Author: Macamba0

January 14, 1992 – Jerry Nolan was born May 7th 1946 in Brooklyn New York. Nolan joined The New York Dolls in the autumn of 1972 to replace Billy Murcia, who had died of asphyxiation in a failed attempt to revive him from a drug overdose while on tour in England, early in the band’s career. The Dolls got a record deal with Mercury Records in 1973. Nolan also was a childhood friend of Peter Criss (KISS’ original drummer) who auditioned for The New York Dolls at the same time. He previously played with Wayne (Jayne) County’s “Queen Elizabeth”, Billy Squier’s “Kicks” and was the only male member of Suzi Quatro’s Detroit-based band Cradle. Jerry was drumming for the power trio “Shaker”, a New York band that frequently opened for the Dolls, when he was recruited to replace Billy. Nolan played on the Dolls’ first two albums (New York Dolls and Too Much Too Soon).

After much internal fighting and a short stint under the helm of future Sex Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren, Nolan left the Dolls together with Johnny Thunders in the spring of 1975. The two then placed a call to bassist Richard Hell, formerly of the Neon Boys and Television, to form The Heartbreakers. Soon, Walter Lure was brought into the fold and Hell was replaced by Billy Rath.

In 1976, The Heartbreakers were invited to tour with the Sex Pistols on their infamous “Anarchy in the U.K.” tour which also included support from The Clash and The Damned. Soon after the tour, The Heartbreakers took up permanent residence in London and played many shows throughout 1976–1977. Nolan quit the band soon after they released their only studio album, L.A.M.F. in October 1977 because he felt the album was poorly mixed. Nolan still continued to play with The Heartbreakers, but as a “hired drummer” until the end of 1977.

In early 1978, Nolan joined The Idols led by Steve Dior and Barry Jones. The Idols with ex-Chelsea bassist Simon Vitesse recorded four demos in London for Track Records and then toured America later in the year with Arthur Kane on bass. The Idols also released a single including “You” b/w “The Girl That I Love” in 1978 on Ork Records. Nolan also filled in on drums for Sid Vicious’ ill-fated New York City solo performances in September 1978 along with Arthur Kane and Steve Dior also backing up Vicious. Mick Jones from The Clash also joined Vicious’ backing band filling in on guitar on the last live date. The live recordings from these shows can be found on Sid Sings.

The Idols continued to play shows up and down the east coast but broke up in 1979, the last line up consisting of Jerry Nolan, Steve Dior, Barry Jones, Arthur Kane, and Walter Lure. Nolan later joined back up with Steve Dior and Barry Jones in their next band, The London Cowboys in the early 80’s which also included Glen Matlock from The Sex Pistols. Jerry didn’t play drums on The London Cowboys two albums Animal Pleasure (1982) and Tall in the Saddle (1984), but he did play drums on their live album On Stage (1986).

While touring with Johnny Thunders in 1982, Nolan met Charlotte (Lotten) Nedeby, whom he soon married. Nolan took up residence in Sweden, off and on, through the 1980s. In Sweden playing drums and singing lead vocals he recorded a solo single with the Teneriffa Cowboys of an unreleased Heartbreakers’ song, “Take A Chance With Me” and a new song, “Pretty Baby” released in 1982 on Tandan Records. Other songs recorded with the Teneriffa Cowboys throughout 1982–1983 include Chuck Berry’s “Havana Moon” which was released on “Sword – The Best in Scandinavian Rock” album in 1985 on Sword/Tandan Records and “Countdown Love” which was released on a posthumous split single with Johnny Thunders in 1997 on Sucksex Records. The other co-singer and guitarist of Teneriffa Cowboys, Michael Thimren (who also occasionally played with Johnny Thunders from 1983–1988) contributed the songs “Lickin’ My Boots” and “Notorious Liar” along with other unreleased songs from the 1982–1983 period. Also in 1983, Nolan recorded a single with the Swedish band Pilsner playing drums and singing lead vocals on “I Refuse (To Live in the U.S.A.)” and “Sleep With You”. He was also a member of the short-lived Ugly Americans with fellow ex-Doll Sylvain Sylvain. Johnny Thunders also moved to Sweden with his girlfriend, Susanne, and their collaboration continued periodically, until Thunders’ death in 1991.

Nolan outlived his long-time friend by only a few months. During that period he was working on a recording project with singer/songwriter/guitar Greg Allen and bassist Chicago Vin Earnshaw. In late 1991, while Nolan was being treated for bacterial meningitis and bacterial pneumonia at St. Vincent’s Hospital in New York, he suffered a stroke and went into a coma from which he never recovered. He spent his final weeks on a life support system and died on January 14, 1992 at age 45.

January 15, 1992 – Dee Murray (Elton John band) was born in Gillingham, Kent, England on 3 April 1946. Before joining Elton John as his touring sidemen, Murray and drummer Nigel Olsson were members of the Spencer Davis Group in 1969. In Murray’s musician bio in the program book for 1982’s “Jump Up!” tour, Murray recalled when he first took up the bass guitar during his high school years: “Someone put this heavy thing over my shoulder and said, ‘Here, you play this!'”

Murray quickly established a solid reputation on the instrument. In the Classic Albums documentary on Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, producer Gus Dudgeon lauded Murray’s musical ability, and said he hadn’t heard a bassist quite as good as him.
Murray and Olsson joined John as his road sidemen in 1970, and first appeared on disc with John on “Amoreena” from the 1970 album Tumbleweed Connection, though they were first featured on the live album 17-11-70. While they were John’s constant touring band mates, his record company only allowed them to play on just one track per studio album. As of Honky Château in 1972, however, John exerted some of his skyrocketing popularity at the time, and convinced his record company to allow Murray and Olsson to also become full-time recording members of his band. Along with fellow new recruit Davey Johnstone on guitar, Murray and Olsson played on John’s hit albums, including the milestone album Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, singles, and world tours for several years.

