Music Redef made a sad, sad list of 600 music-related deaths in 2020 and at least 70 artists and industry figures lost to the coronavirus. The list could have been even bigger, had it gone even deeper globally...
Armando Manzanero, the acclaimed Mexican songwriter and performer, has died aged 85 from Covid-19, CNN reports. Manzanero’s romantic crooner songs, sometimes translated into English, were performed by artists including Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley and Perry Como. He has written more than 400 songs and released more than 30 albums.
Tony Rice, a "giant of the acoustic guitar", and "the master bluegrass picker", has died at the age of 69 on Christmas morning, NPR reports. Rice, famous for the quick, fluid sounds was "the king of the flatpicked flattop guitar... I don’t know if a person can make anything more beautiful", Jason Isbell writes on his Twitter. Ricky Skaggs, who had performed and recorded with Rice, called him “the single most influential acoustic guitar player in the last 50 years”. Other tributes came from musician Béla Fleck and the comedian and longtime banjo player Steve Martin. Rice released dozens of albums, and he played with everyone from Jerry Garcia to Dolly Parton and received many honours.
Leslie West, the towering guitarist who created the hard-rock milestone 'Mississippi Queen' with his band Mountain, died aged 65, the New York Times reports. West was respected for his versatile playing - from fingerpicking to metallic power chords - and was revered by a new generation of guitar players who followed, like Eddie Van Halen and Deep Purple’s Ritchie Blackmore.
New York rapper Ecstasy from the early hip-hop band Whodini has died aged 56, Billboard reports. Coming out of the fertile New York rap scene of the early 80s, Whodini was one of the first rap groups to add R&B twist to their music, thus laying the foundation for a new genre - new jack swing. They made the first rap song accompanied by a video. Live performances of the group were also the first rap concerts with the participation of breakdance dancers.
Country music legend Charley Pride, the genre's first black superstar, died Saturday at age 86 of complications from Covid-19. His baritone voice was featured on more than 50 Top 10 country hits and he was the first Black member of the Country Music Hall of Fame. He was a sportsman at first - he played Negro League baseball at 16, eventually becoming an all-star player with the Mets. He quit baseball and arrived in Nashville in 1963 to start a career that spanned more than four decades, and included 52 Top 10 country hits, Grammy awards, and the status of RCA Records' top-selling country artist. Pride's early singles were released without mention of his race or a photo of him. Some of Pride's biggest hits include 'Is Anybody Goin' to San Antone', 'Just Between You and Me', 'Kiss an Angel Good Mornin''.
Sean Malone, the longtime bassist of the great progressive metal band Cynic, has died aged 50, Loudwire reports. Malone played on all three of Cynic's full-length albums, leaving a great mark in music. "Without any hyperbole; a true legend" - Steve Di Giorgio of Death wrote, adding - "Sean Malone is basically responsible for an entire genre of metal bass playing. Very influential and definitively ahead of the rest of us".
Harold Budd, the iconic avant-garde ambient composer, has died aged 84 due to COVID-19, Rolling Stone reports. He frequently collaborated with Brian Eno, and The Cocteau Twins' guitarist Robin Guthrie, as well as XTC’s Andy Partridge, Ultravox’s John Foxx, Public Image Ltd’s Jah Wobble, and more. Over the past 40 years, Budd has released dozens of albums in a wide range of genres, including experimental piano, avant-garde minimalism, dream pop, and beyond.
LD Beghtol, musician, artist and writer who contributed to The Magnetic Fields' '69 Love Songs' has died at 55, MXMWN reports. LD has participated in various other musical collaborations with Stephin Merritt over the years like The Three Terrors, and he made his own music, too, as part of Flare, and LD & the New Criticism. LD also wrote about music for Time Out, chickfactor, The Advocate, and The Village Voice, and he also made the book '69 Love Songs: A Field Guide'.
Rapper Triple Beanz was shot and killed on the street in Newark, NJ on November 27, at the age of 29, CBS New York reports. According to the police, and to the video footage, the rapper was about to get in his Range Rover on the 300 block of Avon Avenue when two masked assailants got out of another SUV and opened fire.
EDM producer i_o has passed away at the age of 30, after a short experimental pop solo career, and a pop highlight this year, EDM.com reports. Throughout his career, i_o explored new methods of music production and dissemination with an artistic philosophy rooted in the idea that "everything can be hacked". This year he released three EPs for mau5trap, the independent record label founded by deadmau5, and collaborated with Grimes on 'Violence' from her record 'Miss Anthropocene'.
"Hard, kinetic, enthralling piece of writing, the kind that rap rarely gives us anymore" - Stereogum wrote about King Von's raps, ending with "it’s been a long time since a rap storyteller showed this much promise". Unfortunately, he won't have a chance to prove it - King Von was murdered at his album-release party in Atlanta on Friday, CNN reported. King Von is at least the 16th hip-hop artist murdered in 2020 in the US.
