The Encyclopedia of Dead Rock Stars (30 page)

JULY

Monday 24

Bobby Ramirez

(Port Arthur, Texas, 21 October 1947)

Edgar Winter’s White Trash

(Various acts)

Few personal details are known of Bobby Ramirez, a young rock drummer who began playing at fourteen, performing and recording with LaCroix and Rick Derringer, as well as cutting two records with Edgar Winter’s first band, White Trash. The story of his terrible death, however, has recently been made public.

White Trash were enjoying a successful US tour with British prog outfit Uriah Heep, a particularly well-attended show at Chicago’s Rosemont Hall putting the bands in celebratory mood. It’s unlikely the city’s downtown area had seen so many long-hairs and prog-rockers in one place – although this offers little excuse for the barbaric reception given to Bobby Ramirez. After watching a performance by female rockers Bertha, Ramirez excused himself to the toilets, where a man using the facilities took exception to his coiffure, suggesting he might choose to use the ladies’ room. Ramirez retorted, and the man punched him, drawing blood. While the club-owner attempted to calm the situation and usher the musicians away, the understandably incensed Ramirez wanted to involve the police. When this was refused, the young percussionist took matters into his own hands, and followed his attacker into the night. It proved a costly decision: band member Jerry LaCroix, who was also assaulted, described coming round only to see Bobby Ramirez bloody and lifeless in the arms of the band’s road manager. The assailant – like Ramirez, of Mexican descent – had used a pointed, steel-tipped shoe to injure his victim, and he had not been alone, suggesting that this attack had been premeditated.

See also
Randy Jo Hobbs (
August
1993)

AUGUST

Wednesday 2

Brian Cole

(Tacoma, Washington, 8 September 1944)

The Association

Originally a thirteen-piece folk/comedy unit called The Men, the ‘trimmer’ Association enjoyed US number-one hits and no small amount of critical acclaim. Founding member Brian Cole played a variety of instruments, including stand-up bass, which he traded for something more manageable as the band wisely ditched its knockabout routine for a more mainstream act. By 1966 The Association were among America’s hottest properties, multi-instrumentalist Terry Kirkman’s ‘Cherish’ taking the group to the chart summit in September; also a popular live draw, the five LA-based boys could do little wrong for a couple of years, also taking ‘Windy’ to the top in 1967.

As their favoured style of harmony rock began to fade, The Association found it harder to place themselves. A 1972 album for Columbia proved a failure – and shortly afterwards, a dejected Brian Cole’s sad death from a heroin overdose at his Hollywood home appeared to be the final straw for the band. The group rallied, however, and were still performing on the circuit at the beginning of the millennium.

Rory Storm (with The Hurricanes): Kicked it while young

SEPTEMBER

Thursday 28

Rory Storm

(Alan Caldwell - Old Swan, Liverpool, 21 September 1939)

Rory Storm & The Hurricanes

‘The band that Ringo left’ were main players during the early sixties Merseybeat boom. They had started out in 1958 as a skiffle combo called The Texans, fronted by Caldwell as ‘Al Storm’, a presence whose stage dynamics masked a stutter but showed the hallmarks of a star in the making. The band’s transition to rock ‘n’ roll, however, alienated some of the fanbase for which they had strived – and Rory Storm & The Hurricanes (as they became) never recovered sufficiently to crack the beat market. The first to bail out was, of course, Ritchie Starkey – Ringo Starr – offered £25 a week to drum for The Beatles, who did his best to placate The Hurricanes by offering them recording time with The Beatles (this was never accepted, perhaps because of pride). Not only that, the band’s second Parlophone single, ‘America’ (1964), was – uniquely – produced by Beatles manager Brian Epstein, even this could not turn their fortunes. Finally, the dramatic post-concert death of lead guitarist Charles ‘Ty’ Brian in 1967 caused the ailing band to split. Attempts to revive The Hurricanes by Storm and guitarist Johnny Byrne fell on deaf ears. Despite his speech impediment, Storm (reverting to Caldwell) took up a DJ post in Spain.

More heartbreak arrived with his father’s death early in 1972, struggling to do his best by his widowed mother, the singer developed a chest infection that required medication. Just a week after his thirty-third birthday, Caldwell was discovered sprawled across his bed by his distraught mother, apparently having taken an overdose at her home. Distressed by her husband’s death – and now the loss of a son – she apparently decided to take her own life there and then. The press dined out on a tale some had dubbed a suicide pact, while this was clearly not so, the intent behind Caldwell’s death will remain a mystery. Asked why he hadn’t attended his former bandmate’s funeral, Ringo Starr’s reported comment was: ‘I wasn’t there for his birth, either.’

See also
Johnny ‘Guita/Byrne (
August 1999); Keef Hartley (
Golden Oldies #154)

OCTOBER

Monday 9

Slim Smith

(Keith Smith - Jamaica, 1948)

The Techniques

Although he had a fairly unstable upbringing, Slim Smith made some of the most accomplished rocksteady during his short life. Smith was blessed with the purest of falsettos, which brought to mind the voice of Curtis Mayfield rather than any reggae contemporary. As leader of the smooth band The Techniques, Smith had the rare privilege of recording sides for both Clement ‘Coxsone’ Dodd’s Studio One (‘Try Again’, ‘Mercy Mercy’)
and
Duke Reid’s Trojan labels (‘Queen Majesty’, ‘Travelin’ Man’) – otherwise virtually unheard of with these great rivals. At the same time (as was fashionable in rocksteady), his group also recorded a number of standards. That Smith managed all this before his twenties is even more of a marvel.