In 1975, after recording Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy, Murray and Olsson were released from the band because John wanted to achieve a different sound. He said at the time “The band always rattled along. I want it to chug”.
Murray and Olsson continued working together as session musicians in Los Angeles. They played on Rick Springfield‘s first United States album, Wait for Night (1976). In 1977, Murray briefly joined Procol Harum on a North America tour promoting their last 1970s album, Something Magic, although he never recorded with the group.

Between 1978 and 1979, Murray worked as part of Alice Cooper’s backing band. According to music site AllMusic.com, Murray played on Cooper’s hit album “From the Inside,” and joined Olsson backing the Grateful Dead’s Bob Weir on his solo album “Heaven Help the Fool” in 1978.

Other artists he worked with during the 1970s and early 1980s include Yvonne Elliman (her Night Flight album contained the hit single “If I Can’t Have You,” composed by the Bee Gees), Shaun Cassidy, Allan Clarke, Bernie Taupin, Kiki Dee, Stefanie Gaines, Barbi Benton and Jimmy Webb.

Murray and Olsson returned to tour and play sessions with John, starting with “21 at 33” in 1980. He and Olsson backed John during his landmark concert in New York City’s Central Park before more than 400,000 fans on the Great Lawn on 13 September 1980, and appeared on The Fox in 1981. Murray went on to contribute all the bass tracks on Jump Up! in 1982, and joined Olsson and guitarist Davey Johnstone for the Jump Up! Tour, followed by albums and tours for Too Low for Zero (1983) and Breaking Hearts (1984). The group then disbanded, reuniting once more to record backing vocals on Reg Strikes Back in 1988.
In the 1980s, Murray played on numerous Nashville sessions for artists such as Michael Brown, Lewis Storey, Beth Nielsen Chapman and John Prine, amongst others.

He was a talented musician whose gift for melody, placement, and an understated, yet profound technique, plus his standout work as a backing vocalist, puts him in an elite class among rock bassists. He died after a long brave battle with skin cancer from a stroke at age 45 years  on 15 January 1992.

November 24, 1991 – Eric “The Fox” Carr was born as Paul Caravello on July 12, 1950 in Brooklyn New York. He grew up typically post war American and by the time he was 15, while still in high school, he began playing with a string of bands mostly performing covers of Top 40 songs.

In 1970, Caravello joined the band Salt & Pepper, which started as a cover band playing music from multiple genres; the band was named that because half of the members were black and half were white. In 1973 the band changed their name to Creation, now performing disco music.

Tragedy struck in 1974 when a fire broke out during a discothèque gig at Gulliver’s restaurant in Port Chester, New York, killing dozens of people including the band’s keyboardist and lead singer. Caravello escaped and was credited with saving another person, one of the band’s female singers. It was determined that the fire had been started by a thief in an adjacent building hoping to cover his tracks.

Carr would go on with the band until 1979. They enjoyed some success, performing as an opening act for established names such as Stevie Wonder and Nina Simone. The band broke up in late 1979. He later described the band as “like my family basically for nine years.”

In December 1979, Caravello successfully auditioned for a four-piece rock ‘n’ roll cover band called Flasher. After three weeks of rehearsals, they started playing at clubs. At this point he had become discouraged about his musical future after so many years trying to make it without a break, and considered settling down with a non-musical career.”…we were making real (lousy) money – something like $10, $7 a night, whatever it was it was. Really, really terrible. Just by contrast, I used to make $15 a night when I was like 16 years old, and here I am almost 30 years old, and I’m making like $7 a night! So I wasn’t doing better, obviously – I was going in reverse, you know!

Flasher played the club circuit in New York City and Long Island for several months, before their keyboard player, Paul Turino quit; they then continued as a power trio, with the three sharing vocal duties. They played songs by Joe Jackson, Van Halen, Led Zeppelin and Jimi Hendrix, among others.” Bookings diminished, and Caravello handed in his resignation in May 1980. At that point, he considered quitting music, having reached the age of 30 without any real success. Shortly afterwards, he had a chance meeting with Turino in a club in Queens; Turino told Caravello about Peter Criss’ departure from Kiss, and urged Caravello to audition to become Kiss’ drummer.

He did and was the last drummer to audition. A significant advantage for Caravello may have been his relative anonymity, as it was important for the band to maintain the mystique surrounding the members. Said Paul Stanley, “It was really important to us that we got somebody who was unknown… We didn’t want somebody who last week was in Rod Stewart’s band or in Rainbow.” The press release announcing the induction of Caravello into Kiss deducted three years from his actual age in part to confuse those seeking information about his true identity, but also to help create an identification with Eric – a young fan chosen out of the crowd to be the new KISS drummer.

His Kiss persona, was first made up as “The Hawk,” but later adopted the persona of “The Fox”, he was also part of the band’s stage makeup removal of their live on MTV in 1983. He also played guitar, bass guitar, piano and sang background vocals, he sung lead vocals on “Black Diamond” and “Young and Wasted” live with Kiss. He sang lead on the remake of “Beth” in the studio on the album Smashes, Thrashes & Hits.

In 1989 he sang lead vocal on a self-penned, studio track titled “Little Caesar,”. His last live performance with Kiss was November 9, 1990 in New York City, at Madison Square Garden. He succumbed from heart cancer one year later,on November 24, 1991 at age 41.

Feb 14, 1989 – Vincent Crane – (Atomic Rooster) was born Vincent Rodney Cheesman on 21 May 1943 in Reading, Berkshire, England.

