Julz Sale was English singer-songwriter and guitarist known for her work with Delta 5, which released “Mind Your Own Business” (1979).
Tag Archives: English music
RIP Richard H. Kirk (1956 – 2021)
Richard H. Kirk was an English musician working within electronic music. With Cabaret Voltaire, he released compositions such as “Nag Nag Nag” (1979).
RIP Nick Kamen (1962 – 2021)
Nick Kamen was an English singer-songwriter best known to me for a) being featured on the January 1984 cover of The Face wearing a ski-hat, lipstick, orange roll-neck sweater and aviator sunglasses; and b) for appearing in a 1985 Levi’s advert.
He belonged to the Madonna stable.
RIP Chris Barber (1930 – 2021)
Chris Barber was an English jazz bandleader and trombonist best-known for his cover of “Petite Fleur”, a 1952 instrumental by Sidney Bechet.
That song, especially the version of Barber, reminds me of the music of Jacques Tati in his Oncle films. I mean songs such as “Quel temps fait-il à Paris” by Alain Romans and Henri Contet.
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 Hilton Valentine (1943 – 2021)
Hilton Valentine was an English guitarist, member of the The Animals.
Valentine played the electric guitar arpeggio introduction to the Animals’ 1964 signature song “The House of the Rising Sun”.
RIP Wayne Fontana (1945 – 2020)
Wayne Fontana was an English singer best-known as the singer of “The Game of Love” (1965), covered as “Quand tu es là” by Sylvie Vartan that same year.
RIP Peter Green (1946 – 2020)
Peter Green (1946 – 2020) was an English blues rock singer-songwriter and guitarist.
He was the co-founder of Fleetwood Mac.
He is perhaps best known for penning “Black Magic Woman” (1968).
However, I remember him most fondly for his instrumental “Albatross” (1968).
RIP Vera Lynn (1917 – 2020)
Vera Lynn was a British singer who is best known for the song “We’ll Meet Again” (1968).
However, I want to draw your attention to the original recording of “Comment te dire adieu” generally known as a song by Françoise Hardy/Serge Gainsbourg but actually a version of “It Hurts to Say Goodbye” (1966).
RIP Dave ‘Strangler’ Greenfield (1949 – 2020)
Dave Greenfield was an English composer and musician, known as the keyboard player of The Stranglers.
Everyone is familiar with their song “Golden Brown” (1982) but few are aware that is actually a waltz.
Next to “Golden Brown”, The Stranglers wrote a couple of enduring compositions. There is “Peaches” (1977), a sleazy track which features the word clitoris and which for that reason had to be re-recorded in order for the BBC to play it.
There is “No More Heroes” (1977), the refrain of which has a childish quality that I find hard to swallow. “Always the Sun” (1986) however, works for me. It has that dreaminess also present in “Midsummer Night Dream” (1983) and of course in “Golden Brown”.
And then there is “Nice ‘n’ Sleazy” (1978), a track which is also dance-able. It’s on YouTube in a Top of the Pops live version and if you wait until 1:29 you see the keyboard solo of Greenfield.
That track is also on the marvelous compilation How to Kill the DJ Part 2 (2004) out on Tigersushi Records.