60's & Beyond

09/12/2024

Happy 67th Birthday to Donny Osmond

08/12/2024

The late Gregg Allman was born on this day in 1947.

Allman was an American musician, singer and songwriter. He was known for performing in the Allman Brothers Band. Allman grew up with an interest in rhythm and blues music, and the Allman Brothers Band fused it with rock music, jazz, and country at times. He wrote several of the band's biggest songs, including "Whipping Post", "Melissa", and "Midnight Rider".

Allman also had a successful solo career, releasing seven studio albums. He was born and spent much of his childhood in Nashville, Tennessee, before relocating to Daytona Beach, Florida and then Macon, Georgia.

He and his brother, Duane Allman, formed the Allman Brothers Band in 1969, which reached mainstream success with their 1971 live album At Fillmore East. Shortly thereafter, Duane was killed in a motorcycle crash. The band continued, with Brothers and Sisters (1973) their most successful album.

Allman began a solo career with the album, Laid Back. in 1973. He was perhaps most famous for his marriage to pop star Cher for the rest of the decade. He had an unexpected late career hit with his cover of the song "I'm No Angel" in 1987, and his seventh solo album, Low Country Blues (2011), saw the highest chart positions of his career.

Throughout his life, Allman struggled with alcohol and substance abuse, which formed the basis of his memoir My Cross to Bear (2012). His final album, Southern Blood, was released posthumously on September 8, 2017.

Allman performed with a Hammond organ and guitar, and was recognized for his soulful voice. For his work in music, Allman was referred to as a Southern rock pioneer and received numerous awards, including one Grammy Award.

The Allman Brothers band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in January 1995.

His distinctive voice placed him 70th in the Rolling Stone list of the "100 Greatest Singers of All Time".

Allman died at his home in Richmond Hill, Georgia, on May 27, 2017, due to complications from liver cancer at the age of 69.

08/12/2024

The late Mike Botts was born on this day in 1944.

Botts was an American drummer, best known for his work with 1970s soft rock band Bread, and as a session musician.

Although known primarily as a drummer, Botts also contributed backing vocals to some Bread songs.

During his career, he recorded with Linda Ronstadt, Karla Bonoff, Andrew Gold, Olivia Newton-John, Peter Cetera, Anne Murray, Warren Zevon and Dan Fogelberg, among many others.

He also contributed to several soundtracks for films, and to albums released under the name of The Simpsons.

Botts died in Burbank, California, one day after his 61st birthday, having suffered from colon cancer.

08/12/2024

The late Jim Morrison was born on this day in 1943.

Morrison was an American singer-songwriter and poet who was the lead vocalist and lyricist of the rock band the Doors.

Due to his energetic persona, poetic lyrics, distinctive voice, erratic and unpredictable performances, along with the dramatic circumstances surrounding his life and early death, Morrison is regarded by music critics and fans as one of the most influential frontmen in rock history.

Since his death in 1971, his fame has endured as one of popular culture's top rebellious and oft-displayed icons, representing the generation gap and youth counterculture.

Happy Birthday ( In Memory )
JIM MORRISON - (December 8, 1943 - July 3, 1971)

08/12/2024

Bobby Elliott is 83 years old today.

Elliott is an English rock drummer, best known for playing with The Hollies. He has been described as "one of the very finest drummers in all of pop/rock".

Elliott played in Ricky Shaw and the Dolphins, a Manchester band led by guitarist Tony Hicks who left to join The Hollies in April 1963. Shortly after, the Hollies drummer Don Rathbone left and Elliott also joined the Hollies.

The Hollies were one of the last of the major British Invasion groups to have significant chart success in the United States. Their first single was not issued in the US and, although they had a minor US hit in 1964 with "Just One Look", it was not until "Look Through Any Window" that the band reached the US Top 40. Many of their early singles that had been major hits in the UK, including "Here I Go Again", "I'm Alive", "Yes I Will" and "We're Through", failed to even reach the Top 100 in the US.

From 1966 until after they signed to Epic in 1967, the band had their most concentrated success in the US, including four Top 15 songs ("Bus Stop", "Stop Stop Stop", "On a Carousel", and "Carrie Anne"). The move to Epic followed by Graham Nash's departure ended this streak. But they had a few more huge hits: "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother" (No. 7, 1969), "Long Cool Woman" (No. 2, 1972), and "The Air That I Breathe" (No. 6, 1974). They did have additional US chart hits with the non-UK singles "Pay You Back with Interest" (No. 28 in 1966), "Dear Eloise" (No. 50 in 1967), "Long Dark Road" (No. 26 in 1972), and the "reunion" single "Stop! In the Name of Love" (No. 29 in 1983).

In September 1973, Paul McCartney offered him the position of drummer in his band Wings, but Elliott declined due to commitments with The Hollies.

