The Encyclopedia of Dead Rock Stars (355 page)

The Cramps’ wares, while always a cult confection, transferred easily else where – especially to Europe, where the group were seen as figureheads of the psychobilly movement (a huge fringe scene by the mid/late-eighties). The group even managed a token UK Top Forty showing with the
Beavis & Butthead-
-approved ‘Bikini Girls With Machine Guns’ (1990). This cut had been taken from the relatively successful Ace release
Stay Sick!,
but generally, the constant revolving-door of labels – not to mention band members – kept The Cramps at arm’s length from any
bona fide
breakthrough. Their many diehard fans were happy, however, to continue slurping down whatever Lux and Ivy were to serve up – and, in truth, later releases like the amusing
Fiends of Dope Island
(2003) tended not to stray too far from their formula as patented almost three decades before.

This set was to prove the last studio effort from the main man, however, Lux Interior suffering from a variety of ailments in his advancing years. The Godfather of Psycho passed away at Glendale Memorial Hospital, Interior doubtless finding a more than appropriate stage for his unearthly musings over on the darker side.

See also
Bryan Gregory (
January 2001)

Steve Dullaghan

(Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, England, 18 December 1964)

The Primitives

(The Nocturnal Babies)

Despite their newwave leanings, Coventry quartet The Primitives – of whom bassist/guitarist Steve Dullaghan died on the same day as Lux – were a quite different proposition from The Cramps. The band’s jangly, marketable pop tunes were for some the perfect antidote as British rock music looked to cheer itself up after half a decade of The Smiths, The Cure and Echo & The Bunnymen. For a year or so, The Primitives were the darlings of the press, helped in no small way by photogenic singer Tracy Tracy – one of a small number of blonde front women to emerge in UK pop around 1987 (see also: Transvision Vamp, The Darling Buds, Eighth Wonder). The Primitives, initially at least, appeared to have the better tunes, Dullaghan’s infectious ‘Crash’ lifting the group into the UK Top Five at the start of 1988: its parent album
Lovely
then earned a silver disc and made a fine showing in year-end round-ups. Follow-ups fared less well however, the singles ‘Out of Reach’ (1988), ‘Way Behind Me’ (1988) and ‘Sick of It’ (1989) all making the Top Forty but suffering from a marked similarity to the breakthrough hit. After the predictable demise of The Primitives, Steve Dullaghan returned to play bass with his original band, The Nocturnal Babies.

There was concern on 4 February 2009 when the guitarist failed to show for a regular poker night, a friend finding Dullaghan’s body on break-ing into his home the following morning. Authorities suggested that the former Primitives man had died of a pulmonary oedema, the result of cannabis toxicity. In short, his heart had failed as a result of smoking excessive amounts of the drug – much evidence of which was found in his system.

Golden Oldies #89

Estelle Bennett

(Estelle Dong - New York City, 22 July 1941)

The Ronettes

Inspired by harmony groups like Frankie Lymon & The Teenagers, sisters Veronica (Ronnie) and Estelle Bennett recruited cousin Nedra Talley to fashion themselves as a vocal/dance act. The girls had for many years been entertaining their extended family at weekend jamborees at their grandmother’s house in Washington Heights, so forming ‘The Darling Sisters’ seemed an obvious step. Despite winning an Apollo Theater talent contest, the trio’s famed 1961 appearance at Manhattan’s Peppermint Lounge allegedly happened by accident: owing to a case of mistaken identity as they stood in line to enter the theatre, the three girls were ushered on stage to perform. With something of a repertoire to call on, the trio sang a Ray Charles number, stormed the show and were subsequently hired on a regular basis (or so the story goes). By the end of the year, ‘Ronnie & The Relatives’ signed with the Colpix label, and issued their only single under this name in ‘I Want a Boy’. As The Ronettes, the group issued further 45s, toured and cemented popularity in local circles - but it was only the intervention of Phil Spector that broke them nationally, and then globally.