Bones Hillman, longtime bass player with seminal Australian rock outfit Midnight Oil, died at the age of 62 after a battle with cancer, Ultimate Classic Rock reports. “He was the bassist with the beautiful voice, the band member with the wicked sense of humour, and our brilliant musical comrade” - reads a statement from Midnight Oil. He passed away Saturday Nov. 9, the same day the Australian Albums Chart was published, featuring Midnight Oil's 'The Makarrata Project' as the new No. 1.
Ken Hensley, keyboardist, vocalist and founding member of glam-prog band Uriah Heep, has died at age 75, Deadline reports. Having formed in 1969, Uriah Heep had a string of classic albums in the '70s, including '…Very 'Eavy …Very 'Umble', 'Demons and Wizards', 'The Demon's Birthday', and more. Hensley wrote or co-wrote many of the band's most famous songs, including 'Easy Livin'', 'Lady in Black', 'July Morning' and 'Stealin''.
Country music singer-songwriter Billy Joe Shaver, a hero of "outlaw" country, whom Willie Nelson once called "the greatest living songwriter" died Wednesday at the age of 81, the New York Times reports. Shaver was often referred to as part of the "outlaw country" movement of the 1970s along with figures like Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings, both of whom recorded his songs, as well as Kris Kristofferson, His songs were recorded by Elvis Presley, David Allan Coe, Patty Loveless, Tom T. Hall, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Paycheck and Doug Kershaw, Johnny Cash. His own recording career encompassed 17 studio albums.
The body of aspiring rapper Kent Won't Stop, who went missing on October 17, has been found dead in the boot of a car after a crash on a highway in Miami, Hot New Hip Hop reports. Florida Highway Patrol officers discovered the body of 25-year-old hip-hop artist Brian Trotter after being called to the site of the collision. The driver, 25-year-old Robert Deupree Avery Coltrain, a friend of the deceased, has been arrested and charged with second-degree murder. An autopsy showed Trotter was fatally shot multiple times. This follows the news that broke this week of a 12-year-old rapper, named Lil Rodney, who was sentenced to seven years for murdering a one-year-old toddler.
Viola Smith, widely considered the first professional female drummer, has died aged 107 in California, LA Times reports. The trailblazing drummer once heralded as the “fastest girl drummer in the world”, gained recognition as the percussionist for Frances Carroll & the Coquettes, an all-female big band group that became popular in the late 1930s. She was known not only for her speed and precision, but her 12-drum kit which featured high-mounted tom-toms.
Outlaw country singer/songwriter Jerry Jeff Walker has died aged 78, NPR reports. He started playing on the early-'60s Greenwich Village folk scene, before moving to Austin in 1971 where he began performing in the city's thriving "outlaw" country scene that included Waylon Jennings, Guy Clark, Willie Nelson and Townes Van Zandt. “People said, ‘We’re different, but we’re not hillbilly country’. We didn’t blacken our teeth and wear baggy pants, we just liked cowboys and played like that” - Walker said about his music.
Chet “JR” White, the bassist and producer in US indie rock band Girls, has died aged 40, Pitchfork reports. As a teenager, White played in a punk group called the Willies, and in 2007 he formed Girls with Christopher Owens, releasing two critically acclaimed full-length albums - 2009’s 'Album' and 2011’s 'Father, Son, Holy Ghost'. After their split in 2012, Chet worked primarily as a producer.
José Padilla, the Spanish DJ who created the hugely successful Café del Mar compilation series in the 1990s, has died aged 64 from colon cancer, El Pais reports. Padilla moved to Ibiza in 1976 and began DJing in the island’s clubs, making his name as resident DJ at Café del Mar, the San Antonio bar that became famous for pairing relaxed music with sunset vistas. He also made his own music.
The Welsh guitarist was the driving force behind The Spencer Davis Group, who scored transatlantic hits with 'Keep On Running' and 'Somebody Help Me'. Inspired by blues and skiffle, Spencer Davis formed a band called The Saints with Bill Wyman, later a member of the Rolling Stones; and performed folk music with Christine Perfect - who, as Christine McVie, became a core member of Fleetwood Mac's classic line-up. After line-up changes, the band changed their name to The Spencer Davis Group, featuring also a teenage Stevie Winwood. Along with a number of other early British pop groups, they helped popularise the sound of US blues and R&B in the UK. The band toured with The Who and The Rolling Stones in the 60s. Guardian reflects on his career.
