The Encyclopedia of Dead Rock Stars (219 page)

Having moved to Woodstock, with its atmosphere and legacy, the singer/guitarist/violinist became a workaholic, never happier than when involved in projects with others. Among his collaborators were Paul Butterfield, ex-Band member Levon Helm and folk legend Eric Andersen. Rick Danko’s quiet passing in December 1999 seemed somehow to befit this outwardly passive yet inwardly impassioned player. Danko was found by his wife, his heart having given out as he slept.

See also
Paul Butterfield (
May 1987); Stan Szelest (
January 1991); Richard Bell (
June 2007). Levon Helm lost his battle with cancer in April 2012.

Saturday 17

Grover Washington Jr

(Buffalo, New York 12 December 1943)

(The Four Clefs)

Grover Washington bridged the gap between R & B and modern jazz in much the same way as artists like Herbie Hancock and Wynton Marsalis (with both of whom he was to record) would in his wake. His love affair with the saxophone began as a child (both his parents were musicians), though it was not until he was in his late twenties that Washington created a stir with the album
Inner City Blues
(1971). Originally touring with Ohio band The Four Clefs, Washington and his honed style appealed to a younger generation of music lovers – although one or two purists were quick to describe his work as commercial and over-smooth. He nonetheless managed crossover hit records – one of which, ‘Just the Two of Us’ (1978) with Bill Withers, might just be the theme tune for pretty much every easy-listening radio station in the free world.

Washington collapsed at around 6.30 pm during a pause at a New York recording of CBS television’s
The Early Show.
The musician, who was administered CPR in his dressing room, died at the scene from a heart attack.

Sunday 18

Joe Higgs

(Kingston, Jamaica, 3 June 1940)

The last major reggae life snuffed during a sad pre-millennium was that of the genre’s most unsung father figure, Joe Higgs. A songwriter to Toots & The Maytals, Peter Tosh and Delroy Wilson, Higgs cut a few tunes in his own right, the most notable being ‘Oh Manny Oh’ (1960), which shifted a creditable 50,000 copies in Jamaica. A guitarist who was noted for his ability to impart his gift to others, Higgs tutored the likes of Bob Marley, while also helping to arrange early Wailers’ songs. His own recordings were fewer and farther between, though
Triumph
(1988) was a late-on album that was just that.

Joe Higgs had been undergoing treatment for cancer for some time by his death just ahead of his sixtieth birthday. But despite dying relatively young, Higgs still managed to outlive three of the original Wailers, Marley (
May 1981),
Tosh (
October 1987)
and Junior Braithwaite
(
June 1999).

Monday 26

Curtis Mayfield

(Chicago, Illinois, 3 June 1942)

The Impressions

Curtis Mayfield’s distinctive soul voice seemed as at home with tales of the street as it was handling a love song. Also a fine guitarist, Mayfield was arguably the most significant of the first breed of black American singers to branch out beyond the confines of doo-wop – although he, too, found an initial outlet through a vocal group. Mayfield had co-founded The Impressions (originally The Roosters) – with Jerry Butler (replaced by Fred Cash) and Sam Gooden – as early as 1956, though he was not to lead the group until after their Top Ten-flirting debut hit ‘For Your Precious Love’ (1958). With small jealousies leading to Butler’s departure, Mayfield was centre stage for the trio’s biggest hit, ‘It’s All Right’ (1963). Around this period, the singer’s burgeoning social conscience was beginning to show itself – Mayfield was composing a number of Impressions tunes, filling the distinct gap left by the death of Sam Cooke (
Pre-1965).
With songs like ‘This is My Country’ (1968) and ‘We People Who are Darker than Blue’ (1970), Mayfield picked up the baton of Cooke’s ‘A Change is Gonna Come’. His ‘We’re a Winner’ effectively became the anthem of Black Power – a musical echo to the salutes of Tommie Smith and John Carlos at the 1968 Olympics. At the turn of the decade, Mayfield left The Impressions to forge a solo career that would expose the underbelly of black American culture in his most noted works.
Superfly
(1972) was a treat, the anti-drug soundtrack of the Gordon Parks-directed movie of the same name and the high point of the early-seventies ‘blaxploitation’ vogue that also made the name of Isaac Hayes. Destined to define Mayfield’s legacy, the score – which won the artist four Grammy nominations and an impressive amount of further work – has dated infinitely better than the film.