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A Phil Brodie Band Muso Page
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BIRTHS/DEATHS:
JAN .FEB .MAR .APRIL .MAY .JUNE .JULY .AUG .SEPT .OCT .NOV .DEC
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OBITUARIES:
. 2013 . 2012 . 2011 . 2010 . 2009 . 2008 . 2007 . 2006 . 2005 . 2004 . REQUESTS
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MEMORIALS
" Let us remember the great talent each possessed "
Gene Dinwiddie
September 19th 1936 ~ January 11th 2002
Gene Dinwiddie, born in Louisville, later nicknamed "Brother" played with various bands and jammed with the likes of Roscoe Mitchell and Amina Claudine Myers, for over a decade and a half before he got a big break in 1967. This happened when Paul Butterfield inspired by his mentor Junior Parker, formed a "big band". Soon after he asked Gene, by then a highly respected blues and jazz man, to arranged the brass section to join the band. This included Brother Gene himself, Trevor Lawrence, David Sanborn, Steve Madeo, they made a huge impact on the band, and brought them media attention. Gene appeared at both legendary festivals, the '67 Monterey Pop Festival, and at Woodstock in 1969, where his outstanding performance in "Love March" helped make it an instant hit, and also made it the band's anthem. He toured and recorded with the band for over 3 years. A must of Gene from this era, is the Butterfield Blues Band's supurb "Live" album, from the opening notes to the last, Gene's input and influence is felt throughout the album. He also played and recorded with the James Cotton Blues Band in it's early days, his experience helped them on their way to become the band they are known today. Throughout the 70's, 80's & 90's Gene freelanced, arranging brass sections or playing solo with many artists including Greg Allman, Cher, B.B. King, Melissa Manchester, Jackie Lomax, Keith Johnson, Phillip Wilson, Bugsy Maugh, Steve Madaio, Trevor Lawrence, Venetta Fields, Clydie King, David Sanborn, Geoff & Maria Muldaur, Lightnin' Rod, the band Crackin' and Etta James including her 1990's "Stickin' to My Guns". He was also a major member of the group Full Moon during this time too. Gene played all the saxophones, the flute, the mandolin, but is most famed for his tenor playing. He also composed, "Cafe Black Rose" on the Lightinin’ Rod "Hustler’s Convention" album, later covered by Beck. He was a musician who put so much hard work and so much of himself into many projects, but, sadly Gene Dinwiddie passed away in La Puente, Los Angeles, Californiain in 2002, and like too many great musicians .. virtually unnoticed.
Son House
March 21st 1902 ~ September 7th 1966
Blues legend and pioneer Son House sadly died of cancer of the larynx
American blues singer and guitarist, a pioneer of an innovative style featuring strong, repetitive rhythms, often played with the aid of slide guitar, and his singing often incorporated elements of southern gospel and spiritual music. Son was born Eddie James House Jr in Riverton, Mississippi, but raised in Tallulah, Louisiana, and at 15 he began a preaching career. Son became more and more drawn to the blues, inspired by the work of Willie Wilson by his mid 20s he had taught himself guitar. He began playing alongside his good friend Willie Brown, Charley Patton, Robert Johnson and Fiddlin' Joe Martin around Robinsonville MI, and north to Memphis, Tennessee, until 1942. His first recordings were for Paramount in Grafton Wisconsin in 1930; My Black Mama, Dry Spell Blues, Preachin' The Blues and an unreleased version of Walking Blues. Lyrically and musically they were masterpieces. He recorded again in the very early 40s including The Jinx Blues, Levee Camp Blues, Government Fleet Blues, Shetland Pony Blues, Fo'Clock Blues and Camp Hollers. When his dear friend and musical partner Willie Brown died, Son totally gave up playing guitar and left his music life behind. Luckily in the 60s he was tracked down by blues afficianodos Dick Waterman, Nick Perls and Phil Spiro. Al Wilson of Canned Heat helped Son back into saddle and soon he was again playing professionally. Over the next 10 years he appeared at all the world top festivals, Newport Folk Festival, the New York Folk Festival, the Montreux Jazz Festival to mention a few. He toured extensively in the States and Europe and in 1965 he recorded some powerful tracks, Death Letter Blues, Preachin' Blues, Grinnin' In Your Face and more. In the summer of 1970, while touring Europe, including an appearance at the Montreux Jazz Festival and his recording of his London concerts was released by Liberty Records. Sadly Son's health deteriorated, in 1974 he was forced to retired. He later moved to Detroit, where he remained until his death. Son was an important influence on the likes of Muddy Waters, Howling Wolf, Robert and Tommy Johnson. A seminal Delta blues figure, he remains influential today, with his music being covered by blues-rock groups such as The White Stripes and slide player John Mooney has combined Son's Delta style with power trio Rock and New Orleans R&B to carry Son's tradition into the 21st Century. Several of Son's songs were also featured in the 2006 film soundtrack "Black Snake Moan".
