Longtime Beatles associate Neil Aspinall, who left his post as the CEO of Apple Corps last year, has passed away, according to a statement from the surviving members of the band. More »
Mikey Dread–the Jamaican producer and DJ renown for his decades-long devotion to spreading reggae, dub, and dancehall–passed away in Connecticut on Saturday following a year-long battle with a brain tumor. Yet another Jamaican engineering student drawn to the country’s pop scene, Michael Campbell’s “Dread At The Controls” show on JBC radio quickly became essential listening during reggae’s ’70s heyday, so much so that word of Dread’s reputation soon reached reggae fans who had never even stepped onto the island; the show’s grass-roots appeal at home and abroad helped launch his own influential career as an artist and producer after unsuccessfully wrangling with JBC higher-ups over his dub-focused playlists.
Canadian blues guitarist Jeff Healey, best known south of the border for his 1989 hit “Angel Eyes,” died yesterday after a lifelong battle with retinal cancer that rendered him blind when he was a baby and eventually spread to the rest of his body. More »
Mike Smith, the singer and keyboard player for ’60s British rockers the Dave Clark Five, died of pneumonia this morning outside of London. More »
Drummer Buddy Miles, drummer for Jimi Hendrix during the guitarist’s turbulent but creatively fertile final years, died yesterday. More »
Larry Norman, often referred to as “The Father of Christian Rock”, died at age 60 on Sunday. The complimentary title bestowed on Norman sounds like the ultimate left-handed rock compliment, making it seem as if he spawned a parade of goateed chubby guys strumming acoustic guitars and singing about Jesus. But Norman, a renegade in a musical genre that often rejects those with any opinion whatsoever, merits a moment in the mainstream spotlight for a life well-lived and vastly underappreciated–and even more importantly, he deserves a lot more attention from the industry to which he gave birth.
Sad news for R&B fans today: Steve “Static Major” Garrett–close songwriting collaborator with Timbaland during his first creative flush, renowned producer in his own right, and member of Idolator fave Playa–died yesterday at 32. More »
In addition to Miles Davis aide de camp Teo Macero, another renowned producer passed away last week, Jamaican fixture Joe Gibbs, whose career stretched from the birth of rocksteady in the 1960s to the tip of modern dancehall. More »
Teo Macero, the cut-up whiz who helped Miles Davis edit his freewheeling ’60s and ’70s albums into partially (or wholly) collaged electric jazz masterpieces that continue to spark debate and cross-genre advocacy today, died on Tuesday in New York. More »
And from that headline, you probably figured that the Paul of whom I speak is not the freedom-loving guy who’s currently tussling with his ex-wife in court. More »
