obituary
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Teresa Taylor, a former drummer for Texas psychedelic noise merchants Butthole Surfers died of complications from lung disease on Monday at age 60. The group announced the news in a post in which they wrote, “Teresa Taylor passed away peacefully this weekend after a long battle with lung disease. She will live in our hearts forever. RIP, dear friend.”
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The news was also confirmed by Taylor’s partner, Cheryl Curtice, who wrote, “Teresa passed away clean and sober, peacefully in her sleep, this weekend. She was so brave, even in the face of her horrible disease. We were all fortunate to have her beautiful, strong spirit in our lives. She will be forever missed. We will have a memorial service sometime in the future. I love you, beloved Teresa.”
Taylor was also well known for appearing on the poster for director Richard Linklater’s breakthrough 1990 film Slacker, in which she was famously depicted standing with her hands in her front pockets, staring into the distance while wearing a baseball hat and sunglasses. She also appeared in the film, playing a character named “Pap Smear Pusher” who enthusiastically tries to sell a jar she claims contains Madonna’s pap smear.
The percussionist — who also went by the stage name Teresa Nervosa — was born in Arlington, TX in 1962 and met future bandmate and fellow Surfers drummer King Coffey when they both played in a high school marching band. She later joined the San Antonio-bred punk band fronted by Gibby Haynes with the name not safe for mainstream TV and radio whose sonic attack blasted fans with waves of chaotic noise, disturbing surgery videos and strobe lights.
Taylor played drums alongside Coffey from 1983-1985 and then again from 1986-1989, taking a leave after suffering from seizures she said were caused by a brain aneurysm; she underwent brain surgery in 1993 and came back for a brief period to play live with the Surfers in 2009. For a band known for confounding audiences with their pummeling, sometimes disorienting visual and audio assault, the sight of the two percussionists playing their respective stand-up kits next to each other became a vital part of their stagecraft, as did their long-running fib that they were actually siblings and not just bandmates.
She joined the band in the studio for a run of their beloved early albums, including 1984 full-length debut, Psychic… Powerless… Another Man’s Sac, as well as 1986’s Rembrandt Pussyhorse, 1987’s Locust Abortion Technician and 1988’s Hairway to Steven, among others.
In Nov. 2021, Taylor revealed that she had been diagnosed with end-stage lung disease in a Facebook post.
See the Surfers’ and Curtice’s posts, and Taylor’s Slacker scene, below.
Big Pokey has died, a representative for the Houston rapper confirms to Billboard. He was 45.
A mainstay on the local hip-hop scene in Houston, Big Pokey — whose real name is Milton Powell — collapsed on stage Saturday night (June 17) during a performance at Pour 09 Bar in Beaumont, Texas, according to local news stations. He was rushed to the hospital, where he passed away. His cause of death is pending.
An “in loving memory of” statement shared on Big Pokey’s official Instagram account Sunday night reads: “It is with deep sadness that we share the news of the passing of our beloved Milton ‘Big Pokey’ Powell. Big Pokey passed away on June 18, 2023. He was well-loved by his family, his friends, and his loyal fans. In the coming days, we will release information about his celebration of life and how the public can pay their respects. We ask that you respect his family and their privacy during this difficult time. Big Pokey will forever be ‘The Hardest Pit in the Litter.’”
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Pour 09 Bar wrote in an update on Facebook, “We would like everyone to send their prayers to Big Pokey and his family. Out of respect for those involved we will not be commenting on the incident to allow his family and friends ample time to mourn and make a statement when they are ready. This is a tragedy that no one expected and only our prayers go out to his family and friends.”
Big Pokey dropped six full-length studio albums throughout his career, beginning with Hardest Pit in the Litter in 1999. His most recent album, Sensei, was released in 2021.
In 2005, the rapper joined Paul Wall on the single “Sittin’ Sidewayz,” which charted on the Billboard Hot 100.