Buddy Holly
September 7th 1936 ~ February 3rd 1959
The legendary 22 year old singer-songwriter, multi-musician, Buddy Holly died tragically in an airplane crash shortly after take-off from Clear Lake, Iowa. He left a loving family including his young wife Maria Elena. Although Buddy's success lasted only a year and a half before his death, he is described by critic Bruce Eder as "the single most influential creative force in early rock and roll"
Born Charles Hardin Holley in Lubbock, Texas, into a musical family, he was always known as Buddy to his family and he learned to play piano, guitar and fiddle as a young boy. During the fall of 1949 he met Bob Montgomery at Hutchinson Junior High School, they teamed up as "Buddy and Bob". Initially influenced by bluegrass music, they sang harmony duets at local clubs and high school talent shows. Buddy turned to rock music after seeing Elvis Presley sing live in Lubbock in early 1955. Later that year, Buddy opened on the same bill with Elvis, also in Lubbock. His transition to rock continued when he opened for Bill Haley & His Comets at a local rock show organized by Eddie Crandall, who was also the manager for Marty Robbins. As a result of this performance, on February 8, 1956, Decca Records signed him to a contract, on which his last name was misspelled as "Holly". That spelling was then adopted for his professional career. He formed his own band, though at that time it had no name, it would later be called the Crickets. He released 3 singles "That'll Be The Day", in an octive higher than the one we know, "Blue Days, Black Nights" and "Modern Don Juan", of which all failed to make an impression. Decca did not renew his contract. Buddy signed on as a solo artist with another Decca subsidiary, Coral Records. This put him in the unusual position of having two record contracts at the same time. On May 27, "That'll Be The Day" was released as a single, credited to the Crickets to bypass Decca's legal rights. Buddy Holly with the Crickets went on to have a string of hits including "Peggy Sue" "Everyday", "Rave On", "Not Fade Away", "Oh Boy", "Heartbeat", "It Doesn't Matter Anymore", "Raining In My Heart", "True Loves Ways", "Brown Eyed Handsome Man", "Bo Diddley" and others. When The Crickets split up in late 1958. Buddy and his new wife Maria settled in Greenwich Village, New York, in the new Brevoort apartment block at 9th Street and Fifth Avenue. It was in New York that he recorded the series of acoustic songs, including "Crying, Waiting, Hoping" and "What to Do", known as the "Apartment Tapes", which were released after his death. Buddy was offered the Winter Dance Party by the GAC agency, a three-week tour across the Midwest covering 24 cities opening on January 23, 1959, with other notable performers such as Dion and the Belmonts, Ritchie Valens, and J. P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson. He took the tour while waiting for monies owed him from his ex-manager Norman Petty. So Buddy assembled a backing band consisting of Tommy Allsup (guitar), Waylon Jennings (bass) and Carl Bunch (drums) and billed was as The Crickets. Tragically Buddy died in a plane crash shortly after take-off from Clear Lake, Iowa. The plane a single-engined Beechcraft Bonanza was hired after his tour bus developed heating problems while travelling to Fargo, North Dakota, for the next show on their Winter Dance Party Tour. Buddy was a pioneer of rock and roll, his works and innovations inspired and influenced both his contemporaries and later musicians, notably The Beatles, The Beach Boys, The Rolling Stones, and Bob Dylan, and exerted a profound influence on popular music. Bruce Springsteen said in an interview with Rolling Stone Mag "I play Buddy Holly every night before I go on; that keeps me honest." Buddy was in the first group of inductees to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986. In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked Holly No.13 among "The Fifty Greatest Artists of All Time".
