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One of the most accomplished pop music composers of the 20th century, Burt Bacharach, has died at age 94. The musical maestro behind 52 top 40 hits including “Alfie,” “Walk on By,” “Promises, Promises,” “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head,” “What the World Needs Now is Love” and “Do You Know the Way to San Jose?,” Bacharach had an untouchable run in the 1960s and 1970s with a wide range of pop, R&B and soul artists. According to the Associated Press, Bacharach died on Wednesday (Feb. 9) at his home in Los Angeles of natural causes.
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Working with lyricist partner Hal David, Bacharach and David were dubbed the “Rodgers & Hart” of the ’60s, with a unique style featuring instantly hummable melodies and atypical arrangements that folded in everything from jazz and pop to Brazilian grooves and rock.
Many of their songs were popularized by Dionne Warwick, whose singing style inspired Bacharach to experiment with new rhythms and harmonies, composing such innovative melodies as “Anyone Who Had a Heart” and “I Say a Little Prayer.”
Bacharach’s music cut across age lines, appealing to teens as well as an older generation who could appreciate the Tin Pan Alley feel of some of David’s lyrics. His fresh style could keep the listener offbalance but was intensely moving, defying convention with uplifting melodies that contrasted the often bittersweet lyrics.
His songs were sung by such major artists as Dusty Springfield, Gene Pitney, Tom Jones, the Carpenters and B.J. Thomas, as well as hundreds of others. His first No. 1 on a Billboard chart came in a genre not typically associated with the dextrous composer: country. Bacharach/David’s “The Story of My Life,” recorded by Marty Robbins, topped the Hot Country Songs chart in 1958. That same year, Perry Como took the duo’s “Magic Moments” to No. 4 on Billboard‘s Most Played by Disk Jockeys chart, a pre-cursor to the Hot 100.
Bacharach ventured into motion picture songwriting, creating indelible soundtrack songs such as “The Look of Love” and the Hot 100 No. 1 hit “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ On My Head” during this fertile period (he also scored a pre-acclaim Hot 100 entry with the titular theme song to the Steve McQueen horror flick The Blob in 1958, with The Five Blobs’ “The Blob” hitting No. 33). The Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid theme song “Raindrops” earned Bacharach two Oscars (best score and best theme song) as well as a Grammy for best score.
He also won an Oscar for Best Song for “Arthur’s Theme (Best That You Can Do),” which he shared with Carole Bayer Sager, Peter Allen and singer Christopher Cross. Bacharach’s compositions received three other Oscar nominations: for “What’s New Pussycat?,” (from the movie of the same name in 1965) “Alfie,” (movie of the same name 1966) and “The Look of Love” (from Casino Royale, 1967)
Bacharach and David team scored films as well in the ’70s, doing the music for “Lost Horizon” and “Howard the Duck,” after which they separated for a short duration.
Handsome and suave, Bacharach was somewhat of a matinee idol. Sammy Cahn dubbed him the only composer who didn’t look like a dentist. His longtime marriage to actress Angie Dickinson fueled that “hip” image. He was also known for his ownership and breeding of thoroughbred race horses for more than 30 years and his frequent attendance at the Kentucky Derby. One of his horses, Burt’s Heartlight No. One (named for a top 5 1982 hit collaboration with Neil Diamond), was a champion in 1983 and another, Soul of the Matter, was a Breeder’s cup starter in 1994 and 1995.
Mike Myers spoofed Bacharach’s ladies man/raconteur reputation in the first Austin Powers movie, in which the composer had a cameo. He collaborated with Elvis Costello on a version of “I’ll Never Fall in Love Again” on the soundtrack to the 1999 Powers sequel, The Spy Who Shagged Me (also appearing in the film) and, in 2002, he was featured in the credit roll of the third Powers film, which also had a remake of “Alfie” as “Austin,” sung by the Bangles‘ Susanna Hoffs.
Burt Freeman Bacharach was born in Kansas City, MO on May 12, 1928. His father was on the staff of Colliers magazine, where he was a nationally syndicated columnist. Dreaming of becoming a football player, Bacharach acquiesced to his mother’s wishes that he take piano lessons and playing piano in a high school band.
