The Encyclopedia of Dead Rock Stars (134 page)

(Barrie James Wilson - Edmonton, London, 18 March 1947)

Procol Harum

(The Paramounts)

(Various acts)

Former Boys’ Brigade drummer B J Wilson had played percussion with at least two bands before leaving his Southend school, so single-minded was he about his future
métier.
At sixteen, the confident Wilson answered a
Melody Maker
advertisement, replacing former sticksman Mick Brownlee in Parlophone R & B band The Paramounts, alongside student friends Gary Brooker (vocals/piano), Robin Trower (guitar) and Chris Copping (bass) – thus forming the core of classic UK rock band Procol Harum. The band’s 1964 hit cover of ‘Poison Ivy’ was merely a precursor to the significant success most members would experience later in the decade. The key moment for Procol Harum was the first week of June 1967: not only did the group open for Jimi Hendrix but they also saw Brooker’s and new songwriter Keith Reid’s remarkable Bach-inspired ‘A Whiter Shade of Pale’ top the UK charts for the first of six weeks. As the record began to chart in America, Wilson and Trower rejoined Brooker for the hit follow-up ‘Homburg’, the drummer now gaining a fine reputation for his dynamic, imaginative fills. Mainly an albums band, Procol Harum released consistent material to lesser effect until a break in 1976, the albums
Shine On Brightly
(1968) and
A Salty Dog
(1969) perhaps housing their best work. ‘Conquistador’ (1972) and ‘Pandora’s Box’ (1975) gave the band occasional hits, but, after a shortlived reformation of Procol Harum, Wilson settled into session work with acts such as Joe Cocker, John Hiatt, Lou Reed and The Incredible String Band. Still enjoying his work, Wilson was famously described as ‘like an octopus in a hot bath’.

B J Wilson’s spiralling use of alcohol and drugs, however, left him open to illness and in 1987, an overdose at his Oregon home put him into a coma – attempts by Brooker to pull him out by playing their music proved fruitless. Finally, a bout of pneumonia had the better of him.

DECEMBER

Friday 7

Dee Clark

(Delectus Clark - Blytheville, Arkansas, 7 November 1938)

The Kool Gents (The Delegates/The Goldentones)

(The Hambone Kids)

Dee Clark came by his vocal talent – and his unusual first name – via his mother Delecta, a singer of spirituals who encouraged her son to start recording in his early teens. This was with young upstarts The Hambone Kids, but it was as lead singer with The Kool Gents (originally The Goldentones, sometimes recording as The Delegates) that Clark found himself signed with the influential VeeJay label. But the full-throated singer’s biggest successes by far were to come with his solo work: after a string of chart entries in the last couple of years of the fifties, he finally struck gold (literally) with 1961’s catchy ‘Raindrops’, a record kept from the number-one slot only by Gary ‘US’ Bonds’s ‘Quarter To Three’. With no further hits in his homeland, Clark had to be content with a UK Top Twenty placing for the sprightly ‘Ride a Wild Horse’ – only his second British chart entry – some fourteen years later.

Without significant record sales for two decades, Dee Clark had to earn his crust touring the oldies circuit – a relentless duty for such a long period, and one which may have contributed to his early death from a heart attack.

Sunday 16

Jackie Mittoo

(Donat Roy Mittoo - Browns Town, Jamaica, 3 March 1948)

The Skatalites

(Various acts)

Jackie Mittoo remains one of reggae’s unsung heroes – a virtuoso pianist who became a highly prolific songwriter during his short life. Mittoo, a musician before he even learned to write, had performed with a number of groups by the time he met Augustus Pablo at Kingston College, the pair becoming two-thirds of a trio rejoicing in the moniker The Jackie Mittree. It was as keyboardist with The Cavaliers Orchestra (originally The Sheiks) that Mittoo’s prowess came to the attention of Clement ‘Coxsone’ Dodd, Jamaican reggae’s top dog, who employed him as musical director at Studio One. With session regulars Roland Alphonso, Tommy McCook, Lloyd Brevette and legendary trombonist Don Drummond, Mittoo formed The Skatalites in 1964 – one of ska’s most celebrated bands – surprisingly in existence for less than two years. Mittoo’s solo output was mainly a series of excellent instrumental albums, but his prolific songwriting created hits for Alton Ellis, Marcia Griffiths and Freddie McGregor, while his ‘Peanie Wallie’ became The Wailers’ early success ‘Duppy Conqueror’. In the late sixties, Mittoo relocated to Canada, also spending time in the UK working with Bunny Lee, Sugar Minott and Musical Youth. Some time after rejoining the surviving Skatalites, Mittoo passed away from lung cancer in an Ontario hospital.

See also
Don Drummond (
May 1969); Tommy McCook (
Golden Oldies #6); Roland Alphonso (
Golden Oldies #8); Lloyd Knibb (
Golden Oldies #136). Singers Jackie Opel and Vic Taylor have passed on, as have guitarist Jah Jerry Haynes and trumpeter Johnny ‘Dizzy’ Moore.

Lest We Forget

Other notable deaths that occurred sometime during 1990:

Floyd Butler
(US singer with wholesome pop/soul combo Friends Of Distinction, who struck gold with 1969’s ‘Grazin’ in the Grass’; born California, 5/6/1941; heart attack, 29/4)

Bobby Day
(US R & B leader of The Hollywood Flames who also hit under numerous solo guises, including a 1958 #2 with the original ‘Rockin’ Robin’; born Robert Byrd, Texas, 1/7/1930; cancer, 27/7)

Jim Henson
(noted US voice characterizer responsible for a slew of Muppets hits, including the UK Top Ten ‘Halfway down the Stairs’ (1977); born Mississippi, 24/9/1936; pneumonia, 16/5)

Kripp Johnson
(US lead with noted interracial vocal act The Del(l)-Vikings; born Corinthian Johnson, Maryland, 16/5/1933; prostate cancer, 22/6)

Jo Ann Kelly
(respected UK singer/guitarist with The Blues Band and Spare Rib; born London, 5/1/1944; brain tumour, 21/10)

Antonio Martinez
(Spanish pop/freakbeat guitarist with Los Bravos, who recorded the original hit version of ‘Black is Black’; born Madrid, 3/10/45; motorcycle accident)