The Encyclopedia of Dead Rock Stars (164 page)

A family man fascinated by history, country life and travel, Lee Brilleaux once said that he’d rather attend a dog race than go clubbing – all of which pretty much sums up the unspoiled attitude of a man whose quiet personal life ran at odds with his intense stage image. Young Lee Green pitched up in the unlikely setting of Canvey Island in Essex, exposing himself to a subculture of R & B, blues and pub rock. Splitting from their jug band, Pigboy Charlie, in 1971, Green (soon to become Brilleaux, vocals) and Sparko (John B Sparks, bass) melded with Wilko Johnson (John Wilkinson, guitar) and The Big Figure (Johnny Martin, drums), who were members of the Southend-based Roamers. The genesis of their name, Dr Feelgood, varies depending on the source, but the most likely derivation – given Brilleaux’s love of the blues – is the 1962 Piano Red song of that name. With the snarling Brilleaux and bug-eyed Johnson holding court, Dr Feelgood became essential live viewing, and were the most incendiary group in a scene populated by up-and-coming bands like The Kursaal Flyers and Eddie & The Hot Rods. Nobody was especially surprised when the band signed with United Artists in 1974. Although a great debut single, ‘Roxette’ (1974), and mono-recorded album
Down by the Jetty
(1975) were slow sellers, it was only a matter of time before the British public caught on. The next three albums all made the UK Top Twenty – the charttopping live
Stupidity
(1976) was a career high. (Unashamedly British about their R & B, Dr Feelgood were obviously going to be a harder sell in the US: the ‘jetty’ of their first album was situated in Canvey as opposed to America’s Deep South.) After Johnson left, Brilleaux and his band experienced a drop in commercial fortunes, although the sinister and infectious ‘Milk and Alcohol’ (1979) gave them a deserved Top Ten hit. By the mid eighties Brilleaux was the only surviving original member, but steadfastly ploughed on, even issuing a self-titled solo album in 1986.

Dr Feelgood, in one form or another, played 200-plus gigs most years, a tribute to the stamina of their great frontman. Even with his health clearly failing him, Brilleaux played up until January 1994 – his death from lymphoma sadly all but obliterated by the events of a couple of days before, which were only just reaching the rock press.

Lee Brilleaux: Despite this picture, he did it right

MAY

Sunday 15

Baron Frederik van Pallandt

(Copenhagen, 4 May 1934)

Nina & Frederik

Born into wealthy Danish aristocracy, Frederik van Pallandt didn’t really need the royalties from big-selling hit records, but he managed a few nonetheless, with his partner, Nina Magdalene M0ller. The duo recorded quaint folk songs as Nina & Frederik, and gained popularity in Europe with a series of hit singles – the best known, the lullaby ‘Little Donkey’, took them to number three in the UK during Christmas 1960 (the year in which they married). The couple’s act, however, became obsolete with the onset of the beat boom, and they ceased recording, eventually splitting in 1969. While Nina van Pallandt went on to some fame as a movie actress, her estranged husband lived in seclusion on a farm in Ibiza. His murder in 1994 remains unresolved, though stories of a contract killing abounded at the time. More likely is that he was shot dead by robbers trying to steal his boat.

Monday 23

Jimmy Fernandez

(San Diego, California, 30 September 1965)

The God Machine

Nestled somewhere between the twin plateaux of metal and industrial rock, The God Machine’s brooding work was to prove influential to a number of late-nineties bands in both the US and UK, where the band had relocated in 1990. Comprising school-friends Jimmy Fernandez (bass), Robin Proper-Sheppard (his real name, vocals/guitar) and Ronald Austin (drums), the trio developed a following in their home city of San Diego. Eventually picked up by the London-based Fiction label, TGM recorded a pair of well-received albums, and were compared to Jane’s Addiction, Smashing Pumpkins and Soundgarden – but it was clear to most that theirs was an altogether darker muse.

