The Encyclopedia of Dead Rock Stars (312 page)

MAY

Monday 7

Carol Johnson

(Carolyn Johnson - Queens, New York, 1944)

The Exciters

Four female school friends who perhaps took Taylor’s initiative were Brenda Reid (lead), Sylvia Williams
(née
Wilbur), Lilian Walker and Carol Johnson, who, as New York vocal quartet The Masterettes began garnering rave reviews around 1961. The group even cut a single, ‘Follow the Leader’ (Le Sage, 1961), but without success. However, good fortune was to come their way within a few months. In these times of pop gimmickry, girl groups often had male counterparts: in this instance, The Masters (formerly The Beltones), whose lead Herb Rooney saw potential in a group ‘marriage’. (In Reid’s case, his proposal was taken quite literally, the couple hitching for real later in the decade.)

The Exciters were born when producers Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller offered them the song ‘Tell Him’ (United Artists, 1962 - written by Bert Berns, who died in 1967). This record the renamed quartet – now Rooney (bass vocal), Reid, Walker and Johnson – took all the way to Billboard number four at the turn of 1963, shifting a million copies in the process. (In France, the record stayed at number one for two weeks.) ‘Tell Him’ was a revelation for a (mainly) female outfit, its sassy, uncompromising delivery heralding a new era of ‘tougher’ girl groups like The Shangri-Las and The Ronettes. It surprised many, however, by remaining The Exciters’ biggest hit. A great follow-up, Ellie Greenwich and Tony Power’s ‘He’s Got the Power’ (1963) stalled at #57, while follow-ups like ‘Get Him’, their punchy original version of ‘Do Wah Diddy Diddy’, ‘Havin’ My Fun’ and ‘I Want You to Be My Boy’ (for new label Roulette) fared even worse. Only ‘A Little Bit of Soap’ reversed the dismal trend in 1966. The Exciters, nonetheless, had left their mark, influencing stars of the calibre of Dusty Springfield – who stated that hearing them had helped her decide her musical direction.

Carol Johnson left the music industry by the end of the decade (missing a brief comeback for The Exciters during the UK’s Northern Soul boom of the mid-seventies) and had long since retired by the time of her death from cancer.

Herb Rooney died during the early nineties, but is survived by his and Reid’s son, Sony executive Mark C Rooney.

Tuesday 8

Carson Whitsett

(Jackson, Mississippi, 1 May 1945)

The Imperial Show Band

The MG’s

(Various acts)

A greatly talented keyboardist, writer and record producer, Carson Whitsett came to prominence via his brother Tim’s group, The Imperial Show Band (formerly The Imperials) during the late sixties. This band was among the first integrated acts to gain attention, Whitsett’s proficiency on the Hammond B-3 organ a central part of their innovative sound. Indeed, his playing impressed the fledgling Stax Records, who tried hard to woo the Whitsett brothers into joining the label’s house band, The MG’s. In the event, while his brother concentrated on the publishing side of the business, Whitsett played briefly with the group, replacing estranged leader Booker T Jones. This line-up featured Bobby Manuel (guitar, replacing Steve Cropper), plus the returning Donald ‘Duck’ Dunn (bass) and Al Jackson Jr (drums), the group cutting an eponymous album (1973) that was as well-received as it was a commercial flop. (Booker T rejoined the group just ahead of the sickening murder of Jackson
(
October 1975
)
.
)

His reputation intact, Whitsett thereafter became a house musician at Malaco Studios, where he went on to back a galaxy of name artists: these included Paul Simon, with whom he played on
There Goes Rhymin’ Simon
(1973). Whitsett also played with big-selling R & B artists Johnnie Taylor, Dorothy Moore and Anita Ward, whose ‘Ring My Bell’ novelty saw him appear at the top of the charts on both sides of the Atlantic during the summer of 1979. (Just a few months later, Whitsett was to enjoy a UK chart-topper as a producer, with Fern Kinney’s ‘Together We Are Beautiful’ (1980).) Whitsett’s ‘midas touch’ extended to his songwriting, too, the artist scoring a number of R & B successes with top acts such as Etta James and Wilson Pickett, while also showing considerable versatility by penning country-flavoured hits for Fred Knoblock, Conway Twitty and Barbara Mandrell. (Having found something of a niche in the genre, Whitsett spent some years touring with country star Kathy Mattea, also working closely with her husband, songwriter Jon Vezner.)