After discovering bop music, Bacharach attended Montreal’s McGill University, where he earned a B.A. in music in 1948. He was drafted into the Army during the Korean War and was shipped off to Germany, where he met singer Vic Damone and toured the First Army area as a “concert pianist.”
After the service, he moved to New York and played in clubs. He met David while both were working in the legendary songwriting mecca the Brill Building.
In the ’60s, he stretched pop music compositions beyond the norm with more sophisticated chord progressions and melodies that alighted in non-standard time signatures: instead of the typical 4/4, they often bounded in 5/4 or 7/8. He broke the rules but remained steadfast to one principle: the melody must be acceptable to the average listener. His musical heroes included Harry James and Dizzy Gillespie, who he used a fake ID to see at a 52nd Street nightclub as a teen. Later, he would headline in Las Vegas at Harrah’s Club and the Riviera Hotel and co-host TV variety shows including The Hollywood Palace with Angie Dickinson.
During his early years, A&R people would criticize his work as not being danceable. Bacharach became a producer and arranger out of self defense, he admitted. “His songs are a lot more musical than the stuff we write and a lot more technical,” Paul McCartney told Newsweek in 1965.
His work has been reissued in a number of sets, including What the World Needs Now: Burt Bacharach Classics, as well as a three-disc box set of his songs entitled The Look of Love: The Burt Bacharach Collection and 2013’s 6-disc collection Anyone Who Had a Heart — The Art of the Songwriter.
Bacharach wrote and produced a string of hit songs with his third wife, songwriter Carole Bayer Sager, including: “Making Love,” as well as “Romantic Song,” which was a hit for Roberta Flack and Peabo Bryson. They also wrote and produced “They Don’t Make Them like They Used To,” recorded by Kenny Rogers for Tough Guys, and the theme from the film Baby Boom.
Bacharach and Sager won a Grammy Award for song of the year for Dionne Warwick and Friends’ 1985 AIDS research charity smash “That’s What Friends Are For,” and were nominated for the R&B song “On My Own,” recorded by Patti LaBelle and Michael McDonald. They made record history by having two songs top three of pop music’s yearend record lists. More recently, he collaborated on a 1999 Grammy-winning collaborative album with Elvis Costello entitled Painted From Memory. In 2002, a musical based on the Bacharach/David canon entitled What the World Needs Now opened in Sydney, Australia.
The 2000s opened with collaborations on hit songs for British Pop Idol winner Will Young (2002’s “What’s in Goodbye”), a 2003 joint album with R&B icon Ronald Isley, Isley Meets Bacharach: Here I Am and the 2005 solo album, At This Time, which featured guests including Costello and Rufus Wainwright; the album, the first under his solo name in 26 years and the first to feature lyrics written by Bacharach, won a Grammy for best pop instrumental. Just six months before his death at age 91, David was on hand to receive the 2012 Gershwin Prize for Popular Song, marking the first time a songwriting team had been honored with the prize.
He published his autobiography, Anyone Who Had a Heart, in 2013.
Far from retiring, the eight-time Grammy winner performed at the 2015 Glastonbury Festival in the UK, played with the Nashville Symphony Orchestra in March 2016 and was slated to perform for an intimate audience at the June 2016 Caudwell Children Butterfly Ball fundraiser in London. His 2016 tour schedule included a variety of other high-profile gigs, including stops at Vienna’s Jazz Fest Wien, the Monte Carlo Sporting Summer Festival, Copenhagen Jazz Festival and the Curacao North Sea Jazz Festival in the Dutch Antilles in September.
Bacharach made a rare foray into political commentary in 2018 with “Live to See Another Day,” a song dedicated to the survivors of school gun violence, whose proceeds were earmarked for the Sandy Hook Promise charity. His final released musical composition was a joint 2020 EP with songwriter and performer Daniel Tashian, Blue Umbrella, which earned the pair a Grammy nomination for best traditional pop vocal album.
Bacharach is survived by his adopted son, Christopher, as well as two children with his fourth wife, Jane Hansen, Oliver and daughter Raleigh.
Charlie Thomas, singer for The Drifters, died at age 85 on Jan. 31, his friend Peter Lemongello Jr. confirmed to The New York Times on Monday (Feb. 6).
According to Lemongello, Thomas died as a result of liver cancer, but regularly kept up with his physical activities until his condition started deteriorating.
