State Champ Radio obituary
Page: 22
Jim Beard, a solo artist and touring keyboardist for Steely Dan for the past 16 years has died at age 63. The news was confirmed by a spokesperson for the group in a statement on Wednesday (March 6) that revealed the pianist, composer, keyboardist, producer and arranger died on March 2 due to complications from a sudden illness; at press time a cause of death had not been announced.
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
Beard joined the live Steely Dan band in 2008 for the Think Fast Tour and in addition to performing with the long-running jazz-influenced rock group — including at his final show with the band on Jan. 20 in Phoenix, AZ — he was also a touring member of the Eagles on their Long Goodbye tour.
Born in Ridley Park, Pennsylvania on August 26, 1960, Beard took clarinet, saxophone and sting bass lessons as a teenager and studied jazz at Indiana University, where he played in a bar band that featured session drummer Kenny Aronoff (John Mellencamp, John Fogerty) and trumpet player Chris Botti.
Trending on Billboard
According to an official bio, after moving to New York in 1985, Beard set off on a prolific career of composing — on tracks by John McLaughlin, Michael Brecker and many others — and toured the world with such jazz greats as Pat Metheny, McLaughlin and Wayne Shorter. He also performed on recordings by Dizzy Gillespie, Al Jarreau, David Sandborn, Dianne Reeves, Meshell Ndegeocello and rock guitar virtuoso Steve Vai, as well as with the Metropole Orchestra, Detroit Symphony Orchestra and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra as well as composing music for TV and movie scores.
Between tours with Metheny and McLaughlin’s Mahavishu Orchestra, Beard recorded six solo CDs and taught at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, the Mason Gross School of Arts at Rutgers University, the Aaron Copland School of Music in New York and the Sibelius Academy in Finland. Beard’s productions and compositions were nominated for seven Grammy awards, with one win in 2007 for his playing on “Some Skunk Funk” by Randy and Michael Brecker.
Brit Turner, a founding member and the drummer for rock band Blackberry Smoke, died on Sunday (March 3). He was 57 years old. Turner was battling glioblastoma, a form of cancer in the brain, and in November 2022, underwent a surgery to remove a brain tumor. The band confirmed the news of his death via […]
Gina Banfi de Abello, a distinguished figure in vocal coaching, died on Saturday (March 2) at the age of 92. Known for her work in choir and vocal training, Banfi mentored notable artists including Shakira and Colombian singer and composer Nicolás Tovar.
Her son Jaime Abello Banfi confirmed the news on social media on the day of her passing with an image of his mother. “Gina Banfi de Abello, November 26, 1931 – March 2, 2024,” reads the announcement. “Jaime, Mauricio, Beatriz, Maribel and Hugo Abello Banfi, her sons, daughters-in-law, grandchildren and great-grandchildren invite you to attend the funeral, Sunday, March 3, 2024.”
In response to the flood of comments he received on his social media channels, Jamie expressed his gratitude in another Instagram post. “I sincerely appreciate hundreds of messages of solidarity and affection received at times when my family and I tried to accept the sad reality of the physical death of my mother Gina Banfi de Abello, who made her transition with lucidity, serenity and full of love and gratitude,” he wrote alongside a photo of his mother. “We are comforted by these messages, as well as the media coverage of her departure, which highlights her contribution as an artist and music educator.”
Trending on Billboard
According to a 2011 interview with Argentinian newspaper La Gaceta, Banfi coached Shakira in 1992, when the then rising star was preparing to sing at Chile’s Viña del Mar International Song Festival at 15 years old.
“She was out of the ordinary. She was something different. When she was very young, she was a belly dancer. She has a gifted talent,” Banfi told La Gaceta. “She has always had that same powerful voice. I taught her some breathing techniques and I prepared her when she went to Viña del Mar and it was a pleasure for me. Since she was a little girl, she expressed herself as she does today. It was an admirable thing for such a young girl.”
Banfi’s journey into music began in her early years, as she turned to studying piano after her endeavors in painting did not pan out. Her home environment was rich with music and art, fostering her passion for the arts from a young age. Over the years, the Barranquilla, Colombia, artist became an integral part of various musical groups, including the Coro Santa Cecilia and Coro Madrigal, showcasing her talent and dedication to choral music.
