Louis Meyers, Folk Alliance Board and Founding Father of SXSW, Passes:
Friends of Folk Alliance: It is with heavy hearts that we share the sad news that Louis Meyers passed away early this morning March 10, 2016.
He will be dearly missed by his friends and colleagues on our staff, board, in our membership, and the music community at large.
We are all thankful for having had the recent joy of his presence with us at our conference, and are forever grateful for his incredible role with us over the past decade.
Aengus Finnan, Executive Director
Michelle Conceison, President, Board of Directors
What a terribly sad thing…just spent great quality & managers time with him at Folk Alliance in KC several weeks ago. My heart is heavy.
Steve Garvan
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KEITH EMERSON’S GIRLFRIEND SHEDS SOME LIGHT ON KEYBOARDIST’S SUICIDE
Emerson, Lake & Palmer keyboardist Keith Emerson died last week (March 10) at age 71. Following the sad news, Santa Monica police confirmed Emerson died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, with his death being ruled a suicide.
Over the weekend, Emerson’s girlfriend Mari Kawaguchi — who found his body at their shared California residence — spoke to U.K. publication Daily Mail and shed some light onto why the legendary keyboard player may have taken his own life.
“His right hand and arm had given him problems for years. He had an operation a few years ago to take out a bad muscle but the pain and nerve issues in his right hand were getting worse,” she said. “He had concerts coming up in Japan and even though they hired a back-up keyboard player to support him, Keith was worried. He read all the criticism online and was a sensitive soul. Last year he played concerts and people posted mean comments such as, ‘I wish he would stop playing.’ He was tormented with worry that he wouldn’t be good enough. He was planning to retire after Japan. He didn’t want to let down his fans. He was a perfectionist and the thought he wouldn’t play perfectly made him depressed, nervous and anxious.”
In addition to his classic work in the prog-rock canon with Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Emerson also performed with influential British band The Nice in the ’60s.
Billboard reached out to a rep for Emerson, Lake & Palmer for comment.
Billboard
[Aother classic example of “On-Line Bullying”? We need to stop this now…]
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Artists React to the Death of Keith Emerson
Reactions to the surprising death of Keith Emerson are pouring in as many artists are paying homage to the late great keyboardist. The progressive rock legend passed away at his home in Santa Monica, California yesterday (March 10) at the age of 71.
As we have previously reported, Emerson’s death is being investigated as a suicide. The Santa Monica Police confirmed that the legendary keyboardist suffered a single gunshot wound to the head, but his cause of death is still under investigation.
His former Emerson Lake and Palmer bandmate Carl Palmer wrote a long statement saying in part, “I’m deeply saddened to learn of the passing of my good friend and brother-in-music.” Many other musicians including Mark Ronson, Peter Frampton, Paul Stanley, Mike Portnoy and Billy Sheenan took to Twitter to share their thoughts on the late prog musician.
by: Jeff Cornell
Read the whole article for the artists comments. Very poignant.
http://radio.com/2016/03/11/artists-react-to-the-death-of-keith-emerson/
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Keith Emerson – Remembering the Keyboard Giant’s Most Memorable Recordings
The death of legendary keyboard player Keith Emerson adds to the sad tally of legendary icons who have been suddenly and unexpectedly taken from us in rapid succession so early on in this already fateful year. Each death confirms the fact that an exclusive club of musical greats, particularly those who took part in the essential era of the 1960s, is seeing its ranks diminish at an increasingly alarming pace. As of this writing, Emerson’s death is being investigated as a suicide, a tragic end to the life of a man whose imagination and wizardry literally redefined the role of keyboards in rock ‘n’ roll, while making the Moog synthesizer an integral part of prog rock designs. From his early work with bands like the T Bones and the V.I.P.s, through to his spellbinding forays with the Nice, and later of course, his superstardom as a third of Emerson Lake and Palmer, Keith Emerson gained immortality as both a masterful musician and a singular stage presence.
“Keith was a gentle soul whose love for music and passion for his performance as a keyboard player will remain unmatched for many years to come,” former bandmate Carl Palmer said in a statement. “He was a pioneer and an innovator whose musical genius touched all of us in the worlds of rock, classical and jazz. I will always remember his warm smile, good sense of humor, compelling showmanship and dedication to his musical craft. I am very lucky to have known him and to have made the music we did together.”