Oliver Sain
March 1st 1932 ~ October 28th 2003
Saxophone player, band leader, songwriter, producer, studio owner and all-around St. Louis music legend, Oliver Sain, sadly died at the age of 71 from a bone cancer that had followed on from a previous bladder cancer he developed in 1995.
Oliver Sain was born in Dundee, Mississippi, into a musical family with his pianist stepfather Willie Love, and his grandfather was guitarist Dan Sane. Oliver developed his skills as a saxophone player, as a boy, making his own horns - bugles and trumpets. Oliver's influences were mainly Charlie Parker and Louis Jordan. He also played drums and piano and like many musicians he cut his teeth playing around his home town with other teenage musicians and listening to the greats. In 1950 he was drafted into the Army serving one year of the two in Korea.. Soon after he was playing drums with artists such as Sonny Boy Williamson, and Howlin' Wolf, and he also played with Elmore James and Little Milton where he was front man in the horn section; it was in in these early days he met up with Ike Turner too. Oliver moved to St. Louis in 1959. His first recording was with Little Milton; a song he wrote himself "Same old blues", in the old Technisonic studio on the Bobbin label, then moved on to writing songs and recording for other artists on the Bobbin record label, Albert King, Fontella Bass, Howling Wolf, Barbara Carr, Bobby McClure. In 1966 he set up his own recording studio called the Archway Studio on Natural Bridge Boulevard in St. Louis. He started recording lots of Blues & Gospel, and the likes Ike and Tina, Cleophus Robinson, the O'Neal twins, Zella Jackson Price, David Dee and course his own hits. Over the years nearly every musical style has been recorded there, from Phil Perry's smooth vocal group The Montclairs, to avant-gardist Julius Hemphill's Coon Bid-ness and from to Loretta Lynn to Puff Diddy! During the 1970's Oliver became popular on the dancefloor with hits such as 'Bus Stop', 'Booty Bumpin', 'Party Hearty' and 'Feel Like Dancing'. He struck a chord with fusion fans with his 1981 album entitled 'So Good (In The Morning)', an album that contained the popular melody 'Cruisin On Sunset'. In 1995, he had a cameo role in the crime thriller "Cover Story". Apart from his busy studio life, Oliver toured extensively throughout his life with his band around the States and Europe. He performed, live, right up until his passing; 1994 he was diagnosed with cancer of the bladder, but the illness did little to slow him down and he remained an institution of the St. Louis live music circuit, playing each Thursday evening at BB's Jazz, Blues & Soups until his death. In the months prior to his death he was working on a new album, of all his writings - still unreleased. One of his big wishes was for St. Louis to promoter their music. QUOTE: "Not enough Dixieland! And this is a river town! They (city leaders) should have street musicians everywhere, but instead they sell everything but music! I think the future of St. Louis blues music looks good, but we need to get younger talent involved, although I see a lot of younger musicians are latchin' on and learnin' to play the blues. The blues in St. Louis are strong; people want to hear this music, but we need to promote the great talent in this city more. The city fathers don't value blues like they do in Memphis and New Orleans. Those cities sell their music as part of their product and St. Louis needs to do the same. But here it's not like that. They don't care! they're strictly politicians". Oliver Sain exerted an influence on the evolution of St. Louis soul and R&B that is rivaled only by that of his close friend and infrequent collaborator Ike Turner.
Robert Quine
December 30th 1942 ~ May 31st 2004
Daring, groundbreaking punk guitarist Robert Quine, was sadly found dead in his New york apartment.
The 61 year old musician died of a heroin overdose Memorial Day weekend. He had been suffering severe depression after the recent death of his wife and did not want life without her.
