The Encyclopedia of Dead Rock Stars (62 page)

Like Van McCoy, she’ll forever be associated with one all-conquering 1975 hit single, but Minnie Riperton was a singer who had studied opera until seduced by R & B. The youngest of eight children, Riperton was a gospel singer when discovered by the hawks at Chess Records, who made her a receptionist and placed her in a house vocal group called The Gems (first single: the extravagantly titled ‘That’s What They Put Erasers on Pencils For’).

With The Gems subsequently limited to backing Chess vocalists, Riperton – for some reason then known as Andrea Davis – released the solo ‘Lonely Girl’, which bombed, and joined The Rotary Connection, an altogether more sophisticated venture, between 1967 and 1970. Her extraordinary five-octave soprano then caught the attention of Stevie Wonder, who recruited her for his Wonderlove backing band – and went on to produce her big-selling second solo album for Epic,
Perfect Angel.
From this set came
that
song: written by Riperton with husband Richard Rudolph, ‘Lovin’ You’ (US number one, UK number two) placed her on virtually every radio station in the world throughout 1975.

As she recorded her penultimate studio album in 1976, Minnie Riperton learned that she was dying from breast cancer, stunning television audiences by announcing her condition during a live chat show. As she steeled herself for a battle she would not win, Riperton became a spokeswoman for the American Cancer Society and was one of the era’s highestprofile users of cannabis to alleviate her suffering. Within months of her death, a crass, rehashed album of Riperton’s discarded studio work was issued to cash in. In more recent times, ‘Lovin’ You’ has formed the basis for a concept record by The Orb – and a Burger King ad. Riperton’s surviving daughter, Maya Rudolph (whose name recurs in the lyric at the end of the song), appears regularly on US television, hosting NBC’s
Saturday Night Live.

Sunday 15

Rick Garberson

(Akron, Ohio, 15 November 1950)

The Bizarros

Emerging from the same Ohio music scene as Devo and The Waitresses, postpunk misfits The Bizarros were formed at the University of Akron by singer Nick Nicholis, Terry Walker (keyboards/bass/guitars), brothers Jerry (lead guitar) and Don Parkins (bass/guitars). Rick Garberson was the band’s original percussionist as they opened for local heroes like Pere Ubu and signed with Mercury imprint, Blank Records.

For Garberson, it would be a limited experience: known to be depressed, he died from carbon-monoxide poisoning in his garage just months after the group’s eponymous debut album hit the shops. Surviving members of The Bizarros – having reconvened in 1998 after a sixteen-year hiatus – released a new record,
You Can’t Fight Your Way Uptown from Here,
in 2003.

AUGUST

Sunday 19

Dorsey Burnette

(Memphis, Tennessee, 28 December 1932)

The (Johnny Burnette) Rock ‘n’ Roll Trio

Tough-kid Dorsey Burnette forever found himself in scrapes at school: he was the older brother of Johnny Burnette, and didn’t like to see him getting picked on. Thus, following school, both brothers immediately took to boxing, at one point becoming Golden Gloves champions in the sport. They would tag with fellow pugilist and distinctive ‘buzzsaw’ guitarist Paul Burlison, who had punched his weight as a partner of Howlin’ Wolf’s, to form The Rock ‘n’ Roll Trio in 1953. The band suffered disappointment when rejected by Sam Phillips at Sun Records for sounding too similar to Elvis Presley, so all three hit New York City to better their chances of success. Surprisingly for the popular live draw, this was not forthcoming and they called it a day when notable numbers such as ‘Train Kept a-Rollin” failed to sell with the Coral label. Although Johnny made something of a solo career for himself, in August 1964, Dorsey Burnette suffered his greatest pain when he lost his cherished younger brother (
Pre-1965).
Shouldering the blame for what was clearly a terrible catastrophe, Burnette looked to drugs and alcohol to deal with the guilt he had created within himself.

For the last fifteen years of his life, Burnette cut countless flop records for some twelve labels, continued to get into fights and – eventually – found Christianity before he died. He had just cut a disc with an old rockabilly buddy, Jimmy Bowen, when he collapsed and died from a heart attack. Tanya Tucker, Kris Kristofferson and Glen Campbell were among those who played a benefit concert for his widow. Less than a year after Burnette’s death, his nephew Rocky (Johnny’s son) enjoyed a US hit with ‘Tired of Toein’ the Line’, and his own guitarist son Billy became a member of Fleetwood Mac in 1987. The innovative Burlison died in 2003.

SEPTEMBER

Thursday 27

Jimmy McCulloch

(Glasgow, 4 June 1953)

Paul McCartney & Wings

Thunderclap Newman

Stone the Crows

(Various acts)

What ‘Little’ Jimmy McCulloch packed into his brief, young career, most musicians would be hard pushed to fit into their entire lives. He (a guitarist) and his older brother

Jack (a drummer) fronted bands in Cumbernauld at the ages of eleven and thirteen, playing the pubs well before either was legally allowed to drink. The second band was One in a Million, an accomplished four-piece that released a pair of singles and impressed Pete Townshend, who recommended the diminutive but already versatile McCulloch Jr to an old art-school mate, Andy Newman. Although the latter’s trio, Thunderclap Newman, was not around for long, they did come up with 1969’s ‘Something in the Air’, a record that made McCulloch the youngest ever guitarist to play on a credible UK number-one single. (Go on, disprove it.)

His next moves would not have disgraced an ageing session man, filling in with some heavyweight names with the bands of former Bluesbreaker John Mayall and Steve Ellis, ex of Love Affair. In 1972, the tragic death of Les Harvey
(
May 1972)
landed McCulloch the gig with Stone the Crows, perhaps his highest profile so far. But again, this didn’t last, and by the following year he’d joined two further bands – Blue (a Glasgow act formed by Hugh Nicholson of The Marmalade) and Tundra. Bear in mind that McCulloch was only just out of his teens at this point. The final – and by far the biggest – chapter in Jimmy McCulloch’s rock biography was made possible by a call from one of the world’s wealthiest musicians. Helping on a Linda McCartney solo project, McCulloch was hired full-time for Wings’
Venus and Mars
(1975), at which time Paul McCartney’s band was probably the biggest pop unit in the world. He stayed with Wings for three more albums,
Wings at the Speed of Sound
(1976),
Wings Over America
(1977) and
London Town
(1978), though had already left by the time ‘Mull of Kintyre’ was on its way to becoming the UK’s bestselling 45 ever (well, until 1984).

By now, McCulloch had made far more money than most folk his age and unfortunately fell foul of one or two rock ‘n’ roll temptations. After a period spent with, first, the reformed Small Faces on tour (this was just a matter of weeks), then with ‘supergroups’ Wild Horses and The Dukes, 26-year-old McCulloch was found dead in his London flat, having apparently suffered heart failure. It was later established that this had been brought on by a lethal mix of alcohol and morphine.

See also
Linda McCartney (
April 1998). Thunderclap Newman singer/drummer ‘Speedy’ Keen passed away in
2002.