“The City of Houston and I extend our prayers and condolences to our own Screwed Up Click legendary rapper #BigPokey family and friends,” Sylvester Turner, mayor of the city of Houston, tweeted on Sunday, referring to local hip-hop collective Screwed Up Click. “Though many called him ‘low key,’ his presence was larger than life in helping to catapult our hip hop scene nationally. We are grateful.”
Bun B, also based out of Houston and part of Screwed Up Click, paid tribute to Big Pokey on Instagram: “I wasn’t ready for this,” he said. “One of the most naturally talented artists in the city. Low key, humble mountain of a man who moved with honor and respect. He was easy to love and hard to hate. He’d pull up, do what he had to do and head home. One of the pillars of our city. If heart of gold was a person. Iconic member of the SUC. There will never be another and will be missed dearly. We love and honor you Sensei. Rest in heaven.”
In another post, Bun B encouraged others to listen to Big Pokey’s Sensei. “Let’s get on all the streaming platforms and make this the number one album in the country today. Jump on @youtube @spotify @applemusic @tidal @pandora and anywhere else for the legend @sucbigpokey today. Let’s send his family a message that we loved him! Long Live Big Pokey!”
The City of Houston and I extend our prayers and condolences to our own Screwed Up Click legendary rapper #BigPokey family and friends. Though many called him “low key”, his presence was larger than life in helping to catapult our hip hop scene nationally. We are grateful. st pic.twitter.com/5VI7nAL2V2— Sylvester Turner (@SylvesterTurner) June 18, 2023
Johnny Rowan, who drummed for ’90s alt rockers Urge Overkill under the name Blackie Onassis, has died at age 57, the band announced Wednesday (June 14). “Urge Overkill is saddened to report that Blackie has passed away,” read a post on the band’s social media accounts. “Please respect our privacy at this time. We are […]
Astrud Gilberto, “The Girl From Ipanema” singer who would make bossa nova a sensation in the 1960s, died at 83 on Monday (June 5). Paul Ricci, a friend and former collaborator of Gilberto’s, confirm the news of the Brazilian singer’s death on social media at the request of her son Marcelo. “She was an important […]
Cynthia Weil, the prolific lyricist who wrote dozens of indelible pop hits with husband Barry Mann over a six-decade career has died at 82. According to the Associated Press, Weil’s death of undisclosed causes was confirmed on Friday (June 2) by Interdependence Public Relations, which represents Mann’s daughter, Dr. Jenn Mann.
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Weil and Mann were one of the most formidable songwriting teams to set up residence in Manhattan’s famed Brill Building in the 1960s, which was also home to fellow pop songwriting powerhouses including Carole King and Gerry Goffin. Weil’s tear-stained ballads about young love, undying devotion and social struggles include such classics as the Crystals’ “Uptown,” the Drifters’ “On Broadway,” The Righteous Brothers’ “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’” and the Animals’ anti-war anthem “We Gotta Get Out of This Place.”
Longtime friend King paid homage to Weil in a statement that featured an image of her with Mann, Weil and her then-husband Goffin at a BMI dinner in 1962, writing, “We lost the beautiful, brilliant lyricist Cynthia Weil Mann… The four of us were close, caring friends despite our fierce competition to write the next hit for an artist with a #1 song. Sometimes we wrote in different combinations, e.g., Mann and Goffin ‘Who Put The Bomp?’ and King and Weil ‘One To One.’ Cynthia’s high professional standard made us all better songwriters. My favorite Cynthia lyric is, “Just a little lovin’ early in the mornin’ beats a cup of coffee for startin’ out the day.” If we’re lucky, we know this is true, but she wrote it — and then she rhymed “mornin’” with “yawnin’” in the next verse. May the legacy of lyrics by Cynthia Weil continue to speak to and for generations to come. Rest in peace with love and gratitude.”
