The Encyclopedia of Dead Rock Stars (208 page)

Lest We Forget

Other notable deaths that occurred sometime during 1998:

Gene Autry
(enduring country singer; born Orvon Gene Autry, Texas, 29/9/1907; cancer, 2/10)

Damita Jo
(US R & B singer with The Red Caps who became queen of the ‘answer record’; born Damita Jo DeBlanc, Texas, 5/8/1930; respiratory failure, 25/12)

Karl Denver
(pre-Beatles-era UK hitmaker whose biggest of four Top Ten entries was ‘Wimoweh’ in 1961; born Angus McKenzie, Glasgow, 16/12/1933; brain tumour, 21/12)

Tony De Vit
(noted UK dance producer who also remixed pop kids East 17 and Louise; born Worcestershire, 12/9/1957; bronchial pneumonia/bone-marrow failure, 2/7)

Charlie Foxx
(US R & B guitarist/singer/songwriter who partnered his younger sister Inez to some success; born Charlie Fox, North Carolina, 23/10/1939; cancer, 18/9)

Johnny Funches
(US R & B lead tenor with Hall of Fame inductees The Dells; born Illinois, 18/7/1935; emphysema - possibly induced by his later position as a steel-mill worker - 23/1)

David ‘Junior’ Kimbrough
(noted US blues singer/songwriter/guitarist; born Mississippi, 28/7/1930; heart failure - barely surprising, given that he supposedly fathered 36 children - 17/1)

Antoine ‘TCD’ Lundy
(US vocalist with doo-wop-styled hip-hop act Force MDs; born New York, 3/2/1964; Lou Gehrig’s disease, 18/1 - just three years after the death of bandmate Mercury Nelson)

David ‘Butch’ McDade
(US drummer and founding member of Southern rockers Amazing Rhythm Aces; born Coahoma County, Mississippi, 24/2/1946; cancer, 29/11)

Patty Russell
(US singer with soul troupe Patty & The Emblems; born New Jersey; leukaemia, 9/1998 - her death came two months ahead of that of baritone Alexander Wildes)

J D Sumner
(US gospel singer with Elvis Presley, The Blackwood Brothers and Stamps Quartet - possessor of the world’s deepest bass; born Florida, 19/11/1924; heart attack, 16/11)

The Death Toll #5

ROVER’S NON-RETURN

You’ve guessed it: the following is a veritable pet cemetery of songs dedicated to muchloved - and now departed - furry friends. (Well, dogs, mainly.)

1 ‘Old Tige’

Jim Reeves (1961)

Arguably the ‘daddy’ of all dead-pet anthems, ‘Old Tige’ tells of the young soldier whose faithful hound had seen him through trial after trial as a kid. Not only had Old Tige saved the boy from drowning in the creek, the remarkable pet had also pulled him to safety from ‘that chargin’ bull that gored ma dad to death’. Returning home from Korea, the young storyteller was reunited with Old Tige, who navigated him dutifully through the storm past a newly built dam of which the soldier had previously been unaware. On arriving back to his momma, the young man learned the chillin’ truth: lonely Old Tige had died three years before.

2 ‘Shannon’

Henry Gross (1976)

An AOR smash for former Sha Na Na founder member Gross, this ditty was, strangely, not about his own dog called Shannon. Nope, that would have been way too obvious; this tune was penned in memory of an Irish setter belonging to close friend Beach Boy Carl Wilson - also called Shannon - that had recently gone to the great kennel in the sky. The cloying lyrics and Gross’s shrill delivery somehow gave him a US gold disc - a feat he’d never achieve again.

3 ‘Wildfire’

Michael Murphey (1975)

A pony this time, Wildfire was the loyal companion to Murphey’s ghostly heroine, a nameless young rider who died in a blizzard searching for her missing hoofed friend. Panicked by the brewing storm, Wildfire had busted loose from his stall to disappear without trace - until the unwitting Murphey began hearing the girl and her pony as he lay in his bed. Spooky stuff.

4 ‘Ali Baba’s Camel’

The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band (1969)

Whether a camel constitutes a pet as such is perhaps open to debate, but the relationship between The Bonzos’ Ali Baba and his talking, shorts-wearing mount was certainly more than merely professional. Having stolen the camel from a zoo, the rider then enters them into a desert race, which they win ‘by a camel’s hair’ - laughing themselves to death in the process.

5 ‘So Long’

The Handsome Family (2002)

An Albuquerque husband-and-wife team, The Handsome Family (aka Brett and Rennie Sparks) upped the dead-pet ante considerably with this lofi track from their 2002 album
Twilight.
Lyricist Rennie reels off an extraordinary list of former pets of hers that met untimely ends: they include tinsel-eating Snickers (a dog); Mr Whiskers, a cat that leapt from a window; a brown rabbit run over by accident and a family of gerbils who escaped from their cage. The couple are now banned from all local pet stores.

