Dobby Dobson was a Jamaican reggae singer and record producer.
His signature song was “Loving Pauper” (c. 1970)
RIP Brigid Berlin (1939 – 2020)
Brigid Berlin was an American artist and Warhol superstar.
After moving to Hotel Chelsea, Brigid Berlin took on the nickname Brigid Polk because of her habit of giving out ‘pokes’, injections of Vitamin B and amphetamines provided to her by the many Dr. Feelgoods New York sported at the time. One of these Dr. Feelgoods was Max Jacobson.
RIP Zizi Jeanmaire (1924 – 2020)
Zizi Jeanmaire was a French ballet dancer and entertainer.
She is best-known for her song “Mon truc en plumes” (1961) but I give you a version of “Élisa” (1969), written by Serge Gainsbourg.
RIP J. J. Lionel (1947 – 2020)
J. J. Lionel was a Belgian musician whose song “La danse des canards” (1981) is one of the best-selling singles ever in France.
There is popular music and and then there is “danse des canards” popular, almost as popular as “Hava Nagila”.
Both are songs everyone knows but no one can remember where it originates.
RIP Kevin Rafferty (1947 – 2020)
Kevin Rafferty was an American filmmaker, best known for his 1982 documentary The Atomic Cafe.
The Atomic Cafe is a portrait of the United States in the 1950s, especially the nuclear threat and arms race of the Cold War.
The film makes use of archival government footage and propaganda.
RIP Charlie Daniels (1936 – 2020)
Charlie Daniels was an American musician and composer best known for his number-one country hit “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” (1979), an instance of a cultural product of a deal with the Devil.
RIP Ennio Morricone (1928 – 2020)
Ennio Morricone was an Italian composer, a veritable monument.
He composed over 400 scores for cinema and television, as well as over 100 classical works.
He is best known for the characteristic sparse and memorable soundtracks of Sergio Leone’s spaghetti westerns: “Man with a Harmonica” from Once Upon a Time in the West and the theme to “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly”. The first has a haunting harmonica and the second an immediately recognizable flute/whistle.
When I compiled the Jahsonic 1000, I also included “Dies Irae Psichedelico” (1968) and “Ma Non Troppo Erotico” (1971).
RIP Max Crook (1936 – 2020)
Max Crook was an American musician whose name is virtually unknown.
Some research yields his co-authorship of “Runaway” (1961), the Del Shannon song.
In that song he also plays the keyboard solo.
That solo was played on a self-invented electric keyboard called the “Maximillian” which was based the clavioline, which was in turn a variation on the Musitron.
RIP Carl Reiner (1922 – 2020)
Carl Reiner was an American comedian, actor, director, screenwriter, and publisher.
I have fond memories of the highly enjoyable films he directed starring Steve Martin in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
I think of The Jerk (1979), Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid (1982) and The Man with Two Brains (1983).
RIP Johnny Mandel (1925 – 2020)
Johnny Mandel was an American composer of innumerable songs.
One of these songs stands out: “Suicide Is Painless” (1970).