The Encyclopedia of Dead Rock Stars (294 page)

Thereafter, Gilks, Treece and replacement bassist Paul Clifford formed the largely forgotten Weknowwhereyoulive – though the drummer spent much of his post-Stuffies life assisting his brother Chris ‘Tank’ Gilks with his management consultancy, where the pair oversaw the affairs of the bands Hundred Reasons, Lowgold, Reef and A. A much-mellowed character devoted to his daughter, Martin Gilks would be deeply missed following his unexpected death. The former percussionist lost control of his motorbike in traffic, crashed and was taken to St George’s Hospital, Tooting, where he died the following morning.

Golden Oldies #33

Gene Pitney

(Hartford, Connecticut, 17 February 1940)

Gene Pitney – ‘The Rockville Rocket’ to his high school buddies – began his road to immortality first by fronting The Genials and then becoming the male half of teen duo Jamie & Jane (with singer Ginny Arnell). It was clear early on, however, that Pitney on his own was the real deal; not only did this young man possess a very fine singing voice and considerable talent on the guitar, piano and drums, but he was a sharp songwriter, as well. Over the years he provided hits for The Crystals, Rick Nelson, Roy Orbison and Bobby Vee as an employee at New York’s fabled Brill Building. Many of Pitney’s own recordings, however, were penned by Bacharach and David.

Never as prolific as some of his contemporaries, Pitney nonetheless achieved sixteen US Top Forty hits during the sixties, beginning with 1961’s ‘(I Wanna) Love My Life Away’. Its follow-up, the Top Twenty ‘Town Without Pity’, gave Pitney his first-ever Golden Globe award plus a Grammy nomination. (The song also set a precedent by becoming the first pop number to be performed at the annual Academy Awards.) With Pitney fever reaching its peak the following year, the singer enjoyed his biggest smash, ‘Only Love Can Break a Heart’, a million-seller that ironically was kept from the top of the charts only by The Crystals’ rendition of his ‘He’s a Rebel’. Pitney was a more consistent artist on the UK charts, where eleven of his releases made the Top Ten, though it wasn’t until 1989 that the star enjoyed his only UK number one – a remake of 1967’s ‘Something’s Gotten Hold of My Heart’ (penned by Brits Cook and Greenaway), with Marc Almond. The seventies had been less kind to a singer considered at that point something of a has-been, though there were still some fine moments – not least ‘Blue Angel’ (1974) and 1975’s haunting ‘Train of Thought’. During this period Pitney divided his time between touring Europe (where he was now a bigger draw than at home) and making time for his young family. Although known to be close friends with The Rolling Stones and Phil Spector, Pitney displayed few of the rock ‘n’ roll indulgences of either, preferring something of a quiet life when not performing.

Gene Pitney’s last concert was on 4 April 2006 at Cardiff’s St David’s Centre, where 1,100 adoring fans gave the star a standing ovation. The following morning, at the Welsh capital’s Hilton Hotel, Pitney failed to show for breakfast, prompting speculation that he was suffering from exhaustion. Tragically, the singer had passed away in his sleep early in the morning of 5 April, just hours after his performance, most likely from natural causes, though the official verdict returned was of coronary artery atherosclerosis.

Tuesday 11

Proof

(DeShaun Holton - Detroit, Michigan, 2 October 1973)

D12

As well known for being Eminem’s buddy as he was for any artistic prowess, Proof formed the rap collective D12 (aka The Dirty Dozen, or Detroit Twelve), a posse of DJs that was to spawn the superstar white rapper and subsequently find worldwide success of its own. Inevitably, the gang went out of its way to court controversy to sell records – and, more depressingly still, the spectre of gun crime was once again to defile a genre that should be seen as a potent artistic force.

‘The heart and ambassador of Detroit hip-hop.’

Proof remembered by his close friend Eminem

Proof had muscled his way into the promotional film for Aaliyah’s single ‘Age Ain’t Nothin’ but a Number’ (1994) before he tasted fame on his own terms. At this time, young DeShaun Holton was organising freestyle events (still
de rigueur
for rappers in Michigan), which is how he came by cohorts Bizarre (Rufus Johnson, ex-Outsidaz), Eye Kyu, Killa Hawk and Fuzz. The latter three were not to last, while the recruitment of a posse named Da Brigade – Kuniva (Von Carlisle), Kon Artis (Denaun Porter) and Slim Shady (Eminem, aka Marshall Mathers III, also ex-Outsidaz) – plus another friend Bugz (Kamail Pitts) changed D12’s fortunes somewhat. The year 1999 proved somewhat turbulent for the new crew, with Eminem leaving for rapid solo megastardom but securing a deal for his old pals on his own Shady label, an imprint of the currently fashionable Interscope, and also asking D12 to open on his national tour (by now with another new member in Ondre Moore, aka Swift). It was just ahead of one of these dates that a grim precedent was set for Proof: falling into a heated argument with a man at (of all events) a picnic, Bugz was shot dead from his assailant’s SUV.