See the announcement of her passing below:
Cat Janice, a singer-songwriter whose “Dance You Outta My Head” went viral on TikTok earlier this year, died on Wednesday (Feb. 28). She was 31 years old.
Janice’s brother posted the news to her Instagram page, writing in the caption, “This morning, from her childhood home and surrounded by her loving family, Catherine peacefully entered the light and love of her heavenly creator.”
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
The statement continued, “We are eternally thankful for the outpouring of love that Catherine and our family have received over the past few months. Cat saw her music go places she never expected and rests in the peace of knowing that she will continue to provide for her son through her music. This would not have been possible without all of you.”
According to the statement, new music will be released posthumously. “Per Cat’s request, there is some more art that she wants to share too. All in due time,” the statement concludes.
Trending on Billboard
Janice was diagnosed with sarcoma, a rare cancer that develops in the bones and soft tissues, after noticing a lump in her neck, as she explained on TikTok. She underwent surgery, chemo and radiation before being declared cancer-free on July 22, 2022.
Earlier this year, Janice shared with her followers that the cancer had returned, and she entered hospice. The singer then transferred all of her songs to her seven-year-old son Loren, so that all proceeds from the tracks would go to him.
In a devastating TikTok shared on Jan. 6, she revealed that the cancer had “won” and that she’d be releasing one more song, “Dance Outta My Head,” for her birthday that month. “I want my last song to bring joy and fun! It’s all I’ve ever wanted through my battle with cancer.”
“Please please share this, I need to leave this with [Loren]. If there is anything you need to know, is that the only opinion of yourself is your opinion. Love yourself and be gentle with others. I hope to make it through this but if not, to all a good night,” she captioned the post.
Since then, “Dance Outta My Head” topped the TikTok Billboard Top 50 dated Feb. 17. “Dance You Outta My Head” concurrently reached the top 10 of Billboard’s Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart for the first time, lifting 11-10. It earned 5,000 downloads Feb. 2-8, good enough for its first week at No. 1 on the Dance/Electronic Digital Song Sales list, and 1.2 million official U.S. streams, according to Luminate.
Rowland Martin Buyincé, uncle to Beyoncé and Tina Knowles‘ older brother, died over the weekend. He was 77 years old. Knowles took to Instagram on Monday (Feb. 26) to announce the news and pay tribute her brother, who was affectionately known as Butch. “My Beautiful big brother Butch went to be with God this weekend. […]
Juana Bacallao, a renowned Cuban singer and cabaret diva who still performed until recently, has died. She was 98. Bacallao died Saturday (Feb. 24) after spending several days at a hospital in Havana, according to a statement from Cuba’s Ministry of Culture. Officials didn’t say why she was hospitalized. Bacallao was known for her husky […]
Shinsadong Tiger, a chart-topping and award-winning K-pop producer and songwriter, has passed away, his entertainment label confirmed on Friday (Feb. 23). The cause of death is currently unknown. He was 40.
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
Following local reports that Shinsadong Tiger (neé Lee Ho-yang, also known professionally as S.Tiger) was found collapsed in his Seoul workplace, his representative agency TR Entertainment confirmed the news that “Producer Shinsadong Tiger suddenly left our side on February 23, 2024.”
In the statement on social media, TR Entertainment requested refraining from “speculative reports for the bereaved families” and that funeral proceedings will be held quietly only by family, relatives and colleagues.
TR Entertainment also represents TRI.BE, Universal Music Korea’s first K-pop group crafted in collaboration with Shinsadong Tiger and signed with Republic Records in the U.S. On Tuesday (Feb. 20), TRI.BE released a new single “Diamond” and b-side track “Run,” both produced and co-written by the late producer. TR shared that TRI.BE is canceling and postponing its promotional schedule while promising to return for more television performances “since it is the last album that Shinsadong Tiger prepared and released with TRI.BE during his lifetime.”
Trending on Billboard
TRI.BE was Shinsadong Tiger’s latest act after previously crafting and producing girl group EXID, who unexpectedly exploded in popularity two years into its career with the S.Tiger-produced single “Up & Down” in 2014 after a fan-recorded live performance went viral. Shinsadong Tiger produced seven EXID songs that charted on Billboard‘s World Digital Song Sales chart until the group went on hiatus in 2020.