In 2010, the Hollies were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The band members inducted were Allan Clarke, Graham Nash, Tony Hicks, Eric Haydock, Bobby Elliott, Bernie Calvert, and Terry Sylvester.

As of 2021 Elliott still plays with the Hollies, and has recorded with almost no other band since 1963.

08/12/2024

Jerry Butler is 85 years old today.

Butler is an American soul singer-songwriter, producer, musician, and retired politician.

As a child, he performed in a church choir with Curtis Mayfield. As a teenager, Butler sang in a gospel quartet called Northern Jubilee Gospel Singers, along with Mayfield.

Jerry was the original lead singer of the famed R&B vocal group the Impressions before launching a solo career. With the Impressions, Butler co-wrote the song "For Your Precious Love" (which is ranked No. 327 on the Rolling Stone magazine's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time).

After leaving the group in 1960, Butler achieved over 55 Billboard Pop and R&B Chart hits as a solo artist including "He Will Break Your Heart", "Let It Be Me" and "Only the Strong Survive".

In 1965 he co-wrote the song "I've Been Loving You Too Long" with Otis Redding, which was Redding's first big hit.

Butler continued to perform while serving as a Cook County (Illinois) Board Commissioner before retiring from public office in 2018.

Since his 1991 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Impressions, music writers and critics have stated that Butler also deserves a second induction as a solo artist, based upon his successful career as a recording artist and songwriter after leaving that group.

He was inducted into the National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame in 2015.

He currently resides in Chicago. His wife Annette, originally one of his backup singers, died in 2019.

08/12/2024

The late Sammy Davis Jr. was born on this day in 1925.

Davis was an American singer, dancer, actor, vaudevillian and comedian who has been called "the greatest entertainer ever to grace a stage in these United States."

At age three, Davis began his career in vaudeville with his father Sammy Davis Sr. and the Will Mastin Trio, which toured nationally, and his film career began in 1933. After military service, Davis returned to the trio and became an overnight sensation following a nightclub performance at Ciro's (in West Hollywood) after the 1951 Academy Awards. With the trio, he became a recording artist. In 1954, at the age of 29, he lost his left eye in a car accident. Several years later, he converted to Judaism, finding commonalities between the oppression experienced by African-American and Jewish communities.

After a starring role on Broadway in Mr. Wonderful with Chita Rivera (1956), he returned to the stage in 1964 in a musical adaptation of Clifford Odets' Golden Boy opposite Paula Wayne. Davis was nominated for a Tony Award for his performance and the show was said to have featured the first in*******al kiss on Broadway. In 1960, he appeared in the Rat Pack film Ocean's 11. In 1966, he had his own TV variety show, titled The Sammy Davis Jr. Show.

While Davis's career slowed in the late 1960s, his biggest hit, "The Candy Man", reached the top of the Billboard Hot 100 in June 1972, and he became a star in Las Vegas, earning him the nickname "Mister Show Business".

Davis had a complex relationship with the black community and drew criticism after publicly supporting President Richard Nixon in 1972. One day on a golf course with Jack Benny, he was asked what his handicap was. "Handicap?" he asked. "Talk about handicap. I'm a one-eyed Negro who's Jewish." This was to become a signature comment, recounted in his autobiography and in many articles.

He died on May 16, 1990 at the age 64 from complications associated with throat cancer.

He was a recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors in 1987, and in 2001, he was posthumously awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

08/12/2024

Good Sunday Morning!

I'll be on vacation for a week so postings will be infrequent at best. Enjoy your holiday season as Christmas is fast approaching.

07/12/2024

Harry Chapin (US singer, guitar songwriter) was born on this date in 1942. He died on July 16, 1981, aged 38.

07/12/2024

Good Saturday Morning!

06/12/2024

The late Randy Rhoads was born on this day in 1956.

Rhoads was an American guitarist. He was the co-founder and original guitarist of the heavy metal band Quiet Riot, and the guitarist and co-songwriter for Ozzy Osbourne's first two solo albums Blizzard of Ozz (1980) and Diary of a Madman (1981).

Originally educated in classical guitar, Rhoads combined these early influences with heavy metal, helping to form a subgenre later known as neoclassical metal. With Quiet Riot, he adopted a black-and-white polka-dot theme which became an emblem for the group. He reached his peak as the guitarist for Ozzy Osbourne's solo career, performing on tracks including "Crazy Train" and "Mr. Crowley" on the Blizzard of Ozz album. "Crazy Train" features one of the most well known heavy metal guitar riffs.

Rhoads died in a plane crash on March 19, 1982. He was 25 years old.

Rhoads was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2021.

06/12/2024

Peter Buck is 68 years old today.

Buck is an American musician and songwriter. He was a co-founder and the lead guitarist of the alternative rock band R.E.M. He also plays the banjo and mandolin on several R.E.M. songs.