He taught himself boogie woogie piano as a teenager before attending Trinity College of Music between 1961 and 1964. Influenced by Graham Bond, he took up Hammond organ and in 1967 and teamed up with Arthur Brown in The Crazy World of Arthur Brown. Their eponymous debut album, The Crazy World of Arthur Brown (1968) contained the song “Fire”, a chart-topping hit single in the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States, with Crane’s organ and brass arrangement to the fore.
During their first tour of the USA in 1968, Crane suffered a nervous breakdown and returned to the UK where he spent 3 or 4 months in the mental hospital at Banstead.

Crane rejoined the band but on a subsequent tour of the USA, the band disintegrated in June 1969 when Arthur Brown temporarily disappeared to a commune and Crane and drummer Carl Palmer (later of Emerson, Lake & Palmer) left to form Atomic Rooster, playing their first concert at the Lyceum in London on 29 August headlining over Deep Purple. Atomic Rooster enjoyed success in 1971 with two hit singles, “Tomorrow Night”, and “Devil’s Answer”. Crane was the one constant member of the band through their almost constantly changing lineups, and wrote a slim majority of their material.

Crane suffered from bipolar disorder from at least 1968 onwards, periodically necessitating treatment at both out- and inpatient mental health treatment facilities.

He collaborated with other musicians on a number of albums, including Rory Gallagher (Rory Gallagher, 1971), Arthur Brown (Faster Than The Speed Of Light, 1979), Peter Green, Richard Wahnfried and Dexys Midnight Runners (Don’t Stand Me Down, 1985). In 1983 he was part of the one-off blues outfit, Katmandu, with Ray Dorset, Len Surtees and Peter Green, who recorded the album A Case for the Blues.
Crane died of a deliberate overdose of Anadin tablets in 1989 at the age of 45.

Influenced by Graham Bond, in 1967 he teamed up with Arthur Brown in The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown. Their self-titled album in 1968 contained the song “Fire”, a chart-topping hit single in the UK, Canada, and the US, with Vincent’s organ on the leads. The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown practically dissolved on tour in the U.S.A., when Crane and drummer Carl Palmer left to form Atomic Rooster in late 1969. They enjoyed success in 1971 with two hit singles, “Tomorrow Night”, and “Devil’s Answer”.

In 1983 he was part of the one-off blues outfit, Katmandu, with Ray Dorset and Green, who recorded the album A Case For The Blues

Crane lost his fight against manic depression with an overdose of painkillers on Valentine’s Day, 14 Feb. 1989. He was 45.

Feb. 13, 1988 (Styx) – John Curulewski was born on October 3, 1950 in Chicago, Illinois. Nicknamed “JC,” was one of the original members of Styx. He joined Dennis DeYoung, the Panozzo brothers, and James Young to form TW4 in 1968, which was renamed to Styx in 1970. He played acoustic and electric guitar on the band’s first five studio albums: Styx, Styx II, The Serpent Is Rising, Man of Miracles, and Equinox. He left just before the Equinox promotional tour and was replaced by Tommy Shaw.

Curulewski left Styx because he wanted to spend more time with his family and have more creative control in his future endeavors. He went on to teach guitar at the Mad Music in La Grange, Illinois,

Owned by Steve Paceli (AKA Stevie Starlight) and John Reda (formerly of Gus’s Music, in Oak Lawn), and run a recording studio aptly called “The Studio”, he also played guitar in a band called Spread Eagle, and formed the group Arctic Fox playing the Chicago area clubs. Curulewski also coached his son’s baseball team, and would go into his son’s Grammar School as a lunch supervisor; he would bring in his guitar and play it to the kids, much to their amazement.

Curulewski taught some of Chicago’s best young guitar players including Joey Mazzuca, Dave Stulgo, Russell Leach, Hector Fernandez and many more. Many of JC’s students went on to form a core group of heavy metal guitarists in Chicago. Curulewski became very active in the mentoring of young bands in the western suburbs of Chicago; not only teaching guitar but coaching on performance and supplying support for live appearances and recording.

Curulewski was 37 years old when he died on 13 February 1988 from a brain aneurysm.

July 10, 1987 – John Hammond ll was born on December 15th 1910 in New York.

Not persé a rock and roller he was an important record producer, musician and music critic from the 1930s to the early 1980s, including the early years of Rock and Roll. A heir to both the Vanderbilt and Sloane fortunes, he grew up in a Manhattan mansion, where he listened to music with the black servants in the basement. He attended St. Bernard’s, Hotchkiss and Yale, but dropped out to be a disc jockey and live in Greenwich Village.

He funded the recording of pianist Garland Wilson in 1931, marking the beginning of a long string of artistic successes as record producer and eventually became one of the most influential figures of 20th century music sparking the careers of Benny Goodman, Charlie Christian, Billie Holiday, Count Basie, Babatunde Olatunji, Asha Puthli, Pete Seeger, Teddy Wilson, Big Joe Turner, Aretha Franklin, George Benson, Bob Dylan, Freddie Green, Leonard Cohen, Bruce Springsteen, Arthur Russell and Stevie Ray Vaughan.

He is also largely responsible for the revival of delta blues artist Robert Johnson’s music. John received a Grammy Trustees Award for being credited with co-producing a Bessie Smith reissue in 1971, and in 1986 was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

He died from a series of strokes at age 76 on July 10, 1987.

His son John Hammond Jr. is an accomplished blues musician in his own right.

June 8, 1987 – Yogi Horton was born Lawrence Horton on October 1, 1953 in Teaneck, New Jersey. Two neighborhood recording studios got a lot of young kids in his area to pick up music. Yogi choose drums following in the footsteps of famous Motown drummer Bennie Benjamin.