Weil was born on Oct. 18, 1940 in New York City and studied ballet and piano as a child, but after graduating from Sarah Lawrence University with a theater major she scored a job working for composer Frank Loesser at 20 and soon met Mann, whom she married in 1961. After scoring their first hit that year with Tony Orlando’s “Bless You,” the pair became regular collaborators with “Wall of Sound” producer Phil Spector, with whom they worked on the Ronettes’ “Walking in the Rain” and the Crystals’ “He’s Sure the Boy I Love.”
They landed their most enduring chart-topper in 1965 with the blue-eyed soul smash “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’,” a No. 1 hit produced by Spector that has been covered dozens of times and became the most-played song on radio and TV in the 20th century according to BMI.
The width and breadth of their songwriting ranged from lounge singers Eydie Gorme (“Blame it on the Bossa Nova”) and her duet partner Steve Lawrence (“Don’t Be Afraid, Little Darlin’”), to pop group Jay and the Americans (“Only in America,” a collaboration with Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller), rock band Paul Revere & the Raiders (the anti-drug tune “Kicks”), singing TV group The Partridge Family (“I Really Want to Know You” and “I’m on the Road”) and British siren Dusty Springfield (“Just a Little Lovin’” from her iconic 1969 Dusty in Memphis album).
The 1970s brought collabs with rockers Blood Sweat & Tears (“So Long Dixie”), country singer B.J. Thomas (“Here You Come Again”) and the Grass Roots (“Mamacita”), as their hot streak continued into the 1980s with Bill Medley’s “Don’t Know Much,” which was a No. 2 hit for Linda Ronstadt and Aaron Neville in 1989, winning a Grammy in 1990 for best pop performance by a duo or group with vocal. They did it again in 1981 with the Quincy Jones/James Ingram ballad “Just Once,” which hit No. 17 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was nominated for a best male pop vocal performance Grammy in 1982.
Weil and Mann also wrote hits for Dionne Warwick (“Never Gonna Let You Go”), Bette Midler (“All I Need to Know”), Jeffrey Osborne (“We’re Going All the Way”), the Pointer Sisters (“Baby Come and Get It”) and Ronstadt and James Ingram (“Somewhere Out There”), a No. 2 hit they collaborated on with James Horner for the animated movie An American Tail that won Grammys in 1988 for song of the year and best song written specifically for a motion picture or television.
She also scored hits on her own or with other writers for the Pointers (“He’s So Shy”), Barry Manilow (“Somewhere Down the Road”), Lionel Richie (“Running with the Night,” “Love Will Conquer All”), Peabo Bryson (“If Ever You’re in My Arms Again”), Chaka Khan (“Through the Fire”), Sheena Easton (“So Far So Good”) and Martina McBride (“Wrong Again”).
Weil was the first woman recipient of the Ahmet Ertegun Award at the 2010 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction (which she shared with Mann), and was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1987 and landed the first-ever National Academy of Songwriters Life Achievement Award (both with Mann), as well as the Songwriting Hall of Fame’s highest honor, the Johnny Mercer Award in 2011. She is survived by Mann, 84, and their daughter, Jenn.
Jacky Oh, a former castmember of Nick Cannon’s Wild ‘N Out, has died at 32. At press time a cause of death had not been announced. BET confirmed the news in an Instagram post, which read, “We, the BET family, extend our heartfelt condolences to the family and friends of Jacky Oh and DC Young […]
Puerto Rican rapper Pacho El Antifeka died on Thursday (June 1) after being fatally shot in Puerto Rico. He was 42 years old.
The artist born Neftalí Álvarez Núñez was found dead inside a black 2008 Infinity car near the Plaza Tropical shopping center in Bayamón, according to Telemundo Puerto Rico. Law enforcement responded to the location after receiving calls of shots being fired.
The rapper’s death was later confirmed on his official Instagram account with a post featuring a powerful drawing created by “Arte Cardé.” It shows the musician in the passenger seat of a car and God taking the wheel.
