R.I.P.: The Noughties' Unsung Obits
Music suffered an endless amount of blows this decade in terms of passings; it's painful to see how many great and influential people passed away. This post is a humble effort to commemorate some of the most important music people that did not receive their due, either because they weren't as appreciated as they should have been, or because their work was not known outside their genre. After researching this I am left with feelings of intense sadness, but also fury, because it became evident just how much the world's collective sorrow is saved for less deserving individuals (I shall name no names 'cause I'm a lady on Wednesdays).
So let's take a moment to remember or even get introduced to some of the people that changed the face of music, and whose contribution cannot be described adequately with mere words.
2000
Kirsty MacColl, pop and folk singer-songwriter.
Ian Dury, singer, lyricist, actor, and founder, frontman, & lead singer of the New Wave band Ian Dury and the Blockheads.
Jack Nitzsche, arranger, producer, songwriter and film score composer.
Tito Puente, Latin Jazz and Mambo musician, aka "The King of Latin Music".
2001
Chet Atkins, country guitarist and co-creator of the Nashville sound
James Carr, extraordinary Rhythm & Blues and soul musical artist.
2002
Dave Van Ronk, folk singer and guitar artist, with an uncannily ability at improvisation.
2003
Ruben Gonzalez and Compay Segundo, pianist and trova guitarist respectively in Buena Vista Social Club.
Warren Zevon, rock singer-songwriter & musician, known for songs that were often humorous and with a political theme.
Celia Cruz, Cuban salsa singer, aka "Queen of Salsa".
Dave Dudley, country singer and the patron saint of truck drivin' men.
2004
Mac Dre, rapper, one of the originators of "The Hyphy Movement", and creator of Thizz music.
Robert Quine, of Richard Hell and The Voidoids, guitarist, known for his innovative guitar solos, and collaborations with Lou Reed, Brian Eno, Marianne Faithfull, Tom Waits, and more.
2005
Laurel Aitken, singer and one of the originators of Jamaican ska music (aka "Godfather of ska'').
Robert Moog, pioneer of electronic music, and inventor of the Moog synthesizer.
Ibrahim Ferrer, singer and musician in Buena Vista Social Club.
2006
Billy Preston, rhythm and blues musician.
Arthur Lee, frontman, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist of Love.
Syd Barrett, singer-songwriter, guitarist & artist, and founding member of Pink Floyd.
Grant McLennan, singer-songwriter and co-founder of The Go-Betweens
Nikki Sudden, singer-songwriter and guitarist, and co-founder of Swell Maps
Rogerio Duprat, Brazilian composer, musician, and record producer, highly assosiacted with the movement of Tropicalia.
Anita ODay, American jazz singer.
Perry Henzell, director of the first Jamaican feature film, The Harder They Come.
Wilson Pickett, R&B/rock and roll and soul singer and songwriter known for his passionate vocal delivery.
J. Dilla, extremely influential record producer and rapper.
2007
Hilly Kristal, American club owner and musician who was the owner of the iconic NYC club, CBGB.
Karlheinz Stockhausen, German composer, known for his ground-breaking work in electronic music.
2008
Isaac Hayes, singer-songwriter, actor and musician, and one of the main creative forces behind Stax Records.
Static Major, R&B singer, also played a significant part in the success of Aaliyah, Ginuwine, and many more.
MC Breed, rapper; he put the Detroit hip-hop scene on the map.
2009
Jack Rose, guitarist and founding member of the noise/drone band Pelt.
Larry Knechtel, keyboardist and bassist, his session work includes collaborations with The Beach Boys, The Doors, & Elvis Presley.
Jerry Fuchs, indie rock drummer, member of the bands The Juan Maclean, !!! and Maserati, & live drummer for MSTRKRFT and LCD Soundsystem.
This post came to life with the valuable help of Troy, Dell, Tyler, Bill, Jonh, Zoë, and Chris. Many thanks; I know you're feeling this.
Locating MOG account...
