FAREWELL Music World Passings of 2011
Jan 02, 2012
We pay our final respects to Clarence Clemons, Bert Jansch, Amy Winehouse, Hubert Sumlin, Charlie Louvin, Gil Scott-Heron, Wild Man Fischer and many more.
BY FRED MILLS
This annual ritual - cataloguing those we lost in the year that's just completed - might be considered depressing by some, a morbid exercise that doesn't serve any concrete purpose other than providing busywork for the compiler. That may be true, but having performed this ritual for years now, I've learned to take a quiet comfort in pulling together notes and combing the internet to learn names, dates, causes of death - and the artistic achievements that prompt us to memorialize the people in the first place. So as you scan down the list of those who did leave us this year, pause when you reach an artist who was particularly special to you, and meditate momentarily on why he or she was special. The list isn't comprehensive, but it does dovetail into virtually every musical genre and discipline (it additionally includes a handful of non-musicians), and it touches equally upon the obscure and the well-known.
I'll forgo any unnecessary commentary and simply provide the list. In addition, links are included for those artists we wrote about at BLURT this year and you can follow those links if you want to read more. Oh, and as I've said many times in the past: after you pay your last respects, pledge to seek out those artists who are still with us and who are important to you, and let them know in some way how much you appreciate them.
Meanwhile, as they have done the past few years, this week The New York Times posted online an audio/video tribute to some of the artists who passed away in 2011. It's titled, appropriately enough, "The Music They Made." And at NPR, they've posted a wonderful audio-enhanced gallery of images that's well-worth checking out as well.
Read also:
*BLURT's farewell to music passings of 2010
*BLURT's farewell to music passings of 2009
*BLURT's farewell to music passings of 2008
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JANUARY
Grady Chapman (The Robins) 1-4
Mick Karn (Japan) 1-4
Gerry Rafferty 1-4
Margaret Whiting 1-10
Harvey James (Sherbert) 1-15
Don Kirshner 1-17
Gladys Horton (Marvelettes) 1-26
Milton Babbitt 1-29
John Barry, 1-30
FEBRUARY
Marvin Sease 2-8
George Shearing 2-14
Rick Coonce (Grass Roots) 2-25
Rick Kulwicki (The Fluid) 2-15
Phil Vane (Extreme Noise Terror) 2-23
Suze Rotolo 2-25
Eugene Fodor 2-26
Eddie Kirkland 2-27
MARCH
Johnny Preston 3-4
Mike Starr (Alice In Chains) 3-8
Joe Morello 3-12
Owsley Stanley 3-13
Nate Dogg 3-15
Melvin Sparks 3-15
Smiley Culture 3-15
Ferlin Husky 3-17
Carl Bunch (Buddy Holly & the Crickets) 3-26
Mel McDaniel 3-31
APRIL
Calvin Russell 4-3
Scott Columbus (Manowar) 4-4
Gil Robbins (Highwaymen) 4-5
John Bottomley 4-6
Randy Wood (Dot Records) 4-9
Billy Bang 4-11
Gerard Smith (TV on the Radio) 4-20
Tom King (The Outsider) 4-23
Poly Styrene (X-Ray Spex) 4-25
Phoebe Snow 4-26
Andy Dunkley (DJ & MC, Hawkwind) 4-30
MAY
John Walker (The Walker Brothers) 5-7
Snooky Young 5-11
M-Bone 5-15
Bob Flanigan (Four Freshmen) 5-15
Joseph Brooks 5-22
JUNE
Ray Bryant 6-2
Andrew Gold 6-3
Benny Spellman 6-3
Frankie Toler (Marshall Tucker Band, Gregg Allman Band) 6-4
Steve Popovich 6-8
Seth Putnam (Anal Cunt) 6-11
Carl Gardner (Coasters) 6-12
Mack Self 6-14
Mike Waterson 6-22
Christy Essien-Igbokwe 6-30
JULY
Manuel Galban (Buena Vista Social Club) 7-7
Kenny Baker 7-8
Michael "Wurzel" Burston (Motorhead) 7-9
Travis Bean 7-10
Rob Grill (Grass Roots) 7-11
Jerry Ragovoy 7-13
Bill Morrissey 6-23
Dan Peek (America) 7-24
Joe Arroyo 7-26
Frank Foster (Count Basie Band), 7-26
Gene McDaniels 7-29
AUGUST
Delois Barrett 8-2
Conrad Schnitzler (Tangerine Dream, Cluster) 8-4
Marshall Grant (Johnny Cash) 8-7
Jani Lane (Warrant) 8-11
Ross Barbour (Four Freshmen) 8-20
Nick Ashford (Ashford & Simpson) 8-22
Jerry Lieber 8-22
Esther Gordy 8-24
SEPTEMBER
Eddie Marshall 9-7
Wade Mainer 9-12
Wilma Lee Cooper 9-13
Vest Williams 9-23
Sylvia Robinson 9-29
Marv Tarplin (9-30)
OCTOBER
Butch Ballard 10-1
David Bedford 10-1
Steve Jobs 10-5
Mikey Welsh (Weezer) 10-8
Roger Williams 10-8
Mojo Buford 10-11
Joel DiGregorio (Charlie Daniels Band) 10-12
Chuck Ruff (Edgar Winter) 10-14
Bob Brunning (Fleetwood Mac, Savoy Brown) 10-18
Jimmy Saville 10-29
NOVEMBER
Cory "Flattus Maximus" Smoot (GWAR) 11-2
Gordon Beck 11-6
Joe Frazier 11-7
Andrea True 11-7
Jimmy Normal 11-8
Gordon Beck 11-13
Jackie Leven (Doll By Doll) 11-14
Moogy Klingman (Utopia) 11-15
Gary Garcia 11-17
Paul Motian 11-22
Ross McManus 11-24
Coco Robicheaux 11-25
Lee "Shot" Williams 11-25
Sultan Khan 11-27
Tom Roady 11-28
DECEMBER
Howard Tate 12-2
Al Vega 12-2
Dobie Gray 12-6
Barbara Orbison 12-6
Dick Sims (Eric Clapton, Bob Seger) 12-8
Dan Spears (Willie Nelson) 12-8
Myra Taylor 12-9
Ed Roman 12-14
Billie Jo Spears 12-14
Slim Dunkin 12-16
Cesaria Evora 12-17
Vaclav Havel 12-18
Warren Hellman (Wronglers) 12-18
Ralph McDonald 12-18
Sean Bonniwell (Music Machine) 12-20
David Gold (Woods of Ypres) 12-22
Jim "Motorhead" Sherman (Mothers of Invention) 12-25
Barbara Lea 12-26
Dan Terry 12-27
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