The Encyclopedia of Dead Rock Stars (104 page)

See also
Rushton Moreve (
July 1981); Kent Henry (
March 2009). One-time Stone Canyon Band guitarist Allen Kemp also died in 2009.

Lest We Forget

Other notable deaths that occurred sometime during 1985:

Ronnie Appoldt
(US drummer with Georgia thrash-metal band Hallow’s Eve; shot when an LA drug deal went awry - his replacement Rob Clayton died equally dramatically in 1992)

Tommy Blake
(US rockabilly guitarist; born Thomas LeVan Givens, Louisiana, 14/9/1931; mysteriously shot dead by his wife Samantha, as he attempted to present her with a Xmas gift, 24/12)

Abel DeCosta
(pioneering US lead tenor with doo-wop groups The Blenders and The Cues who also worked with many other R & B singers; born Abel DiCosta, 1929; unknown)

Lorraine Ellison
(raw-edged US soul singer with The Ellison Singers and Golden Chords who later hit with ‘Stay With Me’ in 1966; born Pennsylvania, 1943; unknown, 17/8)

Fathead
(Jamaican DJ foil to Yellowman, recognized for his ‘oinks’ and ‘ribbits’; born Vernon Rainford, Kingston; murdered by gunshot, 22/12)

Brian Keenan
(US drummer with Manfred Mann and black neosoul act The Chambers Brothers; born New York, 28/1/1944; heart attack)

Jimmy Stokley
(US vocalist with pop/rock act Exile who topped the charts in 1978 with ‘Kiss You All Over’; born 18/10/1943; liver failure, 13/8)

Mike Sund
(US singer/guitarist with rock bands Little Joe & The Ramrods, The Redtops and The Mike Sund Combo; born Nebraska, 1944; unknown)

D’Marie Warren
(US disco singer with Alton McClain & Destiny, who hit with ‘It Must be Love’ in 1979; born Delores Warren, California, 1953; car crash, 22/2)

Ricky West
(UK funk keyboardist with Kool & The Gang (1969-78) who wrote their big-selling ‘Hollywood Swinging’ hit; born Richard Allen Westfield, Essex, 7/5/1943; long-term illness)

Tex Williams
(US country/Western swing singer; born Sollie Paul Williams, 23/8/1917; having recorded such ‘classics’ as ‘Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! (That Cigarette)’, he succumbed to lung cancer, 11/10)

1986

JANUARY

Saturday 4

Phil Lynott

(West Bromwich, 20 August 1949)

Thin Lizzy

Grand Slam

(Various acts)

He was distinctive in many ways was Philip Parris Lynott – not least for his unique appearance. A dark-skinned Irish boy, Lynott was born out of wedlock to a Brazilian man (who played no part in his growing up) and an Irish girl, Philomena, living in the West Midlands. This being 1951, it was considered best for the boy to live with his grandmother Sarah – whose name would inspire a later hit record – in Dublin. Rock ‘n’ roll became Lynott’s life during an adolescence toughened by frequent bigotry – the guitarist formed bands like The Black Eagles and Orphanage, both of which featured later collaborator Brian Downey. Lynott’s characteristic bass style was nurtured in his third group, one of the many bands that have gone under the name Skid Row. But in 1969, having developed a decidedly Hendrix-esque swagger to go with his startling Afro and gypsy earrings, 19-year-old Lynott formed Thin Lizzy with Eric Bell (guitars) and Downey (drums).