“He was aging, but he was active almost every weekend,” Lemongello, former singer for The Crests, told the newspaper. “Unfortunately, he went from being active to being at home and he started going downhill.”
Thomas became a member of The Drifters after a chance encounter. In 1958, the tenor was singing as part of the Five Crowns at New York’s Apollo Theatre when The Drifters’ original manager, George Treadwell, fired all members of the group for getting drunk and cursing show promoter and Apollo owner Mary Goldberg. Treadwell replaced all members of The Drifters with Five Crowns.
Led by Ben E. King, The Drifters experienced success from several singles. “There Goes My Baby,” “Under The Boardwalk,” and “Up on the Roof” became beloved R&B classics, though The Drifters wouldn’t top the Billboard charts until 1960 with “Save the Last Dance For Me,” which topped the Billboard Hot 100. The song has since been covered by Dolly Parton, Michael Bublé and more. “Sweets for My Sweet” peaked at No. 16 on the Hot 100 in 1961, and “When My Little Girl Is Smiling” cracked the top 30 of the chart at No. 28 in 1962.
Thomas — alongside band members King, Clyde McPhatter, Bill Pinkney, Gerhart Thrasher, Johnny Moore and Rudy Lewis — was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988. Despite the group’s many iterations throughout the years, Thomas continued performing with The Drifters throughout to the pandemic.
Thomas is survived by his wife, Rita Thomas; his two daughters, Crystal Thomas Wilson and Victoria Green; and his three sons, Charlie “Happy” Thomas Jr., Michael Sidbury and Brian Godfrey.
Three bodies found in a vacant Detroit-area apartment building have been identified as those of three aspiring rappers who went missing nearly two weeks ago, police said Friday (Feb. 3).
Michigan State Police said Friday afternoon on Twitter that investigators identified the bodies as those of Armani Kelly, 27, of Oscoda, Mich.; Montoya Givens, 31, of Detroit; and Dante Wicker, 31, of Melvindale, Mich.
“We offer our condolences to their family and friends,” police said.
The Michigan men were supposed to perform at a party at Lounge 31 in Detroit on Jan. 21, but they vanished after that appearance was canceled. Their bodies were found Thursday in the basement of an abandoned, rat-infested apartment building in Highland Park, near Detroit.
Earlier Friday, state police said the Wayne County Medical Examiners Office would conduct autopsies on the bodies. Lt. Mike Shaw said it could take up to 48 hours for autopsy results to be released because the bodies were found in “extreme cold” conditions.
Kelly, Givens and Wicker met while in prison, and Kelly and Givens were on parole at the time of their disappearance, according to the state corrections department.
Update #3: The victims in this homicide investigation have been positively identified by investigators. They are: Armani Kelly, Male, OscodaMontoya Givens, Male, Detroit Dante Wicker, Male, MelvindaleWe offer our condolences to their family and friends. pic.twitter.com/MvvoxQ4ahr— MSP Second District (@mspmetrodet) February 3, 2023
Charles “Chip” Rachlin, the trailblazing agent for Billy Joel and the Beach Boys, died last Wednesday (Jan. 25) following a short illness. He was 73.
A rock pioneer, Rachlin, like so many others of his generation, had a life-changing experience when the Beatles performed on the Ed Sullivan Show back in February 1964. He started a band, the Gremlins. But it was in presenting and showcasing talent that he found his calling.
Born in Summit, New Jersey, Rachlin — a lifelong Yankees fan — learned the ropes as an agent working for Bill Graham at the Fillmore East, and later, as a junior agent with the Millard Agency.
Rachlin and his Fillmore friend Michael Klenfner showed their entrepreneurial chops when, in February 1971, they booked the Beach Boys to headline Carnegie Hall. It was a turning point for everyone involved, as Rachlin soon found himself representing the group, and its lead singer, the late Carl Wilson during his solo career.
Once Graham closed the Filllmore, “Millard went ‘uptown,’’” remembers Rachlin in a timeline on the Rachlin Entertainment website.
“We built an All Star Team with Danny Weiner, Tom Ross, Budd Carr and Shelly Schultz,” with a roster that swelled to include Aerosmith, Eric Clapton, America, Seals & Crofts, Loggins & Messina, James Taylor, Fleetwood Mac, Linda Ronstadt, CSN, and Eagles.
