The Encyclopedia of Dead Rock Stars (428 page)

Almost a week after the passing of Karryl Smith, a more familiar-sounding tale emerged from the world of rap. Known to his family and friends as Mario, twenty-four-year-old rapper Slim Dunkin appeared to be on the verge of major success having joined southern rappers 1017 Brick Squad. This crew – made up of Waka Flocka Flame (Juaquin Mulphurs), OJ da Juiceman (Otis Williams), Frenchie, Yoey the Joey and Wooh da Kid – was put together by self-styled CEO Gucci Mane (Radric Davis).

Although promoted as the next new thing in hip-hop, Brick Squad’s work seemed to rehash much that had been heard in rap over the past two decades. Mane himself had been incarcerated more than once for an assortment of felonies (frequently using these experiences as subject matter for his lyrics); Slim Dunkin appeared a mite less assuming, selecting his rhymes from tales of childhood hardship.

Tragically, Dunkin was fatally shot in the chest following an argument at the crew’s studio in Atlanta, Georgia, just as he was about to shoot a promotional video: some ten days later, rival rapper Young Vito (Vinson Hardimon) turned himself in to the police. It seemed that there had been no revenge, territorial disagreement or girlfriend-theft here – the spat reportedly kicked off when Hardimon grew impatient while waiting for Dunkin to complete his recording, and then Dunkin allegedly escalated matters by stealing candy from his assailant …

Golden Oldies #162

Sean Bonniwell

(Thomas Harvey Bonniwell - San Jose, California, 16 August 1940)

The Music Machine
(The Wayfarers)

Sean Bonniwell was the singer, songwriter, guitarist and all around creative force behind sixties garage rockers, The Music Machine. Initially inspired by folk and doo-wop groups, Bonniwell originally played with The Wayfarers, a clean-cut quartet that was apparently the antithesis of his later, better-known group.

The Music Machine evolved out of The Ragamuffins, a rockier affair influenced by LA garage bands of the era, such as The Seeds and Electric Prunes, and the English beat groups currently cleaning up in the US. The Music Machine - recognised by their Farfisa organ, jet-black clothing and dyed mop-tops - bagged themselves an unexpected hit with the energetic ‘Talk Talk’ (1966, US Top Twenty), and a charting album - but it was to prove a false dawn. With the follow-up song, ‘The People in Me’, stalling at US number sixty-six, the group began to degenerate into arguments and feuds. By 1967, The Music Machine was effectively Bonniwell, plus session people as and when required. Two further albums were recorded in this way, but as the second provided no hit single, the third remained unreleased - at least until 2000, when the singer published his autobiography. A few years after this, he was collaborating with the next generation of garage/psych-rockers in the shape of Los Angeles’s The Larksmen.

Sean Bonniwell had been living in Visalia, California, when he succumbed to lung cancer on 20 December 2011.

Golden Oldies #163

Jim ‘Motorhead’ Sherwood

(Euclid James Sherwood - Arkansas City, Kansas, 8 May 1942)

The Mothers of Invention

(Various acts)

Distinctive soprano/tenor/baritone sax-man Euclid James Sherwood met fellow blues aficionado and ‘maverick’ Frank Zappa when the two were high school pals in Kansas: before long, the pair were playing together in Zappa’s R & B combo The Blackouts, thus beginning a long-lasting alliance in music. Classically trained Sherwood subsequently played with Zappa in The Omens, before the latter musician set up both a recording studio and a highly experimental band to place within it. Thus, The Mothers of Invention were born.

For the group’s debut album,
Freak Out,
Sherwood - now generally known as ‘Motorhead’ (no umlaut here) -contributed sound effects and noises, both via his saxophone and his larynx. This hugely unexpected release then surprised many others by surging well into the Billboard 200 during 1966. Sherwood played on (or contributed to) most of The Mothers’s output - including the Top Thirty-placed
We’re Only In It For the Money
(1968) - before the leader disbanded the unit in 1969. After a dozen years apart, Sherwood reunited with his old pal for Zappa’s umpteenth solo record,
You Are What You Is
(1981), although the saxophonist was also to play on several further Zappa releases - most of which were issued after the front man’s death
(
December 1993).
(The sax-player can also be spotted in Zappa’s unconventional movie output - most notably 1971’s
200 Motels,
in which he portrays a man in love with a vacuum cleaner.)

Jim Sherwood’s presence was later heard on the recordings of spin-off acts Ruben & The Jets and The Grandmothers, plus those of Ant-Bee, Don Preston and Sandro Oliva. The musician had been unwell for some time, succumbing to an undisclosed illness on Christmas Day 2011.

See also
Jimmy Carl Black (
Golden Oldies #81)

Wednesday 28

Danny ‘Rio’ DeGennaro

(Levittown, Pennsylvania, 21 February 1955)

Kingfish

Various acts)

Briefly known as ‘Horses’, Kingfish were the latest band to emerge from a sprawling San Francisco scene that had thrown up The Grateful Dead and New Riders of the Purple Sage, whose bassist David Torbert had started the new band as a spin-off in 1973. The earliest – and most-successful – line-up of Kingfish featured Torbert, longstanding ‘DeadHead’ Bob Weir (guitar/vocals), Matt Kelly (guitar/harmonica), Robby Hoddinott (lead/slide guitar) and Chris Herold (percussion), all of whom played on the band’s self-titled 1976 debut. This collection almost broke the Billboard 200 Top Forty.

After a second release, Kingfish broke up, only to return with a different line-up late in 1978: this latest edition of the band retained Torbert and Kelly at its core, but now introduced drummer Steve Shive, plus guitarists Michael O’Neill and Danny ‘Rio’ DeGennaro – whose quickly established nickname shouldn’t need much explanation. Kingfish didn’t pursue much recording with this version of the band, but they maintained a very popular live draw, particularly when accompanying one of their many associated bands. Sadly for DeGennaro – who also shared lead vocals – the already faltering band came to an abrupt halt with Torbert’s completely unexpected death from a heart attack
(
December 1982).
In his later career, the highly-acclaimed DeGennaro played with a number of names including Clarence Clemons, whom he survived by just six months (
Golden Oldies #140
). There was a brief reunion of Kingfish – which spawned the album
Sundown on the Forest
(1999) – although to little fanfare.