The Encyclopedia of Dead Rock Stars (137 page)

Serge Gainsbourg: A contemporary Baudelaire or Apollinaire - according to François Mitterrand

As his work became increasingly idiosyncratic, Serge Gainsbourg himself became more of a handful in public: his most notorious moment was in 1988, when he told stunned US chanteuse Whitney Houston on a French Saturday-night chat show that he ‘wanted to fuck her’. Nevertheless, the artist was much loved, and, following his death from a heart attack at his rue de Verneuil home, there was a huge outpouring of public affection. In 2003, the city of Clermont-Ferrand became the first to dedicate a
rue
to Gainsbourg’s memory.

Saturday 16

Chris Austin

(Boone, North Carolina, 24 February 1964)

Kirk Cappello

(Missouri, 1962)

Joey Cigainero

(Texas, 28 September 1963)

Paula Kaye Evans

(Dallas, Texas, 10 November 1957)

Terry Jackson

(Missouri, 1962)

Tony Saputo

(Missouri, 12 February 1957)

Michael Thomas

(Tennessee, 1957)

The Reba McEntire Band

Well, this was it – the biggest single-band wipe-out
ever
in popular music history. And yet fate saw fit to ensure that the leader, country performer Reba McEntire, survived the carnage. McEntire, one of the most successful female singers of the last thirty years (sources suggest that only Barbra Streisand has outsold her), had enjoyed an unbroken run of hits that kept her and her nine-strong band in demand for live appearances. On the evening of Friday 15 March, the group had performed a private show in San Diego, with another scheduled the following night in Fort Wayne, Indiana. While McEntire stayed put in California for the night, her entourage split between two small Hawker-Siddeley aircraft to complete the journey before bedding down: one plane took off into the night sky towards Indiana, the other careered straight into Mount Otay within minutes of take-off. On board the latter were Chris Austin (vocals/guitar/ mandolin), Kirk Cappello (musical director/keyboards), Joey Cigainero (synthesizer), Paula Kaye Evans (vocals), Terry Jackson (bass), Tony Saputo (drums) and Michael Thomas (guitar). Also killed were McEntire’s road manager Jim Hammon and two others, including the pilot.

Reba McEntire: ‘Ladies and gentlemen - tonight’s set will be a cappella …’

The likeable balladeer was philosophical following what must have been a devastating, traumatic time: ‘You can understand why God took ‘em, ‘cause they were so special – but, oh my gosh, how we missed ‘em!’ McEntire – who dedicated her 1991
For My Broken Heart
album to the lost musicians – later found a niche in television and still fronts her own Fox sitcom.

Sunday 17

Max Lipscomb

(Dallas, Texas, 20 August 1937)

Gene Vincent & The Blue Caps

Max Lipscomb was no great shakes as a musician but possessed smouldering good looks, which prompted Gene Vincent’s manager, Ed McLemore, to hire him. Lipscomb’s position as Blue Caps pianist lasted long enough for him to appear with the group on
The Ed Sullivan Show
in 1957. With Vincent very much the focus, musicians came and went in the early days, and Lipscomb – under an alias, Scotty McKay – went solo at the beginning of 1958. His subsequent career was that of an amiable journeyman, the charming McKay/ Lipscomb seemingly able to talk himself into a deal anywhere. With Ace Records, he even managed to work with Fats Domino, who presumably showed him how it
should
be done on the keys. Lipscomb turned to religion later in his life, and carved himself a small niche in Christian pop. He passed away from a heart attack, aged fifty-three.

Max Lipscomb - capped by Vincent

See also
Gene Vincent(
October 1971); Cliff Gallup (
October 1988); Willie Williams (
August 1999); Paul Peek (
April 2001). Other Blue Caps Grady Owen (1999), Jerry Lee Merritt (2001), Juvenal Gomez (2002) and Jumpin’ Jack Neal (2012) are also dead.

Friday 22

Dave Guard

(Donald David Guard - San Francisco, California, 19 October 1934)

The Kingston Trio

(The Whiskyhill Singers)