The Encyclopedia of Dead Rock Stars (88 page)

Distinctive-voiced R & B singer Walter Jackson suffered adversity from the very start: stricken with polio as a boy, he played his first clutch of live performances on crutches, some with vocal troupe The Velvetones. OKeh label record-producer Carl Davis saw potential in this plucky talent and invited Jackson to Chicago, where he put him together with the young Curtis Mayfield. This pairing resulted in a string of R & B hits such as ‘That’s What Mama Say’ (1963) and Jackson’s biggest-seller, ‘It’s an Uphill Climb to the Bottom’ (1967). One record that did not chart for Jackson was ‘My Ship is Comin’ In’, which was later a massive UK hit for The Walker Brothers. Throughout the seventies, the bespectacled singer recorded for a number of labels, including Brunswick and Chi-Sound, becoming popular among the UK’s Northern soul audience – although his only notable seller elsewhere was a cover of Morris Albert’s dinnerclub favourite ‘Feelings’ in 1976. Walter Jackson died from an unexpected cerebral haemorrhage at the age of just forty-five.

JULY

Tuesday 12

Chris Wood

(Birmingham, England, 24 June 1944)

Traffic

(Various acts)

Entranced by jazz as a boy, Chris Wood was a young obsessive who counted the flute, archaeology and bird-watching among his many hobbies. Despite also being an aspiring painter – he had been placed at the Royal Academy – he eschewed this to return to his home town to play the local clubs with the likes of Christine Perfect (later McVie, of Fleetwood Mac) and Carl Palmer (later of Emerson, Lake & Palmer). Wood’s sister Stephanie was costume designer for the up-and-coming Steve Winwood (already something of a local celebrity), who was instantly taken with this new face. The result was that Chris Wood played sax on ten Traffic albums as the band grew in stature, including the Top Ten-placing
Mr Fantasy
(1967) and
Traffic
(1968); there was also a clutch of hit singles such as 1967’s massive ‘Hole in My Shoe’. By 1968 he was already taking part in sessions with the then largely unknown Jimi Hendrix and toured with Dr John’s band – marrying one of his singers, Jeanette Jacobs. Wood also became heavily dependent upon alcohol at this time, initially to deal with his fear of flying.

In 1970, Traffic reformed after a sabbatical (Winwood had joined ‘supergroup’ Blind Faith for a year), but Wood’s playing was suffering because of his addiction (he had now added substantial drug use to his alcohol intake). Traffic split in 1975, Wood’s marriage likewise a few years after; nevertheless, he was shattered by the unexpected death of his ex-wife in January 1982. Though his own health was beginning to fail, Chris Wood managed to play a few sessions (including work with The Small Faces and John Martyn) and had his own project ready by the time he died from liver failure and pneumonia, at St Mary’s Hospital, Birmingham.

See also
Reebop Kwaku-Baah (
January 1983); Ric Grech (
March 1990); Jim Capaldi (
January 2005)

AUGUST

Tuesday 2

James ‘Jamie’Jamerson

(Charleston, South Carolina, 29 January 1938)

The Funk Brothers

Overcoming the stigma of a severe limp, Jamie Jamerson left home a nervous young guitarist to become one of the most revered bassplayers soul music has yet known, inducted into the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame in 2000.

After he moved to Detroit at fifteen, Jamerson’s talent on the bass eventually drew the attention of Berry Gordy – who later dubbed the musician ‘a genius of improvisation’. Among Motown’s wealth of great talent it was hard to shine, but the house band known unofficially as the Funk Brothers was all the richer for Jamerson’s colossal input. Some of the hundred-plus hits to which he contributed include The Temptations’ ‘My Girl’ (1965) and ‘I’m Gonna Make You Love Me’ (1968), The Four Tops’ ‘Standing in the Shadows of Love’ (1966), Marvin Gaye’s ‘I Heard It through the Grapevine’ (1968) and ‘What’s Going On?’ (1971) and countless Miracles, Martha Reeves, Supremes and Stevie Wonder songs. Better still, name a favourite Motown classic and the chances are it’s Jamerson’s bass holding the piece together. However, since Jamie Jamerson’s sad death from pneumonia exacerbated by alcoholism, there have been legal wrangles following the claims of bassist Carol Kaye to have played on many of these hits. A number of soul luminaries, including writing team Holland/Dozier/Holland, have come out in vehement support of Jamerson’s extraordinary legacy.

See also
‘Benny’ Benjamin (
May 1969); Earl Van Dyke (
September 1992); Robert White (
October 1994); Uriel Jones (
Golden Oldies #88). Other occasional Funk Brothers Eddie ‘Bongo’ Brown (1984), ‘Pistol’ Allen and Johnny Griffith (both 2002) have also died.