By the mid-‘70s, Rachlin was a major figure in ICM’s music department, where he repped the future Rock And Roll Hall of Famers the Beach Boys and a young Billy Joel.
“By the end of my run with ICM we were the top concert department among the major agencies,” he recounts. “It was an amazing eight years and the best training ground in the music business.”
He toured with the Rolling Stones, and rode the “fantastic rocket ship ride” that was the launch of MTV.
As styles and formats changed, Rachlin went out on his own. In the early 1990s, he launched Rachlin Entertainment, an enterprise that would become a “unique talent resource” for elite buyers such as Atlantis Paradise Island in the Bahamas and Cunard Cruise Lines.
Among the success stories for Atlantis Paradise Island are the late David Bowie, Taylor Swift, Justin Bieber, and Katy Perry. It was Rachlin who produced the All Star Tribute To Brian Wilson at Radio City Music Hall in March of 2001, headlined by Elton John, Billy Joel, Paul Simon and many more.
Tributes are pouring in for the legendary talent booker. “Thanks to Chip being my agent in the early days,” writes Billy Joel on social media, “the band and I were able to make a living as performing musicians before I became more widely known as a recording artist. I will always be grateful for his efforts on my behalf back in the day.”
Chip Rachlin has died.Chip was responsible for booking us into most of our U.S. concerts during the early and mid 1970s.Thanks to Chip being my agent in the early days, the band and I were able to make a living as performing musicians before I became more widely known as (1/2) pic.twitter.com/7D92tdUERY— Billy Joel (@billyjoel) January 29, 2023
Eagles manager Irving Azoff recounts Chip as “not only a pioneer in how the business operates today,” but, for over 40 years, “he remained somebody who I always wanted to hear from.” The veteran music executive adds: “He was an innovator. More importantly, on a one-to-one level, he displayed all the personal qualities that make this business great. He was not just passionate about the music and any artist he worked with but a great person. This one hurts very badly.”
We’re so saddened to learn of Chip Rachlin’s passing. Chip, seen here with Bill in 1982 on the Rolling Stones tour, went on to produce an amazing array of events. Along the way, he made many friends who now mourn his loss. Our deepest condolences to his family and loved ones. pic.twitter.com/jlMlICdCw1— Bill Graham Found. (@BillGrahamFound) January 26, 2023
“We’re so saddened to learn of Chip Rachlin’s passing,” reads a post from the Bill Graham Foundation. Chip “went on to produce an amazing array of events. Along the way, he made many friends who now mourn his loss. Our deepest condolences to his family and loved ones.”
Rachlin is survived by his wife Wendy, his sons Josh and Alex, and their extended family.
More than 73 years ago, Barrett Strong, as a singer, declared “Money (That’s What I Want)” — for the first hit single from the Motown empire.What he actually wound up getting was musical immortality. As a songwriter.
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Strong — who passed away Sunday, Jan. 29, at the age of 81 in Detroit — co-wrote some of Motown’s most enduring hits, with a variety of collaborators but primarily the late Norman Whitfield. Those included “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” for Marvin Gaye and Gladys Knight & the Pips, “War” for Edwin Starr, the Undisputed Truth’s “Smiling Faces Sometimes” and a wealth of material form the Temptations — “I Wish It Would Rain,” “Just My Imagination,” “Cloud Nine,” “Psychedelic Shack” and “Papa Was a Rolling Stone,” for which Strong shared a Grammy Award.The transition from performer to songwriter suited him well. “I never felt comfortable with myself as a recording artist,” Strong told Billboard in 2016. The father of six and grandfather of 13 noted, “I had to work to support my family. I’m not looking for the spotlight and all the glamour and stuff like that. I just like to work in my studio and see what we can come up with.”In a statement issued Sunday, Motown founder Berry Gordy Jr. — who described Strong as “shy” in his memoir, To Be Loved, said that, “I am saddened to hear of the passing of Barrett Strong, one of my earliest artists, and the man who sang my first big hit … Barrett was not only a great singer and piano player, but he, along with his writing partner Norman Whitfield, created an incredible body of work, primarily with the Temptations. Their hit songs were revolutionary in sound and captured the spirit of the times … Barrett is an original member of the Motown Family and will be missed by all of us.”In addition to the Grammy, Strong was also honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Association of Songwriters in 1990 and a Songwriters Hall of Fame induction in 2004. BMI celebrated his legacy during a special event in 2016.The son of a Uniroyal plant worker and a housewife, Strong grew up on Detroit’s west side and sang in a gospel group with his four sisters. They toured the local church circuit and befriended stars such as Jackie Wilson and Sam Cooke. “When they’d come to town they’d stop by the house and visit with us,” Strong recalled. “We would all sit around the piano and play and sing.”It was Wilson who introduced Gordy to the Strongs in 1957. Gordy hit it off with the ambitious Strong, who often walked to Gordy’s east side home to exchange song ideas. One day Gordy told Strong, “I like what you can do. I’m gonna do something with you.”The first thing was a single called “Let’s Rock”/”Do the Very Best You Can,” which received some local airplay but didn’t make a national impact. “Money,” however, was a Top 50 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 2 on the R&B charts, later covered by the Beatles and during the ’80s by the avant-garde group the Flying Lizards. Gordy and Janie Bradford wrote the song, but there are three different stories about how it came to be.