By the late 1970s he was a highly in-demand, colourful and energetic drummer for hundreds of sessions with dozens of artists and bands, such as Diana Ross, Odyssey, Grover Washington Jr., John Lennon, Aretha Franklin, The B-52s, The Rolling Stones, Debbie Harry as well as being the long time touring and recording drummer for the late R&B singer Luther Vandross and the singer songwriters Ashford & Simpson.

Also, he was a member of the Alessi Brothers band for three years in the mid-’80s, touring and recording with Barnaby Bye bandmates and twins Billy & Bobby Alessi.

On June 8, 1987 after a very tense concert performance behind Luther Vandross in New York City, Yogi was very upset about the state of his career and jumped from a 17th floor hotel window. He was 33.

This is an instructional video in which he breaks down groove drumming. His words are as meaningful as his playing

At the time of his untimely death, Yogi was the go-to guy for hundreds of sessions, as well as the touring/recording drummer for the late R&B singer Luther Vandross and legendary singer/songwriters Ashford & Simpson. This online tribute is a continuation from piece we published in the August ’07 issue of Modern Drummer magazine.

The History Of R&B/Funk Drumming, featuring Yogi Horton, is one of the very first instructional type videos of its kind. The video, which was produced by Hudson Music founders Paul Siegel and Rob Wallis in association with DCI in 1983, has unfortunately been out of print for sometime now. Paul’s recollection is that Yogi came up with a very strong presentation for the concept right on the spot. “There wasn’t any real discussion beforehand as I recall. He just launched into this spontaneous rap about R&B drumming, particularly Benny Benjamin, the genius drummer at Motown. We were so inexperienced in video production at the time, though, so the audio was recorded very poorly, and the video was rendered almost un-releasable.”

Rob Wallis recalls, “I first met Yogi in 1980/81, at an Ashford & Simpson rehearsal, through a friend of mine, Pete Cannarozzi, who was their keyboard player. I had already heard about Yogi’s playing and incredible groove, but had never seen him play live before—I’d only heard him on records. When I first walked into the rehearsal room, I remember hearing a huge amount of laughter and soon realized at the center of it was Yogi telling some story or joke.

“I also remember the amount of power he used for his backbeat,” Wallis continues. “He raised the stick high and came down with more force than I’d ever see anyone hit a drum with. His snare drum was probably the loudest thing in the band. As they went through their set, it was clear that Yogi drove the band with an amazing confidence. Even on the ballads, he played with complete force and conviction. When we spoke after the rehearsal, I found him to be a very warm and funny guy.

“We talked about him doing a master class,” Rob goes on, “at what was then the original location for Drummers Collective. It was the early days of home video, and Paul Siegel and I started videotaping—very crudely at first—classes at the school. We knew very little about filming, as we were both drummers and running the school. I remember Yogi coming in, rolling tape, and that was pretty much it. We had edited an hour-long video that was one of the first three or four titles our first company, DCI Music Video, ever released. It was a very simple and somewhat crude production and eventually taken off the market due to the production values it had. But it was a glimpse of Yogi and a document of one of the great Funk/R&B drummers of the ’80s.”

Memories Of Yogi

Yogi Horton was a member of the Alessi Brothers band for three years in the mid-’80s, touring and recording with Barnaby Bye bandmates and twins Billy & Bobby Alessi. Bobby Alessi recalls one particular evening on tour with Yogi. “He looked like a tough guy on the outside,” Bobby explains, “but inside he was a sensitive, caring person. He was also very honest—one time, in my case, maybe a little too honest. I remember once in Japan, we were all enjoying a little R&R at a popular private club. I was dancing with a beautiful model, having a great time, when Yogi called me over and said, ‘Yo Bobby, if I were you, brother, I wouldn’t dance.’ Needless to say, I suck at dancing.”
Billy Alessi remembers the very first band rehearsal with Yogi. “He came into the studio with all of us there, including the road staff and the our beautiful backup singer Diana Krall. Yogi proceeded to drop his sweat pants to his ankles, walks up to our percussionist, Carlos Rodriguez, and says, ‘Let’s go, sucka, pay up!’ Later we found out that Carlos told Yogi he wasn’t our kind of drummer and was so sure he would never get the gig that they made a bet. He wound up playing with us a for three years.”

Keyboardist Pete Cannarozzi says, “We all still talk about Yogi and smile backstage whenever I do an occasional show with Ashford and Simpson. Yogi and I were roommates for the Ashford and Simpson Solid tour in 1983/84. I could tell you road stories about Yogi, but they’re not suitable for print! As far as his drumming, I recall Yogi being the finest pocket player I ever worked with. His live playing dynamics were always sensitive and explosive, and his studio chops and stamina were never-ending. He will forever be in my Hall of Fame.”

Drummer Chris Parker shared the drum seat with Yogi in 1981 on the Ashford & Simpson–produced recording for their then back-up singer Ullanda McCullough. “Yogi and I used to hang out when he came down to my loft on Grand Street or at Mikell’s when Stuff was playing. Yogi had such a fierce groove and plenty of power behind the notes. He also had a musically wicked sense of humor and took delight in playing things that would trick your ears, like accent displacement, ‘one drop’ reggae fills that incredibly led to the downbeat, or a big crash where you’d least expect it. When he caught you by surprise like that, he’d throw back his head and laugh hard!”

June 8, 1987 – John Gary Driscoll was born on 18 April 1946 was an American R&B style rock drummer who performed in a number of successful bands from the 1960s until his death on June 10, 1987.