Spector’s ‘Be My Baby’ (1963 - a co-write with Ellie Greenwich and Jeff Barry - Billboard number two; Cash Box number one; UK Top Five) broke a run of unreleased Ronettes recordings on his Philles label, storming the airwaves and charts that fall on its way to shifting two million copies worldwide. (The song had such an impact that Brian Wilson openly admitted trying to ape the sound on his ‘Don’t Worry Baby’.) This classic hit was followed by another, the much-covered ‘Baby I Love You’ (1964, Billboard/Cash Box Top Forty; UK number eleven), The Ronettes touring the UK with The Rolling Stones at the height of their success. (The Beatles were also fans, John Lennon conducting a brief affair with Ronnie, while George Harrison also dated Estelle a few times.) Meanwhile, an album,
Presenting the Fabulous Ronettes Featuring Veronica
(1964), performed moderately well, but disclosed Spector’s desire to place Ronnie - now his girlfriend - at the fore. Despite the fact that he ‘had the girl’, the producer’s insecurities saw him fail to issue several further songs (including the fine ‘Chapel of Love’ - a possible chart-topper) for fear that The Ronettes might ‘outgrow’ him. This mistake saw Motown’s Supremes eclipse them as America’s top black female group during 1965: while Diana Ross’s troupe enjoyed consecutive number ones, The Ronettes did not see a Top Forty entry after 1964.

“ … and here’s another nice picture of Ronnie …” The Ronettes (with Estelle far left) peruse
Hit Parader
magazine with editor Don Paulson in 1965

With ‘I Can Hear Music’ peaking at Billboard number 100 (really) and a European tour not faring well, The Ronettes went their separate ways in 1967. All three girls married - Nedra and Estelle (who had previously also dated Mick Jagger and Johnny Mathis) to their long-term boyfriends; Ronnie -infamously - to Spector. While Nedra and Estelle worked briefly with Jimi Hendrix before retiring from music to raise families, Ronnie later revealed that she was held near-prisoner by Spector before divorcing him in 1974.

In 1988, the trio attempted to sue the notorious producer for nonpayment of royalties, however their award of $3m was overturned on appeal. There was clearly further acrimony in later years: all three Ronettes accepted their Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction in 2007, though Estelle Bennett chose not to perform with Ronnie and Nedra. Estelle was found at her home on 11 February 2009, having died from colon cancer: her surviving daughter Toyin revealed that her mother had suffered from mental illness and near-destitution since her days in the spotlight.

Thursday 19

Kelly Groucutt

(Michael William Groucutt - Staffordshire, England, 8 September 1945)

Electric Light Orchestra

(ELO Part II)

(Various acts)

Coseley-born Michael ‘Kelly’ Groucutt began an impressive music career as fifteen-year-old Rikki Storm, leader of The Falcons – but it was as a member of the band Barefoot that he impressed his future band mates of the Electric Light Orchestra. (The bassist had also spent brief tenures with local rock bands Greenwich Village, Marble Arch and Sight & Sound.)

Groucutt joined ELO just ahead of the huge international success that followed their 1974
Eldorado
tour, not only as bassist but also as co-lead singer alongside Jeff Lynne. ELO became one of the biggest-selling acts of the late seventies, but Groucutt’s one stab at lead singing – the excellent ‘Nightrider’ (1976) – was actually a rare single that failed to chart on either side of the Atlantic. (This was remedied with his vocal performance on the 1979 UK Top Ten hit ‘The Diary of Horace Wimp’ and several album tracks.) In terms of the group’s albums, Groucutt played on
Face the Music
(1975),
A New World Record
(1976),
Out Of The Blue
(1977),
Discovery
(1979) and
Time
(1981) as well as on the
Xanadu
soundtrack (1980 – which spawned ELO’s one charttopping single in its title cut), all except the first of which earned multiplatinum sales.