Emerson continued to record and perform up until the end, and although he never was able to regain the notoriety that he attained early on, he still experimented and excelled with each new project he undertook. Consequently, it’s with deep admiration and respect that we look back at ten of Keith Emerson’s most memorable recordings.
“Flower King of Flies,” The Nice: One of the first bands signed to Andrew Loog Oldham’s burgeoning Immediate Records label, the Nice were originally the designated backing band for soul singer P.P. Arnold, a former member of the Ikettes who managed to expand her career by relocating to the U.K. However, they quickly took advantage of the synthesis of creativity and spunk that defined the company’s initial intentions. Early on, they offered one of the ‘60s great psychedelic masterpieces, The Thoughts of Emerlist Davjack, the title being a combination of the names of the four members of the band. Although the album didn’t garner the fame and acclaim accorded Sgt. Pepper, Tommy or even the Pretty Things’ S.F. Sorrow, it remains a remarkable tapestry of classic British pop and unlikely instrumental intrigue. This, the lead-off track from the album, set the tone, an edgy rallying cry that empowered the proceedings.
Read the whole article for more on his recordings:
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FRANK SINATRA, JR., DIES UNEXPECTED
Francis Wayne Sinatra (January 10, 1944 – March 16, 2016), professionally known as Frank Sinatra, Jr., was an American singer, songwriter and conductor.
Frank Jr. is the son of singer and actor Frank Sinatra and his first wife, Nancy Barbato Sinatra. He was the younger brother of singer and actress Nancy Sinatra, and the older brother of television producer Tina Sinatra.
Born in Jersey City, New Jersey into the household of one of the most popular singers in the world, Frank Jr. hardly saw his father, who was constantly on the road either performing or working in films. However, Frank Jr. recalls wanting to become a piano player and songwriter from his earliest days. His father wanted to name him after Franklin D. Roosevelt, who was President at the time of his birth.
Kidnapping
Sinatra was kidnapped, at the age of 19, on December 8, 1963 at Harrah’s Lake Tahoe (room 417). Sinatra was released two days later after his father paid the $240,000 ransom demanded by the kidnappers. Barry Keenan, Johnny Irwin, and Joe Amsler were soon captured, prosecuted, convicted, and sentenced to long prison terms for kidnapping, of which they served only small portions (mastermind Keenan was later adjudged to have been legally insane at the time of the crime and hence not legally responsible for his actions). Famed attorney Gladys Root represented one of the three men.
A rumor at the time was that Frank Sr. arranged this in an attempt to gain publicity for his son’s fledgling singing career – a rumor believed to have inspired the plot for the Hawaii Five-O episode “Tiger by the Tail” – but this was proven to be false. The kidnappers demanded that all communication be conducted by payphone. During these conversations, Frank Sr. became concerned he would not have enough change. This prompted Frank Sr. to carry a roll of dimes (10 cent coins) with him at all times for the rest of his life; he was even buried with 10 dimes in his pocket.
At the time of the kidnapping, Frank Sr. and the Rat Pack were filming Robin and the 7 Hoods. The stress of the kidnapping, in addition to the assassination of Sinatra’s close friend John F. Kennedy just a few days previous, caused him to seriously consider shutting down production completely, though the film was ultimately completed.
This American Life interviewed kidnapper Barry Keenan on Episode 205 “Plan B”.
By his early teens, Frank, Jr. was performing at local clubs and venues. At age 19 he became the vocalist for Sam Donahue’s band. He also spent considerable time with Duke Ellington, learning the music business.
Frank Jr. spent most of his early career on the road. By 1968 he had performed in 47 states and 30 countries, had guested on several television shows, including two episodes of The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour with sister Nancy, hosted a 10 week summer replacement show for The Dean Martin Show, had sung with his own band in Las Vegas casinos and had been the opening act for bigger names at other casinos. During that time he gained a reputation for rigorous rehearsals and demanding standards for his musicians.
Sinatra appeared in the Sammy Davis, Jr. drama A Man Called Adam in 1966. Sinatra also appeared on the television crime drama Adam-12, in the episode (originally broadcast on March 13, 1974) titled “Clinic on 18th Street”. He played a deputy district attorney named Gino Bardi.
The National Archives now houses a fifteen-minute song and monologue composed by Sinatra in 1976, Over the Land. It evokes the memory of the nation’s flag and the nation’s experiences with the flag since the War of 1812.