Fancying himself as something of a poet, Lynott applied his folk-styled lyrics to Lizzy’s first albums for Decca, an eponymous debut (1971) and
Shades of a Blue Orphanage
(1972) – though it was a traditional Irish drinking song that brought the band to the public’s attention and put Phil Lynott on national television. ‘Whiskey in the Jar’ raced to UK number six early in 1973; Lizzy’s interpretation, with its evocative intro, remains for many the definitive version of this standard. Various line-up changes ensued – hoary guitar hero Gary Moore came and went twice within four years – before the settled Lizzy frontline of Lynott (bass), Brian Robertson and Scott Gorham (both guitar) was established for the band’s most fertile period. In 1976, a more hard-rock-friendly version of Lizzy was back in the UK singles Top Ten with the rowdy singalong ‘The Boys are Back in Town’ (the band’s only American hit) and released a series of hit albums, the biggest of which was the concert recording
Live and Dangerous
(1978), which showed a band best enjoyed in performance. But while all was in order commercially, Phil Lynott was to endure, in 1977, the first of a number of serious health issues, contracting hepatitis while on tour. His abuse of heroin was largely to blame. Nonetheless, Phil Lynott seemed to recover fully and all worries were forgotten. In 1980, he married girlfriend Caroline Crowther (daughter of late British TV presenter Leslie), and fathered a daughter, who shared his grandmother’s name. One of the most popular characters on the music scene, Lynott even managed to straddle Britain’s burgeoning newwave scene: Thin Lizzy – and perhaps Motorhead – were the only heavy-rock bands considered cool enough for the postpunk generation, and this was reflected by a friendship with his countryman Bob Geldof (then of The Boomtown Rats) and a charity collaboration with former Sex Pistols Paul Cook and Steve Jones. (Unlikely covers of Lizzy hits include a Happy Mondays’ deconstruction of ‘The Boys are Back in Town’ and the Smashing Pumpkins’ take on ‘Dancing in the Moonlight’.) The only downer at this time was the blanket ban of Lizzy’s ‘Killer on the Loose’ single (1980), an ill-advised homage to serial murder (and not their first). But, ever a grafter, Lynott also juggled a solo career, with two early-eighties albums to his name – his biggest UK hit was the Moore collaboration ‘Out in the Fields’ (1985). By now, though, Thin Lizzy were fading, many – including Lynott himself – feeling the band had become a spent force. The frontman effectively split Lizzy in 1983, forming the shortlived Grand Slam (again with Downey) in their stead.

Phil Lynott was, unbeknown to many, himself a spent force. His body had withstood years of alcohol and drug abuse (which had somehow remained low profile for such a big star) but by the turn of 1986, it all came home to roost. On Christmas night 1985, Lynott (who had been attending rehab) fell into a drug-induced coma and was hospitalized in Salisbury for eight days; his wife and fatherin-law were by his side as he passed away. The cause of death was officially recorded as heart and liver failure exacerbated by septicaemia. Phil Lynott – a statue of whom is planned in his beloved Dublin – was buried in Sutton, Ireland, overlooking Dublin Bay.

See also
Gary Moore (
February 2011)

Tuesday 14

Daniel Balavoine

(Alençon, Normandy, 5 February 1952)

Présence

(Various acts)

A folk/pop singer, largely unheard of outside of his native France, Balavoine and his conscience were spurred by the 1968 student uprising, and he voiced his disquiet with a number of bands – none of whom reached a wide enough audience to make an impression. With the group Présence, however, Balavoine did enough to make himself heard, winning a solo contract with Barclay in 1975 – by which time he had ghosted vocals for up-and-coming disco star Patrick Juvet. Though he released a number of albums, Balavoine remained a cult figure, and it was only a role in rock opera
Starmania
(1978) that plucked him from obscurity, prompting a hit record at home with his own
‘Le Chanteur
’. Always a controversial figure, Balavoine twice appeared on television debates, on one berating presidential candidate Francois Mitterrand, and on another alienating many with some ambiguous comments about French war veterans.

Also interested in foreign concerns, Balavoine used the 1986 Paris–Dakar Rally to promote interest in providing water pumps for suffering African townships; it was one of these trips that ended in tragedy. Travelling with the rally’s director, Daniel Balavoine was one of five on board killed when their helicopter flew into a sandstorm and, with no visibility, crashed into a dune.