The Encyclopedia of Dead Rock Stars (344 page)

Golden Oldies#77

Nick Reynolds

(San Diego, California, 27 July 1933)

The Kingston Trio

An original member of The Kingston Trio, guitarist Nick Reynolds honed his craft by learning the folk songs and calypsos taught to him by his father, a peripatetic naval captain. Reynolds met fellow singer and guitarist Bob Shane (Robert Schoen) at California’s Menlo College, and the pair soon combined their skills to court popularity.

The nascent act became something more than a pickup group after linking up with Dave Guard, another musician who had found some success getting bookings for this new act, known then as The Calypsonians. For some time, the band was forestalled by line-up changes (while Reynolds was committed to working with his father), but the intervention of San Francisco publicist Frank Werber - and Guard’s perseverance - kept the project alive. In 1957, The Kingston Trio’s smooth harmonies and gentle rhythms convinced Capitol that this ‘folk’ scene perhaps had some commercial possibilities after all.

By the end of 1958, The Kingston Trio had raced to the top of the US charts with ‘Tom Dooley,’ a million-seller and Grammy-winner that effectively signaled the acceptance of folk-derived music into the world of mainstream pop. The Trio -who were quick to describe their sound as more ‘universal’ - really shone on their albums, with five of them reaching number one over the next two years and a further seven hitting the Top Ten before 1964. However, a rift developed between Guard and the Reynolds/Shane axis when the latter felt that they were not as equally regarded - either in terms of status or song ownership. Guard left in 1961 and was replaced by a friend of the group, singer/guitarist John Stewart. Although this upheaval didn’t especially weaken The Kingston Trio’s commercial grip, the oncoming pop and beat-music boom did hasten their wane in popularity by the mid-sixties. The additional friction created by folk purists who felt the group were ‘diluting’ their music caused the first incarnation of The Kingston Trio to come to an end in 1967.

By then, however, Reynolds had already decided to ship out to Port Orford, Oregon, where he could concentrate on family, ranch management and racing vintage cars. A variety of revamped Kingston Trio line-ups followed, but Reynolds wouldn’t rejoin until the classic roster played a PBS reunion concert in 1981. As of 1988, he was back full-time with the group that had made his name. Reynolds only retired for good a decade later, once his health had begun to get the better of his performance. He died from acute respiratory disease at his San Diego home on 1 October 2008 - just months after Stewart’s passing
(
Golden Oldies
#60).

See also
Dave Guard (
March 1991). Later Kingston Trio guitarist Roger Gambill passed away in 1985.

Friday 3

Johnny J

(Johnny Lee Jackson - Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, 28 August 1969)

A tough start in Juárez was compounded for Johnny Jackson when his family moved to South Central Los Angeles, thereby placing him in an environment rife with crime but rich in creativity. Jackson managed to avoid the former (for the first part of his life) and soon nurtured an interest in the rap scene developing around him. Among J’s Washington High classmates was John Shaffer – aka Candyman – for whom the budding artist was to produce the surprise Billboard hit ‘Knockin’ Boots’ (US Top Ten/US Rap number one) from the Top Forty album
Ain’t No Shame in My Game
(1990).

These accolades led to a call from 2Pac (Tupac Shakur), and the pair formed a formidable partnership for the last three years of Shakur’s life. Jackson contributed a number of tracks to 2Pac’s breakthrough collection,
Me Against the World
(1995), and this double-platinum release was followed by the extraordinary
All Eyez on Me
(1996) – 2Pac’s Death Row debut and a hip-hop landmark that has sold over nine million copies in America alone. The rap superstar’s sudden and dramatic assassination
(
September 1996
) did little to quell the issuing of his records. Johnny J continued to work as adviser to Death Row and earned credits on a series of posthumous 2Pac releases. It is reported that the duo recorded some 150 tracks together, many of them still unreleased. During his time with 2Pac, J also released his own work,
I Gotta Be Me
(1994), which, having been deleted, now changes hands for a price.

After 2Pac’s death, Johnny J worked with Bizzy Bone (Bryon McCane – of Bone, Thugz ‘n’ Harmony), Napoleon and singer/actress Tatyana Ali, among others. It was Ali with whom he’d been working when incarcerated following a drunk-driving incident.

Johnny J’s family and friends were both shocked and puzzled by the producer’s apparent suicide at LA’s Twin Towers Correctional Facility. Jackson died on impact after throwing himself from an upper tier of the prison.

The following day, 27-year-old Levi Kereama - an Australian Idol winner and member of R & B brothers Lethbridge - was found dead, havingjumped from a hotel balcony in Brisbane. His family denied the verdict of suicide.

Wednesday 8

Gidget Gein

(Bradley Mark Stewart - Hollywood, Florida, 11 September 1969)

Marilyn Manson’s Spooky Kids

(The Dali Gaggers)

Whether one referred to him as Bradley Mark, Bradley Anne or plain old Gidget Gein, the flamboyant Brad Stewart made a significant impact on the Florida alternative scene at the start of the nineties. Many credit Gein as the direct inspiration for his friend, rising star Marilyn Manson (Brian Warner). Like all members of The Spooky Kids – an act whose performance was part-Alice Cooper, part-goth and part-theater – the bassist derived his alias from a serial killer, joining early members Manson (vocals), Daisy Berkowitz (Scott Putesky – lead guitar), Madonna Wayne Gacy (Stephen Bier Jr – keyboards) and Sara Lee Lucas (Fred Streithorst – drums). Gein, in particular, drew much attention for his onstage theatrics and open expression of bisexuality.

‘Tupac’s life was like a movie to me–and Johnny J was a big part of the score and soundtrack.’

Crooked I, rapper

The Spooky Kids had dropped that name in favor of just calling themselves ‘Marilyn Manson’ by the time they caught the attention of Nine Inch Nails front man Trent Reznor, who signed them to his own Nothing label and invited the group to open for NIN on tour. Gein, however, had fallen into heroin use, reportedly overdosing on four separate occasions before Manson and his cohorts decided to cut ties and bring in bassist Twiggy Ramirez (Jeordie White). Leaving Gein behind, Marilyn Manson (both band and artist) went on to global domination. With their
Antichrist Superstar
(1996) achieving platinum status, the erstwhile bass player attempted to negotiate a settlement for his input into the now-successful band. This would have earned him a lump sum of more than $17,000, not to mention ongoing royalties and the opportunity to use the band name in his own publicity. After some months of negotiation, however, the deal collapsed.

Gidget Gein – still using this epithet – remained active after the split with Manson. In New York, he started his own band, The Dali Gaggers, which issued one album – the all-but-forgotten
Just Ad Nauseam
(1998) – before his problems with substances saw his return to Florida. The artist found work there as a ‘bag-boy’, cleaning up dead bodies for the Florida medical examiner. This experience prompted some highly individual art installations that won him a publishing deal shortly before his death. His perpetual battle with heroin, however, came to an abrupt end when Gein was found dead of an overdose at a friend’s home in Burbank, California. He was thirty-nine. Having released a pair of albums in the past couple of years, he had been back in the studio, with a new record pending.