Starting in 1988, at his father’s request, Frank Jr. placed his career on hold in order to act as his father’s musical director and conductor. Poet/vocalist Rod McKuen said this:
As the senior Sinatra outlived one by one all of his conductors and nearly every arranger, and began to grow frail himself, his son knew he needed someone that he trusted near him. [Frank Jr.] was also savvy enough to know that performing was everything to his dad and the longer he kept that connection with his audience, the longer he would stay vital and alive.
In 1989, Sinatra sang “Wedding Vows in Vegas” on the acclaimed Was (Not Was) album, What Up, Dog?, later performing the song with the band on Late Night with David Letterman.
During the 1995–1996 television season, Sinatra was offered the role of Vic Fontaine on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Despite being a fan of the show and finding the role interesting, he turned it down, declaring that he only wanted to play an alien. James Darren accepted the part after demurring at first because he found descriptions of the part too “on the nose”, changing his mind when he read the script.
Sinatra guest-starred on an episode of Son of the Beach in the episode “You Only Come Once” playing the villain Stinkfinger, and he sang his own theme song for the character. He had a guest spot playing himself on The Sopranos, in a role either mocking or acknowledging all the stories about his father’s involvement with the mob – he lets Paulie Walnuts refer to him as the “Chairboy of the Board.”
Sinatra appeared in a 2006 episode of Family Guy, “Brian Sings and Swings” (Season 4, Episode 19), where he was introduced as the “Member of The Board”. He performed several tunes during the show, accompanied by Stewie and Brian. During the ending credits, he sang the Family Guy theme song. He also recorded a commentary for its DVD release. He returned in a 2008 episode, “Tales of a Third Grade Nothing”, where he sang with Brian again, with Stewie returning as a sideline investor supporting the duo.
In 2006, Sinatra released an album entitled That Face! including the songs “You’ll Never Know” and the self-penned song “Spice”.
Sinatra made a brief cameo appearance in the series premiere episode of the 2010 CBS legal comedy-drama The Defenders, as well as the show’s series finale.
On August 17, 2015, Sinatra sang The Star-Spangled Banner at Yankee Stadium. The New York Yankees are commonly associated with his father’s song “Theme from New York, New York”, which is played after the Yankees win a game.
Sinatra’s song “Black Night”, written and sung by him, was used as the theme song to Rick Alverson’s 2015 feature film “Entertainment”, starring Gregg Turkington and John C. Reilly.
Personal life
Sinatra, Jr. married Cynthia McMurry on October 18, 1998, and divorced on January 7, 2000. He had one son from a previous relationship, Michael Sinatra, born March 1, 1987. Sinatra denied speculation about the existence of another son named Frank Sinatra III.
On March 16, 2016, the Sinatra family said in a statement to The Associated Press that Sinatra died unexpectedly of cardiac arrest while on tour in Daytona Beach, Florida. He was aged 72.
Critical reception
Frank Jr. said that his famous name has opened some doors, but “a famous father means that in order to prove yourself you have to work three times harder than the guy off the street”.
Music critic Richard Ginell wrote of a 2003 concert by Sinatra:
Sinatra, Jr. might have had an easier time establishing himself had he gone into real estate. But his show made me awfully glad he decided music was his calling. There aren’t too many singers around with Sinatra’s depth of experience in big band music, or his knowledge of the classic American songbook. There are even fewer with such real feeling for the lyrics of a song, and such a knack for investing a song with style and personality.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Sinatra,_Jr.
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GOGI GRANT – ‘THE WAYWARD WIND’ – PASSES
Myrtle Audrey Arinsberg (September 20, 1924 – March 10, 2016), known as Gogi Grant, was an American popular singer. She is best known for her No. 1 hit in 1956, “The Wayward Wind”.
Life and career
Grant was born as Myrtle Audrey Arinsberg in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the eldest of six children of Russian Jewish parents, Rose (née Jacobson) and Alexander Arinsberg. At the age of 12, she moved to Los Angeles, where she attended Venice High School. In California, she won a teenage singing contest and appeared on television talent shows.
She worked as a car salesperson in the early 1950s.In 1952 she began to record, using first the name “Audrey Brown” and later “Audrey Grant.” She was given the name “Gogi” by Dave Kapp, the head of Artists and Repertory at RCA Victor, who liked to patronize a restaurant called “Gogi’s LaRue.” (Another source says that Grant asked Kapp, “What is a Gogi?” She continued, “His answer was, ‘Darned if I know, I dreamed it last night.'”