Comments (37)
You know more people than I do Anna, most of those names I don't know. :P That Jerry Fuchs story though, my goodness, that had me sleeping bad for days. There was something about that story that just seems so... I don't know. The ease of how your life can be taken away, and the ease of how you can make bad decisions while at that moment thinking it is the right decision, I guess that is what unsettled me.
Nah, I researched this! And I'm glad I did, these are people we should know; might seem too late now, but this really is a case of better late than never.
And I agree, the tragedy of Fuchs' death was breath-taking...
Did more people die than usual this decade?! I'm getting depressed looking at this (well-made) list!
I had to go back and read about Jerry Fuchs. Ugh, that's awful.
Scott... I know! I tried to listen to some music to feel better but most of my stuff is depressing, so that didn't help.
Dale, yup... just heart-breaking.
well done anna!
-zoë
Very nice props to everyone here; I was also sad about the deaths of Jim Carroll (September) and Haydain Neale of Jacksoul (November).
Living up North with all that rain is getting to you isn't it?
.
Did you have some candles lit while you where researching?
Thank you very much, Zoë!
Cheers, Darla!
True dat, true dat...
Neill, gloom with a view, baby!
Nah... but I did have a big bowl of respect for breakfast (with brandy cream).
Thanks for the list of the lost. Our lives are diminished with their passing. I had posted Master Kan's passing a while back but have since lost the post, so I'll tag along here with your permission..
From Wiki:
Ali Akbar Khan (Bengali: আলী আকবর খাà¦) (14 April 1922 - 18 June 2009), often referred to as Khansahib or by the title Ustad (master), was a Hindustani classical musician of the Maihar gharana, known for his virtuosity in playing the sarod. Khan was instrumental in popularizing Indian classical music in the West, both as a performer (often in conjunction with Sitar maestro Ravi Shankar), and as a teacher. He established a music school in Calcutta in 1956, and the Ali Akbar College of Music in 1967, which is now located in San Rafael, California and has a branch in Basel, Switzerland. Khan also composed several classical ragas and filmscores. He was a Distinguished Adjunct Professor of Music at the University of California, Santa Cruz.
Trained as a musician and instrumentalist by his father, Allauddin Khan, Khan first came to America in 1955 on the invitation of violinist Yehudi Menuhin and later settled in California. Khan was nominated for five Grammy Awards and was accorded India's second highest civilian honor, the Padma Vibhushan, in 1989. He has also won a MacArthur Fellowship and the National Endowment for the Arts's National Heritage Fellowship.
This has been an interesting decade, that's for sure Anna. So many great people have died(including my best friend earlier this year).
I'm surprised that I know of as many of these people as I do. I was the first to post on mog about Kirsty MacColl too. So many talented artists! Didn't know J. Dilla was also a rapper but I did know that he has been instrumental in shaping Erykah Badu's sound since he produced various songs of hers.
From Wiki:
Waylon Arnold Jennings (June 15, 1937 - February 13, 2002)
Johnny Cash (February 26, 1932-September 12, 2003),
Valerie June Carter Cash (June 23, 1929 - May 15, 2003)
Lee Hazlewood (born Barton Lee Hazlewood[1] July 9, 1929 - August 4, 2007
Erick Lee Purkhiser (October 21, 1946 - February 4, 2009), better known as Lux Interior, of the Cramps
Ronald Frank Asheton (July 17, 1948 - c. January 6, 2009)of The Stooges
Billy Lee Riley (October 5, 1933 - August 2, 2009)Sun Rocabilly artist
Willy DeVille (August 25, 1950 - August 6, 2009)
I can't believe I missed some of these! Ian Dury, and, unbelievably, Billy Preston! You missed Ron Asheton, though, so I don't feel that bad lol. Great post, Anna!!
George Harrison, 2001
John Lee Hooker, 2001
Barry White, 2003
Thank you for reading, guys. It's been such a tough decade...
Oh gosh: http://mog.com/blog_post/content/1431/1649164
Robert Ward,2008
Eddie Bo, 2009
Odetta, 2008
The Godfather of Soul died a couple of Christmases ago. Way too much talent has gone to join the house band at The Great Gig In The Sky.
