The Encyclopedia of Dead Rock Stars (158 page)

Just months after the shock slaying of Don Myrick (
July 1993),
Earth, Wind & Fire’s Maurice White learned of the death of another of his early acquaintances. Wade Flemons – already a veteran of the music business, having formed his first band at just thirteen – was signed to VeeJay as a solo vocalist when he encountered White in 1967. Both artists were founders of The Salty Peppers, a fairly basic act that somehow flourished and became EWF. During their time together, Flemons backed White’s vocals as singer and keyboardist, witnessing the band’s transition to stardom in 1972. White’s power within Earth, Wind & Fire was such that he sacked the entire group just one year later – and Flemons was not exempted. Wade Flemons’s career in music was thus curtailed, although he made some income from songwriting. He died from cancer at the age of fifty-three.

Sunday 31

River Phoenix

(River Jude Bottom - Madras, Oregon, 23 August 1970)

Aleka’s Attic

Although primarily a cult actor, River Phoenix merits his place in
The Encyclopedia of Dead Rock Stars
for his numerous connections to the music world. Phoenix was the eldest of five children (the equally esoterically named Rain, Joaquin, Liberty and Summer, who are all also actors) born to Children of God devotees John and Arlyn Bottom, who (understandably) changed their surname by deed poll. With much encouragement from these proactive if unorthodox parents, ten-year-old River displayed his acting gift on national television before his movie debut in 1985’s
Explorers.
A number of increasingly impressive parts were to follow: his role in
Running On Empty
(1988) earned Phoenix an Oscar nomination, while his best performance was in
My Own Private Idaho
(1991). Phoenix had also been a reasonably talented guitarist since childhood, forming the Florida-based band Aleka’s Attic with his sister Rain; an album, the palindromically titled
Never Odd or Even,
was recorded, though it has never been released. The band’s song ‘Across the Way’ can be heard on an album for PETA, one of many charities supported by the strict vegan – while Phoenix also sang on a 1992 album by his friend John Frusciante, of The Red Hot Chili Peppers.

At the end of October 1993, Phoenix was in Los Angeles for the shooting of his latest picture,
Dark Blood.
Evenings spent at Sunset Boulevard’s Viper Room (a club then owned by actor Johnny Depp) were a given for any upwardly mobile face – but one was to end tragically. Phoenix, who had been partying heavily there, was, at around 1 am, offered some supposedly high-grade Persian coke by an acquaintance: immediately the substance had an adverse effect on the 23-year-old actor, who went into spasms before fleeing the men’s room in search of his girlfriend, Samantha Mathis, and siblings Rain and Joaquin, who were at the bar. Phoenix was taken outside, where he collapsed, going into seizure and then cardiac arrest on the pavement in front of the club. Rushing Phoenix to the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, paramedics inserted a pacemaker, but were unable to bring the actor back. He was pronounced dead at 1.54 am. The autopsy revealed ephedrine, marijuana and Valium in his system, as well as lethal levels of cocaine and morphine.

River Phoenix – whose coffin was tampered with by a press intruder the night before his cremation – wore a T-shirt bearing his band’s name as he lay in state. Boasting many friends in the music business, the young star has been remembered in songs and albums by Anastacia (a former school-friend), Belinda Carlisle, Natalie Merchant, Brazilian musician Milton Nascimento, REM, Rufus Wainwright and The Chili Peppers, whose 1995
One Hot Minute
collection contains tributes to deceased friends Phoenix and Kurt Cobain
(
April 1994),
among others. Frusciante became massively depressed following Phoenix’s overdose and was even presumed dead himself by those with whom he then lost touch. The musician had also witnessed the similar death of his guitarist hero, early Chili Pepper Hillel Slovak (
June 1988).
Frusciante finally reemerged in January 1997 to play – you guessed it – The Viper Room.

NOVEMBER

Sunday 28

Jerry Edmonton

(Jerry McCrohan - Edmonton, Alberta, 24 October 1946)

Steppenwolf

(Sparrow)

(Various acts)

Twelve years after the car-crash death of Steppenwolf co-founder and bassist Rushton Moreve (
July 1981)
his longtime buddy, Canadian drummer Jerry Edmonton, was killed in remarkably similar circumstances.

As The Sparrows (who originally recorded future Steppenwolf classic ‘The Pusher’), Edmonton and Moreve recruited singer John Kay, kickstarting the career of Steppenwolf – the bluesrock band produced their barnstorming 1968 debut album in under a week. In terms of singles, Steppenwolf also appeared set for a long stay with the million-sellers ‘Born to be Wild’ – written by the drummer’s brother Denny, aka Mars Bonfire – and ‘Magic Carpet Ride’ (both also 1968). The band remained popular through US rock’s post-Woodstock period, but many line-up changes saw them split by the mid seventies. Edmonton served with other rock bands, including Manbeast and Unicorn, before his death in Santa Barbara, California, at the wheel of his car.

See also
Andrew Chapin (
December 1985); Kent Henry (
March 2009)

DECEMBER

Friday 3

Ray Gillen