While working on the latest of a series of solo projects, Carson Whitsett learned of his diagnosis with brain cancer. The musician fought manfully for sixteen months, yielding to the disease in his new spiritual home of Nashville, Tennessee.

Sunday 13

Rod Poole

(Taplow, Shropshire, England, 1962)

The Acoustic Guitar Trio

A microtonal guitarist of considerable natural ability, Rod Poole had already mastered conventional playing as a teenager in the sleepy town of his birth – when he wasn’t away, taking in every festival that he could. Poole had a love of music that transcended style and genre, and became known as ‘the man to talk to’ at the Oxford record store where he worked as a student. His curiosity about the instrument led him to explore experimental and improvised styles, initially via the Oxford Improviser’s Collective, of which he was a founder. Leaving for Los Angeles in 1989, Poole studied intonation with Ervin Wilson (the world’s foremost authority), applying the theories to his own playing – which could be heard via many of his subsequent CD releases. In his time, Poole performed with avant garde musicians such as Derek Bailey and Eugene Chadbourne, though his best-known work was probably with Nels Cline of alt-country artists Wilco, with whom Poole and Jim McAuley played in The Acoustic Guitar Trio.

The nature of Rod Poole’s death was both shocking and senseless. The guitarist and his wife were returning from a concert when a careless driver came close to side-swiping both the couple and a waiter in the parking lot of a Hollywood Mel’s Drive-In diner. Poole became embroiled in a row with driver Angela Sheridan, who then exited the car with her husband, Michael – the pair assaulting the musician before Michael produced a knife. The prone Poole was stabbed several times; his assailants (with their two-year-old son and his grandmother who had witnessed the entire event) then drove from the scene. Rod Poole died twenty minutes later at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. Michael Sheridan – who was already serving probation – received fifteen years to life, while his wife served under a year. Rod Poole’s widow, Lisa Ladaw, returned her husband’s ashes to the UK for interment.

Sunday 27

Izumi Sakai

(Kurume, Fukuoka, Japan, 6 February 1967)

Zard

Izumi Sakai didn’t let success spoil her or cause her to forget her background – rumour had it that the photogenic starlet still insisted on commuting to the studio by rail after her band, Zard, had hit the big time. Sakai was a shy and unassuming individual, frequently turning down the myriad opportunities she had to appear in the public eye or on television. The illness at the time of her death perhaps in some way hinted at what was behind this diffidence.

Eschewing considerable proficiency as a pianist, Sakai opted for the chance to front Japanese pop five-piece Zard in 1991, this group going on to enjoy phenomenal success in their home country. In Japan, the pop music business has a tendency toward prolific output, and Zard were no exceptions: between 1991 and 2008, the group issued over forty singles, thirty-six of which were Top Five hits on the Oricon charts, twelve of these, number ones. The first, ‘Makenaide’ (1993), sold almost two million copies alone. For over a decade, Zard – which, to all intents and purposes, became Sakai plus an interchangeable backing line-up – were the biggest pop act of all. Sakai remained unfazed by fan worship, however, appearing happiest around her family, or when writing songs for her group and other J-Pop favourites.

Throughout her career, Izumi Sakai experienced health issues, a shock to those who otherwise knew her as healthy – she abstained from tobacco and alcohol. In 2006, the singer was diagnosed with cervical cancer, which, despite intense chemotherapy, had now spread to her lungs. Early the following year, Sakai, happy with her progress, contacted her agents, talking enthusiastically of her plans to go out on tour once more. It wasn’t to be. While attending a further course of treatment at Keio Hospital, the singer apparently fell ten feet from the landing of a rain-soaked fire escape. She died later from a brain contusion, never having regained consciousness. Despite widespread suggestion that her demise may have been deliberate on her part, authorities passed a verdict of accidental death.