The Encyclopedia of Dead Rock Stars (63 page)

Judee Sill: Somehow still smiling

‘She had every problem going, but she made fantastic music.’

Andy Partridge, XTC

NOVEMBER

Thursday 1

Judee Sill

(Judith Sill - Oakland, California,

4 October 1944)

Her name remains largely unknown, but singer/songwriter Judee Sill’s life and death were extraordinarily difficult and tragic. Sill had one of the strangest, most unhappy upbringings one could imagine. Her father – who died when she was a child – made his money running illegal gambling schools at his Oakland bar, and Sill often had to hide under tables or pinball machines to avoid the frequent fights. Before her mother died from cancer when Sill was twenty-two, she also lost a brother in a car accident – and her first husband (whom she married at seventeen) in a rafting accident after they’d split. Little wonder, perhaps, that Sill developed a $150-a-day heroin habit in her teens – an addiction she supported through robbery (for which she was sent to remand school), forgery (for which she was imprisoned) and, allegedly, prostitution. The great shame was that Judee Sill had much to offer otherwise. Briefly an Asylum labelmate of Joni Mitchell, Sill described herself as influenced mainly by Pythagoras, Bach and Ray Charles, her richly harmonic songs full of the kind of imagery and symbolism that intrigued as to this outwardly religious young woman’s real beliefs. Sill’s best-known composition is probably ‘Jesus was a Crossmaker’, a track which received radio play but didn’t chart. David Geffen dropped her from his label after this failure (and that of its parent album). Sill’s refusal to play support slots on rock tours that she despised effectively sank her career, though she managed to pen a minor hit for The Turtles in ‘Lady-O’ (1969), marrying keyboardist Bob Harris (who died in 1993).

Because she released no records after her
Heart Food
album (1973), some maintain Sill died around 1974. The most likely date, however, is November 1979, and she supposedly cut a lost album that year. Sill had apparently injured her back and refused morphine because of her addiction to heroin – which makes an overdose of the latter drug appear very probable. Rumours abound that Sill was near-destitute at the time and living in an abusive relationship.

Saturday 17

John Glascock

(Islington, London, 2 May 1951)

Jethro Tull

Chicken Shack

(Various acts)

An affable, workmanlike bassist, Glascock already had an impressive CV before beginning his four-year spell with prog-folkers Jethro Tull in 1975. He and his percussionist brother Brian (later of The Motels) originally played in a band with future Rolling Stone Mick Taylor, the left-handed Glascock greatly inspired by Paul McCartney. By the time he’d joined Tull, he had played rock with The Gods, blues/soul with Toe Fat and blues/R & B with popular live act Chicken Shack. He then rejoined his brother for a time with LA avantgarde fusionists Carmen – who were invited on a US support slot with Jethro Tull, when the latter’s leader Ian Anderson was alerted to Glascock’s ability. His first record with Jethro Tull was 1976’s ironically titled
Too Old to Rock ‘n’ Roll, Too Young to Die.

Glascock’s premature death offers a stern warning to those who ignore dental problems: suffering from a neglected tooth abscess, the bass-player became seriously ill when the infection spread to his heart and damaged an already weak valve – a hereditary condition. In 1977, he underwent surgery to replace the valve, but he never totally recovered. Falling ill during the recordings, Glascock contributed to his final album for Tull (1979’s
Storm Watch),
and played his last gig exactly three years to the day of his first. On 17 November, John Glascock’s replacement valve was rejected by his body, and the musician died during emergency surgery.

Thursday 29

‘Tiki’ Fulwood

(Ramon Fulwood - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 23 May 1944)

Parliament/Funkadelic

Just eighteen months after the death of rhythm guitarist Glen Goins
(
July 1978),
the P-Funk stable lost another key component to illness. ‘Tiki’ Fulwood had been a house drummer at Philadelphia’s Uptown Theater before he was invited to join the sassiest funk conglomerate the world has yet seen; he joined Funkadelic as early as 1968 and appeared prominently on their self-titled debut album. Fulwood’s career with the band was to be very fragmented, however: he developed a taste for drugs, which affected his ability as a live percussionist, and was given his marching orders after two (perhaps appropriately titled) further albums,
Free Your Mind and Your Ass Will Follow
and
Maggot Brain.
Fulwood regained control somewhat, via time spent playing sessions behind soul vocalist Tyrone Davis, and rejoined Funkadelic. But in 1971–2, Fulwood’s world was disrupted when he lost both parents to stomach cancer. In 1975, he was fired again after a violent episode: he attacked P-Funk ubermeister George Clinton, demanding payment. His drumming was edited from the band’s best-known song, ‘Tear the Roof off the Sucker’, and replaced with that of Jerome Brailey. Fulwood had on occasion had spats with Brailey: guarding his position jealously, he had allegedly pointed a gun at the P-Funk mainstay several years before, believing him to be after his job (which, of course, he was).

Three years on, ‘Tiki’ Fulwood was confirmed as suffering from the same condition as his parents. The disease developed quickly, killing him just a year after diagnosis.

See also
Eddie Hazel (
December 1992); Raymond Davis (
Golden Oldies #26) Garry Shider (
June 2010). Occasional P-Funk trumpeter Richard ‘Kush’ Griffith died in June 2007 with guitarist ‘Catfish’ Collins and singer Mallia Franklin passing on in 2010.