The Encyclopedia of Dead Rock Stars (367 page)

Also known as ‘Scandalous-T,’ Baatin was a key member of Detroit-based rap outlaws, Slum Village – the posse originally known as Ssenepod (it spells ‘dopeness’ in reverse). Glover had first stepped up to the mic in 1986, eventually forming the group during the nineties with co-rapper T3 and producer J Dilla (James Yancey, aka Jay Dee). The latter was, however, to leave for a solo career in 2001, to be replaced by Elzhi (Jason Powers). Although Baatin wasn’t to experience the national success of some of his peers (the rapper counted deceased D12 star Proof (
April 2006)
among his friends), Slum Village issued some acclaimed records, among them
Fantastic, Vol2
(2000) and the Top Twenty-bothering
Trinity (Past, Present & Future)
(2002).

Baatin first learned of his diagnosis with schizophrenia and depression while touring the latter album, the condition initially manifesting itself in violent verbal outbursts that understandably alienated his Slum Village cohorts. This necessitated many hospital stays, including one during which Baatin lay comatose for almost an entire day. During this period, the rapper learned that he was no longer a part of Slum Village, after the label reportedly ‘seized’ his car and home. The recovering Baatin thus took a four-year sabbatical, emerging once his health allowed him to record solo as ‘Baatin the Slumlord’. (The artist was believed to have been living rough after this time, and also to have developed an addiction to crack cocaine.)

The cause of Titus Glover’s sudden death is to this day unconfirmed, although his escalating health issues have to be assumed at least partially responsible. However, given that his body was found in the street, foul play remains a distinct possibility. The rapper followed Jay Dee/Dilla
(
February 2006
) to an early grave.

August

Sunday 2

Andy Parle

(Liverpool, England, 4 October 1970
*
)

Space

(Various acts)

Andy Parle was the percussionist with Liverpool guitar band Space during the group’s late-nineties glory days. The drummer had been well-known on the Liverpool punk scene before forming Space as a Who-styled ‘mod’ unit with singer/songwriter Tommy Scott in 1993.

While established bands such as Blur and Oasis slugged it out during the Britpop summers of 1994 -95, Space bided their time in composing an arsenal of infectious singalongs. The group notched consecutive Top Five albums in Britain with
Spiders
(1996) and
Tin Planet
(1998), however they are probably best recalled for a spate of quirky hit singles at this time, with ‘Me and You Versus the World’ (1996), ‘Avenging Angels’ (1998) and ‘Ballad of Tom Jones’ (also 1998, featuring Cerys Matthews of Welsh pop stars, Catatonia) all achieving Top Ten berths in the UK. The group’s most acclaimed song was almost certainly the global hit ‘Female of the Species’ (1996, UK/US Modern Rock Top Twenty), which also featured on a number of television and movie soundtracks. Oddly, the drummer – who was considered integral to the group – left in the middle of this success to pursue ‘more cultish styles’. He is believed to have undergone treatment for alcohol and drug issues at the turn of the century.

Sadly, Andy Parle’s life was cut short following a strange incident in which he fell while running across a road in his home town of Dingle, Liverpool. Despite many eyewitnesses stopping to assist the stricken musician, Parle died later at the Royal Liverpool Hospital. His death has since been treated as ‘unexplained’.

After some years apart, surviving members of Space met at Parle’s funeral and decided to reunite the band.

*
This is the birth date given in Space’s official biography, however authorities confirmed that Parle was 42 at the time of his death.

Thursday 6

Willy DeVille

(William Borsey - Stamford, Connecticut, 25 August 1950)

Mink DeVille

(Various acts)

‘Under-promoted, under-appreciated and ultimately undersold.’ These words were how
American Hit Network
described Mink DeVille’s 1977 debut album, yet this description could just as easily have fitted the key perpetrator of the band and its music. Guitarist Willy DeVille (as he was to become known in the mid-seventies) had another description for himself, however: ‘A little bit of this, a little bit of that. A real street-dog.’ William Borsey, as was his birth name, had been born into a family that could boast Irish, Basque and even, in the case of his maternal grandmother, Pequot native-American ancestry. A fan of The Drifters as a boy, Borsey/DeVille was similarly to cover the gamut of popular music styles in his compositions, openly borrowing from rock ‘n’ roll, blues and country as he quested for the perfect pop moment. But the man also had presence, and – borrowing something of his look from blues legend John Hammond – was set to front one of the new wave’s most original acts.

It took him a while, however. Groups came and went (DeVille often spoke of hometown band ‘gangs’ such as Billy & The Kids and The Stamfords), but it was apparent that he’d have to strike out to find himself musically. Borsey therefore travelled to New York via San Francisco and London to find compatible musicians, but it was only on returning to the Big Apple that he found a new, percolating scene that appeared sufficiently eclectic to cater to his musical whim. Assisted by some of the Bay Area musicians with whom he’d previously played (as ‘Billy de Sade & The Marquis’), the newly renamed Willy DeVille passed an audition at CBGBs, and his newly renamed Mink DeVille thus set up camp as one of the legendary club’s house bands between 1975 and 1977. Capitol were suitably impressed, signing DeVille and his group – guitarist Louis X Erlanger, bassist Rubén Sigüenza and drummer Thomas R ‘Manfred’ Allen, Jr – just before Christmas, 1976. The first recorded results gave the world the Jack Nitzsche-produced debut,
Cabretta
(1977 – simply
Mink DeVille
in the US, where it scraped into the Billboard 200). This ambitious, soulful affair was highlighted by the fetching ‘Spanish Stroll’, remarkably, a UK Top Twenty single during the country’s ‘punk summer’. (Two further singles from the album, ‘Little Girl’ and ‘Cadillac Walk’, also received wide European airplay over the next year or so.)
Return To Magenta
(1978) followed the debut, again making decent inroads into the American charts, but the promise of that British hit was to prove a false one.

Willy fronting Mink DeVille in 1977: “A little bit of this, a little bit of that”

DeVille dismissed his entire band bar Erlanger (who nonetheless left soon after) for the next record,
Le Chat Bleu
(1980). The third album was recorded in Paris, but was frozen out by Capitol who saw no commercial potential in DeVille’s ‘indulgent’ use of strings, issuing it only in Europe. In the event, this great collection of songs was for many the critical high-water mark of the musician’s career and cocked a serious snook at his label by becoming a big seller on import. Although Capitol were (finally) to release the album at home during 1981, the damage had been done: DeVille – effectively now a solo artist – set sail for Atlantic, where legendary head-honcho Ahmet Ertegun was to finance two albums by a musician he’d admired for some time. However, despite maintaining Nitzsche as producer, Ertegun’s faith was not repaid in comparable success, and DeVille was on the move again. Mink DeVille the band came to an end after one further record,
Sportin’ Life
(Polydor, 1985), which, again, fared well in Europe, puncturing the Top Twenty in Sweden and Switzerland.

Free of certain shackles, Willy DeVille became even more productive in his solo career. A so-so collaboration with Mark Knopfler – 1987’s
Miracle
(which included the Oscarnominated ‘Storybook Love’) – was followed by a series of occasionally great, and always interesting and entertaining records. Recording much of his output in his ‘hated’ environment of Los Angeles, DeVille forged partnerships with Jeff ‘Skunk’ Baxter (Steely Dan/The Doobie Brothers), David Hidalgo (Los Lobos) and, most remarkably, fabled country/pop chanteuse Brenda Lee, who sang with him on the fine ‘You’ll Never Know’, which appeared on DeVille’s
Loup Garou
album (1995). (DeVille later recalled: ‘She didn’t know who the hell I was – I just played her the song and she loved it.’)