“A great one has left us, but the most important thing is that he will be eternal in our memories and hearts because of those huge marks that he left, nobody will erase them. Impossible to forget someone so special and someone as friendly as Pacho was. Your legacy is still here, and your family and work team will not let your music die because we all know that you made music from the heart for your fans…because that was what you loved to do music,” read part of the caption.
With a career that spanned nearly 20 years, Pacho El Antifeka was known for hits such as “Como Soy” with Daddy Yankee and Bad Bunny; “Pa Morir Se Nace” with Farruko; “Tu No Eras Asi” with Rauw Alejandro; “Triste” with Nicky Jam; and “No Te Veo” with Jay Wheeler and Wisin y Yandel, to name a few. Last year, Pacho went viral on social media for replying to Residente’s “Bzrp Music Session” aimed at J Balvin. Pacho was signed to the indie urban label Duars Entertainment.
Many of his reggaeton colleagues including — Daddy Yankee and Hector El Father — reacted to the news of his death on social media.
“I am not the one to judge anyone’s personal life but I can judge the way people treat me; based on that judgment, I can choose my friends. I am aware that you have always treated me with respect, appreciation, honesty, sincerity, and loyalty,” Daddy Yankee wrote in an Instagram post. “For me those qualities are worth a lot because they are not easily found in these times […] And I assure you brother that you were a real person with me from our beginnings at an early age, dreaming of this career. I am glad to know that I was able to contribute to you in life.”
“Only God knows how much your departure hurts me,” Hector El Father shared, also on Instagram. “You always called me to ask for prayer and to take my services to the caserios (barrios). You always let me know the desire you had to get closer to God and all your struggles. I only ask God that in that last second of life, you have remembered what I always told you: ‘Cry out to God and ask him for forgiveness.’”
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Ex-Earth, Wind & Fire and the Commodores band member Sheldon Reynolds is being remembered by former collaborators as a fine guitarist, singer and songwriter, and an even better person.Reynolds died Tuesday (March 23) at the age of 63. “This news of Sheldon Reynolds transition is very sad for all of us who knew and worked with him. Sheldon vocally had Reese down,” writes Bailey in a social post, republished by the official EWF accounts.
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“That’s what Maurice said when he hired Sheldon to share vocals and play guitar. Sheldon was an excellent addition to the band, a great writer and producer, and a genuinely kind and loving person. He will be missed. Our condolences to his family.”
Details surrounding his death have not been formally announced.
Born Sept. 13, 1959 in Cincinnati, OH, Reynolds displayed a gift for the guitar at an early age. He went on to tour with singer Millie Jackson, and later joined Sun, recording three albums with the R&B act.
In 1983, he joined the Commodores. During a four-year spell with the band, he performed on the 1985 LP Nightshift and the following year’s album release United. The good times kept coming when Reynolds joined EWF as lead guitarist and co-vocalist. He went on to play on the soul band’s LPs Touch The World (1987), Heritage (1990), Millennium (1993) and In The Name of Love (1997). The midtempo Millennium hit “Sunday Morning” earned a Grammy Award nomination in the category of best R&B vocal performance by a duo or group.
Thanks in part to Reynolds’ contributions, the band was inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame’s class of 2000, and earned a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, awarded in 1995.Reynolds went on to work across solo projects with Bailey and EWF’s late band leader Maurice White, who died in 2016. His passing closely follows the death of former EWF drummer Fred White in January, at the age of 67.EWF and Lionel Richie, who fronted the Commodores until 1983, before embarking on a successful solo career, will set out on a joint tour from this August, dubbed Sing A Song, All Night Long.
Joy McKean, the Australian singer, songwriter and country music scene builder who, along with her husband, the late Slim Dusty, formed one of this nation’s great creative partnerships, died Thursday (May 25) following a battle with cancer. She was 93.
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“Joy passed away peacefully last night with family by her side,” reads a message from her family, issued Friday (May 26).