Sadly, the second God Machine long-player emerged just months after the death of Fernandez, in September 1994. Complaining of a migraine, the bassist had slipped into a coma and died three days later of a brain haemorrhage at London’s Royal Free Hospital. The posthumous album was released under the title
One Last Laugh in a Place of Dying
– after which, Sheppard and Austin called it a day. Their tribute to Fernandez was simple, yet touching: ‘He believed that no matter what tragedy should befall one or what pain lies hidden beneath the surface, you are never alone.’

JUNE

Saturday 4

Derek’Lek’Leckenby

(Leeds, England, 14 May 1943)

Herman’s Hermits

(The Wailers)

Although regarded as somewhat lightweight in comparison with The Beatles, Kinks or Rolling Stones, Herman’s Hermits, it should be remembered, shifted a phenomenal 10 million records in the US alone during 1965. The Manchester-formed quintet – eldest member Leckenby (guitar), former child actor Peter Noone (vocals), Keith Hopwood (guitar), Karl Green (bass) and Barry ‘Bean’ Whitham (formerly with Leckenby in The Wailers, drums) – had already stormed to number one in the UK with the Carole King/Jerry Goffin-penned debut single ‘I’m into Something Good’ (1964). Consistent hitmakers at home, Herman’s Hermits became an absolute sensation in America after an appearance on the influential
Ed Sullivan Show,
giving The Fab Four a serious run for their money the following year. Perhaps the most important musician in the group, Leckenby added innovative playing to tracks like ‘Mrs Brown, You’ve Got a Lovely Daughter’ (1965), a song the band felt too corny for UK release but one of several gold records Stateside. By 1971, the moment had pretty much passed for a group that had done well to retain impetus for that long. Noone’s attempt at an only briefly successful solo career forced Herman’s Hermits to consider a different approach – Leckenby and his remaining colleagues recruited a new singer (Peter Cowap, who died just three years after Leckenby) and took a country direction.

Diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma, Leckenby ignored medical advice and continued to play with the latest incarnation of Herman’s Hermits during 1992. His condition worsening, he died in his adopted home town, Manchester.

Thursday 16

Kristen Pfaff

(Amherst, New York, 26 May 1967)

Hole

Janitor Joe

Just two months after the death of her husband, Courtney Love was hit by another loss – and
Live Through This,
the choice of title for the second Hole album, appeared more prophetic by the day. University of Minnesota graduate Kristen Pfaff took to the bass quite late on, but her attitude and sass with rock band Janitor Joe prompted Hole guitarist Eric Erlandson to offer her the space left by departing bassist Jill Emery. By the start of 1993 Hole – now Pfaff, Love, Erlandson and Patty Schemel (drums) – were enjoying some serious hype, helped by the emergence of a number of strong female-founded bands, not to mention Love’s relationship with Kurt Cobain. The band, with a debut album,
Pretty on the Inside
(1991), behind them, had been taken on by the big boys at Geffen (yep, Nirvana’s label), strong tracks like ‘Violet’ and ‘Doll Parts’ auguring well for the second record in 1994.

Cobain’s suicide (
April 1994)
put on hold Hole’s plans for promoting
Live Through This,
and an immediate hiatus seemed the best way of dealing with a situation that, aside from widespread grief, had created a great deal of suspicion. Just before his death, Cobain had made little secret of his ‘admiration’ for Hole’s bass-player and the breakdown of his relationship with Love led Kristen Pfaff to feel threatened by the Hole leader. Pfaff – herself just out of a relationship with Erlandson – decided to cut loose from the misery of Seattle and hook up again with Janitor Joe, who were leaving for a brief tour. Her friend Paul Erickson hired a haulage van and prepared to drive the bassist out of Washington on the morning of 16 June, though how permanent an arrangement this might have been will never be known. When Erickson called on her at 9 am, there was no reply. He allegedly let himself into her apartment and broke into the bathroom to find Pfaffs body slumped in the bathtub, an array of drug paraphernalia by her side. Because she had recently undergone rehabilitation for heroin use, a verdict of accidental death was passed, but Pfaffs family, among others – who maintain the position to this day – were adamant that there had been foul play here, as well as in Cobain’s case; Courtney Love was instructed not to attend Pfaffs funeral in Buffalo, New York.