In his memoir To Be Loved, Berry claims the “shy” Strong, who plays piano as well as sings on the track, joined the session “uninvited.” Bradford, meanwhile, recalls Gordy inviting Strong into the room and asking him to “give me something,” which became the opening piano riff for the song. Strong? HE remembers jamming on the piano, riffing off of Ray Charles‘ “What’d I Say?” “I was playing, and then that little thing came up and everybody said, ‘What was that?!’” he says. “They said, ‘Let’s write some lyrics,’ and we had a song.”The rest of Strong’s time at Motown was just as memorable. He recalls that Motown initially didn’t want to release “Grapevine,” which he began writing during a brief tenure working for Vee Jay Records in Chicago. “They didn’t think it was a hit record,” said Strong, adding with a chuckle, “You know how it goes: They say, ‘We don’t like that,’ but when it’s a hit, everybody takes credit.” The Miracles were actually the first to record the song, in 1966, and Gaye recorded it the following year. But it was Knight’s raucous version that came out first, during September of 1967, followed by Gaye’s slowed-down groove 11 months later; Knight’s reached No. 2 on the Hot 100, while Gaye’s topped the chart. Creedence Clearwater Revival turned in an 11-minute version of “Grapevine” on its 1970 album Cosmo’s Factory, while the California Raisins covered it for a TV commercial in 1986, which launched a “career” for the cartoon group.“Just My Imagination,” meanwhile, was something of a desperation project for Strong and Whitfield after a couple of other songs they wrote for the Temptations didn’t do well. “We had to get our band back,” Strong said. “If we didn’t come up with something they’d have someone else writing for ’em.” Stress aside, Strong had little but positive memories of his songwriting heyday. “It was a great time,” he said. “We were just kids, and we did it for the fun, not the money. We enjoyed being at the studio all day, working.”“Nowadays people want the money first, which I can understand,” he said. “But we used to put the product first and figured if we worked hard we would get paid. It was just an era.”Strong left Motown during the early ’70s and resumed his performing career, recording for the Epic and Capitol labels. He also co-wrote singles for the Dells. For a time Strong operated a production company called Boomtown in Detroit, mentoring and partnering with younger artists, and in 2010 he released Stronghold II, his first album in 30 years.“You don’t quit. You just slow down,” Strong said in 2016. “You take your time more. But you have to keep up, too, and relate to the younger people now. I don’t want to be left behind.”No cause of death has been revealed for Strong. Funeral details are pending.
Tom Verlaine has died after a brief illness, a representative for the innovative guitarist and founding member of Television confirms to Billboard. He was 73.
Verlaine died peacefully and surrounded by friends in New York City, the rep says.
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Born Thomas Miller in 1949, Verlaine was raised in Wilmington, Delaware, before moving to New York City in 1968 and taking on his stage name.
He formed Television, who became an influential fixture of NYC’s punk rock scene at CBGB in the ’70s, establishing an early residency at the legendary Lower East Side club with bandmates Richard Hell, Billy Ficca and Richard Lloyd. With Television he brought his signature guitar work and songwriting to two albums, 1977’s landmark Marquee Moon and 1978’s Adventure, before the group parted ways in 1978.