Lee Ho-yang began his work as a songwriter in 2005 and came to helm some defining tracks of the genre throughout his nearly two decades of work with artists. With a sound that could blend electro-pop and Korea’s traditional trot genre to singles that embraced everything from orchestral production to Afrobeat, his works are tough to pinpoint musically but point to K-pop’s evolution.
Between 2011-2013, Lee produced four No. 1s on the (now-discontinued) K-Pop Hot 100 in T-ara’s “Roly-Poly” and “Lovey Dovey,” Trouble Maker’s “Now” and Ailee’s “U&I.” Meanwhile, his work like “Fiction” by boy band Beast won Song of the Year at the 2011 KBS Song Festival awards, while several of his creations with EXID, T-ara, HyunA and WJSN all were named in Billboard‘s 100 Greatest K-Pop Songs of the 2010s.
Shinsadong Tiger’s productions also had a knack for reaching wider audiences beyond Korean-music fans. In addition to EXID’s aforementioned breakout hit, HyunA’s “Bubble Pop!” from 2011 was an early YouTube smash and made the star the first K-pop soloist to break 100 million views on a music video. Later, “Bboom Bboom” by MOMOLAND helped break the rising girl group to the top of the charts in 2018, while its 626 million YouTube views make it one of the platform’s most-viewed K-pop videos ever.
Dalsooobin, a member of the girl group Dal Shabet whose singles like “B.B.B (Big Baby Baby)” and “Fri. Sat. Sun.” were produced by Shinsadong Tiger, shared her condolences and the former single’s album cover on her YouTube channel. Damjun, a member and songwriter-composer for his boy band LIONESSES, wrote “Thank you for your masterpieces” on Threads.
U.K. producer duo LDN Noise (who have helmed tracks with the likes of EXO, Chris Brown, NCT and NMIXX), Los Angeles-based Softserveboy (SEVENTEEN, Gwen Stefani, ENHYPEN, P1Harmony) and Damuer H. Leffridge (whose clients have included T-ara and B2K) all shared their condolences on Instagram. At the same time, L.A.-born Jae Chong (Uhm Junghwa, BoA, JYJ, Jolin Tsai, BIBI) called it “truly sad news” on the platform.
Longtime Trans-Siberian Orchestra keyboardist Vitalij Kuprij died on Tuesday at age 49. The pianist’s death was confirmed by the orchestral rock band on their socials, in which they paid tribute to the Ukrainian-born musician who spent more than a decade touring with the group whose over-the-top holiday shows have become an annual Boxscore Report-topping staple of the Christmas season.
“We are deeply saddened to announce the passing of our dear friend and bandmate, Vitalij Kuprij,” read the TSO’s statement. “He was a world-renowned classical pianist and composer. In 2010, Vitalij joined TSO for the inaugural ‘Beethoven’s Last Night’ tour and seamlessly became an integral part of the band. His flawless and energetic performances consistently captivated audiences, and many of you came to know and love him as much as we did.”
Trending on Billboard
The post noted that in addition to his prowess as a musician, Kuprij was an “accomplished chess player, an avid fisherman, and simply a fun-loving soul. His absence will be profoundly felt by all.” Kuprij was part of TSO from 2009-2019 and rejoined the group in 2021, most recently performing on their Nov.-Dec. 2023 tour.
His friend, Finnish guitarist/producer Lars Eric Mattsson also paid homage to Kuprij, writing, “Woke up to really sad news this morning as my dear friend and keyboard maestro Vitalij Kuprij has passed away last night. The Ukranian born virtuoso was living in Philadelphia and recently came off another hugely successful tour with the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. I have known and worked with Vitalij for over 20 years and he always talked about seeing me here in Finland to go fishing, which was his second love after music.”
At press time no additional information was available on the details or cause of Kuprij’s death. According to AllMusic, Kuprij was born in 1974 in Volodarka, Ukraine, and early on showed great promise on the piano, winning first prize in the All-Union Chopin competition in the Republic of Kazan in the former Soviet Union and the top honors at the Geneva Duo competition for violin and piano as a youth.
He formed his first progressive metal band in 1993, Atlantis Rising, relocating to the U.S. in 1995, where the band was refashioned into Artension, which released a series of albums on the Shrapnel label. Kuprij released a number of solo albums and also worked with the groups Ring of Fire and the Vivaldi Metal Project.
