Robin Gibb

05/20/2010

Bee Gee Robin Gibb succumbed to a longtime struggle with liver cancer Sunday, a spokesperson confirmed. The Rock & Roll Hall of Famer was 62.

Sorry he's dead.  But his looks always creeped me out.  Guess it's true.  ANYONE in a band can get some! 

This is a real...wait for it.......TRAGEDY!   yea, yea. You knew it was coming, but it's still funny!



Donna Summer

05/17/2012

Legendary disco singer Donna Summer died Thursday after a battle with cancer, sources close to the singer confirmed to FoxNews.com. She was 63.
"Early this morning, we lost Donna Summer Sudano, a woman of many gifts, the greatest being her faith," family of the singer said in a statement.
"While we grieve her passing, we are at peace celebrating her extraordinary life and her continued legacy. Words truly can't express how much we appreciate your prayers and love for our family at this sensitive time."
Often called the Queen of Disco, Summer was born LaDonna Adrian Gaines on Dec. 31, 1948, in Boston. She began singing early in the church choir and by her teens had formed several musical groups.
Her sound was a mix of genres, and helped her earn Grammy Awards in the dance, rock, R&B and inspirational categories.
Her first album, "Lady of the Night," arrived in 1974 in Europe, and 1975's "Love to Love You Baby" brought her worldwide fame.
In the 1978 disco film "Thank God it's Friday," her song "Last Dance" won Summer her first Grammy.
Summer's soaring vocals on "She Works Hard for the Money" brought her a Best Pop Vocal Performance Award in 1984.
In the mid-1980s, Summer encountered controversy when she was accused of making anti-gay comments related to AIDS. She claimed she had been misquoted but not before thousands of her records were returned and dance clubs boycotted her music.
Summer holds the record for most consecutive double albums to hit number one on the Billboard charts (three) and was the first female to have four number one singles in a 12-month period: three as a solo artist and one as a duo with Barbra Streisand, CBS said.
She released her last album, "Crayons," in 2008. She also performed on "American Idol" that year with its top female contestants.

I'm going to boogie fever down to the disco shop and get me some platforms and bell-bottoms!

Donald "Duck" Dunn

05/13/2012

Donald "Duck" Dunn, the bassist who helped create the gritty Memphis soul sound at Stax Records in the 1960s as part of the legendary group Booker T. and the MGs and contributed to such classics as "In the Midnight Hour," ''Hold On I'm Coming" and "Sitting on the Dock of the Bay," died Sunday at 70.

Dunn, whose legacy as one of the most respected session musicians in the business also included work with John Belushi and Dan Ackroyd's Blues Brothers as well as with Levon Helm, Eric Clapton, Neil Young, Bob Dylan and others, died while on tour in Tokyo.

News of his death was posted on the Facebook site of his friend and fellow musician Steve Cropper, who was on the same tour. Cropper said Dunn died in his sleep.

Dunn was born in Memphis, Tenn., in 1941, and according to the biography on his official website, was nicknamed for the cartoon character by his father.

His father, a candy maker, did not want his son to be a musician

"He thought I would become a drug addict and die. Most parents in those days thought music was a pastime, something you did as a hobby, not a profession," Dunn said.

But by the time Dunn was in high school, he was in a band, the Royal Spades, with Cropper, a group that would eventually become the Mar-Keys.

Cropper left the band to become a session player at Stax Records, the legendary Memphis-based record company that would become known for its gritty soul records and artists like Otis Redding, Sam and Dave, Isaac Hayes and the Staples Singers.

Soon, Dunn followed Cropper and joined the Stax house band, which would become Booker T. and the MGs. It included Booker T. Jones on organ and Al Jackson on drums and was later inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

"I would have liked to have been on the road more, but the record company wanted us in the studio. Man, we were recording almost a hit a day for a while there," Dunn said.

The group had its heyday in the 1960s as backup for Stax artists such as Redding. Booker T. and the MGs had its own hits as well, including "Hang 'Em High," and "Soul-Limbo."

In the 1970s, the group's members drifted apart. Jackson was killed in Memphis in 1975 by an intruder in his home.

