The Encyclopedia of Dead Rock Stars (415 page)

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Sean Kingston

Jamaican-American R & B/rap-lite star Sean Kingston almost bought it in Miami on 30 May 2011. The singer–who shot to Billboard number one with ‘Beautiful Girls’ in 2007–was apparently trying to impress a female companion with his jet-skiing prowess when it all went decidedly pear-shaped for the decidedly pear-shaped artist. As Kingston attempted a tricky turn, his craft collided with the Palm Island Bridge, ejecting both the singer and his companion into the drink.

Kingston–who was very fortunate to survive the smash–wound up in intensive care with serious fractures to his jaw and wrist, though he made an impressive and rapid recovery.

Doubtless this miracle was in no small part due to the prayers of collaborator Justin Bieber, who tweeted the star in his hospital bed; ironically, Kingston had often spoken of jet-skiiing to Bieber and had recommended the sport to his pin-up pal before the accident.

The singer/songwriter then became good friends with noted British musicians Graham Gouldman and Eric Stewart of seventies hitmakers 10cc and – although he was unable to join their band for contractual reasons – enjoyed a much-played British hit with Gouldman in ‘Bridge To Your Heart’ (1987, UK Top Twenty), under the group name Wax. (The group’s radio-friendly ‘Right Between the Eyes’ had performed reasonably on Billboard the previous spring.)

After these chart forays, Andrew Gold fell more in line with his parents, nurturing a prolific and lucrative career in movie soundtrack and production work. Gold is believed to have died of a heart attack while asleep at his Los Angeles home, leaving behind a wife and three daughters. He had recently been receiving treatment for renal cancer.

See also
Kenny Edwards (
August 2010)

Saturday 4

Martin Rushent

(Enfield, Middlesex, England, 11 July 1948)

Prolific English pop and newwave producer Martin Rushent grounded himself as an engineer for British artists such as T Rex, David Essex and Fleetwood Mac. Yet Rushent really came into his own with the onset of British punk: the producer made his name with a series of punchy three-minute vignettes for the likes of The Buzzcocks, Generation X, The Stranglers and XTC before the end of the 1970s.

It was for his early eighties work, however, that Rushent will be most fondly recalled. Having been instrumental in the break-ing success of acts such as Ultravox and Visage, Rushent made his international name with The Human League’s album
Dare!
(1981), a courageous effort that transformed the band from a cult synth act into global pop stars: this set – which won him a 1982 Brit Award – boasted a series of punchy hits, including the transatlantic smash, ‘Don’t You Want Me?’ (1981–82, UK/US number one).

Martin Rushent also produced several other chart acts of the epoch, including Altered Images, The Go-Go’s and Hazel O’Connor. In more recent years, the producer oversaw the work of his son James’s oddly named band Does It Offend You, Yeah?. Rushent died at his home near Reading, Berkshire, following a short illness. He had been working on a thirtieth anniversary edition of
Dare!
at the time of his passing.

Frankie Toler

(David Toler - Indiana, 28 June 1951)

The Allman Brothers Band

The Marshall Tucker Band

(Various acts)

On the same day, Frankie Toler – a later percussionist with both The Allman Brothers Band and The Marshall Tucker Band – also passed away. Toler had spent his earlier career in the blues clubs playing alongside his guitarist brother Dan, before his undoubted prowess attracted bigger names to employ him during the 1980s.

The drummer joined The Allman Brothers Band for live work in late 1979, break-ing away in 1981 to play for ten years with surviving brother Greg Allman. After several years behind the traps of The Marshall Tucker Band, Toler briefly rejoined Allman before reuniting with Dan Toler to tour the world with their own band: he is also known to have played spots with Lynyrd Skynyrd and .38 Special. Frankie Toler had undergone a liver transplant, but, following complications, sadly passed away shortly after.

Given the number of former Allman Brothers Band and Marshall Tucker Band members to have passed on,
The Encyclopedia of Dead Rock Stars
directs readers to Flirtin’ with Disaster -The Timeline of Southern Rock Casualties (
June 2007 Dead Interesting!)

Tuesday 7

Bill ‘Buddy’ Gask

(Leicester, England, 18 December 1948
*
)

Showaddywaddy

The name of Bill Gask won’t be familiar to everyone, but the singer was a regular – and recognisable – face on
Top of the Pops
throughout the 1970s.

As a member of rock-revivalists Showaddywaddy, Gask was the bequiffed back-up singer to main man Dave Bartram, their eight-man group benefiting greatly from that decade’s curious fondness for fifties rock ‘n’ roll and its accompanying wardrobe (see also: Mud, The Darts, Sha Na Na). Between 1974 and 1982, Showaddywaddy chalked up some fairly impressive stats on the British charts: no fewer than twenty-three of their singles made the UK Top Forty, including ten that reached the Top Ten. The band’s output was almost entirely covers of their favoured era’s tunes, the biggest (if not the best) being the British number one, ‘Under the Moon of Love’ (1976), which fell only 15,000 copies short of a million sales. (Four further tunes peaked at UK number two.)

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Showaddywaddy’s product wasn’t quite so marketable outside Britain, although the group apparently maintain a following on the continent. Tragically, Bill Gask – who’d left the band in 1987 and retired to Spain – had been battling dementia for several years before his death at the age of just sixty-two.

*
Various birth dates exist for Buddy Gask, however this appears the most likely.

Saturday 11

Seth Putnam

(Boston, Massachusetts, 15 May 1968)

Anal C**t (AC)

Executioner

(Various acts)

From the sublime, etc…. Despite the man’s reputation for living on the edge, grindcore/extreme-metal fans were in shock at the sudden death of vocalist Seth Putnam, one of the genre’s most notorious performers. The singer’s bands had included the ‘uncompromising’ Anal C**t, and the eighties thrash band Executioner, for whom he played bass. Putnam, born in Boston, formed AC in 1988, naming the band after a G G Allin song. From here, he set out his stall to become one of the genre’s most controversial and deliberately offensive protagonists: Putnam maintained throughout his life, however, that this was merely his ‘morbid humour’.

Whether his work was intended thus or otherwise, Putnam made a name sufficient to attract Texas major-players Pantera to use his distinctive voice on their 1996 album
The Great Southern Trendkill,
the singer also performing with a bewildering array of side projects that typically had names like Full Blown AIDS and Sh*t Scum. Putnam had a history of issues with prescription medication, in 2004 falling into a coma after ingesting two months’ supply of Ambien pills (a possible suicide bid). Needless to say, the performer brushed this off with his usual dismissive attitude.