Robert Quine was born in Akron, OH, he started learning the piano, his early influences included James Burton, Ritchie Valens, and Buddy Holly. In 1958, he got a guitar and by the time he enrolled at Earlham College in Richmond, IN, he was playing Link Wray and Ventures covers with a local band. Soon Robert turned to the blues of John Lee Hooker and Lightnin' Hopkins and jazz players like John Coltrane, Miles Davis before getting into the rougher R&B sounds of the Rolling Stones. As a college student, he hosted a radio programme where he concentrated on blues and later jazz music. Robert first saw the Velvet Underground while he was studying law at Washington University in St. Louis, MO, in 1969 and became an immediate fan. . He moved to San Francisco in late '69 and struck up a friendship with the Velvets. Robert did not like the Californian music scene and in 1971 he moved to New York where he met up with Richard Hell. When Richard Hell formed a new band, Robert joined him and Richard Hell & the Voidoids was born. The band became one of the most popular and acclaimed bands on New York's budding punk rock scene, they recieved rave reviews and critics soon singled out Robert's gritty but stylish lead guitar for special praise. In 1982 Robert joined the Lou Reed band and features on The Blue Mask album. Lou and Robert worked on and off on a few projects over the years between the two strong character clashes. In 1985 he become a much in demand, some say choosey, studio musician, prefering to play in the shadows with the musicians he wanted to work with and liked to record with, rather than touring. Although sadly (and wrongly) this made Robert an overlooked guitar player in the media. He went on to record with the likes of Tom Waits; Scritti Politti; Wiseblood; John Zorn; Brian Eno; Marianne Faithfull; Matthew Sweet; Lloyd Cole; Matthew Sweet; Dim Stars; Suzanne Rhatigan; Hal Willner; The Odds; Sion; They Might Be Giants; Mike Mainieri; Mikel Erentxun; Material; Corin Curschellas; Reiss; Material; Kazuyoshi Saito; The Odds; Wayne Kramer; Andre Williams; The Velvet Underground; Lloyd Cole; Richard Hell; Michael DuClos; Tom Clark and the High Action Boys; Lys Guillorn; Linda Lunch; Fred Maher and many others. Sadly Robert's wife, Alice, died unexpectedly in August 2003 and he fell into a deep depression. Robert could not live without his beloved Alice and was tragically found dead in his apartment 5 days after his second suicide attempt. Rock critic and friend Lester Bangs once said of him: "Someday Quine will be recognized for the pivotal figure that he is on his instrument — he is the first guitarist to take the breakthroughs of early Lou Reed and James Williamson and work through them to a new, individual vocabulary, driven into odd places by obsessive attention to On the Corner-era Miles Davis."
James "Jimmy" Garrett
1927 ~ March 5th 1993
James Garrett was the music director and road bassist with the Supremes who helped them develop from a narrow rock style into the top female group in popular music history. Mr. Garrett, 66, died of complications of diabetes in Teaneck, N.J. He is survived by his wife, a son James of Ontario, Calif.; daughters, Shirley Jackson and Anita of Cleveland and Grace of Dover, Del.; two sisters; three brothers; nine grandchildren; and seven great-grandchildren.