Verlaine then embarked on solo endeavors — releasing several of his own albums throughout his career over the next few decades, beginning with a self-titled record in 1979 — and reunited with Television periodically.
His early musical influences ranged from free jazz to the Yardbirds’ Five Live Yardbirds to the Rolling Stones’ “19th Nervous Breakdown,” and included John Coltrane, Pablo Casals and John McLaughlin.
“My first music experiences were with classical and then jazz,” Verlaine told Billboard in 2005. “I played sax for three years, so my real roots are in instrumental music. In fact, when I hear the term ‘music’ I never think of ‘songs.’”
Following Verlaine’s death, fellow musician Patti Smith’s daughter, Jesse Paris Smith, penned a heartfelt, personal tribute on Instagram.
“Dearest Tom. The love is immense and forever. My heart is too intensely full to share everything now, and finding the words is too deep of a struggle. The feeling inside is so heavy, though your spirit is light and lifted, it is everywhere, completely and truly free,” she wrote on the post, where she shared a personal photo of the pair.
“I love you always and forever, and will always remember and hold close the touch of your hand – hands of a beautiful creator and of a love more warm, tender, delicate, and true that one can ever dream,” she continued. “There has never been another like you and there never will be. What a blessing and gift I was given to share my time on earth with you. I will be grateful to the end of my life, and we will see you again beyond that, meeting you there wherever you’ve gone. Thank you leading the way.”
On Sunday (Jan. 21), longtime and beloved Chicago radio host Lin Brehmer died at 68 after battling prostate cancer.
Brehmer’s WXRT colleague and friend Terri Hemmert shared the news in a statement that read: “We must inform you that we all lost our best friend. Lin Brehmer fought cancer as long as he could. He passed early this morning, peacefully, with his wife (Sara) and son (Wilson) by his side.”
Brehmer announced he would take a leave of absence last July for treatment. He returned to the air in late November.
Adopting the tagline, “Your best friend in the whole world” during his time at WXRT, the sentiment was true for many, including Chicago legends like Wilco, Steve Albini, Billy Corgan, John Cusack and more. It wasn’t Brehmer’s only catchphrase. He often reminded listeners: “Take nothing for granted. It’s great to be alive.”
Brehmer started as a host at the Chicago rock station in 1991 after moving to the city in 1984 to be the music director, a position he held for six years. After a brief gig in Minneapolis, he returned to Chicago and WXRT — this time as the morning host. There he launched his legendary segment Lin’s Bin, through which he would excitedly and thoroughly answer listener questions while musing on life, music and pop culture. In 2020, he moved to middays.
A New York native, Brehmer started his career in Albany before relocating to and falling for the city of Chicago — from the Cubs baseball team to the food, whether it be an Italian beef sandwich or pizza. To honor the late Brehmer, the marquee at Wrigley Field (home of the Cubs) displayed his name.
WXRT celebrated Brehmer’s life with a special block of programming on Monday. Alongside stories from Hemmert and other hosts, plus special memories and send-offs from artists and bands like Corgan, The Record Company and more, the programming played a range of music that was meaningful to his life and career. It also aired Brehmer’s final sign-off for the station.
In it, he recounted being asked if he would change anything about his path. In short, the answer was an affirmative — and colorful — “no way.”
See the social media tributes to Brehmer below.
RIP to Chicago legend Lin Brehmer who sadly just passed away – he was the voice of WXRT – the best music station in Chicago – the kindest man you could ever meet – a lifelong cubs fanatic – and one of coolest warmest guy you could ever meet – He was truly Chicago’s finest –— John Cusack (@johncusack) January 23, 2023
The Cubs mourn the passing of legendary Chicago radio personality and lifelong Cubs fan Lin Brehmer.We send our condolences to his family and friends. pic.twitter.com/2SiHRmacxY— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) January 22, 2023
Lin, what a beautiful soul. Pure walking magic, an encyclopedia of music, and friend to all. Thank you, you will be so missed. Our condolences to all who knew Lin and the whole city of Chicago. 💙 @93XRT @LinBrehmer https://t.co/TDbKAZXFmf— The Record Company (@therecordcomp) January 22, 2023
Lin Brehmer was the voice of Chicago. His voice was unique and a perfect way to start the day. An ambassador for the city’s music scene and a dear friend, I announced the Uptown music district concept on his show.I’ll miss hearing his voice on XRT. May his memory be a blessing.— Rahm Emanuel (@RahmEmanuel) January 22, 2023
Two-time Rock & Roll Hall of Famer David Crosby, has died, sources confirm to Billboard. He was 81. Cause of death is unknown.