The remaining members had a brief reunion in 1979, but Cropper and Dunn would have a sustained reunion when they joined Ackroyd and Belushi's Blues Brothers band and appeared in the 1980 "Blues Brothers" movie.

"How could anybody not want to work with John and Dan? I was really kind of hesitant to do that show, but my wife talked me into it," Dunn said in a 2007 interview with Vintage Guitar magazine, "and other than Booker's band, that's the most fun band I've ever been in."

Dunn also did session work on recordings by Clapton, Young, Dylan, Rod Stewart, Sam and Dave and Stevie Nicks, according to his discography. He was on Redding's "Respect" and "Sitting on the Dock of the Bay," Sam and Dave's "Hold On I'm Coming" and Wilson Pickett's "In the Midnight Hour."

Dunn once said that he and Cropper were "like married people."

"I can look at him and know what he'll order for dinner," he said. "When we play music together we both know where we're going."

Dunn received a lifetime achievement Grammy award in 2007 for his work with Booker T. and the MGs.

He is survived by his wife, June; a son, Jeff; and a grandchild, Michael, said Michael Leahy, Dunn's agent.

___

Vidal Sassoon

05/09/2012

Legendary hairstylist Vidal Sassoon has died, his Beverly Hills salon confirmed to ABC News today. He was 84.
Sassoon styled hair for seven decades. He pioneered a geometric haircut in the 1960s that came to be known as the new version of the classic bob cut, and famously chopped off Mia Farrow’s long hair for “Rosemary’s Baby.”
Born in London, Sassoon relocated to the U.S. where he sold his name to Procter & Gamble to manufacturer the Vidal Sassoon line of hair products. A 2010 documentary, “Vidal Sassoon: The Movie,” chronicled his life and career.
Sassoon remained true to his techniques, which he said took nine years to develop, and worked until his last days. In a 2011 interview with the New York Times, Sassoon said he appeased failed hair experiments with a catch phrase: “It’ll grow, darling. Come back and be my guest.”

No word on how he died.  But Benson Head And Shoulders is being held for questioning.

(oh yea. I know some football players died as well.  But who really cares about them?  didn't think so!)

George Lindsey

05/06/2012

George Lindsey, who spent nearly 30 years as the grinning Goober on "The Andy Griffith Show" and "Hee Haw," has died. He was 83.
A press release from Marshall-Donnelly-Combs Funeral Home in Nashville said Lindsay died early Sunday morning after a brief illness. Funeral arrangements were still being made.
Lindsey was the beanie-wearing Goober on "The Andy Griffith Show" from 1964 to 1968 and its successor, "Mayberry RFD," from 1968 to 1971. He played the same jovial character — a service station attendant — on "Hee Haw" from 1971 until it went out of production in 1993.
"America has grown up with me," Lindsey said in an Associated Press interview in 1985. "Goober is every man; everyone finds something to like about ol' Goober."

Goodbye Goob!



Adam Yauch

05/05/2012

Adam Yauch, one-third of the pioneering hip-hop group the Beastie Boys, has died at the age of 48, Rolling Stone has learned. Yauch, also known as MCA, had been in treatment for cancer since 2009. The rapper was diagnosed in 2009 after discovering a tumor in his salivary gland.

Yauch sat out the Beastie Boys' induction to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in April, and his treatments delayed the release of the group's most recent album, Hot Sauce Committee, Pt. 2. The Beastie Boys had not performed live since the summer of 2009, and Yauch's illness prevented the group from appearing in music videos for Hot Sauce Committee, Pt. 2.

Yauch co-founded the Beastie Boys with Mike "Mike D" Diamond and Adam "Ad-Rock" Horowitz in 1979. The band started off as a hardcore punk group, but soon began experimenting with hip-hop. The band broke big with their first proper album, Licensed to Ill, in 1986, and further albums Paul's Boutique, Check Your Head and Ill Communication cemented the band as a true superstar act.

In addition to his career with the Beastie Boys, Yauch was heavily involved in the movement to free Tibet and co-organized the Tibetan Freedom Concerts of the late Nineties. In 2002, he launched the film production company Oscilloscope Laboratories.


NO SLEEP TILL........the morgue!