Musician Obituaries (1 Viewer)

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Ray Manzarek, founding member of The Doors, dies at 74

Publicist: Ray Manzarek, founding member of The Doors, dies at 74 - MSN Music News

May 20, 2013, 6:24 PM EST
AP -- Ray Manzarek, the keyboardist and founding member of The Doors who had a dramatic impact on rock 'n' roll, has died. He was 74.

Manzarek died Monday in Rosenheim, Germany, surrounded by his family, said publicist Heidi Robinson-Fitzgerald. Robinson-Fitzgerald said his manager, Tom Vitorino, confirmed Manzarek died after being stricken by bile duct cancer.

Manzarek founded The Doors after meeting then-poet Jim Morrison in California. The band went on to become one of the most successful rock 'n' roll acts to emerge from the 1960s and continues to resonate with fans decades after Morrison's death in 1971.

Manzarek continued to remain active in music. He briefly tried to hold the band together by serving as vocalist, but eventually the group fell apart. He played in other bands over the years, produced other acts, became an author and worked on films.

The Doors were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Manzarek is among the most notable keyboard players in rock history, playing it as a lead instrument at a time when the guitar often dominated. The sound added a distinct end-times flavor to Morrison's often out-there persona.

The group is best known for hits like "Break On Through to the Other Side," ''The End" and "Light My Fire" and came to symbolize the decadence of Los Angeles as the counterculture grew in the U.S.

Morrison and Manzarek met at UCLA film school and ran into each other a few months after graduation, Manzarek recounted in a 1967 interview with Billboard.

Outwardly, the two seemed very different. The strikingly tall, dark and handsome Morrison looked the part of rock star, while Manzarek, with glasses, retained a more professorial look.

But they were kindred spirits, as Manzarek discovered when Morrison read him the lyrics for a song called "Moonlight Drive."

"I'd never heard lyrics to a rock song like that before," Manzarek said. "We talked a while before we decided to get a group together and make a million dollars."

The band would make far more than that. The Doors, which also included guitarist Robby Krieger and drummer John Densmore, has sold more than 100 million albums. Their music has been featured prominently in movies and holds an oft-debated place in rock history.

Manzarek is survived by his wife, Dorothy, his son Pablo and two brothers, Rick and James. Funeral arrangements are pending.

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BREAKING: Bobby "Blue" Bland Passes Away

BREAKING: Bobby "Blue" Bland Passes Away

Bobby "Blue" Bland has passed away. He was 83. Bland was a pioneer and champion of the modern soul-blues sound. Bland, along with contemporaries B.B. King, Ray Charles, and more, fused R&B, blues and soul with a fat big band sound. His trademark voice, a wailing "squall" inspired by Reverend C.L. Franklin (Aretha's father), was recently ranked number 44 on Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Singers.

Bland was born in Rosemark, Tennessee and quickly moved to Memphis, where he took up performing on Beale Street and singing with gospel groups.

Bobby's first hit, "It's My Life Baby", was released in 1955. In 1957, he released his smash single, "Farther On Up The Road", which reached #1 in the R&B charts and solidified Bobby's 50 year career as a soul and rhythm blues hit-maker. He continued to release a stream of hits, including "Little Boy Blue", "Cry Cry Cry", "Turn On Your Love Light", "I Pity the Fool", "Ain't Nothing You Can Do", and more. Bland continued to record and tour extensively throughout the next thirty years. His 1974 single, "Ain't No Love in the Heart of the City", from his Dreamer album, achieved international success. The single was sampled and remixed by rapper Jay-Z for his 2001 smash hit album, The Blueprint.

Bland was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1981, and the Rock Roll Hall of Fame in 1992. In 1997, he was awarded a Grammy Lifetime Achievement award.

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Rock pioneer Lou Reed dies at 71

Rock pioneer Lou Reed dies at 71

Rock pioneer and Velvet Underground frontman Lou Reed is dead at 71.

Timothy Greenfield-Sanders, director of the feature documentary film Lou Reed: Rock and Roll Heart, confirmed Reed's death Sunday to USA TODAY.

Reed had a liver transplant in May, although a cause of death has not yet been released.

Best known for songs such as Sweet Jane, I'm Sticking With You, Sunday Morning and Heroin, the Velvet Underground was formed in New York by Reed and John Cale. It was popular throughout the 1960s. The group was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996.

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Yeap saw that today. Not a fan of everything he did (Lulu was terrible...), but he was a pioneer and great musician.
 
May 16 2010 6:01 PM EDT
Ronnie James Dio Dead At 67
Legendary metal singer succumbed to cancer on Sunday.


