The Encyclopedia of Dead Rock Stars (320 page)

‘They were like brothers–they wrote the music that lifted people up!’

James Brown’s daughter Deanna, on her father and ‘Uncle’ Bobby Byrd

Tuesday 25

Patrick Bourque

(Montreal, Quebec, 27 September 1977)

Emerson Drive

(Mystery)

Originally known as 12 Gauge, Emerson Drive shot to the forefront of Canadian country music in the late nineties. The Brad Mates–fronted group made the final step to major success by sealing a lucrative deal with DreamWorks in 2000, their records now cracking the Billboard pop charts as well as the Canadian and US country listings. In 2002, their third album
Emerson Drive
– the group’s first under the new moniker – had sold more than encouragingly, as indeed had the US Country Top Five singles ‘I Should Be Sleeping’ and ‘Fall into Me’. Emerson Drive were nonetheless in a state of flux, keyboardist Dale Wallace replacing Chris Hartman, fiddle player Pat David Pichette in for Pat Allingham – and incumbent bassist Jeff Loberg making way for Patrick Bourque, formerly of Canadian prog outfit Mystery.

By the next album,
What If?
(2004), Emerson Drive had again moved up a gear, opening on tour for Shania Twain to rapturous reception. A setback occurred when the struggling DreamWorks let the band go in 2004, though a more traditional album,
Countrified
(2006 – through Midas Records) appeared to steady the ship. (Indeed, the album’s second single ‘Moments’ became the first-ever by a Canadian band to top the Billboard Country charts.) The sudden departure of Bourque in August 2007 was not expected, however, the big-though-unassuming bass player offering little in the way of an explanation for his decision. It was merely the precursor to a far sadder event.

‘Nobody could do anything for him.’

David Pichette, Emerson Drive

Emerson Drive’s shock turned to horror on learning of their former band mate’s death as they travelled to a Nebraska show. Patrick Bourque – who had recently recorded again with Mystery – was found at his Montreal apartment, having taken his own life. Although colleagues had little explanation for Bourque’s drastic action, it was known that the bassist had suffered personal problems in the months leading up to his resignation and subsequent death. ‘It’s hard to process how this could happen,’ said Mates. ‘We didn’t see the big signs of what was going on.’

OCTOBER

Saturday 6

Eric McCredie

(Partick, Glasgow, 17 July 1945)

Middle of the Road

Perhaps it was apt that Middle of the Road were formed on April Fool’s Day 1970, for this wasn’t a group taken seriously by everyone. Previously, as Part Four, the Scottish quartet of brothers Ian (guitar) and Eric McCredie (bass – both formerly of The Dominos), Ken Andrew (drums) and singer Sarah ‘Sally’ Carr had known little success, and it took a trip to Italy to change their fortunes. Under the guidance of producer Giacomo Tosti, the renamed Middle of the Road struck upon a formula for success.

The group’s first single, the irritat-ingly catchy pop confection ‘Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep’ (1971), topped the UK charts for five weeks, also making number one in Switzerland and Norway, and faring remarkably well pretty much everywhere else. (To date, the group’s version of the Lally Stott–composed song has shifted some ten million copies worldwide.) Further gold discs were earned that year for ‘Tweedle Dee, Tweedle Dum’ (UK number two) and ‘Soley Soley’, but after this it was strictly diminishing returns for an act that was considered by-and-large a novelty.

Although Middle of the Road disbanded in 1976 after Carr elected for a solo career, Andrew reformed the group in 1991. Eric McCredie – who had also sung on the signature hit – chose to opt out, however, citing health reasons. The bassist instead worked as an adviser to up-and-coming bands until his death following a lengthy illness at the age of sixty-two.

Monday 8

Nicky James

(Michael Clifford Nicholls - Tipton, Staffordshire, 2 April 1943)

The Nicky James Movement

(Various acts)

Nicky James was the man at the very centre of the West Midlands’ burgeoning beat scene at the start of the sixties – yet he was to know little commercial success himself.

A dynamic singer who liked to cover Elvis Presley numbers, James began fronting his own band, The Lawmen, before meeting singer and guitarist Denny Laine in 1963. A stint with Denny Laine & The Diplomats was broken, however, so that James could record solo material while simultaneously playing with The Jamesons (the first band of John Maus, later of The Walker Brothers).

The peripatetic James then once again linked up with Laine in the first version of The Moody Blues – though had left again by the time the group topped the UK charts with ‘Go Now’ (1964 – US Top Ten in 1965). By now, the musician had his own new project, The Nicky James Movement, a veritable ‘who’s who’ of what was now known as Brumbeat. At various stages, the NJM featured Bev Bevan (later of ELO), John Bonham (Led Zeppelin), Mike Pinder (The Moody Blues) and Roy Wood (The Move/Wizzard). James released a series of albums and singles under this handle, but without making the kind of headway that his cohorts and contemporaries appeared to manage at will.

James – always considered a key player in West Midlands music – collaborated into the seventies with many of his old pals, also moonlighting as a talent scout for Dick James (in which capacity he signed staff writers Elton John and Bernie Taupin), and recording solo material for The Moody Blues’ own label Threshold. He continued writing and recording well into the new millennium. Nicky James had moved to Wiltshire by the time of his death from a brain tumour at age sixty-four.

See also
John Bonham (
September 1980); John Walker (
May 2011)

Saturday 13

Tom Dawes

(Albany, New York, 25 July 1943)

The Cyrkle

Another shortlived band were The Cyrkle, a four-piece formed by frat buddies Don Dannemann (guitar) and Tom Dawes (bass) at Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania.

The group – originally known as The Rhondells – played a melodic pop/rock ‘n’ roll that caught the attention of Brian Epstein’s business partner Nathan Weiss in 1965: this began a brief but successful association with The Beatles’ corporation. Indeed, it was John Lennon that suggested the psychedelic re-spelling of the band’s new name.

The Cyrkle opened for The Fab Four at Dodger Stadium in 1966, their relationship with Epstein having done much to see singalong hit ‘Red Rubber Ball’ bounce into the Billboard charts that summer – though, paradoxically, it was ‘Paperback Writer’ that had kept the record from making US number one in July. The millionselling hit was quickly chased by ‘Turn-Down Day’, which also fared well, making the Top Twenty. The next half-dozen releases, however, made gradually lessening impact.

The Cyrkle disbanded shortly after Epstein’s death
(
August 1967
), both founder members earning decent livings as jingle writers. (Dawes will likely always be remembered for his ‘plop, plop, fizz, fizz’ commercial for Alka-Seltzer.) During the early seventies, the former bassist also produced the first three albums by boogie-rockers Foghat.