The Encyclopedia of Dead Rock Stars (198 page)

John Wolters
(US soft-rock drummer/vocalist who tasted international success as a member of Dr Hook - with and without The Medicine Show suffix; born New Jersey, 28/4/1945; liver cancer, 16/6)

1998

JANUARY

Monday 5

Sonny Bono

(Salvatore Phillip Bono - Detroit, Michigan, 16 February 1935)

Sonny & Cher

With no obvious vocal talent, Sonny Bono nonetheless made the most out of his career, achieving his main successes in pop music and beyond after his thirtieth birthday. This, though, was only after many attempts at stardom: an A & R with Los Angeles label Specialty Records, Bono – working as a butcher’s boy by day – recorded under a variety of names including ‘Ronny Summers’ and ‘Prince Carter’. Under the gaze of producer Phil Spector, success arrived in the shape of ‘Needles and Pins’, a song co-written by the singer with Jack Nitzsche – which was taken to number one in the UK by The Searchers in 1964. By now Bono had met Cherilyn Sarkisian LaPierre – Cher, for short. Divorcing his wife, Bono and his new love began a striking partnership with the all-conquering ‘I Got You Babe’ (1965, written by Bono). A series of lesser hits proved mainly that the public liked Cher, and, while she went on to a remarkable solo career that continues to this day, Bono’s one and only solo album died. Despite their relationship foundering, ‘Sonny & Cher’ proved a marketable-enough brand for a CBS television series to outlive their romance by some years.

Sonny and Cher keep up the public profile through gritted teeth

Not to be outdone by his second ex-wife’s impressive further career, Bono (who seemed happy to be the butt of Cher’s rather crass alimony wisecracks on their show) found himself a niche in film acting, though his television work was generally restricted to mini series such as
Fantasy Island.
A contretemps with one of the actors in the latter caused Bono to reassess his career and, for the staunch Republican, a move into politics followed. Somehow, the former singer – only moved to stand for election when red tape prevented him from increasing the size of a restaurant sign – was voted Mayor of Palm Springs in 1988, a far cry from his bohemian lifestyle of old. Six years on, the man who claimed he’d never voted until in his fifties was elected into the US House of Representatives as Congressman for the State of California. Many doubted his credentials, but, as Bono himself pointed out, ‘You can’t be a dummy and have the achievements I’ve had in my life.’

Sonny Bono was holidaying at the Heavenly Ski Resort, Lake Tahoe, with his fourth wife, Mary Whitaker, and their two children when he failed to show after a solo run. Bono’s body was discovered in woods off piste. He had apparently lost control and hit a tree, dying from head injuries. His distressed widow – who replaced him in Congress – later blamed her husband’s death on his addiction to prescription medication, claiming that ingesting twenty tablets a day had greatly impaired Bono’s judgement. Despite the claim, an autopsy had shown no evidence of pills or alcohol in Bono’s system.

Ken Forssi

(Cleveland, Ohio, 30 March 1943)

Love

The Surfaris

(The Buffalo Springfield)

Later the same day, a less-vaunted hero of California’s pop counterculture died from brain cancer. Ken Forssi was a dynamic, beach-loving bass guitarist who had begun his career with The Surfaris as the group was issuing its final album. With that group well past its sell-by date, Forssi was to find high-level critical acclaim – if not massive commercial acceptance – as a member of the seminal psychedelic rock group Love (originally The Grass Roots). The bassist was in place as the group issued three albums for Elektra –
Love
(1966),
Da Capo
and
Forever Changes
(both 1967) – whose radiance is perhaps only fully appreciated today.

Forssi and the other band members, however, were often at loggerheads with authority, abusing drugs to a greater degree than singer Arthur Lee claimed to approve of. Briefly standing in for Buffalo Springfield’s Bruce Palmer while the latter was in trouble with the law, Forssi was then incarcerated himself in 1968 (as was Love guitarist John Echols shortly after). Upon his release, the bass-player discovered he no longer had a place in Love. Long having left the music business, Ken Forssi died at his home in Florida.

See also
George Suranovich (
h
February 1990); Bryan MacLean (
December 1998); Arthur Lee (
August 2006). First Love drummer Don Conka passed on in 2004 and later bassist Robert Rozelle in
2010.

Golden Oldies #5

Carl Perkins

(Carl Lee Perkings - Tiptonville, Tennessee, 9 April 1932)

The Perkins Brothers

Unarguably a giant of rock ‘n’ roll, Carl Perkins pioneered the fusion of country and R & B to create rockabilly. The young guitarist overheard crop workers singing gospel and spirituals, which encouraged him to master his instrument - initially a converted cigar box. Perkings’s father was unable to work through illness and the family were living on the breadline, so Carl and his brothers, Jay and Clayton, performed for pennies as the (renamed) Perkins Brothers. Perkins’s composition ‘Movie Magg’ won him a talent contest when he was just thirteen, and ten years later became his first side for Sun Records. This record may have died, but his next didn’t. Legend has it that Perkins wrote ‘Blue Suede Shoes’ on an old potato sack in his kitchen at 3 am: his recording of the song delighted Sam Phillips by scaling the charts to peak at number two in May 1956. Then, travelling with his brothers to New York’s
Perry Como Show,
Perkins was involved in a serious car crash, fracturing his skull and neck. Elvis took his place on the show, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Thereafter, Perkins’s career was biased more towards the country market, where he was a consistent hitmaker. Among the many notable fans of Perkins’s work were Johnny Cash - who took the guitarist with him as a touring member of his band for almost ten years - and The Beatles - who covered a number of Perkins tunes prior to their global success. However, following the tragic deaths of Jay Perkins (
Pre-1965)
and then Clayton (
December 1973),
Perkins became hugely despondent and dependent on alcohol. His attempted comebacks met with mixed reactions. He continued to record with old acquaintances such as Cash, Paul McCartney and Willie Nelson until his passing on 19 January 1998. After a series of strokes, Carl Perkins died from throat cancer in hospital in Jackson, Tennessee.