He first entered the music scene when he joined Ronnie Dio and The Prophets in June 1965, fronted by Ronnie James Dio. The band transformed into The Electric Elves, The Elves, and finally Elf in 1969, releasing a few singles along the way. They were eventually discovered by Deep Purple bassist Roger Glover who went on to produce two of Elf’s three studio albums.

Elf disbanded in 1975 when Gary Driscoll, Ronnie James Dio, Micky Lee Soule (Elf’s keyboardist) and Craig Gruber (their bassist) were recruited by Deep Purple guitarist Ritchie Blackmore to form the rock band Rainbow.

Driscoll was dismissed from Rainbow shortly after their debut album, entitled Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow, was recorded. It is speculated that firing Gary was simply due to his R&B/jazz/funk style of drumming, which did not sit well with Blackmore. Driscoll was later replaced with British hard rocker, Cozy Powell.

By 1975 Elf was no more, disbanded to join Blackmore and his new band, Richie Blackmore’s Rainbow, they recorded an album of the same name and although the line-up never toured, the band and the album won critical acclaim. Despite the success of the album, Blackmore fired all of the band except Dio and replaced Driscoll on drums with Cozy Powell for the follow-up album and world tour. The former band members were suitably irate at being used by Blackmore to secure the services of Ronnie James Dio and regardless of stories about Blackmore’s dislike of Driscoll’s R&B style, the reality is that Blackmore only ever wanted Dio.

After his departure from Rainbow, Driscoll played in the band Dakota (1978–1980, from Scranton, Pa. formally the Jerry Kelly Band), before starting Bible Black with Craig Gruber, future Blue Cheer guitarist Duck McDonald and singer Jeff Fenholt. This band released the albums Ground Zero and, with a few other musicians, Thrasher, neither of which sold well. Driscoll found a day job, and made a little extra money on the side as a session musician and moved between bands.

Driscoll was found dead in a friend’s home in Ithaca, New York in June 1987 at the age of 41. His brutal murder remains unsolved with no apparent motive, although it is rumored to have been drug related. The man initially arrested for the crime was acquitted at trial. There have been leads in the case, and the person of interest has fled the country. There have been varying accounts as to the reason; from drug deals to a ritualistic satanic sacrifice. There is evidence to suggest that the murder was carried out by more than one person, whilst the chief suspect fled America before being charged.

Driscoll did not have the impact on rock music that Dio and Blackmore can rightfully claim but his appearance on that first Rainbow album is enough to cement his place in the genre’s history books.

Listen to his playing on this track, it’s ironic that he was fired for his ‘pop style’ given Blackmore’s reason for letting Dio go in favour of Graham Bonnet and a move towards chart single success. Ignore, if you will, Blackmore’s soloing and hear the drumming. It’s really rather good.

December 12, 1985 – Ian Andrew Robert Stewart was born on July 18, 1938 at Kirklatch Farm, Pittenweem, East Neuk, Fife, Scotland, and raised in Sutton, Surrey. Stewart (often called Stu) started playing piano when he was six. He took up the banjo and played with amateur groups on both instruments. Stewart, who loved rhythm & blues, boogie-woogie, blues and big-band jazz, was first to respond to Brian Jones’s advertisement in Jazz News of 2 May 1962 seeking musicians to form a rhythm & blues group. The shifting and shuffling in the early British rock and roll days left unfortunate victims like Stu Sutcliff and Pete Best with the Beatles; Ian Stewart became one of those as well and to a degree even Rolling Stones founder Brian Jones also.

Mick Jagger and Keith Richards joined a month later in June, and the group, with Dick Taylor (bass, who left several months later and founded the Pretty Things) and Mick Avory on drums. Avory claims that Tony Chapman (later with Frampton in the Herd) and not him, played the first gig under the name The Rolling Stones at the Marquee Club on 12 July 1962. In any case by late fall the rhythm section of Avory (ended up with the Kinks) and Taylor had left and replaced by Bill Wyman and Charlie Watts.

Because the arrogant band’s manager Andrew Loog Oldham did not think Ian Stewart fitted the image he wanted to market and thought six was too many members, he “forced” the others to officially “retire him from the group” in 1963. He continued until his death as their road manager and pianist playing on all their albums of the first decade among others. Both Jagger and Richards often claimed that without Stewart the Stones would have broken up the same way the Beatles did early on.

Stewart loaded gear into his van, drove the group to gigs, replaced guitar strings and set up Watts’ drums the way he himself would play them. “I never ever swore at him,” Watts says, with rueful amazement. He also played piano and occasionally organ on most of the band’s albums in the first decades, as well as providing criticism. Shortly after Stewart’s death Mick Jagger said: “He really helped this band swing, on numbers like ‘Honky Tonk Women’ and loads of others. Stu was the one guy we tried to please. We wanted his approval when we were writing or rehearsing a song. We’d want him to like it.”

In 1975 Stewart joined the band on stage again, playing piano on numbers of his choosing throughout tours in 1975-76, 1978 and 1981-82. He favored blues and country rockers, and remained dedicated to boogie-woogie and early rhythm & blues. He refused to play in minor keys, saying: “When I’m on stage with the Stones and a minor chord comes along, I lift my hands in protest.” In 1976, Stewart stated, “You can squawk about money, but the money the Stones have made hasn’t done them much good. It’s really gotten them into some trouble. They can’t even live in their own country now.”

Stewart remained aloof from the band’s lifestyle. “I think he looked upon it as a load of silliness,” said guitarist Mick Taylor. “I also think it was because he saw what had happened to Brian. I could tell from the expression on his face when things started to get a bit crazy during the making of Exile on Main Street. I think he found it very hard. We all did.”