R.E.M. was an American rock band from Athens, Georgia, formed in 1980 by drummer Bill Berry, guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills, and lead vocalist Michael Stipe, who were students at the University of Georgia.

One of the first alternative rock bands, R.E.M. was noted for Buck's ringing, arpeggiated guitar style; Stipe's distinctive vocal quality, unique stage presence, and obscure lyrics; Mills's melodic bass lines and backing vocals; and Berry's tight, economical drumming style. In the early 1990s, other alternative rock acts such as Nirvana and Pavement viewed R.E.M. as a pioneer of the genre. After Berry left the band in 1997, the band continued its career in the 2000s with mixed critical and commercial success. The band broke up amicably in 2011 with members devoting time to solo projects after having sold more than 85 million albums worldwide and becoming one of the world's best-selling music acts.

R.E.M.'s most commercially successful albums, Out of Time (1991) and Automatic for the People (1992), put them in the vanguard of alternative rock just as it was becoming mainstream. Out of Time received seven nominations at the 34th Annual Grammy Awards, and lead single "Losing My Religion", was R.E.M.'s highest-charting and best-selling hit. Monster (1994) continued its run of success. The band began its first tour in six years to support the album; the tour was marred by medical emergencies suffered by three of the band members. In 1996, R.E.M. re-signed with Warner Bros. for a reported US$80 million, at the time the most expensive recording contract ever.

In 2007, the band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, in its first year of eligibility.

06/12/2024

Remembering Linda Diane Creed (also known by her married name Linda Epstein) on the day of her birth, singer-songwriter and lyricist who teamed up with songwriter-producer Thom Bell to produce some of the most successful Philadelphia soul groups of the 1970s.

Her career was launched in 1970 when singer Dusty Springfield recorded her song "Free Girl." That same year, Creed teamed with Bell, a staff writer, producer, and arranger at Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff's record label Philadelphia International Records. Their first songwriting collaboration, "Stop, Look, Listen (To Your Heart)", became a Top 40 pop hit for the Stylistics, beginning an extended collaboration that also yielded the group's most successful recordings, including "You Are Everything", "Betcha by Golly, Wow", "Break Up to Make Up", "People Make the World Go Round", "You Make Me Feel Brand New," and "I'm Stone in Love with You" (the latter with Anthony Bell). Creed and Bell also paired on a number of hits for the Spinners, including "Ghetto Child", "I'm Coming Home", "Living a Little, Laughing a Little", and "The Rubberband Man." Linda Creed also worked with fellow Philadelphia native Phyllis Hyman on many of her songs, most notably "Old Friend."

Though diagnosed with breast cancer at 26, Creed kept on working, teaming with composer Michael Masser and writing the lyrics to the song "The Greatest Love of All", the main theme of the film "The Greatest", a biopic of the great boxer Muhammad Ali, launched in 1977. The song was originally recorded by George Benson and released as a single in 1977, becoming a big hit, peaked at #2 on the R&B chart. The lyrics of the song were written in the midst of her struggle with breast cancer. The words describe her feelings about coping with great challenges that one must face in life, being strong during those challenges whether you succeed or fail, and passing that strength on to children to carry with them into their adult lives. In the spring of 1986, the song was recorded by Whitney Houston and topped the charts. R.I.P

06/12/2024

Robb Royer is 82 years old today.

Royer is an American musician and songwriter, best known as a founding member of Bread from 1968 to 1971. While he was with the band, they had a #5 UK/ #1 US hit single with "Make It With You" as well as "It Don't Matter to Me", which peaked at #10 on the US chart. He was replaced by Larry Knechtel in 1971.

In 1970, Royer and Jimmy Griffin, under the pseudonyms Robb Wilson and Arthur James, wrote the lyrics for "For All We Know," featured in the film Lovers and Other Strangers. It won the Academy Award for Best Original Song and was a Top Ten hit for The Carpenters in March and April 1971.

Before co-founding Bread, Royer had been a member of the band The Pleasure Fair, whose only album in 1967 was produced and arranged by David Gates, Royer's future bandmate in Bread.

Bread was inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2006.

David Gates and Royer as the only surviving members of Bread.

Royer continues to be involved in music, initially working out of his Nashfilms studio in Tennessee before relocating to the Virgin Islands in 2013.

06/12/2024

The late Dave Brubeck was born on this day in 1920.

Brubeck was an American jazz pianist and composer, considered one of the foremost exponents of cool jazz. Many of his compositions have become jazz standards including "In Your Own Sweet Way" and "The Duke".

Brubeck's style ranged from refined to bombastic, reflecting both his mother's classical training and his own improvisational skills. His music is known for employing unusual time signatures as well as superimposing contrasting rhythms, meters, and tonalities.

Brubeck experimented with time signatures throughout his career, recording "Pick Up Sticks" in 6/4, "Unsquare Dance" in 7/4, "World's Fair" in 13/4, and "Blue Rondo à la Turk" in 9/8.