Crosby was a seminal figure in the folk-rock scene for more than six decades as a member of The Byrds, Crosby, Stills & Nash and then Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. He also had a prolific solo career, especially in recent years, releasing new music at an almost frenetic pace.
Crosby, a Los Angeles native and son of Academy Award-winning cinematographer Floyd Crosby, joined the Byrds in 1964 and in 1965, the band, known for its jangling guitars and layered harmonies, took two songs to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100: the Bob Dylan-penned “Mr. Tambourine Man” and “Turn!Turn!Turn! (To Everything There Is a Season).”
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Due to infighting with his bandmates Roger McGuinn and Chris Hillman,” Crosby left the Byrds in 1967. In 1968, after meeting Stephen Stills and Graham Nash, the trio formed Crosby, Stills & Nash, appearing at Woodstock in August, 1969, for only their second gig.
Their self-titled debut album spawned two top 40 Hot 100 hits — “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes” (No. 21) and “Marrakesh Express” (No. 28) — and the trio won the Grammy for best new artist in 1969. Neil Young was an informal fourth member for occasional live performances, when the group would go by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. The core trio stayed active through 2016.
In 2019, Cameron Crowe produced a documentary about the cantankerous rock icon called Remember My Name. In an interview about the warts-and-all doc, Crosby explained to Billboard why it made sense that his Byrds bandmate Roger McGuinn called him “insufferable.”
“I can be contentious. Opinionated. I’m comfortable with that,” Crosby conceded. “When you’re in a relationship like that in a band, it’s like a marriage… you start out, you love each other, you love each other’s music. You’re thrilled that you’re doing this, and every time you play music, you feel brotherhood with the other guys. In CSNY with Neil [Young] and Graham [Nash] and Stephen [Stills], we were a competitive band. Not cooperative/competitive. We were also very shitty to each other over and over and over again, unkind and disloyal.”
Crosby earned 10 Grammy nominations in his lifetime — including a best music film nod for Remember My Name — but the CSN best new artist prize was his lone win.
Screaming Trees has lost another one of its members. On Wednesday (Jan. 18), Gary Lee Conner revealed that his brother — with whom he co-founded the band — bassist Van Conner, died Tuesday (Jan. 17) at age 55 after a long illness and pneumonia.
The guitarist shared the news to his personal Facebook and Instagram accounts, alongside a photo of himself posing with his late brother. “Let me put this letter on Van’s grave,” he wrote. “Van Conner bassist and song writer of Screaming Trees died last night of an extended illness at 55 It was pneumonia that got him in the end. He was one of the closest friends I ever had and I loved him immensely. I will miss him forever and ever and ever…”
Screaming Trees also shared Gary’s post to its verified Facebook account.
Van Conner formed Screaming Trees in 1984 with his brother, vocalist Mark Lanegan — who died at age 57 in February 2022 — and drummer Mark Pickerel after connecting in high school over their shared tasted in punk and classic rock music. The following year, the band recorded its first EP, Other Worlds, in their Ellensburg, Wash., hometown. Lanegan’s 2020 memoir, Sing Backwards and Weep, revealed that the EP’s track “Picture in My Mind” was the first song he wrote with the Conner brothers.
By 1986, the group’s first studio set Clairvoyance was released through Velvetone Records and helped the band to secure a recording contract through SST Records, but it wasn’t until 1992 — and the arrival of the Seattle grunge scene — that Screaming Trees started experiencing success on a commercial scale. The band’s 1992 album, Sweet Oblivion, peaked at No. 141 on the all-genre Billboard 200, with singles “Nearly Lost You” and “Dollar Bill” peaking on Billboard‘s Mainstream Rock Airplay chart at Nos. 12 and 40, respectively.
In Van’s other endeavors, he formed and fronted Solomon Grundy and released an album with the band in 1990. During his tenure in Screaming Trees, he also played alongside Dinosaur Jr. for live shows. Following Screaming Trees’ breakup in 2000, Van formed bands VALIS and Ox, and also did work as a session musician.