Stewart played golf and as road manager showed preference for hotels with courses. Richards recalls: “We’d be playing in some town where there’s all these chicks, and they want to get laid and we want to lay them. But Stu would have booked us into some hotel about ten miles out of town. You’d wake up in the morning in the middle of a golf course. We’re bored to death looking for some action and Stu’s playing Gleneagles!”

Session Work

Stewart contributed to Led Zeppelin’s “Rock and Roll” from Led Zeppelin IV and “Boogie with Stu” from Physical Graffiti, two numbers in traditional rock and roll vein, both featuring his boogie-woogie style. Another was Howlin’ Wolf’s 1971 The London Howlin’ Wolf Sessions album, featuring Eric Clapton, Ringo Starr, Klaus Voorman, Steve Winwood, and Bill Wyman and Charlie Watts. He also played piano and organ on the 1982 Bad to the Bone album of George Thorogood and the Destroyers. Moreover, he performed with Ronnie Lane in a televised concert. Stewart played piano on Scottish blues rock band Blues ‘n’ Trouble’s second album No Minor Keys in 1986. He also played with the back-to-roots band Rocket 88 with Charlie Watts.

Stewart contributed to the Rolling Stones’ 1983 Undercover, and was present during the 1985 recording for Dirty Work (released in 1986). In early December 1985, Stewart began having respiratory problems. On 12 December he went to a clinic to have the problem examined, but he suffered a heart attack and died in the waiting room at age 47.

When the Stones were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989, they requested Stewart’s name be included and still in his 2010 autobiography Life, Keith Richards says: “Ian Stewart. I’m still working for him. To me the Rolling Stones is his band. Without his knowledge and organization… we’d be nowhere.”

April 14, 1983 – Pete Farndon was born on June 12th 1952 in Hereford England.
Before becoming the bassist in the band The Pretenders, he played with Cold River Lady until the summer of 1976, and then toured with Australian folk-rock band The Bushwackers prior to joining the Pretenders in 1978. He played a large role in shaping The Pretenders’ tough image, often wearing his biker clothing, or later, samurai gear onstage.

Farndon joined the Pretenders in early 1978 and was the first member of the 1978-82 lineup to be recruited by Chrissie Hynde. Farndon recalled their first rehearsal: “I’ll never forget it, we go in, we do a soul number, we do a country and western number, and then we did ‘The Phone Call’ which is like the heaviest fuckin’ punk rocker you could do in 5/4 time. Impressed? I was very impressed.” A guitarist was still needed, and Farndon recruited lead guitarist James Honeyman-Scott into the group that summer. Farndon, Honeyman-Scott, and bandmate Martin Chambers all hailed from Hereford, England.
Chambers worked with Farndon to adjust to Hynde’s timing: “Pete and I did a fair amount of work on our own, in terms of the rhythm section being able to play Chrissie’s odd timing things. So Pete and I would come in a couple of hours ahead of the others and baby talk our way through the songs. You know, ‘da dad da, boom boom.’ She didn’t count in the traditional way so we had to reinterpret the counts. Once we made the adjustment and learned to go with her flow, so to speak, it became second nature. It’s the bedrock of Pretenders music.”

Farndon played a large role in shaping the Pretenders’ tough image, often wearing his biker clothing, or later, samurai gear onstage. Hynde later acknowledged that two Pretenders’ songs, “Biker” and “Samurai” had “references to Pete Farndons homosexuality”. As a performer, Hynde recalled that “Pete was fantastic. Pete was blagging it a lot because technically he wasn’t any kind of great musician. But he had real heart, like in boxing terms, he could win the fight on heart alone. And he had a great energy, borne of a kind of desperation.”

By early 1982 Farndon’s drug use was causing increasingly strained relations with his bandmates. He became increasingly belligerent and, according to Hynde, “was in bad shape. He was really not someone you could work with.” At the urging of Hynde, band manager Dave Hill fired Farndon on 14 June 1982.

Two days after Farndon’s dismissal, guitarist James Honeyman-Scott was found dead of heart failure caused by a cocaine overdose. Without Farndon and Honeyman-Scott the Pretenders were left with only two of their original four members.
Farndon than began working with former Clash drummer Topper Headon, guitarist Henry Padovani, organist Mick Gallagher, and vocalist Steve Allen (formerly of Deaf School) in a short-lived band they called Samurai.

Chrissie Hynde later acknowledged that two Pretenders’ songs, “Biker” and “Samurai” had “references to a Pete Farndon type of character”. Sadly he became more and more dependend on his drug use and was tragically found drowned in his bath due to a drug overdose on April 14, 1983 at age 30

March 18, 1983 – Buddy Lucas was born Alonzo W. Lucas on August 16, 1914 (Session musician) in Pritchard, Alabama, he made his first recordings in 1951 for Jerry Blaine’s Jubilee label, where he also became leader of the house band.

As a bandleader, he led bands such as Buddy Lucas & His Band of Tomorrow, the Gone All Stars and Buddy Lucas & His Shouters and he also went under the stage name of “Big” Buddy Lucas.

He was much-in-demand session saxophonist on the East Coast and recorded with Little Willie John, Nina Simone, Roberta Flack, Count Basie, Jimi Hendix, Roy Buchanan, Horace Silver, Bernard Purdie, Titus Turner, The Rascals, Yusef Lateef and Aretha Franklin among others.

In the late 1960s Buddy slowed down on studio work and concentrated on TV and radio commercials. Starting in 1972, he played in the band in the Broadway musical “Purlie” for almost two years, but his diabetes began to take its toll. He began to work with his old friend Herman Bradley in a trio at the Catch 22, a local club.

In 1980 his right lung was removed after cancer was discovered, but he was still able to play a little sax and harmonica in Bradley’s group. In December 1982 he finally gave up due to ill-health and on March 18, 1983 he passed away at age 68.