True indeed..The GFOS passed away just after I joined MOG..my obit
You still haven't mentioned
Sam Phillips (at Sun Records he was the midwife of rock'n'roll - died 30th July 2003)
Jerry Wexler (Atlantic Records supremo - died 15th August 2008)
Clement Seymour Dodd (the leading producer in Jamaica - died 5th May 2004)
Wycliffe "Steely" Johnson (dancehall musician/producer - died 1st September 2009)
Ellis "Bo Diddley" McDaniel
Levi "Stubbs" Stubbles
Norman Whitfield
Stanley Beckford (mento and country reggae veteran)
Sonny Bradshaw
Alton Nehemiah Ellis
Les Paul
John Martyn
Joe Gibbs
Joe Zawinul
Lucky Dube
I thought it was supposed to be about unsung people..but let's see if we can list every single person that left us..I was kind of offended Isaac Hayes was on this list:)
Sung to some is not to others. Along with Wexler, Tom Dowd and Ahmet Ertegun need to be mentioned....
2009
David Fathead Newman, saxaphonist, Ray Charles band, 75
Hank Crawford, saxophonist, Ray Charles musical director, 74
Dan Seals of England Dan & John Ford Coley, 61
Maurice Jarre, French composer/Academy Award Winner, 84
John Mayhew, Genesis drummer, 61
2008
Jimmy Carl Black- drummer,Frank Zappa & The Mothers of Invention,70
2002
Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes
Just to keep the ball rolling..
Cody, offended, nah! :P Trust me on that one.
Needless to say, the post needed to be narrowed down so that it would be readable and not encyclopedia like. I did use the word ''some'' in my post, Baudolino ;)
But hey, comment section is a whooooole other thing.
/quote maniacal laughter
We will keep the spirit of death alive, o evil one!
My Mom, granted, she was not a musician, nor a pioneer, but she was definately more important to this earth than anyone else on this list.
She brough you all Ghost! And she brought me happiness.
RIP Mom, miss ya.
Evelyn Elizabeth Moore
Feb 14 1936 - Oct 24 2009
Sax Player for DMB also, can't recall his name.
Hey Ghost... I'm really sorry to hear that :(
Please accept my condolences...
RIP --
2003 -- my dad -- miss talking and calling you.
2007
Boots Randolph (Elvis' sax player and Nashville legend)
2009
Bruce Allen (Guitarist fort The Suburbs)
The love and consideration you have put into compiling this list is wonderful and admirable.
Spiritual hugs to Dean Turner- the 37-year-old bassist and founding member of much loved Australian band Magic Dirt.
Grant McLennan has left a great legacy here. The city of Brisbane has renamed the Hale Street Link Bridge which spans the Brisbane river connecting Milton and South Brisbane to the "Go Betweens Bridge". How lovely is that?
A Go-Betweens tribute record -" Write Your Adventures Down" is a great listen if anyone gets the chance.
Cardinals Bassist Chris "Spacewolf" Feinstein's sudden death last week is a rough kick rounding off the year.
2008-John Stewart, most famous for the top 5 hit "Gold" in 1979, writing "Daydream Believer" and membership in The Kingston Trio. One of the greatest singer-songwriters ever with dozens of great albums and thousands of mesmerizing live performances to his credit, one of the pioneers of "Americana"
2009-Jim Dickinson producer, performer, worked with Dylan, The Stones, Aretha, Big Star, The Replacements, Ry Cooder and many more-father of two of the North Mississippi All-Stars
Owww funoka, I'm so sorry to hear that :( May your father rest in peace...
Thank you so much, t-bird. I was feeling a big responsibility when I was writing this, and I'm glad to know that I handled it as respectfully as I could only hope to.
And thank you all for mentioning more artists; it means a lot.
I'm afraid one more artist joined that choir in the sky: http://mog.com/blog_post/content/733/1661812
This decade just keeps on dealing musical blows.
Rick Wright-Pink Floyd
2003 - Elliott Smith. It's still so freaking sad.
Brutal, brutal, brutal...and that's not even counting the personal losses we all faced. We're here though. Carry on, people!