The Encyclopedia of Dead Rock Stars (366 page)

Jeff Scott Soto, Last Autumn’s Dream

Jacob’s main band, however, was Talisman, the melodic rock ‘supergroup’ he founded in 1987. Picking the bones out of the various line-ups of Talisman is a tricky job, but the main personnel consisted of Jacob (bass), Jeff Scott Soto (ex-Yngwie Malmsteen, vocals), Fredrik Akesson (guitar) and Jamie Borger (drums). Others over the years have included guitarists Pontus Norgren, Christopher Stahl and Mats Lindfors (also the band’s early producer), keyboardists Mats Olausson (ex-Yngwie Malmsteen/Glory), Julie Greaux and Thomas Wikstrom (also of the excellent Candlemass) and drummer Peter Hermansson (ex-220 Volt/John Norum).

Under Jacob’s watchful eye, Talisman issued seven studio records up until 2007 – the best-received probably
Genesis
(1993) – with the core of the band also recording as Humanimal in 2002. A lack of label promotion, however, eventually saw Talisman and their increasingly despondent bass player part ways. In 2005, while juggling an array of guest slots with other acts (including Malmsteen), he became the full-time bassist with Last Autumn’s Dream, a prolific outfit with whom Jacob and Soto – who also came along for the ride – recorded seven albums within five years.

Toward the end of this tenure, it became apparent to all that Marcel Jacob was not functioning in terms of both his physical health and his psychological wellbeing. Finally, on the afternoon of 21 July 2009, the musician’s body was found at his home in Kristineberg, Stockholm, Jacob having apparently taken his own life.

John Dawson IV

(Detroit, Michigan, 16 June 1945)

New Riders of the Purple Sage

(The Grateful Dead)

(Various acts)

On the same day, the music world lost former New Riders of the Purple Sage guitarist and songwriter, John Dawson. Known widely as ‘Marmaduke’, former New York student Dawson found fame after relocating to San Francisco just ahead of the flower-power boom. Dawson – who had learned guitar at the hands of folk musician Mimi Fariña (sister of Joan Baez) – there fashioned his own band, Mother McCree’s Uptown Jug Champions, an amalgamation that also included Jerry Garcia and various other musicians who were to wind up in The Grateful Dead.

Mother McCree’s also included fellow bohemian and guitarist David Nelson, the pair recruiting Garcia (on pedal steel) to form the first incarnation of New Riders of the Purple Sage in 1969. With several musicians coming and going, plus Garcia’s commitments elsewhere, the New Riders’ core for the first couple of years was Dawson and Nelson, but the band rapidly became the opening act of choice for Garcia’s men. The first, eponymous New Riders album (1971) proved somewhat that this was more than just a Dead offshoot, featuring exclusively Dawson-penned songs. The record was recorded by what is generally considered the classic line-up of the two guitarists and Garcia, plus David Torbert (ex-Grateful Dead, bass) and Spencer Dryden (ex-Jefferson Airplane, drums).

Dawson’s guitar cameos also featured on Grateful Dead’s albums at this time –
Aoxomoxoa
(1969),
Workingman’s Dead
(1970) and
American Beauty
(1971). Garcia amicably stepped aside from his post with the New Riders, although, as befitting a co-operative member, he did continue to ‘guest’ with the band thereafter. The head Deadhead was replaced by Buddy Cage to complete a NRPS line-up that remained together as they recorded into the eighties, enjoying career-best returns for their next run of releases.
The Adventures of Panama Red
(1973) saw the group awarded their one gold disc.

New Riders of the Purple Sage continued after Nelson and Cage’s departure in 1981, although much of their previous fanbase believed that the guts had now been ripped from the band. Nevertheless, Dawson continued to record, but in a more ‘bluegrass’ vein, which was best heard on
Keep On Keepin’ On
(1989), a record proving that a good songwriter will generally prevail. With the New Riders slowing down, Dawson retired from the industry in 1997, moving to Mexico where he found a post teaching English. The former musician became too unwell to rejoin his New Riders colleagues for reunion performances, finally passing away from stomach cancer at his home in San Miguel de Allende.

See also
David Torbert (
December 1982); Spencer Dryden (
January 2005). Other former New Riders to pass on have been Clyde ‘Skip’ Battin (d 2003) and Allen Kemp, who died just one month before Dawson.

Thursday 23

Danny McBride

(Daniel Hatton - Somerville, Massachusetts, 20 November 1945)

Sha Na Na

(Various acts)

One-time lead guitarist with US showband Sha Na Na, ‘Dirty’ Dan McBride graduated from Boston University in 1970 to perform with a number of local bands (including The Rockin’ Ramrods), before joining the popular rock-revival unit during their seventies heyday. The band had lacked stability in this role since the sudden death of original guitarist, Chris ‘Vinnie Taylor’ Donald
(
April 1974),
and the quick departure of his replacement, Elliot ‘Enrico Ronzoni’ Randall, who moved on to more sober success with Steely Dan.

Sha Na Na had originally risen to fame after an unlikely slot alongside Hendrix et al at Woodstock in 1969; however McBride was not to join the group for another five years or so. His keen performances made him a shoe-in for the group’s CBS television variety hour which began as a ‘partnering’ show to the popular
Happy Days
in 1977. Sha Na Na’s natural exuberance here saw them win a part in the
Grease
movie, where they portrayed Johnny Casino & The Gamblers. (The group, having contributed several songs to the huge-selling soundtrack album, also enjoyed their commercial peak at this time.)

McBride grew weary of the formula by 1980, moving on to play with other groups, while making a decent living as a voice-over artist and a sharp-shooting music critic. In later years, the former Sha Na Na man returned to his first love of performing and recording, issuing a solo collection of standards in
16 Tunes… and Whaddaya Get?
(1999). Danny McBride passed away in his sleep, after a day spent playing music.

See also
Chico Ryan (
July 1998). Touring bass Reggie Battise died a year after McBride.

Friday 31

Baatin

(Titus Glover - Detroit, Michigan, 8 March 1974)

Slum Village