The Encyclopedia of Dead Rock Stars (380 page)

Tam Paton
(UK pop manager who guided The Bay City Rollers to international stardom during the 1970s–he was later jailed after a series of allegations about his private life; born Thomas Dougal Paton, Prestonpans, Scotland, 10/8/1938; he suffered a cardiac arrest in the bath at his Edinburgh apartment, 8/4)

Ron Richards
(revered UK musician/producer who worked with The Beatles and Gerry & The Pacemakers before discovering and managing The Hollies–he also produced Ella Fitzgerald, P J Proby and The Spencer Davis Group; born London, 22/1/1929; natural causes, in Watford, Hertfordshire, 30/4)

Mark Smith
(‘unsung’ UK bassist/producer who worked in a variety of genres, playing with The Waterboys, Leo Sayer, Roxy Music, Neneh Cherry, Lionel Richie, Malcolm McLaren, Van Morrison and his own soul/fusion band, Kokomo; born London, 25/2/1960; he was found dead at his Battersea apartment, 2/11)

Warren ‘Birdland’ Suttles
(US baritone with noted doo-wop group The Ravens, who scored several early R & B hits culminating with 1952’s ‘Rock Me All Night Long’; born Fairfield, Alabama, 20/2/1925; Parkinson’s disease, in New York, 24/7)

Koko Taylor
(aka ‘The Queen of the Blues’– acclaimed US singer whose 1966 hit ‘Wang Dang Doodle’ has become an alltime classic; born Cora Walton, Shelby County, Tennessee, 28/9/1928; gastrointestinal bleeding, 3/6)

Sam Taylor
(noted US blues/R & B singer/ guitarist/songwriter who worked with Joey Dee & The Starlighters, The Drifters, Sam & Dave, The Isley Brothers, BT Express, T-Bone Walker and Otis Redding, for whom he added the whistling coda to ‘Dock Of the Bay’; born Crichton, Alabama, 25/10/1934; heart disease, in New York, 4/1)

Dean Turner
(Australian singer/bassist with popular rock band Magic Dirt who scored four Top 40 albums from 1996 to 2006; born Geelong, 6/1/1972; dermatofibrosarcoma–a rare skin-tissue cancer, 21/8)

David Williams
(US rock/disco guitarist with Chanson, who hit in 1979 with ‘Don’t Hold Back’–he also worked with Michael Jackson, Madonna, Lionel Richie, Bryan Ferry and Van Halen; born Newport News, Virginia, 21/11/1950; complications from high blood pressure, 6/3)

2010

JANUARY

Monday 4

Sandro de América

(Roberto Sánchez–Buenos Aires, 19 August 1945)

Sandro y los de Fuego

(Various acts)

Smoldering Sandro de América (‘Sandro of America’, if you hadn’t guessed) was one of Argentina’s biggest pop sensations of the sixties, and was for a while dubbed ‘The Argentine Elvis’. He graduated from teen group Trio Azul to Sandro y los de Fuego (for whom he was originally lead guitarist), rapidly finding fame via primetime television showcase
Sábados Circulares.

It’s reckoned that Sánchez shifted some twenty million records in the span of a decade through a significant number of hits in South America with Los de Fuego (among them ‘Rosa Rosa’ and ‘Atmósfera Pesada’). The artist then embarked upon a successful solo career once teen stardom had faded. In 1970, Sánchez became the first singer in history to perform a live television concert via satellite, and his show from Madison Square Gardens pulled in tens of millions of viewers worldwide: Sánchez played five such sold-out shows.

Roberto Sánchez–who had subsequently turned his attention to acting in soap operas such as the Puerto Rican hit,
Fue sin Querer
–died in a Mendoza hospital several weeks after undergoing a transplant of both heart and lungs.

Golden Oldies #105

Mick Green

(Matlock, England, 22 February 1944)

Johnny Kidd & The Pirates

Billy J Kramer & The Dakotas

(Shanghai)

Derbyshire-born Mick Green began his lengthy and distinguished career as a rhythm/lead guitarist with London rock ‘n’ rollers Johnny Kidd & The Pirates when he was still in his teens. Green replaced original guitarist Johnny Patto in 1961, several months after the group had enjoyed their biggest hit with ‘Shakin’ All Over’ (1960, UK number one), but the guitarist enjoyed UK Top Five success with the more Merseybeat-influenced ‘I’ll Never Get Over You’ (1963)–a tune that prominently featured his distinctive licks. Green had joined a genuine Merseybeat band in Billy J Kramer & The Dakotas in 1964, some time before front man Kidd’s tragic death (
October 1966).

Once again, the guitar man missed his band’s chart peak by a year or so, yet his composition ‘Oyeh!’ (1965) still proved to be a popular live track and was later covered by Dr Feelgood–whose guitarist Wilko Johnson often professed great admiration for the innovative Green. (Indeed, a revised line-up of The Pirates played alongside Dr Feelgood and a number of other British pub/newwave acts some ten years later.)

During the seventies, Green formed a new band, Shanghai, who opened for Status Quo, the guitarist also co-writing several songs that the latter were to record. When he wasn’t touring with The Pirates–which he did well into the millennium–Green also worked with Paul McCartney, David Gilmour and Van Morrison. In 2004, he suffered a cardiac arrest while on stage with Bryan Ferry in Auckland, but two doctors in the audience saved his life.

Mick Green’s time was up, however, on 11 January 2010–the guitarist died from heart failure at an Ilford, Essex hospital.

Tuesday 12

Brian Damage

(Brian Keats–Brooklyn, New York, 11 February 1963)

The Misfits

The Fuzztones

Syl Sylvain

(Various acts)

A stalwart of the New York punk scene, Brian ‘Damage’ Keats played drums with a number of extreme bands, including Raging Slab, Genocide and Verbal Abuse, before the briefest of stints behind entertaining punk-horror scamps The Misfits–the first group of influential singer/musician Glenn Danzig (Glenn Anzalone). Although he’d rehearsed with the band for several months already, Damage’s propensity for alcohol saw him booted from the stage during his very first gig by guitarist Doyle Wolfgang von Frankenstein (Paul Caiafa). Unfortunately for the drummer–with tensions spilling over by the end of the evening–it also proved to be the band’s final gig.

The percussionist lived a nomadic existence for the remainder of his time in New York, playing with a variety of acts, but experienced far better luck on relocating to Los Angeles. Here, Damage went on to record with Billy Idol, Syl Sylvain (ex-New York Dolls) and Jason Falkner (ex-Jellyfish), also playing live shows with Susannah Hoffs (ex-The Bangles), Dave Vanian (ex-The Damned), The Fuzztones, Wink and Low Pop Suicide, among many others. Brian Damage passed away from liver and colon cancer, leaving a wife and two children.

See also
Jeff Ward (
March 1993)

Yabby You

(Vivian Jackson-Kingston, Jamaica, 14 August 1946)