A few months ago, I posted something about the death of my friend Shasta Bates, a gifted singer-songwriter that I thought deserved to find success in the music industry. Sadly, I’ve got…
Category: Obituaries
RIP: Jerry Leiber of Leiber & Stoller
Jerry Leiber of Leiber & Stoller has passed away. It’s difficult to properly convey the cultural impact this songwriting team has had on 20th Century music, so I won’t even bother. There’s…
RIP: Larry “Wild Man” Fischer
Today, I’m saddened to report another casualty in the music universe. Larry “Wild Man” Fischer, as far as I know, didn’t record LOUIE LOUIE, nor did he have any obvious connections to…
RIP: Carl Gardner of the Robins & the Coasters
On Sunday, we lost another rock music pioneer. Carl Gardner, founding member of the Robins, which evolved into the Coasters, has passed away. The 83 year old singer died of congestive heart…
RIP: Shasta Bates, singer-songwriter
Sometimes, certain events seem to set you back, providing an unintended pause as you stop to reassess things before proceeding forward with your original plans A death of a friend can certainly…
RIP: Kent Morrill of the Wailers
Yesterday, we lost another important player in the LOUIE universe. Kent Morrill of the Fabulous Wailers has left the land of the living. Just a few weeks ago, I wrote about Kent,…
RIP: Captain Beefheart, visionary (LOUIE of the Week)
Last week, we lost a true visionary with the death of Don Van Vliet, the man also known as Captain Beefheart. Ironically, my last posting in this blog was about his old…
RIP: Leslie Nielsen, comedic actor extraordinaire
It was about a year and a half ago that I wrote about Ricardo Montalbán as the “best actor in LOUIE LOUIE tragic death category” with his performance as the arch-villain in…
RIP: Dave McElhatton, San Francisco news anchor
On Monday, we lost Dave McElhatton, a news anchorman for KPIX Channel 5, the San Francisco CBS affiliate. I never met the man, but I’d heard a lot of stories about about…
RIP: Mitch Miller, the Anti-LOUIE
Mitch Miller, the man who popularized sing-along performances before the invention of karaoke, has passed away at the age of 99 years old. He was was an American musician, singer, conductor, record…