SORRY I CANNOT
FIND A PHOTO OF THIS
SADLY FORGOTTEN ~ MOTOWN MUSICIAN
Jimmy was born in Cleveland and spent part of his childhood in Detroit and Chicago. He played in the band at old Central High School and studied at the Cleveland Institute of Music. He also attended military music school and played with a Navy band in Washington, D.C., during World War II. After the war Jimmy played with blues man Robert Lockwood Jr. and studied with many top jazz bass players, including the legendary Oscar Pettiford. During the 1950s, he played in leading Cleveland jazz clubs including the Tia Juana, Town Casino and Cedar Gardens. He accompanied and traveled with top musicians, including Charlie (Yardbird) Parker, John Coltrane, Dizzy Gillespie and Billie Holiday. He played with Ray Charles at a bar near Mr. Garrett's home at E. 69th St. and Cedar Ave. While in New York City in 1961 his future wife, Ella, hired him to back her while she sang at the famed Small's Paradise in Harlem. "He also played with Count Basie every Sunday and whatever bass players were in town came just to watch him work," Ella Garrett said. Jimmy Garrett joined Motown records in Detroit in 1962 and played with such greats as Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, the Temptations, George Benson, the Four Tops and Smokey Robinson. He was named music director of the Supremes while on tour with them in England. "Earlier directors had lacked his training and did not provide the versatile arrangements that Mr. Garrett did", his wife said. He also set trends in stage appearance when he arrived at Motown, she said. "He had a beard, but (Motown founder) Berry Gordy told him he had to shave. He said he would quit first. Pretty soon, everybody had beards, even Mr. Gordy," Ella Garrett recalled. In 1972, when Motown sadly moved to LA, Jimmy played on the "Today and Tonight" television shows, in Broadway musicals and with the Cab Calloway band. He toured the world and worked in Japan for more than a year. He performed during the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, South Korea. James 'Jimmy' Garrett received many awards for his musicianship as well as citations for the four times his groups played for the royal family in England. He had appeared in groups on the Ed Sullivan Show seven times. ~ with courtesy of cleveland.com
Roy Orbison
April 23rd 1936 ~ December 6th 1988
The legendary singer songwriter, guitarist, Roy Orbison, The Big O, the most unique voice in the history of rock n roll, sadly died of a fatal heart attack whilst visiting his mother in Nashville, He was 52.
Roy Kelton Orbison was born in Vernon, Texas, to Nadine and Orbie Lee. The music loving family moved to Fort Worth in 1943 to find work, 3 years later they moved to the small oil town of Wink. Roy had been given a guitar on his 6th birthday, his father and uncle helped teach him to play it. He wrote his first song "A Vow of Love" in 1944 while staying at his grandmothers. In 1945 he entered and won a contest on KVWC in Vernon and this led to his own radio show singing the same songs every Saturday. By the time Roy was 13 he had formed his own band "The Wink Westerners". The band appeared weekly on KERB radio in Kermit, Texas. Roy graduated from Wink High School in 1954. He attended North Texas State College in Denton, Texas for a year, and enrolled at Odessa Junior College in 1955 to study history and English. Roy also married Claudette in 1955, for who he wrote the song "Claudette". (a hit for The Everley Brothers) The band, now renamed "The Teen Kings" appeared weekly on local TV, where they met Johnny Cash, who put them in touch with his record producer, Sam Phillips, of Sun Records. Roy achieved his first commercial success with Sam Phillips in June 1956 with "Ooby Dooby", a song written by friends of Orbison from college. But Sun Records were more hillbilly than Roy, so staying with his love, music, he took a job at Acuff-Rose Music in Nashville as a songwriter, and given a contract by RCA. In 1959 Bob Moore, who was a partner in Monument Records, played bass on Roy Orbison's final RCA recording session. During the session, Roy told Bob Moore he was being dropped by RCA. Bob told Roy not to worry about it and spoke his personal manager Wesley Rose and soon thereafter Roy signed with Monument records. Throughout his stay at Monument Records, his backup band was a group of outstanding studio musicians led by Bob Moore. Under Fred Fosters guidance Roy developed his own sound, his voice so distinctive & unique with a four-octave vocal range, never heard before or since in rock n roll. The early 60's see's Roy an international star, with chart topping tracks such as "Only The Lonely", "Running Scared", "Oh, Pretty Woman", "In Dreams", "Love Hurts", "Dream