Bob Biggs, who founded Los Angeles independent label Slash Records, has died aged 74, Billboard reports. The label grew out of the Slash punk fanzine, where Biggs, a painter who lived next door to its offices, was a contributor in 1977. A year later, he founded Slash Records and put up $1000 to fund The Germs' 'Lexicon Devil' 7" and then released the band's classic debut album, 'GI', the next year. Biggs kept Slash Records, and the magazine, going after the other founders left and though the publication folded in 1980, the label stayed alive. While primarily known for L.A. bands -- their roster included Fear, Faith No More, Los Lobos, Dream Syndicate The Blasters, and Rank & File -- Slash widened its scope, releasing records by Violent Femmes, Robyn Hitchcock & The Egyptians, Misfits, BoDeans, Burning Spear, The Chills, and more. Bob ran Slash, which by the mid-'80s was distributed by Warner Brothers in the U.S. and London Records in the UK, until its dissolution in 1996.
Dancer Dave Toole who appeared in the opening ceremony of the 2012 Paralympics Games in London, performing an aerial routine suspended high above the Olympic Stadium, has died at the age of 56, BBC reports. Mr Toole, who was born without the use of his legs, was a professional dancer for almost 30 years and toured the world in a number of productions. He was appointed OBE in January for services to dance and disabled people. Alan Lane, artistic director of the Slung Low theatre company, described Mr Toole as an "extraordinary talent", and his 2012 performance as "mighty, beautiful and with a grace utterly beyond the ordinary human".
Johnny Nash was a singer-songwriter, actor, and producer, who started as a pop crooner to evolve into an early reggae star, releasing on the way the million-selling anthem 'I Can See Clearly Now', has died at aged 80 of natural cause, Variety reports. A rare American-born singer of reggae, Nash has also helped launch the career of his friend Bob Marley.
Guitarist Joe Satriani shared his thoughts on Eddie van Halen with the Billboard, after the virtuoso guitarist's passing: "The little technical things that guitar players can talk about for hours, they get picked up by a million people in a second. Everybody can copy the technical bits, but nobody could put the heart and soul and personality into each little bit like he could and no one delivered it like he did. He wrote great songs that were fun". Rage Against the Machine's Tom Morello looked up to him: "Eddie Van Halen was one of the greatest, most inventive, truly visionary musicians of all time. He was an unparalleled titan in the annals of rock & roll". Smashing Pumpkins' Billy Corgan was also an unexpected fan: “I am truly saddened by his loss; and isn’t it strange that a man who played an instrument spoke directly to so many in an unmatched way that rivals only a few: Coltrane, Hendrix, Parker, Miles, Django”.
Van Halen guitarist and co-founder Eddie Van Halen has died at the age of 65, from cancer, the New York Times, who calls him "virtuoso of the rock guitar" reports. Eddie and his brother Alex formed their first band in 1972, eventually adopting the Van Halen family name for the group in the mid-'70s. The band released 12 studio albums, including the Diamond certified '1984', which has sold over 10 million copies in the U.S. The band was awarded a Grammy and got inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007. Eddie van Halen's skills were also heavily sought out by many of his peers. He famously delivered the guitar solo for Michael Jackson's 'Beat It' off the 'Thriller' album. He's also worked with KISS, Black Sabbath, Brian May, Roger Waters, Steve Lukather and LL Cool J among others.
Country songwriter Mac Davis who penned 'In The Ghetto' and 'A Little Less Conversation' for Elvis Presley, has died at the age of 78, CoS reports. He also worked with Dolly Parton, Bruno Mars, Johnny Cash, Tom Jones, Rivers Cuomo of Weezer, and DJ Avicii (on 'Addicted To Love'). In the 1970s Davis had a string of solo hits, including the number one single 'Baby Don't Get Hooked On Me', his signature song 'I Believe In Music', as well as 'Whoever Finds This, I Love You', and 'Stop and Smell the Roses'.
Helen Reddy, the Australian singer behind feminist anthem 'I Am Woman', has died aged 78, Variety reports. Reddy said she had penned the lyrics for the song - with lines such as "I am woman, hear me roar" and "I am strong, I am invincible, I am woman" - after struggling to find other songs which reflected her pride in being a woman. A sleeper hit, it went on to sell millions of copies worldwide, making Reddy the biggest-selling female artist globally for two years running. Also, she became prominent in the women's liberation movement. Her first hit, 'I Don't Know How to Love Him', was followed by a succession of others including 'Crazy Love', 'Delta Dawn', and 'Angie Baby'.
Renowned Indian singer SP Balasubrahmanyam, a Guinness world record holder for his more than 40,000 songs over 50 years, has died aged 74, following a Covid-19 diagnosis, CNN reports. From romantic hits to popular dance tracks, he sang some of Indian cinema's best-known numbers, spanning 16 languages. The Wire listed 15 of his awards for which he won awards.
Juliette Greco, a French singer, actress, cultural icon and muse to existentialist philosophers of the country’s post-War period, has died aged 93, Billboard reports. Greco immortalized some of France’s most recognizable songs in an enduring seven-decade career, including the classics 'Soul le ciel de Paris' ('Under the Parisian sky') and 'Je hais les dimanches' ('I hate Sundays').