June 16, 1982 – Jimmy Scott was born James Honeyman-Scott on November 4, 1956 in Hereford, England. All along, he knew he wanted to be a guitarist. At home, a sleepy town on the Welsh border, Jimmy began taking piano lessons at seven. Although the lessons lasted for two years, he never learned to read music: “Everything I do is done by ear. I could never follow the theory of music. It all sounded very difficult, so I used to pretend I could read something, but in fact I always learned by ear to fool the piano teacher.”

At ten he was given a guitar that his brother brought back from Africa. He graduated to an f-hole arch-top a year later, and then traded that for a Rossetti Air Stream after the f-hole’s neck fell off.

Prior to joining the Pretenders in 1978, he played in several bands, The Enid, The Hawks, The Hot Band, and Cheek.

A self-taught guitarist, Jimmy at first thought licks were the most important thing to learn, although he now claims chord work turned out to be more vital. His main influences as a teenager were Hank Marvin & The Shadows, Eric Clapton with Cream and Derek & The dominos, and the Allman Brothers Band. “Certain records back then said a lot to me,” he remembers. “Anything by Cream was important for guitar work, especially ‘Crossroads’ and ‘Badge’ – Jesus! And then came the Allman Brothers after that. Their song ‘In Memory Of Elizabeth Reed’ was real important.”

A year after taking up guitar, Jimmy began performing at youth clubs, often appearing on a borrowed bass: “We were playing ‘Sunshine Of Your Love,’ ‘Hey Joe,’ and songs like that. Then I was with a band that had no name from what I can remember. It was probably ‘something Blues Band’ because everything turned out to be a blues band back then. This was in 1968.” At 16 Honeyman-Scott bought a Gibson ES-335 and recorded tracks for an album by Robert John Godfrey. “I forget the title of that,” he adds, “and except for the Pretenders, the only other album I’ve played on was Place Your Bets by a guy named Tommy Morrison.”

Jimmy was in three other lineups prior to joining the Pretenders – The Hawks, The Hot Band, and Cheeks. “That second band was named after Emmylou Harris’ Hot Band. We were in some village in Herefordshire, and it was like 12 guys – accordion and all manner of guitars and things. Mott The Hoople was just taking big then. They came from a group called Silence, which had been on the Hereford scene for quite a while. Mott happened in the early part of ’69, but I wasn’t into their music until 1974.What happened was Martin Chambers, who is now the drummer in the Pretenders, and I joined up with Verden Allen, who was Mott’s keyboard player, and formed Cheeks. That’s when I got into Mott The Hoople and started to understand them. Mick Ralphs [former lead guitarist for Mott, now with Bad Company] lent me his little ’57 Gibson Les Paul Jr. for a while when I was with Cheeks; that was a beautiful guitar. Mick Ralphs became a hell of a big influence because I started to steal his lead lines and things. I always liked the way he did finger vibrato.”

Cheeks toured extensively for three years without ever recording. After they disbanded. Jimmy started making his living selling guitars in a Hereford shop. During the summer of 1978, after hearing the guitar sounds on new cuts by Nick Lowe and Elvis Costello, he decided that it was time to reenter the music scene: “I was out in the garden, digging away, and Nick Lowe came on with ‘So It Goes,’ and then came Elvis Costello’s ‘Red Shoes.’ And they had this big, jangly guitar sound, which was what I’d been wanting to get into for a long while. It was a huge guitar sound, like a big Rickenbacker 12-string or something. I thought, ‘Ah, my time is here!’ To get that sound at first I used a fantastic Ibanez Explorer-style guitar through an Electro-Harmonix Clone Theory pedal and a Marshall.”

Throughout his teenage years and his early twenties, Honeyman-Scott played with a variety of regional bands, including the band Cheeks, which included former Mott the Hoople founding member/keyboardist Verden Allen. It was during his tenure with Cheeks that Honeyman-Scott became friendly with fellow local musicians Martin Chambers (drums) and Pete Farndon (bass).

Honeyman-Scott paid the bills during these lean years by selling guitars in a shop and growing vegetables, as well as lending his guitar talents to albums by such obscure artists as Robert John Godrey and Tommy Morrison. Growing increasingly fed up with the stale rock scene of the mid-’70s, punk rock and new wave began to perk up Honeyman-Scott’s interest in rock again, namely the jangly pop of Elvis Costello and Nick Lowe. Not long after, Honeyman-Scott received a phone call from his pal Farndon, inquiring if he’d like to try out for a new band he had formed with singer/songwriter/guitarist Chrissie Hynde. The tryout was a success, but Honeyman-Scott had second thoughts. To help make up his mind, Hynde and Farndon were able to line up Honeyman-Scott’s hero Nick Lowe to produce the band’s first single, a cover of The Kinks song “Stop Your Sobbing”. The song gained critical attention. It was followed in June with “Kid” and then in November the band got to No.1 in the UK with “Brass in Pocket”, which was also successful in the US reaching No.14 on the Billboard Hot 100. By 1979, he was a full-time member, bringing Chambers along to play drums for the new quartet as well.

Hynde, an American-born musical expatriate who was crossbreeding bits of pop, punk, reggae, and an eccentric sense of meter to create crisp, no-nonsense accompaniments to her lyrics, opened opportunities for Jimmy (as he prefers to be called) as his abbreviated lead style and Chrissie’s quavering, throaty vocals and unique guitar rhythms, worked well. He joined her lineup, the Pretenders. In a series of basement rehearsals, he found his specialty – savage power chords, arpeggiated or percussive rhythms, and short hooks instead of extended solos – and proved that he could handle his role with a precision and flamboyance that belies his cheery, light-hearted stage mannerisms.