Baby", "Blue Angel", "Great Pretender", "Blue Bayou" "In Dreams", "Crying" and tours with the Beatles as his warm up band in 1963, The Beach Boys in 1964, and with The Rolling Stones in 1965, having a huge influence on all these bands. In 1963 he struck up a life long friendship with the Beatles, and it was Roy who encouraged them to tour America. Tragidy struck in 1966, he lost Claudette in a motorcycle accident, and two years later he lost 2 of his 3 sons in a house fire. He met his second wife, Barbara, in August 1968, in Leeds, England, and they were married in Nashville on May 25, 1969. Roy signed with MGM Records in 1966, starring in MGM Studios' western-musical motion picture The Fastest Guitar Alive. Throughout the 60's and early 70's Roy remained on the top, with many world wide hits. His 1972 rendition of "Danny Boy" is considered one of the best recordings ever made of this ever popular ballad. Roy continued to have a very strong fan base in Europe, but not so much in his native USA until the 80's. Late 70's sees him in poor health, Roy had triple heart bypass surgery on January 18, 1978. In 1980, he teamed up with Emmylou Harris to win the 1981 Grammy Award for Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with "That Lovin' You Feelin' Again". He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987, the induction speech made by Bruce Springsteen. His pioneering contribution was also recognized by the Rockabilly Hall of Fame. He re-recorded his 1961 hit song, "Crying," as a duet with k.d. lang in 1987 for the soundtrack of the motion picture, "Hiding Out". The song would earn the Grammy Award for Best Country Collaboration with Vocals. In the late 80's, Roy, Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Jeff Lynne and Tom Petty got together and formed the great band the Traveling Wilburys, His last appearance, a few days before his death, was at an awards ceremony in Antwerp, where Roy gave his only public rendition of the hit "You Got It". Many artists and bands have covered Roy’s songs, including Van Halen, Linda Ronstadt, Al Green, The Everly Brothers, Johnny Cash, Led Zeppelin, Count Basie, Dwight Yoakam, Buddy Holly, John Mellencamp, Kitty Wells, Chris Isaak, Waylon Jennings and Glen Campbell.
QUOTES: producer Don Was, commenting on Orbison's writing skills, said: "He defied the rules of modern composition"; Songwriter Bernie Taupin referred to him "Far ahead of the times, creating lyrics and music in a manner that broke with all traditions"; Will Jennings called him a "poet, a songwriter, a vision"; Barry Gibb of the Bee Gees referred to him as the "Voice of God"; and the great Elvis Presley proclaimed him "the greatest singer in the world".
George Harrison
February 24th 1943 ~ November 29th 2001
The great Beatle star, singer, songwriter, producer, actor, guitarist George Harrison sadly died at an undisclosed locacation in the hills surrounding Hollywood. George had been battling lung cancer which had spread to his brain. He was 58 & survived by his wife, Olivia Trinidad Arias & son, Dhani Harrison.
George Harrison was born in Liverpool, England, where he attended Dovedale Infants School, near Penny Lane, then attended Liverpool Institute for Boys (the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts). At school he was a loner and not the brightest student. It was here where he met Paul McCartney. By February of 1958 was playing lead guitar in the band called The Quarry Men that eventually became The Beatles. His early influences included Chuck Berry, Carl Perkins and Chet Atkins. After leaving school in 1959, he took a job as an apprentice electrician at Blacklers Stores in Liverpool. As a lead guitarist in the Beatles, George's guitar solos very retricted and controlled by Paul McCartney, at times note for note. If Paul wasn't doing this George Martin was, George never really had the freedom to be himself. He wrote his first song, "Don't Bother Me", in 1963, which appeared on the second Beatles album ('63s With the Beatles), on Meet the Beatles! in the US in early 1964, and also in A Hard Day's Night. After that, The Beatles did not record another Harrison song until 1965, when he contributed "I Need You" and "You Like Me Too Much" to the album Help!. George was the lead vocal on all the songs he wrote by himself. He also was the lead vocal on other songs, "Chains", "Do You Want to Know a Secret", Please Please Me, "Roll Over Beethoven", "Devil in Her Heart", With the Beatles, "I'm Happy Just to Dance With You" and "Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby". In 1965, while on tour in the US, David Crosby of The Byrds introduced George to Indian classical music. He was particually interested in the sitar, a Hindustani classical stringed instrument