The upshot for Proof and his shattered collective was that Eminem rejoined – and that D12 became massive. The 2001 album
Devil’s Night
sold two million copies in the US and spawned international hits in ‘Shit on You’ (UK Top Ten), ‘Purple Hills’ (or ‘Purple Pills’, depending upon which version you held – US Top Twenty, US rap number one, UK number two) and ‘Fight Music’. The album has been widely described as one of the most offensive of all time for its inexhaustible use of expletives and violent and misogynistic imagery. Its follow-up was the equally successful
D12 World
(2004), which sold over 550,000 copies within its first week of release and served up another brace of major hits in ‘My Band’ (US Top Ten, UK number two, Australia number one) and ‘How Come’ (UK number four). Proof also appeared in Eminem’s movie
8 Mile
at this time and issued a solo album,
Searchingfor Jerry Garcia
in 2005, in deference to one of his heroes.

On the back of all this achievement, Proof’s death in 2006 elevated him to the status of martyr in the eyes of D12’s millions of fans. Once again, it was an argument over a mundane issue – this time a game of pool at 8 Mile Road’s CCC Club – that saw tempers disintegrate into mindless gun violence. Shot three times by club bouncer Mario Etheridge, Proof was declared dead upon arrival at hospital. It transpired that the rapper had fatally shot Etheridge’s cousin, Keith Bender, moments before being gunned down himself – though the alternate version of Etheridge having shot both has been aired during a wrongful-death suit brought about by Bender’s family. Proof – who left behind a fiancée and five children – was buried before 2,000 onlookers at Detroit’s Fellowship Chapel, where a tearful Eminem read the lesson. A lesson from which it seems rap as a genre appears very reluctant to learn.

June Pointer

(East Oakland, California, 30 November 1953)

The Pointer Sisters

On the same day as Proof’s death, the US black music industry mourned the passing of another platinum artist, though one from a very different background. The youngest of six children (two boys, four girls) born to minister Reverend Eton Pointer, June Pointer looked up to her sister Bonnie, the pair forming ‘Pointers – A Pair’ before recruiting siblings Ruth and Anita to sing the gospel music advocated by their parents. However, the group broadened their repertoire to include scat, bebop, R & B and rock ‘n’ roll, generating an interest beyond just that of the local bars.

As openers to artists like Sylvester, Boz Scaggs and Elvin Bishop, The Pointer Sisters were picked up by the Atlantic and later Blue Thumb labels. A self-titled debut album emerged in 1973, selling just short of a million copies – as indeed did the first hit, ‘Yes We Can Can’. Despite Bonnie’s departure in 1978, for the next decade or so, only Sister Sledge briefly threatened the Pointers for a crown discarded by The Supremes, as the three sisters went from strength to strength. The biggest hits were ‘Fire’ (a Bruce Springsteen tune only prevented from topping the US Hot 100 by Rod Stewart’s ‘Do Ya Think I’m Sexy?’ early in 1979), ‘He’s So Shy’ (1980, US number three – featuring June as lead voice), ‘Slowhand’ (1981, US number two, UK Top Ten), ‘Automatic’ (1984, US Top Five, UK number two) and ‘Jump (For My Love)’ (1984, US number three, UK Top Ten – this also featured June as lead). In 1985, June then shocked her family by agreeing to a
Playboy
shoot.

Although the sisters went to Motown to record later music, success was not as easy to find after this move. June, having issued a first solo record in 1983
(Baby Sister),
returned to the studio in 1989 to record a second self-titled collection which received good notices though it did not break her in the way that Bonnie had managed ten years before. Indeed, her only chart forays around this time were as backing singer (with her sisters) to actor Bruce Willis during his brief dalliance with pop fame.

Close!

Marc Almond

(Soft Cell)

Gene Pitney’s later career cohort Marc Almond very nearly beat him to the great beyond in October 2004. Passing St Paul’s Cathedral, Almond - riding pillion on his friend’s Suzuki - collided headon with a car. The diminutive Soft Cell chart-topper was rushed to intensive care at the Royal London Hospital, where, as he awaited emergency surgery, Pitney contacted him with his best wishes.

Proving that he was far from ready to ‘wave goodbye’, Almond - who was played tapes of his pet parrot while in a ten-day coma - made a remarkably swift recovery, not requiring the tracheotomy consented to by his mother that would likely have ended his singing career. Said the plucky ‘Tainted Love’ hitmaker, ‘Everyone knew what had happened to me - but me. But it was never an option that I wasn’t going to make it’. Indeed, by February 2005, Almond had already taken to the stage again.

After having been raped at fifteen and suffering frequent subsequent breakdowns, June Pointer became severely depressed by the early nineties. A broken marriage just exacerbated her much-reported drug and alcohol abuse, while relations with her sisters were not always plain sailing. She had, however, sufficiently made up with Bonnie by 2004 to move in with her and to record together once again. It was in the arms of Ruth and Anita (and her two brothers), though, that June passed away from inoperable cancer of the pancreas, liver and lungs at just fifty-two years of age. The sisters were allegedly at some loggerheads with the estranged Bonnie over the interment of June’s corpse, with Bonnie claiming on national television that her siblings had ignored June’s wishes and ‘scrimped’ by having her cremated. This argument has not been resolved.