We are not even out of April and the music world has already lost a slew of legends and now Prince Rogers Nelson a.k.a. Prince has sadly joined that list. He was found dead in his home aged just 57. What brings it home so hard for me is that he was just a few months older than I am.
I never managed to see Prince play live, although I had wanted to for some time. He was a prolific artist and his canon of work is phenomenal. He may have been at his creative and earnings peak in the 80s, but he continued to record and tour. As well as being a talented singer and songwriter he was also an incredibly gifted guitar player. Possibly one of the finest axe wielders of his generation. His passing takes away one more true music superstar and a true genius. My thoughts go to his friends and family and his thousands of fans across the globe. I have selected some of my favourite Prince tracks below to help you mourn the demise of another superstar.
RIP Prince. That’s what it sounds like when doves cry!
By now you will all know that David Bowie died yesterday aged just 69. The outpouring of grief from across the world is immense. But whilst everyone from Kanye West to David Cameron have expressed their condolences it is really about the thousands of fans who will each miss Bowie in their own way. I was pretty much lost for words this morning, in fact I still am. I feel numb and I have shed a few tears too. I never knew David Bowie, in fact I never met him, but I was lucky enough to see him play ten times from 1976 to 2004. I wanted to see him in 1972, when I was just 13, but my Dad wouldn’t allow me to see that “bloody weirdo”. However he did let me go and see the Jackson 5, which given the way Jacko and Bowie’s lives panned out is somewhat ironic.
I first became interested in pop music in the late 60s aged 8 or 9. I do remember hearing “Space Oddity” when the BBC used it as part of the soundtrack to the Apollo 11 mission. But I can’t say that I was a Bowie fan from then. My first real taste of Bowie was, like many of my contemporaries and peers, with the Top of the Pops appearance in July 1972 when he sang “Starman” backed by the Spiders From Mars. Clearly I would only have seen it in black and white but my memory is in colour. There was the classic moment where Bowie put his arm around Mick Ronson. That weekend I raided my pocket money savings and bought four Bowie albums on cassette; ‘Space Oddity’, ‘ The Man Who Sold The World‘, ‘Hunky Dory’ and, to give it its full title ‘ The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars‘. I played those albums until they wore out and I have replaced them many times since in both vinyl and CD form.
I first saw David Bowie play live in 1976 as part of the tour in support of ‘Station To Station’ . I think that show was at Earls Court in London. I have never seen a bad show from the man, including the Glass Spider tour in 1987. The show at Wembley that year was bloody good. My favourite Bowie gig was at the Phoenix Festival in 1996. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up as he came on to a darkened stage and played the acoustic intro to “Quicksand” and then the lights blasted on as he began to sing. A truly awesome moment.
I have said on many occasions that I wasn’t too keen on his 1980s output, in particular the ‘Tonight’ album from 1984. But as a dedicated fan I have the CD version of that album which includes “Too Dizzy” a track Bowie disliked so much that he had it removed from later CD issues. As for Tin Machine, well that was perhaps a bit Marmite, but I love those two Tin Machine albums. His recording career really got properly back on track for me with ‘1: Outside’ from 1995. I still wonder what might have happened had he completed the other two albums in the Nathan Adler trilogy. My favourite Bowie album changes over time, but I always go back to ‘Diamond Dogs’ and ‘Young Americans’. I am so very happy that his last album ‘Blackstar’ released just a few days ago on his 69th birthday has received such good reviews, because no doubt it will sell even more now he has passed away. That’s just the way things go isn’t it?
Personally I wasn’t a big fan of Bowie the actor, but “The Man Who Fell To Earth” is a brilliant film. I also wished that I could have seen his performance as the Elephant Man on the New York stage too. ‘Labyrinth’ was in my opinion not a great film, however it really turned a completely new generation on to the genius of Bowie so it can’t have been all bad. Other acting gems for me were maybe ‘The Hunger’ and the cameo in Ricky Gervais‘ Extras comedy series.
