The Encyclopedia of Dead Rock Stars (365 page)

(Various acts)

Most famous for his time with sixties Pacific Northwest hitmakers Paul Revere & The Raiders, musician Drake Levin passed away – perhaps appropriately – on US Independence Day.

Levin – nicknamed ‘The Kid’ by group founder Paul ‘Revere’ Dick – had joined with The Raiders in 1963, after something of a false start for the group. The young guitarist impressed many with his ability, showmanship and general
chutzpah,
and The Raiders’ overall performances seemed to be elevated by his presence. This was reflected in a sudden string of hit records for a group that, despite their faux-Revolutionary costumes, were now being treated as serious contenders. ‘Just Like Me’ (released December 1965 and featuring a groundbreak-ing double-tracked Levin solo), ‘Kicks’ and ‘Hungry’ all saw huge rotation and charted strongly during 1966. Meanwhile, on stage, it was as much as vocalist Mark Lindsay could do to pull attention from Levin and his onstage ‘twin’, bassist Phil ‘Fang’ Volk – with whom Levin had previously played in The Sir Winston Trio. The pair’s stunts sometimes involved dancing on the top of the stack amps. (One young fan reportedly inspired in 1964 by Levin’s playing and overall stage presence was none other than Jimi Hendrix.)

As if by design, Levin was then frogmarched off to join the National Guard, missing out on a continued run of success thereafter as his place was taken by new guitarist Jim ‘Harpo’ Valley. Despite one or two issues with Revere, Levin manfully stepped back in to cover for the convalescing Volk, though he subsequently persuaded his bassist pal and drummer Mike ‘Smitty’ Smith to leave with him and form their own act, The Brotherhood. This action had been somewhat exacerbated by Revere’s disallowing of Levin from the group’s one and only
Ed Sullivan Show
appearance, the founder believing his former guitarist to be causing a rift in the band. (Although he lost a few members, Revere had the last laugh in that the ‘new’ Raiders went on to top the Billboard charts in 1971.)

Although The Brotherhood released three albums, they were frequently hamstrung by contractual issues from Raiders days, and there was little further commercial recognition for Levin. The guitarist nonetheless found session work after this and played with a selection of bands, including The Sinners and The American Rock AllStars. Levin died from cancer at his San Francisco home.

While some claim that Levin’s given name was Levinshevski, official sources confirm that the family name was shortened some time before his birth.

Wednesday 8

Midnight

(John Patrick McDonald - Florida, 29 April 1962)

Crimson Glory

(Various acts)

Metallers Crimson Glory emerged in Florida under the name Pierced Arrow during 1979. The band weren’t slow in showing their musical allegiances, the enduring core of guitarist Ben Jackson, bassist Jeff Lords and drummer Dana Burnell all fans of classic, progressive guitar music. John McDonald was actually the group’s third vocalist, spotted singing on a beach some three years after Crimson Glory’s formation. A self-titled debut album and European tours with like-minded heavyweights such as Celtic Frost secured the band a decent following by the late eighties.

Crimson Glory were – like many progressive metal bands – heavily image-conscious, McDonald adopting the stage-name Midnight and the entire group never playing live without their trademark masks. (In this, they predated facially concealed acts like Slipknot by over a decade.) The band moved up a couple of levels with the MCA-released album
Transcendence
(1988) and some US and world tours opening for Metallica and Ozzy Osbourne. (Around this time, Crimson Glory picked up a few metal-industry awards, Midnight considered one of the better vocalists of an expanding genre.) However, many fans were left bemused when the next album,
Strange and Beautiful
(1991), was decidedly more groove and techno-orientated: this clearly applied to the singer as well, who took a sudden, major hiatus from the band.

Midnight, who from here on became something of a maverick character, emerged sporadically to work with similar artists like Rhapsody, eventually agreeing to record once more with Crimson Glory in 2006 – some fifteen years after his previous work with the band. The singer’s commitment was immediately questioned, however, and it eventually became known that he was dealing with major health and psychological concerns. Following an arrest for drunk driving, Midnight was dismissed from Crimson Glory for the last time. Then, just two years later, the vocalist died at a St Petersburg, Florida hospital: what had initially been believed to be kidney and liver failure – an assumption borne from McDonald/Midnight’s previous issues with alcohol – turned out to be a stomach aneurysm.