and the work of Ravi Shankar, with whom George later took lessons with on his own sitar. George used it in many songs, including "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)" and "Within You Without You". It was while The Beatles were in the Bahamas filming "Help!", each of them were presented with a book on riencarnation by a Hindu devotee. This expanded Georges interest in Indian culture. George and his then wife Pattie, spent several months in India, meeting various gurus and studying the sitar in more depth. On his return to UK, George and the other Beatles met Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, who introduced them all to Transcendental Meditation. In 1969, George produced the single "Hare Krishna Mantra", performed by himself with the devotees of the London Radha Krishna Temple, it was in the top 10 throughout the UK, Europe, and Asia. George embraced the Hare Krishna tradition, and remained associated with it until his death. By the late 60's Paul was dissatisfied with Georges guitar playing & bad friction had built up between them. But Lennon thought his song writing had become as good as Lennon and McCartneys. In 1969 George co-wrote "Badge" with Eric Clapton. Notable Harrison compositions from The Beatles' collection include "If I Needed Someone"; "I Want to Tell You", "Love You To", "Taxman" , "Within You Without You", "Blue Jay Way", "Only A Northern Song", "While My Guitar Gently Weeps", which was strongly influenced by the music of his friend Roy Orbison and featured lead guitar by Eric Clapton. "Something" and "Here Comes the Sun" (both from the album Abbey Road), are probably his two best-known Beatles songs. "Something" is considered one of his very best works, and was even covered by Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra, who famously deemed it "the greatest love song of the last 50 years". The Beatles finally split in 1970, George launched his solo career with the top selling "All Things Must Pass", the first triple album by a single artist in rock history. George was the first modern musician to organize a major charity concert. His Concert for Bangladesh on August 1, 1971, drew over 40,000 people to two shows in New York's Madison Square Garden with the intention of aiding the starving refugees from the war in Bangladesh. George brought 6 more albums out in the 70s, which produced 15 singles hits. He also worked with and wrote for Leon Russell, Badfinger, Eric Clapton, Billy Preston, Cheech & Chong and fellow Beatle Ringo Starr. The 80's sees George writing an autobiography, "I Me Mine" the only ex-Beatle to do so. After the murder of John Lennon, he modified the lyrics of a song he had written for Ringo Starr to make it a tribute song to Lennon, "All Those Years Ago". George was instrumental in forming the Traveling Wilburys with Roy Orbison, Jeff Lynne, Bob Dylan, and Tom Petty. They brought 2 albums out. Also the 80's sees him financially backing the Python film 'The Life of Brian' after EMI Films withdrew. He made several cameo appearances in movies, including appearing as a nightclub singer in Shanghai Surprise, and as Mr. Papadopolous in Life of Brian. One of his most memorable cameos was as a reporter in the cult Beatles parody The Rutles, created by ex-Python Eric Idle. He also made 3 more albums in the 80's and appeared on 9 hit singles. He toured Japan with Eric Clapton in 1991, this was Georges final tour.Throughout the 90's George battled with cancer, having tumors removed from his throat and lung. Then on 30 December 1999, a crazed fan, Michael Abram, broke into the Harrison's home in Henley-on-Thames, stabbed George multiple times, ultimately puncturing his lung. George and his wife, Olivia, fought the intruder and detained him for the police. 35-year-old Abram, who believed he was possessed by Harrison and was on a "mission from God" to kill him, was later acquitted on grounds of insanity. In 2001, George appeared as a guest musician on the Electric Light Orchestra album, Zoom, and wrote a new song, Horse To The Water, and recorded it with Jools Holland on what was his final recording, a few weeks before his death, on Jules's album, Small World, Big Band. "Brainwashed" was the final studio album by George Harrison and was released in 2002, a year after his death. In 2004, Brainwashed's "Marwa Blues" won the Best Pop Instrumental Performance Grammy
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OBITUARIES:
. 2013 . 2012 . 2011 . 2010 . 2009 . 2008 . 2007 . 2006 . 2005 . 2004 . REQUESTS
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BIRTHS/DEATHS:
JAN .FEB .MAR .APRIL .MAY .JUNE .JULY .AUG .SEPT .OCT .NOV .DEC
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If you have a special request ~ please email me
