RIP

[riley]

I was a big Eagles fan. I saw the Eagles with Joe Walsh in the late 70's at the Aaragon Ballroom in Chicago - we used to call it the Aaragon Brawlroom back then. The place was scary then and it still is now. It is just down the street from where I saw PMJ at the Riviera last November and it brought back memories.....

[john]

billboard ‏@billboard 58m58 minutes ago
RIP Paul Kantner: The Jefferson Airplane co-founder & guitarist has died at age 74 http://blbrd.cm/dfgotL

[My Alter Ego]

Been a hard year already ...

Maurice White, the Earth, Wind & Fire leader and singer who co-wrote such hits as "Shining Star," "Sing a Song" and "September," has died, according to his brother, EWF bassist Verdine White.

He was 74

.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/04/entertainm...index.html

[john]

September -- Earth, Wind and Fire

---

RIP Denise Matthews AKA Vanity
Protege' of Prince. "Matthews became addicted to crack cocaine during this period, a problem that eventually led to her overdose and near-fatal renal failure in 1994. Upon recovery she converted to Christianity, quit her entertainment career and renounced the Vanity persona. " Died of renal failure.

[john]

George had a long life but it's sad to see him go. The Beatles catalogue would be quite different if he hadn't been the producer.

George Martin, Producer and Arranger for The Beatles, Dies at 90

The so-called ‘Fifth Beatle’ signed the band (then minus Ringo) in 1962 and introduced lavish arrangements into their songs.

George Martin, the “Fifth Beatle” and British treasure who signed the Fab Four to a label contract when no one else would, produced virtually all their songs and introduced lavish arrangements into “Yesterday” and “A Day in the Life,” has died. He was 90. ...

[john]

George Martin, Producer and Arranger for The Beatles, Dies at 90

George Martin, the “Fifth Beatle” and British treasure who signed the Fab Four to a label contract when no one else would, produced virtually all their songs and introduced lavish arrangements into “Yesterday” and “A Day in the Life,” has died. He was 90. ...

As head of EMI’s Parlophone Records, which in its early years, concentrated on jazz and comedy, Martin was on the lookout for a rock act when he met Beatles manager Brian Epstein in February 1962. Every other British label had passed on signing the foursome -- John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Pete Best.

Martin called their demo made for Decca Records a month earlier “rather unpromising,” but there was something about those Lennon-McCartney harmonies, so he scheduled The Beatles for a recording session at EMI’s Abbey Road studios in June. He liked what he heard and signed them up. (The Hollies would later join Parlophone as well.)

Martin chose not to promote one of them as the frontman, suggested they replace Best (studio drummer Starr came on board) and allowed them to record their own material. Their first single, “Love Me Do,” peaked at No. 17 on the British charts.

For The Beatles’ first U.S. single, “Please Please Me,” in November 1962, he convinced the boys to speed up the tempo. It proved to be a smash hit. “Gentlemen, you have just made your first No. 1 record,” he memorably told them from the control room.

Martin also served as The Beatles’ arranger. He suggested strings be added to “Yesterday,” which would become one of the most covered songs of all time, and conducted the string section for “Eleanor Rigby.” He played piano on “In My Life” and composed its harpsichord section; was responsible for the breathtaking orchestral windup in “A Day in the Life;” and used backward tapes to help shape the psychedelic elements of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band...
http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/6...es-dies-90

Making of Sgt Pepper's part 5 covers the recording of A Day in the Life.

[Miguel]

Keith Emerson, Emerson, Lake and Palmer Keyboardist, Dead at 71

Keith Emerson, founding member and keyboardist of Emerson, Lake and Palmer and a prog rock legend, died Friday. He was 71. His bandmate Carl Palmer and the trio's official Facebook confirmed Emerson's death. TMZ reported that police found Emerson with a single gunshot wound to the head, though they could not confirm that Emerson died by suicide.



http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/k...z42fPbQ24H

[john]

[Miguel]

R.I.P. Garry Shandling

Death was a topic in his appearance on Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee:

http://comediansincarsgettingcoffee.com/...till-alive

First appearance on Carson:

[john]

Patty Duke