. He would lead his Count Basie Orchestra on and off for the next fifty years. Throughout his astounding career, Basie played for royalty around the world; recorded with a who’s who of popular music – from Frank Sinatra to Duke Ellington, from Billie Holiday to Sarah Vaughan; won nine Grammys; had four songs selected to the Grammy Hall of Fame; appeared on television and in film; and performed at John F. Kennedy’s inaugural ball. He passed away of pancreatic cancer on April 26, 1984 at the age of 79.
Danny McKenna was the founding guitarist for Texas rock band, Toby Beau who scored a 1978 hit with “My Angel Baby.” It was a #1 hit on the Easy Listening charts and reached #13 on the overall singles chart. The single would eventually achieve gold status and was recognized by BMI for receiving over 1 million radio plays. Due in part to the success of the single, Toby Beau toured with the likes of Bob Seger, Steve Miller Band and the Doobie Brothers. McKenna left the band before the release of their follow up album and returned to Texas, got married and had two children. He started a successful business as a luthier, repairing and refurbishing all kinds of stringed instruments for local musicians, as well as others throughout Texas. He also handmade several guitars and instruments of his own invention, such as an electric “J-fiddle” and a hybrid between an electric guitar and a mandolin. McKenna always remained active as a musician and formed several local bands throughout the years, and he was extremely generous when sharing his love of music, often doing free repairs for churches or students who couldn’t afford it. He passed away on April 26, 2006 at the age of 54. – Additional information courtesy of Emily McKenna.
Miss Zola Taylor had the honor of being the female member of the Platters during their most prolific years of 1954 to 1962, and thereby contributing vocals to some of the most influential songs in all of R&B. And in one of popular music’s stranger stories, Taylor insisted she was 
Leroy Carr was a blues singer, songwriter and pianist who didn’t quite fit the old blues man stereotype of the day. As a suave young man from Indianapolis, his style of crooning would be more 
n with the 1977 release of Pink Floyd’s Animals, Pig led a storied life. He lent backing vocals to and appeared on the cover of the Animals album, and later graced the front of subsequent remix and anniversary packages, t-shirts, DVDs and key chains. He even spent some time as a body-paint model, once posing for a painting that famously appeared on the back of a nude woman (see below). And although Pig was celebrated at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, his biggest honor came when he appeared on the April 19, 1996 episode of The Simpsons. But times got hard on Pig when Pink Floyd went their separate ways, forcing him to
live off the fat he collected during his glory years of the ’70s, ’80s and early ’90s. Years of drugged out swinging with that inflatable teacher from The Wall was soon replaced by a life of avoiding the inevitable luau. But the new millennium saw things pick up for Pig as Roger Waters began introducing him to a brand new audience. Theater shows became arena shows. Then came his triumphant Hollywood Bowl show in June of 2007. Pig was back. And less than a year later, Waters was ready to take him to the next level…the super-alternative rock festival in the desert of California, the mecca that is called Coachella, where the world’s alterna-youth come together to celebrate all that is music. It is a culture that is a far cry from Pig’s lazy days of floating over the dilapidated factories of England. And sadly it was too much too fast, so Pig did like so many aging fat rock stars before him, he sought the solace of the one place he didn’t fit in, the golf course. It was here that Pig’s revived dreams came crashing down to earth as this noble beast was deflated like the ego of a once great rock star. He was 31.
Al Hirt was given his first trumpet at six and by sixteen, he and friend Pete Fountain were already playing professionally around New Orleans. After a tour of duty as a bugler in WWII, went to work in various swing bands, backing the likes of 
Vicki Sue Robinson had many accomplishments in music, theater and film, but it would be her smash it “Turn The Beat Around” that would forever make her a disco queen. Her life as an entertainer began at age six when she joined her mother on stage at the storied Philadelphia Folk Festival. At sixteen she was on Broadway as a cast member of Hair. She landed a couple film roles, most notably Going Home and To Find A Man and by 1973, she was performing in the Broadway production of Jesus Christ Superstar. Then in 1975, while singing backing vocals on a friend’s album, she was offered a contract with RCA Records. 1976 saw the release of her debut, Never Gonna Let You Go, that included the smash hit, “Turn The Beat Around.” The album went to number one on the Billboard pop charts and earned Robinson a Grammy nomination. Robinson’s career continued to flourish through early 2000, but she never matched the success of that first album. Besides making her own records, her later years found her doing plenty of session work as well as acting on film and stage. And of course, “Turn The Beat Around,” continued to find new audiences thanks to a popular cover by Gloria Estefan and from Robinson’s live appearances on the disco revival circuit. Robinson died from cancer on April 27, 2000 at just 46.
