American
13th February 2002, American country singer, songwriter Waylon Jennings died in his sleep after a lengthy fight with diabetes. He was bassist for Buddy Holly following the break-up of The Crickets. Released a series of duet albums with Willie Nelson in the late 1970s. Scored the 1980 US No.21 single 'Theme From The Dukes Of […]
14th February 2010, American singer-songwriter-musician Doug Fieger died after a long battle with cancer. He was the rhythm guitarist and lead vocalist of The Knack, and co-wrote 'My Sharona', the biggest hit song of 1979 in the USA, and was Capitol Records' fastest gold status debut single since the Beatles' 'I Want to Hold Your […]
5th February 1929, Born on this day, Hal Blaine, American drummer and session musician. He is most known for his work with the Wrecking Crew in California. Blaine played on numerous hits by Elvis Presley, John Denver, the Ronettes, Simon and Garfunkel, the Carpenters, The Beach Boys, Nancy Sinatra, and the 5th Dimension. Blaine has […]
1st Feb 1937, Born on this day, American singer, songwriter Don Everly, from The Everly Brothers who had the 1958 UK & US No.1 single 'All I Have To Do Is Dream'. Other hits include: 'Wake Up Little Susie,' 'Bird Dog,' 'Cathy's Clown,' 'Walk Right Back' and 'Crying in the Rain'. The music of the […]
31st January 1930, Born on this day American record producer and session musician Al De Lory. He played keyboards for various Phil Spector productions, and The Beach Boys' Pet Sounds. As producer for Capitol Records he worked on a series of worldwide hits by Glen Campbell including John Hartford's ‘Gentle on My Mind’, Jimmy Webb's […]
29th January 2015, American poet, singer-songwriter, and actor Rod McKuen died aged 81. McKuen's translations and adaptations of the songs of Jacques Brel were instrumental in bringing the Belgian songwriter to prominence in the English-speaking world. McKuen's songs sold over 100 million recordings worldwide. His songs have been performed by such diverse artists as Barbra […]
Happy birthday to Dave Grohl, born on 14th January 1969, American musician, singer, songwriter, record producer. At the age of seventeen, Grohl joined Scream, he was the longest serving drummer with Nirvana and the frontman and founder of the Foo Fighters and is the drummer and co-founder of the rock supergroup Them Crooked Vultures. In […]
15th January 1994, American singer songwriter Harry Nilsson died in his sleep of heart failure after spending the previous day in the recording studio. He recorded 'Everybody's Talkin' from the film Midnight Cowboy and wrote hits for Three Dog Night and The Monkees. Had the UK & US No.1 single with his version of the […]
Happy birthday to Stephen Stills, born on January 3rd 1945, American singer, songwriter who was a member of Buffalo Springfield, Crosby Stills Nash & Young and Manassas. With CS&N he had the 1969 UK No.17 single 'Marrakesh Express' and the 1970 US No.1 album Deja Vu plus the 1971 solo UK No.37 single 'Love The […]
29th December 1980, American singer, songwriter Tim Hardin died of a heroin overdose. Hardin wrote the songs 'If I Were A Carpenter' (covered by Bobby Darin, Johnny Cash and June Carter, The Four Tops, Leon Russell, Small Faces, Robert Plant and Bob Seger,) and 'Reason To Believe', (covered by Rod Stewart). Hardin appeared at the […]