The Encyclopedia of Dead Rock Stars (402 page)

Beefheart and The Magic Band somehow managed to approximate its invention on the next record, the more-structured but darker-hued
Lick My Decals Off, Baby
(1970), which– amazingly–gave Van Vliet a Top Twenty placing in Britain. However, these were standards to which no one could live up, least of all Beefheart, on the remainder of his seventies albums. His next studio recordings
The Spotlight Kid
(the first Beefheart outing to trouble Billboard) and
Clear Spot
(both 1972),
Unconditionally Guaranteed
and
Bluejeans and Moonbeams
(both 1974) moved progressively closer to good-mood jams, which, while perhaps better for those within his orbit, were not as pioneering as their predecessors.

The Magic Band continued to slalom through ensemble and label changes to issue albums of mighty and occasionally baffling swamp boogie, jazz and blues-based ‘rock’ music, and Beefheart–who also contributed much to Zappa’s output–returned to an approximation of his best by the final,
Ice Cream For Crow
(1982). With the dust still settling from the sandstorm of this latest offering, Beefheart announced his permanent retirement from music.

Among the next generation of artists who were regularly to cite the man’s influence are The Minutemen, John Lydon, Laurie Anderson, XTC, Sonic Youth, The White Stripes and P J Harvey (who admitted that his music ‘made [her] feel sick’ as a youngster). But Van Vliet didn’t need to prove himself anymore– and the former musician finally reaped both accolade and financial reward as an accomplished painter, his unsurprisingly abstract works often selling for tens of thousands of dollars.

Then, after some years in retirement, Don Van Vliet–and Captain Beefheart– left us for some other, parallel universe that will be all the stranger for their dual presences. Having suffered for some years from multiple sclerosis, the musician passed away peacefully in a hospital near his home of Trinidad, California, on 17 December 2010. He may be somewhere else, but Van Vliet’s impact will doubtless always be around us, whether it is in the strange shape of a fish’s head, or in the packaging of some obscure brand of frozen vegetable. It’s all ‘Beefheart’, one way or another.

See also
Frank Zappa (
December 1993); Alex St Clair (
January 2006)

Sunday 26

Teena Marie

(Mary Christine Brockert–Santa Monica, California, 5 March 1956)

(Various acts)

She should have been a major star. Mentored by funk legend Rick James, US singer Teena Marie became a respected and versatile disco star in her own right at the turn of the eighties, yet the crown–passed from Donna Summer to Chaka Khan, via Gloria Gaynor
–always
seemed to elude her.

‘Lady T’ (as she was dubbed) was born Mary Brockert, a talented pianist before her voice and stage presence began to turn heads at Motown during the mid-seventies. As Teena Marie, Brockert fronted several forgettable bands before putting out her first 45, ‘I’m A Sucker For Your Love’ (with James) in 1979 (US R & B Top Ten); her ‘betters’ had felt that promoting the record with a photo of the sultry singer might be damaging within the genre given that she was white. This was righted the following year with the follow-up album
Lady T-
–a collection that spawned the superb international hit ‘Behind the Groove’ (1980, UK Top Ten). Then, perhaps more importantly, a US hit finally came later in the year with ‘I Need Your Lovin’’ (1980, US/UK Top Forty). All was not well with her relationship with the label giant, however: Teena’s apparent ascendance to pop/disco royalty was probably scuppered by a protracted legal battle with Motown that sprung from the company’s refusal to issue her material (something of which the Detroit label had been guilty many times before). Winning a groundbreak-ing lawsuit, the singer saw her case set a new precedent– ‘The Brockert Initiative’–which henceforth made it unlawful for record labels to hold artists to contract without releasing material.

Teena went on to record a succession of varying records for Epic, which contained a couple of million-selling singles entitled ‘Lovergirl’ (1984, US Top Five–by some measure her biggest US pop hit) and ‘Ooo La La La’ (1988, US R & B number one), plus the platinum album
Starchild
(1984). The artist left Epic in 1990– mainly to give birth to her daughter Rose LeBeau, latterly a singer in her own right. After several quiet years, a ‘maturer’ Teena Marie reemerged to no small success with the Cash Money label and the gold, Top Ten album in
La Doña
(2004–the last recording to feature James before his death (
August 2004
)).

Teena Marie apparently suffered a freak head injury during a hotel stay that year, a picture falling from a wall and striking the singer as she lay asleep. This later caused the singer dizziness and even occasional seizures.

Teena’s sudden passing six years later was believed to be connected to the accident, but was met with shock, surprise and no small sadness for an artist who will continue to be remembered for some electric early performances and an awesome vocal range.

Teena Marie was, bizarrely, the second Cash Money artist to die that week, following the murder by gunshot of New Orleans ‘bounce’ star Magnolia $horty (Renetta Lowe) just before Christmas.

Monday 27

Bill Maddox

(Abilene, Texas, 15 February 1953)

The Eric Johnson Group

The Electromagnets

Various acts)

A tragic story of misunderstanding emerged from Travis County, Texas, in the final week of 2010. Bill Maddox was a respected local drummer who’d played with some of Austin’s biggest names for almost forty years, his styles encompassing jazz, blues and R & B– but always with a strong rock ‘n’ roll backdrop. In 1973, Maddox formed the crossover band The Electromagnets with his longtime friend, keyboardist Stephen Barber, and the pair were joined by charismatic Texan guitarist Eric Johnson twelve months later.

The latter became a major folk-hero of Texan rock, and Maddox remained with him (and bassist Kyle Brock) through some successful years during the 1980s. The drummer also played behind the excellent Omar & The Howlers.

Maddox went on to work with computer giant Michael Dell, but in recent years, he had returned to music and played with further local acts–such as Alien Love Child and Grady–although health issues had necessitated a slowing-down of his live performance capabilities. Instead, the percussionist–also highly proficient on guitar–built a studio at his vast Travis County estate. In 2010, he’d been working on a solo project.

Bill Maddox’s life came to a sad and abrupt end during what was initially thought to be a robbery of his premises. Early on 27 December, the musician intercepted local man John Debrecht after the latter had smashed through the front door of his home with a potted plant. Maddox protected his wife Rhonda by firing a shot at his attacker, after which Debrecht gained control of the gun and fired back: although his wife was unhurt, the drummer was killed instantly, with the intruder left critically injured. After investigation, it transpired that Debrecht was a bipolar man off his medication who, according to the deceased’s widow, believed the home was his own safe-house. The assail-ant–a retired father of four who lived just half a mile from Maddox–died three days later in the hospital.

Thursday 30

Bobby Farrell

(Roberto Alfonso Farrell-San Nicolaas, Aruba, Netherlands Antilles, 6 October 1949)

Boney M