Thursday 16

Gordon Waller

(Braemar, Scotland, 4 June 1945)

Peter & Gordon

Scots-born Gordon Waller rocketed to fame in 1964 as fifty percent of the first (well, ‘next’) British act to top the American charts after The Beatles. And the connection, let’s just say, didn’t end there.

Waller’s musical partner was former child actor Peter Asher, whose sister – actress Jane Asher – had been dating Paul McCartney, thus enabling the duo to perform his songs. The first of these was the tuneful ‘World Without Love’, a song that perfectly exercised Peter & Gordon’s harmonies, catapulting them to the summit on both sides of the Atlantic. The duo was far from novice, Waller and Asher having sung and played guitar together since meeting at Westminster School in London during the fifties.

Further Lennon/McCartney songs in the shape of ‘Nobody I Know’ (UK Top Ten; US Top Twenty) and ‘I Don’t Want to See You Again’ (US Top Twenty) kept Peter & Gordon in the public eye during 1964, although the songs were seen by disparagers as ‘Beatle rejects’. (Effectively, they were
exactly
that – however, even unrecorded Fab Four tunes were rightly regarded as ‘gold’ within the industry.) With British pop being the flavour of the decade, P&G secured more hits in America than at home, casting their net further to pull in songs by other top artists: these included Del Shannon’s ‘I Go To Pieces’ (1965, US Top Ten), Buddy Holly’s ‘True Love Ways’ (1965, UK number two; US Top Twenty) and Phil Spector’s ‘To Know You is to Love You’ (1965, UK Top Five; US Top Forty). After a final big-seller with ‘Lady Godiva’ (1966, UK Top Twenty; US Top Ten), Peter & Gordon’s star began to fade, the pair going their separate ways in 1968.

Asher (perhaps unsurprisingly) became head of A&R at Apple Records; however, Waller found it hard to repeat the duo’s success as a solo artist. He released just one largely ignored album,
and Gordon
(1972), with New York band White Cloud. (Around this time, Waller also appeared in the London production of
Joseph & The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.
) Peter & Gordon reunited in 2005, playing their last concert together in August of 2008, though by now Gordon Waller’s health was failing him. The singer – who had been running his own music publishing house in the US – went into cardiac arrest on the evening of 15 July, passing away early the following morning at a Connecticut hospital.

DEAD INTERESTING!

DO NOT DISTURB

An unusual story emerged from Washington on 17 July 2009: that of the death of former Black Crowes, Nirvana, Heart and Aerosmith sound engineer Tom Pfaeffle. The 49-year-old–who’d recently been working with Seattle rockers Dog Leg Preacher at his studio in Black Diamond–had attended a party with his wife before the couple returned to The Blue Spruce Motel in Twisp. Somewhat worse for wear after the night out, Pfaeffle attempted to place his key into the wrong door, thereby alarming the occupant, who chose to answer by firing a shotgun.

Pfaeffle-who was hit twice, in the arm and kidneys–managed to escape to the parking lot with his partner, but the musician/soundman had been fatally wounded, dying in hospital two hours later. His assailant (who remained unnamed) was charged with second-degree murder and the assault of a 77-year-old man hit by debris in another room.

Tuesday 21

Marcel Jacob

(Stockholm, Sweden, 30 January 1964)

Talisman

Last Autumn’s Dream

(Europe/John Norum)

(Various acts)

A vastly respected musician with a similarly expansive CV, Marcel Jacob first made inroads into the world of Swedish heavy rock by forming the band Rising Force with young guitarist Yngwie Malmsteen – a musician with whom he was to cross paths again several times down the line. During the early part of the 1980s, the increasingly skilled Jacob (who mastered bass, guitar, drums and keys during his career) worked with the emerging, though pre-success Europe: here, one of his compositions, ‘Scream of Anger’, found its way onto the Joey Tempest-led band’s second album
Wings of Tomorrow
(1984). By accident rather than design, Jacob managed to miss Europe’s moment in the international spotlight, having returned to Rising Force by 1986 – although he did co-write and record guitarist John Norum’s first solo outing the following year.

‘The overall greatest musician we ever played with.’