Bowie made it ok to be different, to be an outsider, he made it cool to not have to be part of a gang. He will probably remain the most influential and innovative artist that there has ever been. I can see no one who could even come close to touching him on that. He will live on with the legacy he has left. My thoughts are with Iman, Lexi and Duncan along with all those that knew him well and all the thousands of fans across the world. Clearly his death is not on the same scale as say my father’s death was for me in 2001, however it has still hit me hard. Cancer is a proper fucking bastard isn’t it?
I would like to close with the message that Tony Visconti published today; “He always did what he wanted to do. And he wanted to do it his way and he wanted to do it the best way. His death was no different from his life – a work of Art, he made Blackstar for us, his parting gift. I knew for a year this was the way it would be. I wasn’t, however, prepared for it. He was an extraordinary man, full of love and life. He will always be with us. For now, it is appropriate to cry.”
David Bowie RIP – “I don’t know where I’m going from here but I promise it won’t be boring”
Maybe there really is a Starman waiting in the sky now!
I have chosen one song from every one of his studio albums (sometimes live versions of them) to reflect on the life of my biggest hero. The intro for “Everyone Says Hi” is particularly pertinent
Hot Chocolate‘s lead singer Errol Brown has died from liver cancer at his home in the Bahamas, aged just 71. That is really sad news, Errol was an iconic figure from my youth. For me Hot Chocolate were a superb singles band, particularly back in the days when singles were all I could afford. I would always do what I could to buy any Hot Chocolate single as it came out. I once even bought a single that they released on the Beatles Apple label. I can even tell you were I bought that one, in the Harrods sale in 1976.
Their hits are pretty much all classics and the majority really haven’t dated at all. Even the non-hits are pretty darned good. In the mid 70s I bought a Hot Chocolate single called “Blue Night”, it wasn’t a hit. But the B-Side (ask your grandparents if you don’t know what a b-side is) is a song you might know; it was “You Sexy Thing”. It looks like the record company may have got it wrong when making that a B-side initially.
Errol Brown and Hot Chocolate were a great band that were loved by many people. My thoughts go out to Errol’s family, friends and fans. Errol Brown RIP.
I heard the sad news today of the death of soul legend Percy Sledge. Many people perhaps know him for the classic heartfelt song “When A Man Loves A Woman” which is among my all time favourites. However he also recorded some other sublime songs. I really love “Warm And Tender Love”. When it was first issued in 1966 “When A Man Loves A Woman” went to number one in the USA and Canada and to number four in the UK. It fared better in the UK when it was reissued in 1987 as part of a Levi’s Jeans advertising campaign, when it hit number 2.
Percy died from liver cancer aged just 73. He will be a big loss to the music world. My thoughts go out to his family, friends and fans. Percy Sledge RIP.
I was saddened to hear of the death of true music legend Joe Cocker aged just 70. Joe had one of the finest rock and blues voices in music history. He appeared at the historic and iconic Woodstock Festival in 1969 and his Mad Dogs and Englishmen tour shortly afterwards gave a big break to Leon Russell. In fact he had a big hit with Russell’s song “Delta Lady”. His early musical influences were Lonnie Donegan and Ray Charles.
He showed his range and excellent song interpretation throughout his career including his duet with Jennifer Warnes from the ‘Officer And A Gentleman’ soundtrack, “Up Where We Belong“. The song was a massive hit in 1982, reaching the top of the US singles chart. But many people including myself remember his amazing cover of the Beatles song “With A Little Help From My Friends” which topped the charts in the UK, Switzerland and the Netherlands in 1968. Incredibly it only made it to number 68 in the USA.
My thoughts are with Joe’s family, friends and fans. RIP Joe Cocker, one of Sheffield’s and the world’s finest voices.
It was with great sadness that I heard of the death of keyboard supremo Ian McLagan today aged just 69. His death was caused by complications from a stroke that he suffered earlier this week. Ian or Mac was keyboard player for the Small Faces and the Faces. He also played sessions for the Rolling Stones among others.
His playing of the Hammond Organ was a major part of the Small Faces sound. He also received co-writing credits for some excellent songs. The Faces “Cindy Incidentally” was my favourite of his cowrites. He wrote that song with Ronnie Wood and Rod Stewart. He also played on one of my favourite Rolling Stones songs, “Miss You“.
