The Encyclopedia of Dead Rock Stars (346 page)

Although not the biggest star in her expansive and illustrious musical family, Dee Dee Warwick was a prolific recording artist on a number of labels from the early part of the sixties until well into the next decade. Along with her elder sister, Dionne, and aunt, Cissy Houston (Whitney’s mom), Warwick had trained her voice as a member of Newark’s New Hope Baptist Choir, and the three also performed as The Gospelaires. The sisters’ mother, Lee Warwick, had previously sung with Cissy under the original family name: The Drinkard Singers.

This new generation was, however, even more in demand than the previous, and the sisters were encouraged to work as session singers, their trio completed by Doris Troy. This line-up worked behind a series of big names, including The Drifters and Aretha Franklin. When Warwick signed solo with Jubilee, she cut what is believed to be the original version of the Clint Ballard standard ‘You’re No Good’ in 1963. Her version was eclipsed by Betty Everett’s and the numerous others that have followed. Warwick maintained a steady if not overt chart presence for a few years. Her biggest hit ‘I Want to Be with You’ (Mercury, 1966) earned her an R & B Top Ten slot, though it missed the pop Top Forty by just one place. The follow-up, ‘I’m Gonna Make You Love Me’, became a bigger hit when restyled by The Supremes in 1968, and her final major R & B hit was a cover of ‘Suspicious Minds’ (Atco, 1971). However, by this point Warwick’s potential had been overshadowed by a number of more vibrant female music personalities, not least her own sister.

She continued to record into the seventies, but issues with narcotics (perhaps exacerbated by professional disillusion) dogged her later years. Her health having been failing for some years, Dee Dee Warwick died on 18 October 2008 at a nursing home in Essex County, New Jersey. She had recently been working with her sister on a gospel album and the European tour show,
My Music and Me.

Family member Whitney Houston died in very tragic circumstances in February 2012.

Wednesday 29

Mike Baker

(Pennsylvania, 2 September 1963)

Shadow Gallery

(Various acts)

Progressive metal band Sorcerer were formed in the mid-eighties by four Sabbath/Maiden/Wishbone Ash-loving friends from Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania. Singer Mike Baker – a known local musician who’d played bass with a number of rock bands in his teens – sold his instrument to focus solely on vocals and stage performance, and his band gained a steady following.

Having honed their sword-and-sorcery shtick, Sorcerer developed into the far superior Shadow Gallery (the name derived from Alan Moore’s novel
V for Vendetta).
Baker and his band signed to Magna Carta and issued their eponymous first record in 1992. By now, singer and co-founder Carl Cadden-Jones (bass/flute) had been joined by Brendt Allman (lead guitar), Chris Ingles (keyboards) and John Cooney (shortly replaced by Kevin Soffera – percussion), and multi-instrumentalist Gary Wehrkamp (ex-Boxtops/Nuthin Fancy) arrived for the follow-up,
Carved in Stone
(1995). This album received several fine reviews and increased Shadow Gallery’s profile a notch or two. The band continued to evolve with political concept album
Tyranny
(1998) and the more melodic
Legacy
(2001), after which the group moved from Magna Carta to InsideOut. Shadow Gallery doggedly continued their path on the new label, but, although the band was to pick up a few awards from the metal fraternity, wider acceptance proved elusive – possibly because of their reluctance to tour. Baker went on to work with several other acts, including fellow metallers Ayreon.

Despite a decent history of health, Mike Baker suffered a fatal heart attack at the young age of 45. His band paid heartfelt tributes to their late front man, continuing Shadow Gallery with new vocalist Brian Ashland.

Friday 31

Frank Navetta

(California, 6 March 1962)

The Descendents

Hermosa Beach noiseniks The Descendents, with their dedication to two-minute ‘train wrecks’ of tunes, could perhaps be described as a hybrid of Britain’s The Buzzcocks and fellow-SoCal lunatics The Dickies.

In 1978, co-founder and guitarist Frank Navetta teamed up with hardcore musicians Tony Lombardo (bass/vocals), Bill Stevenson (later of Black Flag – drums) and then Milo Aukerman, who joined as front man when the band reformed in 1981 after something of a false start. Driven by ‘rejection, coffee, girls, food and fishing’ (the latter Navetta’s first love), The Descendents recorded six studio albums over twenty-five years, their best perhaps the first pair of SST/New Alliance releases,
Milo Goes to College
(1982) and
I Don’t Want to Grow Up
(1985).

With Aukerman pretty much running the show after this release, Navetta moved away to Oregon where (reportedly) he burned all of his equipment. The former guitarist then worked as a fisherman (what else?), making him possibly the only highprofile punk to make his later living in such a way. Frank Navetta passed away after a brief illness.

NOVEMBER

Golden Oldies #81

Jimmy Carl Black

(James Inkanish - El Paso, Texas, 1 February 1938)

Frank Zappa & The Mothers of Invention

(Geronimo Black)

(Captain Beefheart)

(The Crazy World of Arthur Brown)

(Various acts)

‘Hi, boys and girls - I’m Jimmy Carl Black, and I’m the Indian in the group.’ With these immortal words, part-Cheyenne drummer and trumpeter James Inkanish - who later adopted his stepfather’s more-serviceable name - introduced himself on The Mothers of Invention’s
We’re Only in It for the Money
(1968).

The highly individual musician had played percussion with two minor bands by the time he crossed paths with Frank Zappa in 1964. Black’s eccentricities and need for greater artistic freedom made him a perfect fit for Zappa’s circus. Black played on The Mothers’ first record
Freak Out
(1966), the follow-up
Absolutely Free
(1967) and Zappa’s solo debut,
Lumpy Gravy
(1967). By the time they were working on
Money,
Black - who appeared on the record’s revised cover in a babydoll nightie - was also playing trumpet.

Despite the split from The Mothers in 1969, Black maintained a relationship with Zappa and even appeared in his curious movie
200 Motels
(1971). Black’s adoring public got to hear their hero sing for the first time in this film, on ‘Lonesome Cowboy Burt’. Black played live with Zappa’s band during the seventies, while some of the remaining Mothers joined him for his entertaining Geronimo Black project (a hard-rock band named after his son).

Jimmy Carl Black kept busy for the next couple of decades, finding time to tour with those other rock oddballs, Captain Beefheart and Arthur Brown, while also making a brief comeback with the band now referred to as The Grandmothers, in addition to a bewildering array of other bookings. Black also worked with such varied artists as Zappa tribute act The Muffin Men and former Mambo Taxi and Voodoo Queens musician Ella Guru on her debut album. The seemingly indestructible Black finally succumbed to lung cancer on 1 November 2008 - almost fifteen years after the death of Zappa himself
(
December 1993).

See also
Jim ‘Motorhead’ Sherwood (
Golden Oldies #163)

Golden Oldies #82

Byron Lee

(Christiana, Manchester Parish, Jamaica, 27 June 1935)

Byron Lee & The Dragonaires

(Various acts)