He was also a composer of orchestral and sacred music and wrote soundtracks for television, such as Mr. Broadway and the animated miniseries This Is America, Charlie Brown.

Often incorrectly attributed to Brubeck, the song "Take Five", which has become a jazz standard, was composed by Brubeck's long-time musical partner, alto saxophonist Paul Desmond. Appearing on one of the top-selling jazz albums, Time Out, and written in 5/4 time, "Take Five" has endured as a jazz classic associated with Brubeck.

In September 2009, the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts announced Brubeck as a Kennedy Center Honoree for exhibiting excellence in performance arts. The Kennedy Center Honors Gala took place on Sunday, December 6 (Brubeck's 89th birthday), and was broadcast nationwide on CBS on December 29 at 9:00 pm EST. When the award was made, President Barack Obama recalled a 1971 concert Brubeck had given in Honolulu and said, "You can't understand America without understanding jazz, and you can't understand jazz without understanding Dave Brubeck."

Brubeck died of heart failure on December 5, 2012, in Norwalk, Connecticut, one day before his 92nd birthday. He was on his way to a cardiology appointment, accompanied by his son Darius.

The main-belt asteroid 5079 Brubeck was named after Brubeck.

06/12/2024

Good Friday Morning!

05/12/2024

The late Jack Russell was born on this day in 1960.

Russell was an American rock vocalist. He was a founding member of the hard rock band Great White.

Great White is an American hard rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1977. The band peaked with several albums during the mid-to-late 1980s, including the platinum-selling records Once Bitten (1987) and ...Twice Shy (1989), and those albums' singles "Rock Me" and "Once Bitten, Twice Shy" received considerable airplay through radio and MTV. They charted two Top 40 hit singles on the Billboard Hot 100, with "Once Bitten, Twice Shy" and "The Angel Song."

Russell was with Great White from 1981 until 1996, then took some time off to record and release his first solo album, entitled Shelter Me, having rejoined shortly after its release until the band broke up in 2001.

He then tried touring solo under his own name briefly, then changed the band name to "Jack Russell's Great White" and toured from 2002 to 2005, while also releasing his second solo album For You in 2002.

On February 20, 2003, while touring as "Jack Russell's Great White", they played a club gig at The Station in West Warwick, Rhode Island, where a deadly fire caused by pyrotechnics occurred, leading to the deaths of 100 people including band member Ty Longley.

In January 2024, Russell released a collaboration album with L.A. Guns guitarist Tracii Guns, titled Medusa. This was Russell's final studio recording before his retirement and death.

On July 17, 2024, Russell announced that he was retiring from touring and disclosed that he had Lewy body dementia.

Russell died less than a month after the announcement, on August 7, 2024, at the age of 63 at a family member's home in Southern California, from complications of LBD and muscular system atrophy. His death was announced on August 15.

05/12/2024

Jim Messina is 77 years old today.

Messina is an American musician, songwriter, singer, guitarist, recording engineer and record producer.

He was a member of the folk rock group Buffalo Springfield, a founding member of the pioneering country rock band Poco, and half of the soft rock duo Loggins and Messina with Kenny Loggins.

While with Buffalo Springfield, Messina served as a recording engineer, producer, and musician, replacing bass player Bruce Palmer on two songs from their final album, Last Time Around.
After Buffalo Springfield disbanded, Messina and Richie Furay, a founding member of Buffalo Springfield, formed Poco in 1968. Switching back from bass to guitar, Messina played lead guitar and supplied vocals and some songwriting to the band. After recording two studio albums and one live album, he left Poco due to exhaustion from touring and to focus on becoming a record producer.

Messina was working as an independent record producer for Columbia Records in 1970 when he met Kenny Loggins, a little-known singer/songwriter and guitarist who was signed to ABC-Dunhill as a staff songwriter.

The two recorded a number of Loggins' compositions in Messina's home living room. When Columbia signed Loggins to a six-album contract (with the assistance of Messina), recording began in earnest for Loggins' debut album, with Messina as producer.

Messina originally intended to lend his name to the Loggins project only to help introduce the unknown Loggins to Messina's well-established Buffalo Springfield and Poco audiences. However, by the time the album was completed, Messina had contributed so much to the album – in terms of songwriting, arrangement, instrumentation, and vocals – that an "accidental" duo was born.

Loggins and Messina achieved their success in the early to mid-1970s. Among their well-known songs are "Danny's Song", "House at Pooh Corner", and "Your Mama Don't Dance". After selling more than 16 million records and becoming one of the leading musical duos of the 1970s, Loggins and Messina broke up in 1976.

He continues to work in the field of publishing, production and electronics as a recording and mixing engineer and as a recording studio owner, as well as performing on tour.

Photo by: Deb Martin