Trini Lopez was an American singer known for his rendition of “If I Had a Hammer“.
Tag Archives: American music
RIP Salome Bey (1939 – 2020)
Salome Bey was an American-born Canadian composer and singer.
She did solo work but in my book she is famous for having part in an unforgettable version of “Round Midnight” (1944) with the unforgettable lines
“But it really gets bad,
’round midnight.”
She did that version with her brother Andy and her sister Geraldine, both of whom survive her.
RIP Malik B. (1972 – 2020)
Malik B. was an American rapper and singer who was a founding member of The Roots.
Although he did some solo work, his most interesting work was with that group, where he was a rapper rather than a song-writer.
If you are unfamiliar with the work of The Roots, check “The Seed” (2002).
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 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 Johnny Mandel (1925 – 2020)
Johnny Mandel was an American composer of innumerable songs.
One of these songs stands out: “Suicide Is Painless” (1970).
RIP Bonnie Pointer (1950 – 2020)
Bonnie Pointer was an American singer, part of the The Pointer Sisters.
The Pointer Sisters also did background vocals on “God Make Me Funky” (1975) by The Headhunters, the American jazz-funk fusion band led by Herbie Hancock.
RIP Bob Northern (1934 – 2020)
Bob Northern was an American jazz French hornist.
Sound Awareness (1972) was one of the nine records David Toop recently posted on his Facebook as documents from the audio recorded stage of an internal war of 400plus years (in which many were complicit).
RIP Mark Barkan (1934 – 2020)
Mark Barkan (1934 – 2020) was an American songwriter and record producer.
In 1966, Barkan produced the album Psychedelic Moods by The Deep, credited as the first psychedelic album.
While researching his death, I came across the song “A Great Day For The Clown” (1967) which is a song not hard to fall in love with. It is also supposedly an Northern soul classic. Love the horns. Who does the horns?
RIP Jimmy Cobb (1929 – 2020)
Jimmy Cobb was an American jazz drummer best known for his work with Miles Davis, and perhaps most famously so for being the drummer on Kind of Blue (1959).