The Encyclopedia of Dead Rock Stars (316 page)

Despite enjoying further lead credits on the cuts ‘Steamboat’ and ‘I Gotta Get Myself a Woman’ (1956), Pinkney found the going tough - and badly paid - and his protests saw the singer sacked after requesting a pay raise from new boss George Treadwell. A natural go-getter, Pinkney was soon back in town with a new group, The Flyers. He topped this by then - impressively - winning the legal rights to the name ‘The Original Drifters’, the singer reuniting with the Thrasher brothers and Little David Baughan to tour an unarguably authentic version of the group - which he continued to do for some decades thereafter, using different line-ups. (There have, of course, been various other incarnations of this legendary vocal group, the most successful remaining the incarnation taken forward by Treadwell.)

Bill Pinkney has received many accolades, both during his lifetime and posthumously. These include honours from the US Senate and House of Representatives, as well as an ‘official key’ bestowed upon him by the state of South Carolina (14 May is officially ‘Bill Pinkney Day’). The singer - who died on 4 July 2007 from a sudden heart attack at his Hilton hotel room - had been set to appear on stage in Daytona Beach, Florida for the Independence Day celebrations.

See also
Ali ‘Ollie’ Woodson (
May 2010). Visit the Intro chapter for a complete list of departed Drifters (
Pre-1965/Dead Interesting!)

Thursday 12

Robert Burás

(Narvik, Norway, 12 August 1975)

Madrugada

My Midnight Creeps

(Savoy)

A key player in Norway’s alternative rock scene, guitarist Robert Burás founded Madrugada during 1995 in the town of Stokmarknes. He’d previously played with local act Abbey’s Adoption, whose members Frode Jacobsen (bass) and Jon Lauvland Pettersen (drums) joined Burás and singer Sivert H0yem to complete the critically approved altrock unit.

Madrugada’s melodramatic sound (and distinctive look) saw the band make rapid headway across Europe. Their five studio albums all received credit, in particular
The Deep End
(2005), which – with help from its brooding single ‘Majesty’ – broke the band in the UK. Oddly, most members chose this time to focus on side-projects: in Buras’s case, it was My Midnight Creeps, a Stooges-influenced combo that offered a rawer sound than Madrugada. This band also issued two albums to some acclaim. (Buras also found time to play with Savoy, the rock band formed by former A-ha musician Paul Waktaar.)

‘He lived and breathed for his music.’

Madrugada manager, Arne Svare

On Friday 13 July, Robert Buras’s MMC band mates, concerned that their guitarist had not shown for rehearsal ahead of a gig, broke into his Oslo apartment. The musician – apparently dead for some hours – was found clutching his instrument: the manner of his passing, while presumed suicide in some quarters, remains unresolved, there being no suggestion of drug use and foul play having been ruled out. Buräs was cremated (along with his Fender Jazzmaster guitar) at the city’s Sofienberg Church, his ashes laid to rest in Nordland.

Sunday 15

Kelly Johnson

(Bernadette Johnson - Edmonton, London, 20 June 1958)

Girlschool

Girlschool – Kim McAuliffe (guitar/vox), Dinah ‘Enid’ Williams (bass), Kelly Johnson (guitar) and Denise Dufort (drums) – were, by some distance, the leading female band of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal explosion at the turn of the eighties. Core to the group’s powerhouse sound was Johnson, a self-taught wildchild who strode the stage and wielded her Gibson Les Paul with equal panache.

True, there was little especially original about their sound, but Girlschool took on an almost-entirely male genre at its own game and, to all intents and purposes, won: veteran axe hero Jeff Beck famously expressed disbelief that the sounds emanating from Johnson’s guitar could be made by a woman – a comment that saw him roundly ridiculed in the music media.

Gil Weston, Denise Dufort, Kelly Johnson and Kim McAuliffe of Girlschool: They had class all day long

With Girlschool’s debut album
Demolition
(1980) break-ing the UK Top Forty, Lemmy Kilmister of Motorhead went one further, suggesting that Johnson was
‘as good
as Beck.’ This compliment was borne out when the two bands joined forces as Headgirl (geddit?) for a rollicking version of Johnny Kidd & The Pirates’ ‘Please Don’t Touch’, which lit up the British charts early in 1981. (This smash went some way toward helping
Hit and Run
– the next Girlschool record – into the Top Five of the UK album listings that summer.) The group then caused something of a stir by headlining the first day of Reading Rock ‘81, which in turn led to a US stadium tour.

By 1984, Johnson had tired of the routine, decamping to Los Angeles where she lived with her new manager, Vicki Blue, formerly of US punkettes The Runaways. (This was bad news for Girlschool, who saw the willowy blonde as something of a focal point for the band.) In the US, however, Johnson found it hard to break beyond the club circuit, despite fashioning a band called The World’s Cutest Killers (which also featured former Go-Go’s guitarist Kathy Valentine).

Having returned to the UK – and a reformed Girlschool – Kelly Johnson learned of her diagnosis with spinal cancer in late 1999. She soldiered on as best she could, but her condition deteriorated and she died from the disease after a seven-year battle. Many of Johnson’s former colleagues paid her tribute, including later bassist Tracey Lamb, who spoke at her memorial: ‘She inspired many of us to take up music – Kelly was a true rock star.’

Golden Oldies #52

Don Arden

(Harry Levy - Cheetham Hill, Manchester, 4 January 1926)

There was a reason why so many referred to him as ‘The Al Capone of Pop’: manager/business entrepreneur Don Arden wore his aggressive reputation with pride, unafraid to use whatever means necessary to achieve what he wanted.

Changing his name from Harry Levy at the end of World War II, Arden - a decent tenor - started out as a singer himself, but ditched the cabaret circuit for the management side of the industry in 1954. His first rock ‘n’ roll client of note was Gene Vincent, though Arden found it hard to control the American rocker, who likely remains the only person to have pulled a knife on him and gotten away with it: after this, The Nashville Teens and a young Elkie Brooks were probably a cinch. In 1965, Arden ran into trouble over accusations that he’d offered payola to secure a hit with ‘Whatcha Gonna Do About It?’ for new charges The Small Faces - who nonetheless became massive under his watchful eye. (It was also around this time that Arden and his ‘minders’ infamously dangled terrified impresario Robert Stigwood from a balcony - a suggestion of what might happen should he dare mess with them again … )

Arden struck pop gold with The Move, then offshoots Wizzard and ELO, Black Sabbath, and singer/songwriter Lynsey de Paul. Most of these acts were featured on Arden’s new Jet record label - and all of them scored him major hit records on a regular basis.

The mogul was, of course, the father of Sharon Arden, who famously went on to marry his later charge Ozzy Osbourne, though not before some significant problems within their relationship. Arden took Sharon under his wing, bringing her into his business; however when she took over management of Osbourne without his consent, Arden was less than amused. Tales continue to this day of Sharon being savaged by a livid Arden’s dogs when she was pregnant. (The two did not speak again until an unlikely 2002 appearance by Arden on
The Osbournes
television show - the first time he had seen any of his grandchildren.)