The Encyclopedia of Dead Rock Stars (234 page)

MAY

Friday 11

Marlon Brando

(Marlon Bryant - The Bronx, New York, 1978)

Sporty Thievz

The creative force behind New York rap unit Sporty Thievz, Marlon Bryant (who, for reasons best known to himself, adopted the name Brando) founded the group with ex-Wreckin’ Crew members King Kirk and Big Dubez in Yonkers, New York, during 1997. The trio first gained notoriety for the 1998 album
Street Cinema,
but it was the TLC-baiting anthem ‘No Pigeons’ (a direct riposte to the girl group’s hit ‘No Scrubs’) that attracted wider attention. Sporty Thievz were working on a second album when Brando was killed in what appeared to be a deliberate hit as he left a late-night delicatessen. A minivan – which had already jumped a red light – mounted the kerb, ploughing into the artist and crushing his legs, before speeding away. Brando was pronounced dead upon arrival at South Bronx’s Lincoln Medical Center. The rapper – whose assailants were never caught – had recently fathered his first child.

Friday 25

Brian Pendleton

(Wolverhampton, 13 April 1944)

The Pretty Things

It all began so well for The Pretty Things, the band courting even more media controversy than their musical and geographical rivals The Rolling Stones, that a comparable run of hits appeared to be a formality. Indeed, founder member Dick Taylor (guitar) was a close friend of Mick Jagger’s, and had even played with the fledgling Stones until leaving to attend art school. Their former Dartford schoolmate Brian ‘Yeti’ Pendleton (rhythm guitar) was, meanwhile, already earning a crust at his father’s insurance firm – but was only too glad to quit and grow his hair long (The Pretty Things were arguably the first band to make a point of doing this). The group was completed by the addition of Phil May (vocals/harmonica) and John Stax (John Fullegar, bass), a succession of drummers keeping the band on its toes. In early 1964, Fontana signed up one of the hottest new acts of the period, The Pretty Things break-ing into the Top Ten with their second single, ‘Don’t Bring Me Down’ (1964) and a debut album (1965). The band’s sound and attitude was probably too ‘punk’ for the times, however, and they eventually lost out to the bluesier Stones. The group became big on the Continent, but thanks to poor management, they missed out on the British invasion of the USA. As the UK hits diminished in stature by 1966, Brian Pendleton decided to jump ship, returning to his job in the City as an underwriter. He passed away from lung cancer at the age of fifty-seven, but had managed to maintain sufficient contact with The Pretty Things (a going concern in one form or other well into the seventies) to benefit from the occasional royalty.

Occasional keyboardist Gordon Edwards died from an overdose in 2002.

Monday 28

Tony Ashton

(Edward Anthony Ashton - Blackburn, 1 March 1946)

Ashton, Gardner & Dyke

The Remo Four

(Various acts)

Another respected British rock musician to succumb to cancer was Tony Ashton, a vocalist, musician and songwriter who served his apprenticeship as a member of The Remo Four. Ashton performed for many years as both singer and organist with the group as they supported The Beatles in Hamburg (where they were briefly to become the resident band). The nearest he came to stardom, however, was with bassist Kim Gardner and drummer Ron Dyke as the imaginatively named Ashton, Gardner & Dyke, who scored a one-off chart smash with ‘Resurrection Shuffle’ (1971). This trio was to last for three albums, Ashton also finding time to work with Deep Purple mainstays Jon Lord and Ian Paice, as well as assisting with solo work by both Paul McCartney and George Harrison. Ashton later turned his talents to painting and jingle-writing.

See also
Kim Gardner (
October 2001)

JUNE

DEAD INTERESTING!

OOPS, THEY DID IT AGAIN

Following a great tradition that gave us the bogus if fanciful demises of Paul McCartney, Terry Jacks et al, a pair of Texas radio presenters pushed that particular envelope just a little too far on 12 June 2001. Shock jocks Keith Kramer and Tony Twitch overestimated the sophistication levels of several million Britney Spears fans by announcing the singer’s death live on air. It was claimed that the tender-aged pop princess had bought it in a car accident that had also left her then-boyfriend, pin-up prince Justin Timberlake, in a coma.

As one of music’s more elaborate hoaxes unfurled, a website was then mocked up to support the tale. Managers at Fort Worth rock station KEGL were less than amused, however, firing Kramer and Twitch soon after the prank was revealed as the stars’ lawyers began to hover. Britney devotees then joined in by burning effigies of the DJs in trailer parks across Mississippi. Probably.

Wednesday 13

Marcelo Fromer

(Säo Paulo, 3 December 1961)

Titas

Rhythm guitarist Marcelo Fromer was a co-founder and key member of Titas, one of Brazil’s foremost rock bands since the early eighties. Although the band – who wrote and recorded in Portuguese – found it hard to sell in English-speaking countries, they were multiplatinum artists at home and created enough interest for an MTV
Unplugged
session, the results of which became one of the band’s biggest albums in 1996.

On 11 June 2001, Fromer, a keen jogger, left his Sao Paulo home for an early evening run. Because of an energy crisis, Brazil had at that time been restricting the use of electricity – and street lights were in the front line for cutbacks. As night descended, a motorcycle appeared from out of the gloom, hitting the guitarist, who cracked his head on the pavement; the motorcylist fled the scene seconds later. Two days on, Marcelo Fromer died, never having regained consciousness. A man of no small talent, he had recently been working on a biography of his friend the noted Brazilian international footballer Preto Casagrande.

Golden Oldies #12

John Lee Hooker

(Clarksdale, Mississippi, 17 August 1917)

He was the Delta-bluesman who quite literally showed two fingers to those who had gone before, his picking style becoming a trademark. John Lee Hooker was the Baptist minister’s son who learned to play in the house of the Lord, before cashing in his chips with the music of the Devil. It’s probably fair to say that Hooker crafted a style to which most major white rock artists owe something: he cut his first single in 1948 (‘Boogie Chillen’), but was as influential -if not more so - in his final years. In 1999, Hooker celebrated his fiftieth year as a recording artist (having released over a hundred albums), the musician cited by the likes of Keith Richards, Van Morrison, Bono and Robert Cray as he picked up virtually every accolade/award going. Not bad for a guitarist who seldom strayed from two chords.

John Lee Hooker died from natural causes at his home in the Bay Area of San Francisco on 21 June 2001.

JULY

Tuesday 10

James ‘Chuck’ Cuminale

(Oswego, New York, 1952)

The Colorblind James Experience