6 ‘Big Ted’

Incredible String Band (1969)

Scotland’s Incredible String Band were fast becoming known for their bewildering repertoire of animal tunes by the time this opener for their
Changing Horses
LP arrived. ‘Big Ted’ was a prize boar that, growing long in the tooth, had to be sold to the butcher by its impoverished owner. The group - who also sang of a ‘Good Dog’ and ‘Cousin Caterpillar’ - mused in the song that Ted might one day return as a milking cow. LSD had been available in Britain for a while by 1969.

7 ‘Old Shep’

Elvis Presley (1957)

The King’s faithful hound surprisingly
didn’t
meet his maker in the litter tray with a mouth full of Kennomeat and flea tablets. The disturbing lyrics here suggest that Elvis himself was going to put the ageing pet out of its misery with a shotgun. Didn’t they give injections in those days?

8 ‘Jeremy is Innocent’

Rex Barker & The Ricochets (1979)

A genuine event this time: this strange record (made by
That’s Life
TV presenter Doc Cox, also of ‘Ivor Biggun’ fame) was a dig at the previous summer’s scandal involving outed British politician Jeremy Thorpe. Boasting barking hound and shotgun as accompaniment, the minimal lyrics referred to the cruel shooting of Rinka, a dog belonging to Thorpe’s former lover, model Norman Scott. Thorpe was acquitted of any involvement the following year, though he lost his seat (as it were) at the general election. Rumours that The Ricochets were asked to contribute royalties to animal charities remain unsubstantiated. There wouldn’t have been a great deal, either way.

9 ‘Poor Old Horse’

The Albion Band (1978)

Rising from the ashes of Steeleye Span, The Albion Band were main players in the British electro-folk scene of the seventies. In this traditional dirge, the singer talks of ‘tanning the beast’s hide’ if it popped its clogs and ‘going for another ride’ if it, erm, didn’t. Never a likely hit, the record limped to a knacker’s yard finish of number seventy-eight in the UK chart, despite ever-reliable DJ Simon Bates seeing fit to make it his Record of the Week during a heady summer of postpunk and
Saturday Night Fever.

10 ‘Put the Bone In’

Terry Jacks (1974)

Fast becoming the undisputed ‘king of maudlin’, Terry Jacks topped charts across the world with ‘Seasons in the Sun’. Lesser known, but no less mawkish, was the B-side - a eulogy to a fictitious pet mongrel who, having come to a sticky end on the road, had to be buried with a favourite bone. For some reason, the track was a big hit in its own right in France.

CHRISTMAS CRACKLER …

Jim and William Reid of celebrated East Kilbride noiseniks The Jesus & Mary Chain originally named their band Death Of Joey after the demise of a pet budgerigar one Yuletide. The brothers’ father, mistaking the pet for a piece of wrapping paper, unceremoniously booted him into the fire. One question remains: how much was left for Boxing Day sandwiches?

… at Alice’s restaurant

Meanwhile, in June 1977, Detroit shock-rock godfather Alice Cooper suffered the distressing loss of the beloved pet boa constrictor frequently seen in his stage show. The reptile, it seems, was bitten and killed by a rat intended for its lunch.

1999

JANUARY

Monday 11

Barry Pritchard

(Birmingham, England, 3 April 1944)

The Fortunes

Starting as an acoustic trio called The Clifftones, The Fortunes were Birmingham’s answer to the higher-profile sixties beat groups of Liverpool, London and Manchester. The three originators of the distinctive Fortunes sound were Glen Dale (Richard Garforth, vocals/guitar), Barry Pritchard (vocals/guitar) and Rod Allen (Rodney Bainbridge, vocals/bass). Turning electric, the band bolstered itself with keyboardist David Carr and drummer Andy Brown to win a local talent show (in which they had been pitted against at least one other band called The Fortunes). The prize was a deal with Decca and – after a few false alarms – a spate of infectious singles, beginning with the UK number-two hit ‘You’ve Got Your Troubles’ (1965), which also broke the group into the US Top Ten. Perhaps the best was the band’s interpretation of Lynsey de Paul’s ‘Storm in a Teacup’ (1972), by which time Dale and Carr had left. As a founder, Pritchard led The Fortunes throughout the seventies and eighties and, while hits dried up, saw to it that they remained a decent live attraction. Retiring from the group through ill health in 1995, the singer passed away following a heart attack.

See also
Rod Allen (
January 2008). David Carr died in July 2011.

Friday 15

John Baker Saunders

(Montgomery, Alabama, 23 September 1954)

Mad Season

(The Walkabouts)