By Ryan J. Downey
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Ronnie James Dio, one of heavy metal's all-time greatest singers and a five-decade rock veteran, died early Sunday morning, according to a statement posted on his website by his wife and longtime manager, Wendy Dio. The singer, known for his work with Rainbow, Black Sabbath, Heaven and Hell and his own band, Dio, died less than a year after being diagnosed with stomach cancer. He was 67.

"Today my heart is broken. Ronnie passed away at 7:45 a.m.," Wendy Dio's statement reads. "Many, many friends and family were able to say their private goodbyes before he peacefully passed away.

"Ronnie knew how much he was loved by all. We so appreciate the love and support that you have all given us. Please give us a few days of privacy to deal with this terrible loss. Please know he loved you all and his music will live on forever."

With his powerful signature vocals and doom-laden lyrics, Dio fronted several iconic bands during his career: Elf, Rainbow, Black Sabbath and, of course, Dio. In 2009, he released The Devil You Know LP with the outfit Heaven and Hell, which featured the same lineup as the post-Ozzy Osbourne incarnation of Sabbath that he fronted in the early 1980s.

Possessed with one of the most recognizable voices in rock music, Dio's onstage theatrics (swords, mock dragon slaying), medieval themes and cool stage presence helped win the adulation of generations of metal fans and musicians, including mainstream figures like Jack Black and Dave Grohl. Contemporary "metalcore" band Killswitch Engage regularly covers Dio's "Holy Diver" in their live set, even going so far as to release a lovingly campy music video in homage.

Dio is credited with popularizing (if not inventing) the "devil horns" hand gesture used by everyone from the darkest of death and black metal acts to pop stars, athletes and professional wrestlers. Dio often said he got the symbol -- the "Malocchio" or "Evil Eye" -- from his Italian grandmother.

Born Ronald James Padavona in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Dio released his first record in 1958 with the group Ronnie the Red Caps. It wasn't until a few years after that single's release that he adopted his stage name, inspired by New York mafia figure Johnny Dio. A later band, the Electric Elves, evolved into Elf. Deep Purple guitarist Ritchie Blackmore recruited Dio and some of his Elf bandmates when he formed Rainbow in 1975; Dio released three landmark studio albums and a live LP with the band.

Personal differences drove Dio from Rainbow and in 1979, he replaced Ozzy Osbourne in Black Sabbath. His first album with the group, 1980's Heaven and Hell, ended the heavy metal originators' creative slump with gusto and effectively reinvented the band, a streak continued with Mob Rules the following year. However, divisions within the group came to a head during the mixing of 1982's Live Evil.

Taking drummer Vinny Appice with him, Ronnie formed his own band, called simply Dio. The title track from 1983's Holy Diver would become one of his most recognized and definitive songs. The Last In Line (1984), like the album before it, went platinum in the US. Over the following 20 years, Dio continued to record and tour, releasing the band's 10th studio album, Master of the Moon, in 2004.

A short-lived reunion with Black Sabbath in the early '90s produced the album Dehumanizer in 1992, before Ozzy's eventual return to the band. In 2006, Dio reunited with his former Sabbath-mates to write and record a handful of new tracks for inclusion on the Black Sabbath: The Dio Years collection. The chemistry between Dio, Appice, guitarist Tony Iommi and bassist Geezer Butler resulted in the formation of Heaven and Hell (so titled for a number of reasons, not least to avoid confusion with the more recent Osbourne-fronted versions of Black Sabbath).

Heaven and Hell released Live from Radio City Music Hall, a celebration of the Dio-era Sabbath songbook, in 2007. The Devil You Know, their first studio album under the new monicker, followed last year.

In November of 2009, Dio's wife and manager Wendy announced that Ronnie had been diagnosed with stomach cancer. Several rounds of chemotherapy and other treatments followed. Earlier this month, Heaven and Hell announced the cancellation of a planned summer tour of Europe owing to Dio's condition.

In April, Dio appeared at the Revolver Golden Gods Awards in Los Angeles to accept the award for Best Vocalist. As members of Alice in Chains presented the award to him, the crowd chanted, "Dio! Dio! Dio! Dio!"
 
Devo guitarist Bob Casale dies at 61
Feb. 18, 2014, 12:31 PM EST

Devo member Bob Casale has died at the age of 61.

Casale passed away on Monday from health complications which led to heart failure, according to his brother Gerald.

A post on the band's Facebook page from Gerald reads: "As an original member of Devo, Bob Casale was there in the trenches with me from the beginning. He was my level-headed brother, a solid performer and talented audio engineer, always giving more than he got. He was excited about the possibility of Mark Mothersbaugh allowing Devo to play shows again. His sudden death from conditions that lead to heart failure came as a total shock to us all."

The Casales formed Devo in the early 1970s with brothers Mark and Bob Mothersbaugh and Alan Myers. The band had a string of new wave hits, including "Whip It" and "Girl U Want" and have a cult following to this day.