Progressive rock band TSO was founded in 1996 by producer/songwriter Paul O’Neill and has been barnstorming arenas from coast-to-coast for more than 25 years with over-the-top productions mixing rock opera theatrics with explosive light shows. Some of their most beloved productions include “Christmas Eve and Other Stories,” “The Christmas Attic” and “Beethoven’s Last Night.”
See the tributes below.
Damo Suzuki, the Japanese-born singer for legendary German experimental group Can, has died. He was 74.
Suzuki’s passing was confirmed on Saturday (Feb. 10) through the pioneering krautrock band’s Instagram account. A cause of death was not provided, but the Cologne-based musician had been battling colon cancer for a decade, as revealed in a 2022 documentary, according to Rolling Stone.
“It is with great sadness that we have to announce the passing of our wonderful friend Damo Suzuki, yesterday, Friday 9th February 2024,” Can wrote alongside a black-and-white photo of Suzuki. “His boundless creative energy has touched so many over the whole world, not just with Can, but also with his all continent spanning Network Tour. Damo’s kind soul and cheeky smile will be forever missed.”
The group added, “He will be joining Michael, Jaki and Holger for a fantastic jam!,” referencing late Can members Michael Karoli, Jaki Liebezeit and Holger Czukay. “Lots of love to his family and children.”
Born Kenji Suzuki near Tokyo, the budding artist left his native Japan as a teenager to travel around Europe, where he coincidentally met Liebezeit and Czukay while performing on the streets of Munich, Germany. The pair invited Suzuki to join Can onstage that evening and he later took over for the band’s original singer Malcolm Mooney, who appeared on the act’s 1969 debut album, Monster Movie.
Suzuki officially joined Can in 1970 and appeared on the band’s classic run of albums, including Tago Mago (1971), Ege Bamyasi (1972) and Future Days (1973). He was known for his improvisational singing style, mixing words in English and Japanese, which helped define the group’s sound.
“I don’t like to play the same piece again and again,” Suzuki told the Guardian in 2022. “Repetition is boring. Every performance should be a unique experience.”
Suzuki left Can in 1973 after marrying a German woman and converting to Jehovah’s Witness. He returned with several new musical projects in the 1980s, including Damo Suzuki’s Network and Damo Suzuki Band.
With a rotation of vocalists, Can continued on a path of unabated experimentation for 20 years, releasing its swansong, Rite Time, in 1989. The group has proven amongst the most influential in rock history, particularly for subsequent generations of experimental acts such as the Talking Heads, Brian Eno, Sonic Youth, and Tortoise.
See Can’s post about Suzuki’s death here.
Japanese conductor Seiji Ozawa died at his home in Tokyo on Feb. 6, 2024, due to heart failure. He was 88 years old.
A private funeral was held with his close family in accordance with the deceased’s wishes, with a memorial service scheduled at a later date.
Ozawa was born in 1935 in Shenyang, China. After studying under Karajan and Bernstein, he served as the assistant conductor of the New York Philharmonic, and music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s Ravinia Festival, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and the San Francisco Symphony.
In 1973, Ozawa was appointed as the thirteenth music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. He became the first Asian music director at Wiener Staatsoper in the autumn of 2002, a position he held until spring 2010.
Among the many awards and accolades Ozawa has received in Japan and internationally include the Asahi Prize (1985), the Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art, First Class (2002), the Mainichi Art Award (2003), the Suntory Music Award (2003), honorary membership of the Wiener Staatsoper (2007), France’s Officier de la Légion d’Honneur (2008), Foreign Associated Member in the Académie des BeauxArts de l’Institut de France (2008), the Order of Culture in Japan (2008), Giglio D’Oro by Premio Galileo 2000 Foundation of Italy (2008), the Praemium Imperiale from the Japan Art Association (2011), the Akeo Watanabe Foundation Music Award (2011), and the Kennedy Center Honors (2015), as well as an honorary doctorate from Harvard University (2000) and Sorbonne University (2004).
In 2010, he also became the first Japanese to be bestowed an honorary membership to the Vienna Philharmonic.
Ozawa won Best Opera Recording at the 58th Grammy Awards in 2016 for Ravel: L’Enfant et les Sortilèges, recorded at the 2013 Saito Kinen Festival Matsumoto, in which he conducted the Saito Kinen Orchestra.
The same year, he was named an honorary member of the Berlin Philharmonic and an honorary citizen of Tokyo.
He has been an elected member of the Japan Art Academy since March 2022.