Released in January 1980, their debut album, Pretenders, brought unexpected critical acclaim as whirlwind record sales shot the disc into the top slot of British charts and into the U.S. Top 10. The Who’s Pete Townshend described the effect of its provocative, sexually candid lyrics and hard-driving beat as being “like a drug.” After its release, the band toured Great Britain and the United States and appeared in numerous magazine articles. For Honeyman-Scott, the attendant publicity surrounding their rags-to-riches story was difficult to handle: “It’s very weird at first when it happens. When you’re eight years old and see the Beatles at Shea Stadium on TV or see the film A Hard Day’s Night, you think, ‘My God! That is the answer to everything!’ And then when you have a number-one record and a gold disc, you think, ‘What is this? What happens next?’ You tend to think the stars are going to open up or something. They don’t. But to get there, you’ve got to make a bit of a fight for it.”

While the album has become one of rock’s all-time classics, the band’s sudden success began to fracture the band, as both Honeyman-Scott and Farndon sank heavily into hard drugs. A month after the release of a stopgap mini-album in March 1981 (Extended Play), Honeyman-Scott wed model Peggy Sue Fender in London.

In May and June 1982, Honeyman-Scott was first in Los Angeles and then in Austin, Texas, for a short visit with his wife Peggy Sue Fender (an actress/model based in Austin, Texas), whom he had married in April 1981. His wife was staying with local guitarist Mark Younger Smith at this time (?). While in Austin, he became involved in his first co-production effort for an album by Stephen Doster that was never released. During the sessions with Stephen Doster in Austin, Honeyman-Scott was called back to London for a band meeting on 14 June with Chrissie Hynde and Martin Chambers that resulted in the dismissal of Pete Farndon from the Pretenders, due to Farndon’s increasing substance dependence.

Two days after the dismissal of Pete Farndon, on June 16, 1982 Honeyman-Scott was found dead in a girlfriend’s apartment of heart failure caused by cocaine intolerance.
He was 25 years old.

Honeyman-Scott’s death profoundly affected the Pretenders’ subsequent direction and longevity. Hynde later said, “One of the things that kept the band alive, ironically, was the death of Jimmy Scott. I felt I couldn’t let the music die when he did. We’d worked too hard to get it where it was…. I had to finish what we’d started”. At the group meeting on 14 June 1982, Honeyman-Scott suggested bringing Robbie McIntosh into the group in some capacity. After Honeyman-Scott’s death, McIntosh became the group’s lead guitarist for several years.

July 1, 1981 – Rushton Moreve was born John Rushton Morey (Steppen Wolf) on November 6th 1948 in Los Angeles, California.

Moreve’s early influence was essential in creating the unique musical style for which Steppenwolf became famous. Moreve joined the band in 1967, having responded to a “Bass Player Wanted” notice posted at Wallich’s Music City at Vine and Sunset. Not yet 18 he joined Steppen Wolf in 1967 on the first multi platinum debut album “Steppen Wolf” which featured the super hits “Born to be Wild” and “The Pusher”, both of which were used in the 1969 film Easy Rider.

While the band was recording its second album, Moreve played  a simple but catchy three-note bass line. The band liked it. The final result was the song “Magic Carpet Ride”, a worldwide hit which reached number three on Billboard 100. Writing credits for “Magic Carpet Ride” were assigned to frontman John Kay and Rushton Moreve. This was the only Steppenwolf song Moreve received credit for writing. It was released on the album Steppenwolf the Second, on which his influence was heavier.

Moreve was fired from the band in 1968 for missing gigs after he became afraid to return to Los Angeles, convinced by his girlfriend that it was going to be leveled by an earthquake and fall into the sea. He was awarded his gold record for The Second when one of his producers recognized him on the street years later.

In 1978, he joined a new Steppenwolf lineup with ex-Steppenwolf guitarist Kent Henry, who played on the For Ladies Only album . This was a separate incarnation from the lineup with Nick St. Nicholas. Moreve eventually left this version of Steppenwolf when he and Henry had a major falling out.

Morey died on July 1, 1981 from injuries sustained in a car/motorcycle accident in Sun Valley, Los Angeles, California. He was 33.

April 28, 1981 – Steve Currie was born on May 19th 1947 in Grimsby, North East Lincolnshire, England.

He became best known as bass player of the English glam rock band T-Rex.

Whilst working for the local Tax office, Currie played with local Grimsby group “The Rumble Band”. He joined T. Rex (recently renamed from Tyrannosaurus Rex) as bass guitarist in November 1970 (although the band were still listed as a duo) and continued to play with them until late 1976. He appeared on all of Marc Bolan’s most memorable hit singles from “Ride a White Swan” in 1970 to “Laser Love” in 1976 , as well as all the albums from 1971’s Electric Warrior to Dandy in the Underworld released in 1977.

After leaving T.Rex, Steve went into session work, and moved to Portugal to live.

He died in a car crash on 28 April 1981, whilst returning to his home near Vale de Parra, Algarve, Portugal. His death came less than four years after T. Rex lead singer Marc Bolan had died in a car crash in Barnes, South West London, and just six months after Steve Took’s death. The site where Marc Bolan died has since become a shrine which in 2007 was recognised by the English Tourist Board (Enjoy England) as a site of Rock ‘n Roll Importance. Steve Currie is commemorated with a memorial plaque on the steps at Bolan’s Rock Shrine, as are Mickey Finn (died Jan 11,2003), Steve Took (died 27 October 1980), June Bolan (née Child) (his widow) and later member of T. Rex Dino Dines.

Steve Currie was 33.