A trailblazer in the country scene, McKean enjoyed a career spanning more than 70 years, and composed some of the genre’s most celebrated songs, from “The Biggest Disappointment” to “Ringer from the Top End,” “Walk a Country Mile,” “Indian Pacific” and “Lights on the Hill,” an award-winning hit for her husband Slim Dusty, whom she married in 1951. Many others have covered the song, including Keith Urban.
Lauded as the “grand lady” of Australian country, McKean made cut her teeth in the 1940s and ‘50s, working alongside her sister Heather — as the McKean Sisters.
Joy McKean in the 1950s. Courtesy Kirkpatrick Family
Courtesy Kirkpatrick Family
After teaming up with Dusty, Australian country music had its golden couple. McKean wrote many of Dusty’s iconic songs, managed him for half a century, and the pair toured relentlessly in regional and remote Australia, at a time when the perceived role of women was that of home-maker.
With McKean as his support, muse and collaborator, Dusty released more than 100 albums and sold over eight million copies. Dusty died in 2003, aged 76.
McKean’s trophy collection is almost as impressive as her songbook. She’s a two-time inductee into the Australasian Country Music Roll of Renown and winner of the Industry Achiever Award, bestowed on her by the Country Music Association of Australia, which she co-founded back in 1992. She’s a winner of seven Golden Guitar awards, including the very first statue, won at the inaugural Tamworth Country Music Awards back in 1973.
In 1991, McKean was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for “service to the entertainment industry,” and, 30 years later, in 2021, was the recipient of the Ted Albert Award for Outstanding Services to Australian Music, one of the music industry’s highest honors. She said of the salute, “after what has been a lifetime of working in the music industry, and loving just about every minute of it, I find it fascinating to reflect on the changes that have taken place.” On the night, the award was presented by her children Anne and David Kirkpatrick.
Joy is survived by her two children, four grandchildren, and six great grandchilden. “She will be remembered as a pioneer in Australian music,” reads the statement from her family.
Australia’s music community is paying tribute to the country music legend.
“Where do I start about this beautiful woman, your songs will always be the melodies that makes my heart sing,” writes homegrown country star Troy Cassar-Daley. “Your emails always like a hand written note of encouragement and love.” He adds, “thank you for being the best yard stick a man can ask for.”
Joy McKean,Where do I start about this beautiful woman, your songs will always be the Melodies that makes my heart sing,Your emails always like a hand written note of encouragement and love.♥️ to Anne & David & kids thank you for being the best yard stick a man can ask for xx pic.twitter.com/AEQOKml8YN— Troy Cassar-Daley (@troycassardaley) May 26, 2023
“Vale Joy McKean OAM, the ‘Grand Lady of Country Music’, who has passed away at age 93,” reads a post from APRA AMCOS. “We extend our condolences to Joy’s family, friends and many fans. She will be greatly missed.”
Vale Joy McKean OAM, the ‘Grand Lady of Country Music’, who has passed away at age 93. We extend our condolences to Joy’s family, friends and many fans. She will be greatly missed.https://t.co/gQ7adMCdeU— APRA AMCOS (@APRAAMCOS) May 26, 2023
ARIA Award-winning country artist Fanny Lumsden writes, “What an icon. Someone I didn’t even realize I was following in the path of until quite recently. (I know, shameful). But will I will draw strength from as I continue to play halls throughout regional aus, sharing stories, running a business & a family. Thank you Joy.”
Joy McKean. What an icon. Someone I didn’t even realise I was following in the path of until quite recently. (I know, shameful). But will I will draw strength from as I continue to play halls throughout regional aus, sharing stories, running a business & a family. Thank you Joy— Fanny Lumsden (@Fannylumsden) May 26, 2023
Bill Lee — a well-regarded jazz musician who accompanied such artists as Bob Dylan, Simon and Garfunkel and Harry Belafonte as well as scoring four of his son Spike Lee’s early films, including the hit Do the Right Thing and two songs for Jungle Fever — has died. He was 94. Explore Explore See latest […]