In 1955 Grant signed with a small record company, Era Records, and had her first top ten hit with “Suddenly There’s a Valley.” The next year, she had an even bigger hit, reaching number 1 on Billboard ‘s Top 100 chart with “The Wayward Wind” and holding there for six weeks. The song sold over one million copies in the United States alone,[4] and peaked at No. 9 in the UK Singles Chart. She was voted the most popular female vocalist by Billboard magazine. This single returned to the Billboard Hot 100 in 1961.
In 1957, she supplied the vocals for Ann Blyth’s portrayal of Helen Morgan in the biographical film, The Helen Morgan Story. The soundtrack occasioned her return to RCA Victor (the soundtrack album climbed to No. 25 in the Billboard album chart), where she had a minor hit the following year with “Strange Are the Ways of Love.” Moreover, she was signed to star in The Big Beat in the spring of 1957. The film, which featured musical performances by the Cal Tjader Quintet, George Shearing, and the Del Vikings, was produced and directed by William Cowan and released in February 1958.
In 1958, Grant was one of the three solo singers featured in the first stereo LP of the classic musical Show Boat. The other solo singers were Howard Keel, who had appeared in the 1951 film version of the show, and Anne Jeffreys.
Although she made albums and appeared on television into the 1960s, her popularity declined and she initially retired from singing in 1967 after a final US chart single, “The Sea” (top 20 on Billboard’s Easy Listening chart). An album of hers was released in UK some 20 years later. Grant survived cancer surgery and was in remission. In 2004, aged 80, she made an appearance on the PBS 1950s pop music special Magic Moments and sang “The Wayward Wind.”
Grant headlined with The Fabulous Palm Springs Follies in Palm Springs, California. One of her more notable appearances of her later years was with the Follies on December 31, 2006. She was still performing as late as 2013, at the age of 89.
Personal life and death
In 1959, Grant married attorney Robert Rifkind. The couple had two children. Grant died in Los Angeles on March 10, 2016, aged 91. Her death was announced by her son, Joshua Beckett. She also had a daughter, Jeri Brown.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gogi_Grant
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Other Notable Musicians’ Deaths…
March 2016
16: Ali Ahmed Hussain Khan, 77, Indian shehnai (similar to an oboe) musician, kidney disease; Frank Sinatra, Jr., 72, American singer (That Face!) and actor (Hollywood Homicide), heart attack.
15: Daryl Coley, 60, American gospel singer; Thanh Tùng, 67, Vietnamese songwriter.
14: Tim Cretsinger, 61, American festival organizer, founder of Groovefest American Music Festival, complications from throat cancer; Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, 81, English composer and conductor, Master of the Queen’s Music (2004–2014), leukaemia.
13 [none]
12: Tommy Brown, 84, American R&B singer; Conor Walsh, Irish indie rock pianist and composer.
11: Joe Ascione, 54, American jazz drummer; François-Eudes Chanfrault, 41, French composer; Ben Edmonds, 65, American rock journalist and editor (Creem, 1971–1975), discovered Mink DeVille for Capitol Records, pancreatic cancer; Louis Meyers, 60, American festival organizer, co-founder of South by Southwest, director of Folk Alliance International, suspected heart attack; Ras Munya, 55, Zimbabwean reggae bassist, heart attack.
10: Ernestine Anderson, 87, American jazz vocalist; Keith Emerson, 71, English progressive rock and rock keyboardist (The Nice; Emerson, Lake & Palmer), suicide by gunshot; Gogi Grant, 91, American pop singer (“The Wayward Wind”).
9: Jon English, 66, English-born Australian musician and actor (Against the Wind), complications from surgery; Ray Griff, 75, Canadian country music singer (“If I Let Her Come In”) and songwriter (“Canadian Pacific”), aspiration pneumonia as a complication from surgery; Joe Haney, 88, American marching band director and musical arranger (Fightin’ Texas Aggie Band), Alzheimer’s disease; John Morthland, 68, American rock journalist and editor (Rolling Stone, Creem, Texas Monthly); Naná Vasconcelos, 71, Brazilian jazz percussionist and vocalist, eight-time Grammy Award winner, lung cancer.
8: Ross Hannaford, 65, Australian musician (Daddy Cool), cancer; Ron Jacobs, 78, American broadcaster, co-creator of American Top 40; Andrew Loomis, 54, American rock drummer (Dead Moon); Sir George Martin, 90, British Hall of Fame record producer (The Beatles), composer, arranger and engineer, six-time Grammy Award winner.