Eddie C. Campbell
Chicago blues singer and guitarist Eddie C. Campbell suffered a heart attack and stroke while touring in Germany. He is back home in Chicago, but faces expensive rehabilitation therapy before he can play again. There will be a 74th birthday party and benefit for him at Buddy Guy's Legends in Chicago on May 31. Among those scheduled to appear are Eddy Clearwater, Billy Boy Arnold, Lurrie Bell, Billy Branch and the Sons of Blues, Eddie Shaw and many others.
Deaths
Cleotha Staples,
a member of the family soul and gospel vocal group, the Staple Singers, died of complications from Alzheimer's disease on February
21 at the age of 78. The group consisted of Roebuck “Pops”
Staples, his son Purvis, and his daughters Cleotha, Yvonne and Mavis
(the lead singer). They had 18 songs reach the R&B charts,
including three #1 songs—“I'll Take You There,” “If You're
Ready (Come Go With Me)” and “Let's Do It Again.” The group
was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1999. In this
1973 video, Cleo is on the left.
Soul
singer Jewel Akens,
whose only hit, “The Birds and the Bees,” reached #5 on the R&B
charts in 1965, died of complications from back surgery on March 1.
He was 79. Prior to becoming a single artist, he was a member of
several West Coast vocal groups, including the Medallions (on
Dootone) and the Four Dots (on Freedom). Terry Evans was a member of
the backup group on “The Birds and the Bees.”
Sol Rabinowitz,
the owner of the New York '50s independent R&B label Baton
Records died on March 16 at the age of 88 in North Carolina. His
first record was “A Thousand Stars,” by the Rivileers. Also
recording for Baton were the vocal groups the Hearts and the
Fidelitys, saxophonists Buddy Tate and Noble “Thin Man Watts,”
and singers Ann Cole and Marie Knight.
Bobbie Smith,
the silky smooth lead tenor of the Spinners, died of pneumonia on March 16 at the age of 76. The Spinners formed in Detroit in the
late '50s, and were named for those fancy chrome hubcaps that were
popular at the time. They were managed by Gwen Gordy and recorded
for her husband Harvey Fuqua's Tri-Phi label. After the Moonglows
disbanded, Fuqua went into record production. Here's their first
hit, from 1961.
When Berry Gordy
acquired Fuqua's record labels, the Spinners were added to the Motown
stable, where they spent most of the '60s but charted only four
times. Their career finally took off in the '70s when they moved to
Atlantic. All told, 34 of their songs reached the R&B charts,
six of them reaching #1 (“I'll Be Around,” “Could It Be I'm
Falling in Love?,” “One of a Kind (Love Affair),” “A Mighty
Love,” “They Just Can't Stop It (The Games People Play),” and
“Rubberband Man.”)
During their prime
years, the Spinners lineup consisted of Bobbie Smith, tenor; Philippe
Wynne, tenor; Billy Henderson, tenor; Henry Fambrough, baritone; and
Pervis Jackson, bass. Here's a clip from 1972 that's typical
Spinners. Notice how, near the end, Smith hands off the lead to
Wynne, who takes the song out in a gospel style.
They were inducted
into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 1999. They have been nominated
for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but not yet inducted.
Considering the quality, longevity and commercial success of their
recordings, this is a serious injustice—but not surprising, given
the Hall's apparent bias against vocal groups.
Floyd “Buddy” McCrae,
the last surviving member of the Chords, died at a nursing home in the Bronx on March 19. He was about 80. The Chords recorded one of
the first R&B songs to cross over to the pop charts, “Sh-Boom!”
Released on Atlantic's Cat subsidiary, it reached #2 on the R&B
charts in July 1954. Unfortunately, it was covered by a Canadian group, the Crew Cuts, whose version dominated the pop
charts.
The Chords were
Carl Feaster, lead tenor; Jimmy Keyes, first tenor; Buddy McCrae,
second tenor; Claude Feaster, baritone; and William “Ricky”
Edwards, bass. They had three other releases on Cat, one on Vik and
one on Atlantic. Some of these were released as by the Chordcats and
the Sh-Booms. All are excellent.
Finally,
I'm sad to report that the great soul singer and songwriter George
Jackson died of cancer on April
14 at his home in Mississippi at the age of 68. Jackson was
discovered by Ike Turner and first recorded at Cosimo Matassa's
studio in New Orleans in 1963 He released about 20 records for
almost as many different labels. He only charted once, with “Aretha,
Sing One For Me,” in 1972. He was also a member of the vocal group
the Ovations.
He is best known
as a prolific and brilliant songwriter. He was the staff writer for Fame Records in the late '60s and early '70s. When Fame closed up
shop, he assumed the same role at Malaco Records. Among his more
popular songs were “One Bad Apple” (recorded by the Osmonds),
“Old Time Rock and Roll” (Bob Seger), and “Down Home Blues”
(Z. Z. Hill). His songs were also recorded by James Brown, Clarence
Carter, Wilson Pickett, Candi Staton, Otis Clay, and Ike and Tina
Turner, among many others.
It has recently
been discovered that George Jackson left behind a rich legacy of
unreleased sides in the vaults of the Fame studios. Most of them
were demos of songs that were intended to be recorded by other
artists, but they show how underrated he was as a vocalist. Kent (Ace) Records in England is gradually releasing these sides on a series of
CDs.
Happy Birthday
Today is the
birthday of Duke Ellington. He was born in 1899 and died in
1974. The soloists on “Raincheck,” recorded in December 1941, are Juan Tizol, trombone, Ben Webster, tenor sax, Ray Nance, trumpet, and Billy Strayhorn, piano.
Also tenor sax man
Big Jay McNeely (born in 1927), Carl Gardner (1928),
lead singer of the Coasters, and Chicago blues man Otis Rush
(1934).
You may also be interested in reading:
Jimmy Dawkins (1926-2013)
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