The Encyclopedia of Dead Rock Stars (188 page)

Faron Young: When he wasn’t lovin’, he wasn’t livin’

Lest We Forget

Other notable deaths that occurred sometime during 1996:

Les Baxter
(US ‘exotica’ orchestra leader who topped the charts with both ‘Unchained Melody’ and ‘The Poor People of Paris’ in the fifties; born Texas, 14/3/1922; kidney failure, 15/1)

Dawn Crosby
(hard-living US singer with thrash-rockers Détente, aka Fear Of God; born California, 1963; liver failure exacerbated by alcohol and drug abuse, 15/12)

Vinnie Daze
(US drummer with thrash-metal band Demolition Hammer; born Vincent Civitano, New York; while travelling in Africa, he contracted and died from ‘globefish poisoning’ - apparently, 11/3)

Jim Ellison
(US rock singer/guitarist with Material Issue who also played with members of Blondie, Guns n’ Roses and Urge Overkill; born Illinois, 18/4/1964; suicide by carbon monoxide asphyxiation, 20/6)

Francisco ‘Cannibal’ Garcia
(US/Mexican pop/R & B singer with Cannibal & The Headhunters, who went Top 40 with 1965’s ‘Land of 1000 Dances’; born California, 24/9/1933; cancer, 11/8)

Curtis Hairston
(US R & B singer with The BB&Q Band who enjoyed an international solo smash with 1985’s

‘I Want Your Lovin’
(Just a Little Bit)’; born North Carolina, 10/10/1961; kidney failure, 18/1)

Gus Hardin
(US country balladeer; born Carolyn Ann Blankenship, Oklahoma, 9/4/1945; headon car collision, 17/2)

Kenny Hillery
(one-time US metal bassist with Quiet Riot; born
c
1970; suicide, 5/6)

Nicodemus
(Jamaican DJ/reggae artist; born Cecil Wellington, 1957; diabetes, 26/8)

Arthur ‘T-Boy’ Ross
(US songwriter for many big names including Marvin Gaye and Madonna - sibling of Diana Ross; born 1949; he was found murdered in his basement along with his wife, Patricia, 22/6)

Johnny Sandon
(UK singer with Merseybeat band The Remo Four - originally a soloist backed by The Searchers; born Bill Beck, 1941; suicide by hanging, 23/12)

Mel Taylor
(US surf-rock drummer with The Ventures - he also played with Herb Alpert, Bobby Pickett and his own band, The Dynamics; born California, 24/9/1933; cancer, 11/8)

1997

JANUARY

Wednesday 1

Townes Van Zandt

(Fort Worth, Texas, 7 March 1944)

Townes Van Zandt has been described posthumously as ‘The Van Gogh of Songwriting’, so admired was his technique by some of folk and rock’s recent greats. As college dropout and son of an oil tycoon Van Zandt strolled proudly from coffee shop to bar in his early years, the title of ‘Texas Troubadour’ came more readily to the lips of his followers – who included Merle Haggard. A gnarly, dry humour pervaded the singer’s early songs, though it was heart-wrenching ballads such as ‘For the Sake of the Song’ (1968) that brought him to a wider audience. That said, Van Zandt’s wares were destined to remain unfamiliar to most, although Willie Nelson’s cover of his ‘Pancho and Lefty’ was a country chart-topper in the early eighties. Numerous country/folk acts recorded versions of his songs thereafter, including Emmylou Harris, Lyle Lovett and The Cowboy Junkies. Lack of broader appeal for his own output, though, depressed Van Zandt, who began to drink heavily, his physical condition deteriorating to the point that he stopped recording completely during the eighties.

Around Christmastime in 1996, Townes Van Zandt underwent hip surgery, which triggered the heart attack that was to cost him his life. His own idol had been country pioneer Hank Williams, whose way with a melody and ability to extract so much from a lyric was to inform Van Zandt’s own work throughout his career. Ironically, the singer died forty-four years to the day after his mentor (
Pre-1965).

‘Townes Van Zandt was the best songwriter in the whole world -and I’ll stand on Bob Dylan’s coffee table in my cowboy boots and say that!’

Steve Earle

Thursday 2

Randy California

(Randolph Craig Wolfe - Los Angeles, California, 20 February 1951)

Spirit

(Jimmy James & The Blue Flames)

Young Randy Wolfe founded the embryonic Spirit (then jazz/fusion group The Red Roosters) with his stepfather, jazz drummer Ed Cassidy, when he was just sixteen – creating one of the few credible ‘father and son’ partnerships in rock. While Cassidy had previously played with Ry Cooder, for his own part, California, as he’d been dubbed by Jimi Hendrix, had already accompanied Jimmy James & The Blue Flames. With Jay Ferguson (vocals/bass), Matt Andes (bass/slide guitar) and John Locke (piano) completing the line-up, the band continued under the somewhat unwieldy name of Spirits Rebellious, until, as Spirit, they claimed an early radio hit with ‘I Got a Line on You’ (1969), which made it to number twenty-five in America. Unfortunately, the band committed a faux pas that year by not taking up Hendrix’s offer to play Woodstock. Despite Spirit delivering their best album in
Twelve Dreams of Dr Sardonicus
(1970), the displeased Ferguson and Andes ran off to form Jo Jo Gunne a year or so after. A trimmed-down Randy California & Spirit turned out eclectic albums by the year, while retaining their West Coast following. (In the early nineties, the original line-up regrouped for tours.)

Randy California: Still here in spirit

California always had a recklessness about him. His career almost ended early on when he fractured his skull when thrown from a horse, while in 1973, after the band’s van and equipment was stolen in London, an already fragile California plunged into the Thames and had to be rescued. His reputation as a loose cannon only escalated after this strange precursor to his tragic passing. On holiday with his mother, Bernice, the guitarist and his 12-year-old son, Quinn, encountered treacherous waters while swimming off the coast of Molokai, Hawaii. Axe-hero California became folk-hero as he pushed his boy to safety: sadly, strong undercurrents overcame the musician. His body was never recovered, and Randy California was declared lost at sea just a day later. Bernice Cassidy continues to preserve her late son’s heritage – not least with her claim that Led Zeppelin’s ‘Stairway to Heaven’ was, in fact, lifted from ‘Taurus’, one of California’s earliest compositions.

See also
Jimi Hendrix (
September 1970); Moogy Klingman (
November 2011)