The Encyclopedia of Dead Rock Stars (119 page)

See also
Angus MacLise (
June 1979); Sterling Morrison (
August 1995)

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Ralf Hütter

(Kraftwerk)

Co-founder of enduring German electrónica godfathers Kraftwerk, Ralf Hütter nearly anticipated Nico’s tragic mishap with that most basic of machines back in 1983. With his cycle-race theme ‘Tour de France’ cleaning up across Europe, Hütter crashed his bicycle in the Dolomites, fracturing his skull and spending two days in a coma. His first words on coming to?
‘Wo ist mein Fahrrad?’
(‘Where’s my bike … ?’)

Friday 29

Pete Drake

(Roddis Franklin Drake - Atlanta, Georgia, 8 October 1932)

His $38 ‘talking’ pedal steel gave self-taught Pete Drake a unique sound and selling point, and he is widely regarded as having introduced the instrument into the pop mainstream. Drake made his name in Nashville, over a relatively short period of time, recording countless country songs (working with names including George Jones and Tammy Wynette) while taking a permanent position as a sideman at the Grand Ole Opry in 1959. Backing Elvis Presley is probably how he is best remembered, but Drake also contributed to recordings by Bob Dylan (1967’s
John Wesley Harding
and 1969’s
Nashville Skyline
among them) as well as albums by George Harrison and Ringo Starr, without having any knowledge of The Beatles: ‘The name didn’t ring any bells – well, I’m just a hillbilly,’ he once coyly explained.

After some years as a respected producer, Pete Drake died in his Tennessee home at the age of fifty-five, having suffered for many years from a lung condition.

AUGUST

Sunday 14

Roy Buchanan

(Ozark, Alabama, 23 September 1939)

(The Heartbeats)

(The Hawks)

Another largely unsung giant of his instrument, Buchanan was for many the master of shimmering electric blues, his steel-guitar style emulated by many since his death. His family moved to Pixley when Buchanan was a boy; his father was a Pentecostal minister in the tiny Californian town. At seven, he had lessons from a teacher with the delightful name of Mrs Pressure, who broke down in tears whenever her charge hit a bum note. At fifteen, Buchanan and his Fender fronted The Heartbeats, but, despite his early promise, he would not earn wider attention until the seventies: by then, however, he had already played with rockabilly vocalist Dale Hawkins and had been a member of The Hawks (a precursor to The Band). Buchanan’s talent was still known only by word of mouth by the time he featured on a 1971 PBS television special entitled
The Best Unknown Guitarist in the World,
a coup that won him a recording contract with first Polydor and then Atlantic, for whom – at last – he sold well. Before this, Buchanan had turned down opportunities to play with Eric Clapton and The Rolling Stones: fiercely protective of his work, Buchanan was frustrated by evermore elaborate production of a sound he believed should remain primitive – in 1981, he dropped out of the recording process for four years. He was finally to have his way with
When a Guitar Plays the Blues
(1985), a record produced for Alligator. After two more well-received efforts, though, Roy Buchanan’s world was to turn sour.

Struggling with alcohol addiction, Roy Buchanan had driven several blocks from his Virginia home, before – tipped off by his wife, with whom he’d had an altercation – police apprehended a man they believed was drunk and ‘behaving strangely’. Placed in a cell at Fairfax County Jail, Buchanan was charged and left for half an hour to calm down. When officers checked on him, he was found hanged from the window grate. Some supporters of Buchanan believe that the verdict of suicide was trumped-up: the musician’s injuries were consistent with a police ‘choke hold’ sometimes used to subdue aggressive inmates.

Robert Calvert

(Pretoria, South Africa, 9 March 1945)

Hawkwind

(Various acts)

On the same day, a heart attack took one of space rock’s favourite sons, Bob Calvert. The self-styled poet/ performance artist began his journey to marginal fame working on a London building site, though what any of his labouring cohorts made of this idiosyncratic individual is anyone’s guess. Well-read and fascinated by the counterculture of the period, in the late sixties Calvert met like-minded Dave Brock, guitarist of Hawkwind. The band was arguably the nearest Britain had to a ‘scene’, as famous for their alternative lifestyle as for their music. Calvert’s dramatic monologues became an occasional treat during Hawkwind’s live shows, while in 1972, the Calvert-penned ‘Silver Machine’ gave the group an unlikely UK Top Five hit – although his vocals were overdubbed by Lemmy Kilmister’s the year after. Perhaps Calvert’s most inspired work had been that year’s truly disturbing ‘Sonic Attack’, but he was to leave the band soon after (returning briefly for 1977’s
Quark, Strangeness and Charm).
His solo work was quirkier still, including the concept album
Captain Lockheed and the Starfighters
(which featured some sizeable names in accompaniment, including Brian Eno and fellow weirdo Viv Stanshall), a drama about the life of Jimi Hendrix and a novel about the music business,
Hype.

Hawkwind: Still in search of space, by the look of things

Focusing more towards minimalist styles throughout the eighties, Bob Calvert died suddenly of a heart attack at just forty-three. Hawkwind reunited to play a benefit for his widow and children at the end of 1988.

Later Hawkwind keyboardist Jason Stuart died of a brain haemorrhage in September 2008.

Tuesday 30

Papa Dee Allen

(Thomas Sylvester Allen - Wilmington, Delaware, 19 July 1931)

War

By early trade a modern-jazz percussionist, Papa Dee Allen backed a variety of big names such as Dizzy Gillespie before heading to California, where soul, rock and R & B appealed more to the flamboyant musician. In 1967, he joined the ever-shifting and growing ranks of The Creators as a keyboardist and singer. The Long Beach funk/ rock act became Nightshift – basically a backing unit for football/music hopeful Deacon Jones. When this didn’t work out, the group was looked after by former Animals leader Eric Burdon. Renaming them War, Burdon set the band on the path to enormous popularity with the hit ‘Spill the Wine’ in 1970. For the rest of the decade, War enjoyed consistent success with a string of Allen-written international hit singles, including the millionselling ‘Cisco Kid’ (1973) and ‘Why Can’t We be Friends?’ (1975). On the downside, the band also endured the deaths of early bassist Peter Rosen in 1969 and Charles Miller
(
June 1980).