The Encyclopedia of Dead Rock Stars (124 page)

The hits continued for The Drifters – including a Billboard number one in ‘Save the Last Dance for Me’ (1960) – but their fortunes dipped slightly with the loss of Ben E King to a solo career; he was eventually replaced by Rudy Lewis. Green left the line-up in 1962 to join a fairly unsuccessful imitation band named The Drapers, before forming The Floaters (not the ‘Float On’ hitmakers) with his old buddy Wilbur Paul and ex-Drifter Tommy Evans. Thereafter, Doc Green faded into obscurity as various touring incarnations of The Drifters underwent even more bewildering line-up changes. He was briefly a member of one such himself, led by Charles Thomas in the seventies. Green died of cancer at his home in New York State.

See also
Rudy Lewis (
Pre-1965) and the accompanying Dead Interesting! for a definitive list of the sixteen departed Drifters. Green’s lifelongfriend Wilbur Paul passed away in 1993.

MAY

Friday 19 Ron

Wilson

(Glendora, California, 9 March 1945)

The Surfaris

In the autumn of 1962, four Dick Dale fans figured they could and should form a band in the style of their surf-guitar idol: the result was The Surfaris – Jim Fuller (lead guitar), Bob Berryhill (guitar), Pat Connolly (bass) and Ron Wilson (drums). The group’s impact was immediate and brief – and due to one tune. Beach-fanatic Wilson had had a dream about a mythical hero named ‘Surfer Joe’ – and thus the group had the subject for its first single, built around a Wilson drum solo from his school marching-band days. Unfortunately for the percussionist, it was to be the B-side, ‘Wipe Out’, that captured the rest of the country’s imagination. According to legend, the tune was improvised in fifteen minutes – and within six months it had sold a million copies, rising to number two in America. From then on, the boys hit a series of snags: first, early saxophonist Jim Pash (who died in 2005) sued the group in order to be
removed
from record sleeves, then another ‘Surfaris’ issued a suit over the name; finally a group called The Impacts claimed they’d had the idea for ‘Wipe Out’ before Wilson and co. As if this weren’t enough, the band failed to secure a significant follow-up hit (‘Point Panic’ made US number forty-nine) and received no performance royalties because they hadn’t played on any further tracks on their album!

Major success in Japan saved their bacon; the band turned to noninstrumentals and Ron Wilson shortly thereafter also took on vocal duties. The group were to see ‘Wipe Out’ a hit again – a version by The Fat Boys, accompanied by The Surfaris’ old pals The Beach Boys, went platinum less than a year ahead of Wilson’s death from a brain aneurysm. Tragically, the former drummer was near-destitute by this time.

Monday 29

John Cipollina

(Berkeley, California, 24 August 1943)

Quicksilver Messenger Service

(Various acts)

One of the most original guitar stylists to emerge during the sixties, John Cipollina could probably have been a virtuoso on any instrument, so instinctive was his skill. As boys, he and his brother Mario (who would enjoy greater success than John as a member of Huey Lewis & The News) showed talent way beyond the norm before either had reached even ten years old. Cipollina lived a bohemian existence from a young age, smoking despite his asthma and living on a houseboat in Sausalito as he began his foray into the music business. San Francisco was certainly the place to be, and the guitarist found session work with The Deacons, before the band realized that with their new acquisition they could be something more than the covers act they had been content to be to date. Changing their name to Quicksilver Messenger Service in 1965, the group – Cipollina, Gary Duncan (guitar), David Freiberg (bass), Greg Elmore (drums) and later Nicky Hopkins (keyboards) – were punchier and more powerful than Haight-Ashbury contemporaries Jefferson Airplane and The Grateful Dead (or even Big Brother & The Holding Company, without Janis) but somehow failed to grasp similar commercial success. Cipollina and Duncan’s twin-guitar assault was an acid-fried treat, however, making them perhaps the essential live unit of the era. Most of the group remained stubbornly antiestablishment (despite signing to Capitol), and returning singer Dino Valenti’s urge to ‘go folksier’ was not met favourably by Cipollina, who left in 1970. After break-ing away from QMS (who were nonetheless to reconvene in 1975), Cipollina contributed his unique tones to a vast array of rock acts, his own Copperhead (not to be confused with the Southern rock band of the same name), Terry & The Pirates, Keith Godchaux’s Ghost and Welsh prog act Man among them. Diagnosed with emphysema in 1988, John Cipollina died after being admitted into Marin General Hospital following a severe asthma attack.

See also
Keith Godchaux (
July 1980); Dino Valenti (
November 1994); Gary Phillips (
January 2007)

JUNE

Wednesday 14

Pete de Freitas

(Port of Spain, Trinidad, 2 August 1961)

Echo & The Bunnymen

Pete de Freitas obtained his opportunity with Liverpool’s most influential postpunk band for one of the least flattering reasons: the band’s drum machine (allegedly the ‘Echo’ of their name, until the band later denied this) had broken. As a former public schoolboy from ‘down South’, attempting to place himself within one of 1979’s most-likely-to Scouse rock acts might have proved tricky, but de Freitas was clearly the final piece of an impressive jigsaw. Already signed to WEA imprint Korova, the Doors-inspired Bunnymen – de Freitas, Ian McCulloch (vocals), Will Sargeant (guitar) and Les Pattinson (bass) – impressed with early singles such as ‘Rescue’ (1979) and the Top Twenty debut album
Crocodiles
(1980). Within three years the band was one of the UK’s most popular live attractions, going on to chart strongly with stunning singles like ‘The Back of Love’ (1982), ‘The Cutter’, ‘Never Stop’ (both 1983) and ‘The Killing Moon’ (1984); their albums continued to sell well in Britain, but, after the release of
Ocean Rain
(1984) and a 1985 compilation, de Freitas decided to move on from Echo & The Bunnymen, and was replaced, improbably, by ex-Haircut 100 sticksman Mark Fox. De Freitas disappeared to New Orleans, where he lived a hedonistic existence on the money he had earned from the band – but it was quickly apparent that the situation was unsatisfactory to both parties, and the percussionist was reinstated by the end of 1986. The following year’s eponymous album was considered water-treading by their British fanbase, but nonetheless finally broke the group in America. By the end of the next year, however, the death of his father prompted Ian McCulloch to split from the band himself.