Devo guitarist Bob Casale dies at 61 - MSN Music News

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Tommy Ramone, last of the Ramones, dies.

Associate: Tommy Ramone, last of the Ramones, dies - MSN Music News

Tommy Ramone, a co-founder of the seminal punk band the Ramones and the last surviving member of the original group, has died, a business associate said Saturday.

Dave Frey, who works for Ramones Productions and Silent Partner Management, confirmed that Ramone died on Friday. Frey didn't have additional details. Ramone was 65.

Tommy Ramone, a drummer, co-founded the Ramones in 1974 in New York along with singer Joey Ramone, bassist Dee Dee Ramone and guitarist Johnny Ramone. All four band members had different last names, but took the common name Ramone.

The band influenced a generation of rockers, and their hit songs "I Wanna Be Sedated," and "Blitzkrieg Bop," among others, earned them an induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2002.

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Soul Legend Bobby Womack Dead at 70

Bobby Womack Dead: Soul Singer Dies at 70 | Music News | Rolling Stone

Bobby Womack, the legendary soul singer whose career spanned seven decades, died Friday at age 70. A representative for Womack's label XL Recordings confirmed the singer's death to Rolling Stone, but said the cause of death was currently unknown.

The son of two musicians, Womack began his career as a member of Curtis Womack and the Womack Brothers with his siblings Curtis, Harry, Cecil and Friendly Jr. After Sam Cooke signed the group to his SAR Records in 1960, they released a handful of gospel singles before changing their name to the Valentinos and earning success with a more secular, soul- and pop-influenced sound. In 1964, one month after the Valentinos released their hit "It's All Over Now," the Rolling Stones put out their version, which went to Number One on the U.K. singles charts.

"It's All Over Now" - covered by the Rolling Stones for their first #1 UK hit.
"Lookin' for a Love" - covered by the J. Geils Band
played the lead guitar on "Its A Family Affair" by Sly and the Family Stone
"Across 110th Street" played during the opening and closing scenes of the Quentin Taratino film, 'Jackie Brown'.

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Just read this morning that Johnny Winter passed away overnight. One of my all time favorite guitarists. Saw his a couple times, once when he substituted for Stevie Ray Vaughen when he died in a helicopter crash, and another time at a local bar. I was young and stupid and stood in front of a speaker cabinet, I'm sure that resulted in hearing loss. Great performer, and from what I've read he was a great person as well.
 
Johnny Winter dies at 70; dazzling blues guitarist

Johnny Winter dies at 70; dazzling blues guitarist - LA Times

Johnny Winter, a rail-thin blues guitarist known for his scorching riffs, flowing white hair and gravelly, hard-times voice, died Wednesday in Switzerland at the end of a European tour. He was 70.

His death in a Zurich hotel room was confirmed by John Lappen, his public relations manager. Winter, who had emphysema, was recently diagnosed with pneumonia, Lappen said.

Over the years, Winter had battled drug and alcohol addictions that made him appear prematurely frail. In 2005, he weighed 90 pounds, but with the help of fellow musician Paul Nelson he managed to shake his drug dependencies, gain 60 pounds, and resume a vigorous touring schedule.
"He's stopped drinking and he's talking to people and is more accessible,"
Nelson told the Jerusalem Post in 2013.
"He walks out on the stage unattended now — this is huge! He was sitting down for 15 years."

Winter performed from time to time with his younger brother Edgar. Both were born with albinism, a disorder that keeps the body from producing the pigments that color the skin, hair and eyes. The condition also leaves albinos with severe vision problems.

In Beaumont, Texas, the brothers' hometown, it left Johnny feeling isolated and angry. He later said it helped him identify with African American blues musicians, whose music was kept off mainstream radio stations at the time.

"We both had a problem with our skin being the wrong color,"
he told author Mary Lou Sullivan in her 2010 biography, "Raisin' Cain: The Wild and Raucous Story of Johnny Winter."

In 1988, Winter became the first white musician named to the Blues Foundation Hall of Fame.

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Cream bassist Jack Bruce dies, aged 71

BBC News - Cream bassist Jack Bruce dies, aged 71

Bruce's death was announced on his official website, and confirmed by his publicist Claire Singers.

She said: "He died today at his home in Suffolk surrounded by his family."

A statement from his family said: "It is with great sadness that we, Jack's family, announce the passing of our beloved Jack: husband, father and granddad and all-round legend.

"The world of music will be a poorer place without him, but he lives on in his music and forever in our hearts."

Legendary supergroup Cream, which also included Eric Clapton and Ginger Baker, are now considered one of the most important bands in rock history.

They sold 35 million albums in just over two years and were given the first ever platinum disc for Wheels of Fire.

Bruce wrote and sang most of the songs, including "I Feel Free" and "Sunshine Of Your Love".

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