Paul Jackson was an American bassist famous for his contributions to The Headhunters, Azteca and Santana.
Tag Archives: 1947
RIP Bunny Wailer (1947 – 2021)
Bunny Wailer was a Jamaican singer-songwriter best-known for being part of Bob Marley and the Wailers.
I shall remember him for being backed by the Roots Radics.
RIP Louis Clark (1947 – 2021)
Louis Clark was an English music arranger and keyboard player, best-known for his series of kitsch masterpieces Hooked on Classics, disco-reinterpretations of classical music.
RIP Ghédalia Tazartès (1947 – 2021)
Ghédalia Tazartès was a French musician known for his guttural singing.
He is on the famous Nurse with Wound list.
RIP Guem (1947 – 2021)
Guem was an Algerian musician, composer and dancer.
Guem is best known for his cult dancefloor recording “Le Serpent” (1978).
“Le Serpent” is a sibling to “Jingo” (1959) by Candido Camero, “New Bell” (1972) by Manu Dibango and “Road Close” (1984) by Tony Allen, who all died last year.
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 Keith Tippett (1947 – 2020)
Keith Tippett was a British jazz pianist and composer who appeared and recorded in many settings, including a duet with Stan Tracey, duets with his wife Julie Driscoll), solo performances, and as a bandleader, and appeared on three King Crimson albums.
YouTube has the full album of You Are Here… I Am There (1970)
RIP Florian ‘Kraftwerk’ Schneider (1947 – 2020)
Florian Schneider was a German musician, known for his work with Kraftwerk.
Of interest in my book is the connection of Kraftwerk to Afro-American music as noted in “Planet Rock”.
Jon Savage noted in his piece “Machine Soul: A History Of Techno” (1993) that:
“In 1981, Bambaataa and the Soulsonic Force, together with producer Arthur Baker, paid tribute [to Kraftwerk with] “Planet Rock,” which used the melody from “Trans-Europe Express” over the rhythm from “Numbers.” In the process they created electro and moved rap out of the Sugarhill age.”
Simon Reynolds in Energy Flash (1998) similarly remarked:
“In New York, the German band almost single-handedly sired the electro movement: Afrika Bambaataa and Soulsonic Force’s 1982 smash “Planet Rock” stole its doomy melody from “Trans-Europe Express” and its beatbox rhythm from Kraftwerk’s 1981 track “Numbers.””–Generation Ecstasy (1998) by Simon Reynolds
Apparently, none of Kraftwerk’s material was actually sampled, all was emulated.
RIP Millie “My Boy Lollipop” Small (1947 – 2020)
Millie Small was the singer of “My Boy Lollipop” (1964), her only hit.
She was the first Jamaican artist to break through to an international audience.
Did this mean international recognition for ska and reggae?
Well, not exactly, “My Boy Lollipop” was considered a novelty song rather than ska or reggae.
Thus reggae’s invasion into the mainstream actually only began that same year in the United Kingdom with songs such as “Al Capone” (1964) and “Guns of Navarone” (1964).
But in the United States, the wait was for 1969 with “The Israelites” (1968) to give reggae international repute and recognition.