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News from the darkest corners of the musical universe:
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Sunday, August 17, 2008 ◦
Ronnie Drew, the legendary Irish folk singer and musician, has died at the age of 73, his family has announced. Drew, the founder of The Dubliners, had been battling ill health for some time.
In a brief statement, his family confirmed he passed away at St Vincent's Private Hospital in Dublin at 1400 BST on Saturday.
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Friday, August 15, 2008 ◦
Don Helms, the steel guitarist whose aching instrumental cry gave musical voice to the anguish and the joy in virtually all the key recordings by country music titan Hank Williams, died Monday in Nashville, apparently of a heart attack. He was 81.
Helms, the last surviving member of Williams' band, the Drifting Cowboys, played at Williams' side for the better part of a decade, from 1943 until his death at age 29 on the way to a New Year's Day 1953 performance in Canton, Ohio.
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Monday, August 11, 2008 ◦
Isaac Hayes passed away yesterday (August 10) in Memphis after being found unconscious near a treadmill in his home. He was 65.
Hayes was discovered by his wife, son and his wife's cousin who returned home from buying groceries to find him on the floor of a downstairs bedroom. After being taken to hospital, Hayes was pronounced dead.
Born August 20, 1942, in Covington, TN, Isaac Hayes was orphaned as a baby and was brought up by his grandparents in a poor rural environment where the family raised their own food.
At 21, Hayes joined the Stax Records family in Memphis and his first paid sessions were as a pianist with Otis Redding in 1964. Going on to work with Booker T And The MGs, The Bar-Kays and Rufus Thomas, Hayes performed as a session musician with a string of acts that created what became known as the Memphis Sound.
His most famous collaboration proved to be 'Soul Man' which he co-wrote for Sam And Dave. The track had been inspired by the African-American Civil Rights Movement and specifically Hayes seeing coverage of the 12 Street Detroit Riot on television. He noted that African-American owned and operated institutions were marked with the word "soul" so that rioters did not destroy them.
Hayes' 1969 solo album 'Hot Buttered Soul' was groundbreaking. The record put him on the map thanks to his unique style, which introduced new music directions, from his rap-vocals to longer songs.
It was his 1971 album 'Shaft' that shot Hayes to stardom. As the soundtrack to the movie of the same name, the album was the first record by a solo black artist to reach the top of both the R&B and Pop charts, winning an Academy Award for Best Original Song and landing three Grammy Awards and a Golden Globe. The album stayed in the charts for 16 months.
In addition to his music, Hayes forged a successful career as an actor, with roles in over 30 movies including 'Robin Hood: Men In Tights', 'It Could Happen To You' and 'Reindeer Games'.
His TV career also flourished as the voice of Nickelodeon's 'Nick At Nite' and acting roles in 'The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air', 'Sliders', 'Tales From The Crypt' and 'Girlfriends'.
In 1997 he landed the voice of Chef on animated TV show 'South Park', voicing the popular character from the show's inception until 2006. In character, he scored a UK Number single in 1999 with 'Chocolate Salty Balls (PS I Love You)'.
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Sunday, August 10, 2008 ◦
Musician Isaac Hayes - who wrote the theme song for "Shaft" - died early this morning in a Memphis hospital.
According to WMC, a Shelby County sheriff's deputy responded to call from Hayes' wife after she found him on the floor near a treadmill inside their home.
Hayes was taken to Baptist East Hospital in Memphis, and was pronounced dead at 2:08 AM. Cops are investigating, but do not believe foul play was a factor.
More details later.
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Monday, August 04, 2008 ◦
WFMU.org reports: Lou Teicher, one-half of legendary piano duo Ferrante & Teicher , passed away yesterday at 83. His manager, Scott Smith, said that "Lou's death was unexpected -- the result of a heart attack at Lou and [wife] Betty's summer home in North Carolina." F&T were the 1,600-lb. gorillas of snoozemeistering schmaltz non-intrusive musical wallpaper that was paradoxically ignorable yet sold billions.
However, their 1950s prepared piano pop (released on a half-dozen LPs before the duo achieved commercial success) was groundbreaking and still sounds ear-bending. During this developmental period, the Juilliard grads were renowned for experimental performance techniques and atonal modalities. Their prepared piano (a phrase coined by John Cage) involved wedging wood, metal, and debris in the piano strings to mute tones and create percussive effects. They would also reach into the piano frame during a duet and dampen strings with their fingers.
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