The Encyclopedia of Dead Rock Stars (311 page)

Rose Tattoo

Coloured Balls

(The Purple Hearts)

(The Wild Cherries)

(Billy Thorpe & The Aztecs)

(Various acts)

A real-life stalwart who saw - and influenced - huge changes in the Aussie rock scene, Lobby Loyde was born into a gifted musical family, yet, despite classical training, chose volume over virtuosity. ‘Barry Lyde’ - the name under which he plied his early trade - was picked up in the early sixties by Brisbane bands such as Devil’s Disciples, The Stilettos and The Impacts (who opened for the touring Rolling Stones), where his ability on the Fender could be shown off to the max. With The Purple Hearts, Loyde adopted his enduring moniker and enjoyed a substantial Australian hit with ‘Early in the Morning’ (1966). Another -’That’s Life’ - was culled while a member of the popular Wild Cherries at the start of 1968.

Ever a restless soul, Loyde then served a stint with returning heart-throb Billy Thorpe, an old school pal of his from Queensland, and it was undoubtedly the guitarist’s input that saw Thorpe’s band The Aztecs move toward a heavier sound. Loyde then formed his own hard-rock act, Coloured Balls, an immediate hit with fans and a band that scored chart albums in
Summer Jam
(1973),
Ball Power
(1973) and
Heavy Metal Kid
(1974).

His later career - some of which was spent in the UK - saw Loyde take in production and even sci-fi novel-writing, though his highestprofile position was surely as bass player with Rose Tattoo, the blues-influenced rockers who, at that time in Australia, were probably second only to AC/DC in terms of popularity in this genre. Tattoo’s lead singer Angry Anderson was quick to point to Loyde’s prowess: ‘More than anyone else, Lobby helped create the Aussie guitar sound -more than Angus [Young, of AC/DC], or Thorpe, or even Rose Tattoo.’

Lobby Loyde was just a few weeks short of his sixty-sixth birthday when he succumbed to lung cancer at his home in Box Hill, Melbourne on 21 April 2007. He was survived by five children.

See also
Pete Wells (
March 2006); Billy Thorpe (
February 2007). Other former members of Rose Tattoo to have passed on are Dallas ‘Digger’ Royale (d 1991), Ian Rilen (d 2006) and Mick Cocks (d 2009).

Golden Oldies#47

Bobby Pickett

(Somerville, Massachusetts, 11 February 1938)

Bobby ‘Boris’ Pickett & The Crypt-Kickers

It will come as no surprise to those who recall Bobby Pickett’s one sizeable contribution to the world of rock ‘n’ roll that the singer was a huge fan of horror as a youngster. Pickett’s father was a movie-theatre manager, and the boy found ample opportunity to hone impressions of the genre’s stars (Karloff, Lugosi, etc). This ‘talent’ Pickett, with his band The Cordials, first displayed as a Hollywood cabaret turn before he turned it on the world via the 1962 chart smash, ‘The Monster Mash’.

Under the name Bobby ‘Boris’ Pickett & The Crypt-Kickers (one of whom was pianist Leon Russell), the young vocalist saw ‘The Monster Mash’ - an admittedly witty and accomplished pastiche of dance-fad songs like ‘The Wah-Watusi’ and ‘The Mashed Potato’ - passed over by virtually every record company in America before Gary Paxton issued it via his Garpax label in 1962. Paxton was a dab hand at this, his Hollywood Argyles project having spawned the 1961 chart-topper ‘Alley-Oop’. The result here was a US number-one single for Pickett that Halloween - and a global million-seller. (The record was once more a Top Ten hit on reissue in 1973, after which it also made the UK Top Five.)

It barely requires mention that Pickett’s further attempts at horror novelties went (appropriately) the way of all flesh, though he did manage a largely-forgotten follow-up with the Christmas-flavoured ‘Monster’s Holiday’ (1962, US number thirty).

Bobby Pickett - who had fought leukaemia for some time - left this earth on 25 April 2007. It is to be hoped that a few of his ‘undead’ buddies were waiting with a party in his honour.

Golden Oldies#48

Zola Taylor

(Zolette Lynn Taylor - Los Angeles, California, 17 March 1938)

The Platters

Zola Taylor was that rare commodity, a female voice in the largely male-dominated world of doo-wop. Breezy tenor/contralto Taylor was discovered in 1954 rehearsing with a girl group, and was immediately recommended to uncompromising manager Buck Ram by Platters founder, Herb Reed. Believing that a female voice would help ‘soften’ the group’s tone, Ram pushed her and new lead Tony Williams to the fore. The difference was palpable, the previously-struggling five-piece going on to become the first all-black vocal act to outsell previous predominantly white interpreters of their songs.

The Platters placed a series of singles with Mercury onto the Cash Box listings, beginning with four that made the Top Five - including two number-ones in ‘The Great Pretender’ (1955 - it held the R & B top spot for eleven weeks) and ‘My Prayer’ (1956). (The Platters were to put a further sixteen records into the Top Forty, two more of these number ones.) Needless to say, other Afro-American units then began looking for their own ‘Zola Taylors’ …

A persistent problem of this era was the splintering of vocal groups and the predictable litigation over future uses of names and voices. The Platters, unfortunately, were no strangers to this: Williams was the first to jump ship, both he and Taylor (who was replaced by Barbara Randolph in 1962) touring with their own versions of The Platters, as Reed, and male tenor David Lynch were to do later.

And there were to be further legal nightmares for Taylor during the eighties. One of a trio of widows of long-deceased teen idol Frankie Lymon, she found herself in a protracted three-way wrangle for the copyright to his band The Teenagers’ ‘Why Do Fools Fall In Love?’ after it became a hit for Diana Ross in 1981. In the event, the authorities ruled in favour of third wife Emira Eagle, despite Taylor claiming to have been ‘sexually active’ with Lymon as early as 1956 -coincidentally at the time that her former husband’s version would have been released. (The latter’s case was seriously hindered by her having no documentation to support their 1965 marriage in Mexico.)

Zola Taylor - who had toured with other vocal groups and earned induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame – died from complications of pneumonia at Parkview Community Hospital in Riverside, California on 30 April 2007. She had been bedridden since suffering a series of strokes.

‘She had this baby voice that everyone liked. All of a sudden, other groups started looking for girls.’

Former Platter Herb Reed, on Zola Taylor

See also
Frankie Lymon (
February 1968); David Lynch (
January 1981); Nathaniel Nelson (
June 1984); Paul Robi (
February 1989). Earlier Platters Cornell Gunter (
January 1990) and Elsbearry Hobbs (
May 1996) have also passed on, as has later member Randy Jones (2002). Manager Buck Ram died in 1991.