See Gary Lee Conner’s announcement below:
Bruce Gowers, the Emmy and Grammy winner who directed nine-plus seasons of American Idol and hundreds of music videos, including the seminal “Bohemian Rhapsody” from Queen, has died. He was 82.
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Gowers died Sunday in Santa Monica of complications from an acute respiratory infection, his family announced.
Gowers also directed and co-created the long-running series of Kidsongs sing-along videos for Warner Bros. Records with his wife, Carol Rosenstein.
A specialist in live events and TV specials, Gowers directed and/or produced the Emmys, the Billboard Music Awards, MTV’s Music Video and Movie awards, the ESPYs, the People’s Choice Awards and many other award shows.
He called the shots for 234 episodes of American Idol from 2002-11, from the first season to the 10th, according to IMDb, and won his Emmy for outstanding directing for a variety, music or comedy series in 2009.
His Grammy trophy came in 1986 for his work on the music video for Huey Lewis and the News’ “Heart of Rock and Roll.” Eight years later, he received a DGA award for helming the CBS special Genius: A Night for Ray Charles.
Along the way, he directed comedy specials from Richard Lewis, Jerry Seinfeld, Robin Williams, Billy Crystal, Eddie Murphy and Paula Poundstone and music specials from Justin Timberlake and Britney Spears.
Gowers’ touch on Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody,” filmed at Elstree Studios in London in November 1975 in about three hours for the BBC’s Top of the Pops, helped Freddie Mercury and his mates find superstardom and proved to be a defining moment in the history of the music video business.
It was the first music video ever aired by the influential Top of the Pops, and he said he got $590 for the gig.
“It changed the way music was perceived; everyone was doing videos and bands were seeing their sales and chart positions rise if their videos were good,” he told the Daily Mail in 2018.
“The only thing that upsets me is that they have been using my video for 40 years, and they have never paid me a dime or said thank you.”
Gowers also directed music videos for Rod Stewart (“Hot Legs” and more), Michael Jackson (“Rock With You”), Prince (“1999”), John Mellencamp (“Jack and Diane”), The Rolling Stones (“Fool to Cry”), Rush (“Limelight,” “Tom Sawyer”), Ambrosia (“How Much I Feel”), 10cc (“I’m Not in Love”), Bee Gees (“How Deep Is Your Love”), Supertramp (“Goodbye Stranger”), Chaka Kahn (“I’m Every Woman”), Peaches and Herb (“Reunited”), Journey (“Lovin’, Touchin’, Squeezin’”) and The Tubes (“Prime Time”).
Gowers was born on Dec. 21, 1940, in New Kilbride, Scotland, where his British parents, Robert, an educator, and Violet, a homemaker, were stationed during World War II. He grew up in Enfield, North London, and graduated from The Latymer School.
He attended the BBC Training College and started his career at the BBC, where he was a cable puller, cameraman and production manager before landing producing and directing positions at the Rediffusion and London Weekend Television networks.
Gowers relocated to the U.S. in the ’70s and met Rosenstein on the music video shoot for Stewart’s “Tonight’s the Night.” He also worked with Elton John, The Pretenders, Santana, Van Halen, REO Speedwagon, Christopher Cross, Genesis and Fleetwood Mac during his career.
For the past 23 years, he and Rosenstein resided in Malibu.
In addition to his wife, survivors include his daughter, Katharine; son Sean; grandchildren Sean Jr., Robert, Charlotte and Layla; his former wife, Charlene; and his beloved bulldogs, Baby and Rocky, and parrot, Polly.
A memorial service is being planned. In lieu of flowers, donations in his name can be made to World Central Kitchen and/or Southern California Bulldog Rescue.
Gowers, his family noted, “always brought boundless enthusiasm, energy, passion and joy to his work. He loved and was loved by the crews that he worked with and was known far and wide for his generosity as a colleague, constantly encouraging and promoting the talented people on his team.
“Funny, irreverent and wonderfully candid, he will be remembered in countless legendary stories that will keep his charming spirit alive for many years to come. He was always happiest in the control room, on a boat in the Bahamas, and of course, at home with the dogs, friends and family.”
This article originally appeared in THR.com.