My thoughts are with Ian’s family, friends and fans. RIP Ian McLagan
This is quite unusual for this blog but this will be two days in a row with a post about someone dying. Let’s hope there’s not another one tomorrow. Yesterday it was photographer Brian Duffy and today it has been reported that Stuart Cable former drummer of the Stereophonics and current drummer of Killing For Company has been found dead in his home. He was only 40 years old. I thought my Dad died relatively young, but even he just made it to 70. Someone dying as young as Stuart has just doesn’t seem right does it?
I have never been a massive fan of the Stereophonics, but I have liked a number of their songs. I must also confess that I have never listened to Killing For Company until today. They were due to play the Download Festival this coming weekend, although that gig is now unlikely to happen.
In addition to his drumming career Stuart was also a DJ for BBC Wales and Kerrang Radio based in Birmingham. He was also a presenter on the short-lived XFM Wales
You can read more about Stuart on the BBC website by clicking here
My thoughts go out to his friends and family and I would like to end this post by celebrating his life with a few great songs;
Brian Duffy the photographer has died aged 76 of lung disease. His contemporaries in the sixties were Terence Donovan and David Bailey and the three were often referred to as the black trinity. He took quite a few iconic pictures of many celebrities including the Kray twins, Harold Wilson, Jean Shrimpton and Joanna Lumley. She once said that Duffy would ply his models with wine and then ask them to sing before he snapped them. But most notably for me it was Duffy who took the magnificent cover shot for David Bowie’s ‘Aladdin Sane’ album. He also took the picture from the cover of Bowie’s ‘The Lodger’ album from 1979
He also snapped quite a few other musicians including John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Black Sabbath and Blondie
He famously tried to destroy all his negatives back in 1979 when an office boy asked where the toilet paper was. He is alleged to have said “I was chairman, CEO and main stockholder… and now I was responsible for toilet paper too.” A short while after that incident he quit photography to become a Regency furniture restorer
I have been buying Mojo Magazine for many issues now, in fact since issue number one and I am so middle-aged that I now subscribe. The writing is excellent and challenges many preconceptions you may have about some artists or music. Anyway enough of that, I was reading the new issue (edited by Tom Waits no less) when I chanced upon a brief obituary for the great Jimmy Helms. If that is correct then it completely passed me by. I have also Googled him only to find no information about his demise. Wikipedia certainly has no mention of it, but then that doesn’t really mean much. So if anyone out there knows whether or not this is true then please let me know. If it is then I for one will be quite sad for a number of reasons. Jimmy had (or hopefully still has) a great voice and also if he is no longer with us why was that not in the news anywhere apart from Mojo? Clearly I’m not the only one who is perplexed, click here for more.
He was born in Florida in 1944 but had his biggest early successes in the UK. His first big break came with the UK top ten single “Gonna Make You An Offer You Can’t Refuse” in 1973. He had a significant resurgence in the late 80s and 90s as part of Londonbeat even reaching the top of the US charts with “I’ve Been Thinking About You” in 1990. Jimmy if you are gone you will be sadly missed and either way Mojo or Q or someone should publish a piece on you very soon. In the meantime enjoy a few more of Jimmy’s highlights.
This is a post to mark the sad passing of Malcolm McLaren earlier today aged just 64. Rather than write thousands of words about him I thought I’d just pick a few tunes of bands he managed his own stuff. Enjoy! Goodbye Talcy Malcy. (The BBC obituary of Malcolm is very good, click here to see it)
Malcolm McLaren outside the infamous Kings Road Shop 'Sex' he set up with Vivienne Westwood
“Jet Boy” – New York Dolls -McLaren was their manager in the early 70s for a period
“Anarchy For The UK” – Sex Pistols – Malcolm came to prominence by bringing the band together and managing them until their demise in 1978
“C30 C60 C90 Go” – Bow Wow Wow – Malcolm took over as manager of Adam and the Ants and fired Adam, he the brought in Annabella Luwin aged just 14 as the singer
“Double Dutch” – Malcolm McLaren – This song annoys many people I know, but I love it!
“Madame Butterfly” – Malcolm McLaren – I don’t like opera so why do I like this?
With Just A Hint Of Mayhem 