Photo: Cat Janice | John Charles Duff Lowe (13 April 1942 – 22 February 2024) was an English pianist. In the late 1950s, he played piano for the Quarrymen, the group who would evolve into the Beatles. Known to his friends as “Duff”, Lowe had known Paul McCartney since 1953, and was invited to play piano with the Quarrymen by McCartney in February 1958. He was in the Quarrymen for two years, and was there when the band recorded a couple of songs for a vanity disc at Percy Phillips’ home studio in Liverpool. The two tracks cut that day were “That’ll Be the Day” and “In Spite of All the Danger”. Lowe maintained possession of the tracks and, in 1981, sold the recordings to Paul McCartney. Their estimated value was around £12,000. McCartney had the record remastered and the songs appear on the Beatles’ Anthology 1 album.
In 1994, John Lowe played again with the Quarrymen for the album Open for Engagements. Of the 1994 lineup, only Rod Davis (guitar) and Lowe (piano) had played for the Quarrymen in the 1950s. Lowe, despite not being classified as an official member, toured with Rod Davis, Len Garry and Colin Hanton as John Lennon’s Original Quarrymen at Beatles events around the world until 2017.
On 28 August 2006, the 10-inch shellac 3-track EP (33 rpm) “50 years later” was released with live versions of “Down by the riverside” by the Quarrymens Rod Davis, Len Garry, Colin Hanton and John Duff Lowe and guest bassist Lothar Becker and guest washboard player Ednund Thielow in an edition of 10 individual pieces.
On December 22, 2014, Lowe appeared on the BBC One program, Would I Lie to You?, in which Ricky Tomlinson revealed that Lowe had left the Quarrymen to join the young Tomlinson’s band.
Lowe died on February 22, 2024, at the age of 81.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Lowe_(musician)
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Cat Janice Passes from Sarcoma Cancer at Age 31
Catherine Janice Ipsan (January 20, 1993 – February 28, 2024), known professionally as Cat Janice, was an American singer-songwriter. Janice wrote and sang “Dance You Outta My Head”, which went viral.
Catherine Janice Ipsan was born on January 20, 1993 in Northern Virginia, and was raised in Annandale, VA. Janice learned to play violin and piano at the age of six. She had 14 years of classical training, during which she joined an orchestra, jazz bands, and theatrical productions. She started writing her own music around the age of 12, and she later taught herself how to produce her own music.
Janice released her first album, with her singing and playing piano, in 2014. Her second album, Fire, was more southern rock and was released the next year. In 2019, Janice won a Washington Area Music Award (WAMMY) in the category of Best Rock Artist. Janice’s song “Pricey” appeared in an episode of “Selling Sunset” in 2020. Another song of hers appeared on the Country Music Television show “Redneck Island”.
After finding a lump in her neck in 2022, Janice was diagnosed with a sarcoma, a rare aggressive type of cancerous tumor, in her scalene muscle. At the time, Janice was working as a geospatial information scientist, taking classes toward a master’s degree in coastal geology, and writing and singing her own music.
Janice had surgery to remove the tumor and had chemotherapy. Janice worked on her album, Modern Medicine, while under treatment. Janice wrote the song “Wishing I Was You” about her cancer and chemotherapy. Her son appeared in the song’s video. Her song “Chill the Fck Out”, released in January 2023, is about struggling with stress and feeling overwhelmed. The following year, Janice’s doctors said she was free of cancer, but a few months later the cancer metastasized to her lungs. Janice restarted chemotherapy, and she released “Modern Medicine” a few months later. She performed with SOJA at the Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts in the summer of 2023. Janice became engaged to her boyfriend Kyle Higginbotham that August, and the two married in December, knowing her time was short.
Janice released her song “Dance You Outta My Head” on TikTok on January 19, 2024, four days after beginning hospice. Co-written with Max Vernon, the song is about being one’s absolute best, going out, and deciding to just dance troubles out of one’s head. Janice decided to release the song independently, rather than through her usual recording label, to release the song more quickly. Online she wrote, “I think I’m being called home. My last joy would be if you pre-saved my song ‘Dance You Outta My Head’ in my bio and streamed it because all proceeds go straight to my 7-year-old boy I’m leaving behind.” Janice transferred the rights to all her songs to her son. The song was inspired by a line, “Dance until you love me”, that she and her son randomly sang over and over while on a drive one day.
Two weeks after being released, “Dance You Outta My Head” charted at number 37 on Billboard’s Hot Dance/Electronic Songs. The song also debuted at number 2 on Billboard’s Dance/Electronic Digital Song Sales and number 11 on the overall Digital Song Sales chart. It reached number 1 on the TikTok Billboard Top 50 on February 17th. On iTunes, the song reached number 7 worldwide, number 1 in Romania, Ireland, and the Czech Republic, and number 12 in the United States. The song won the Robert Allen Award from the ASCAP Foundation.
Janice died surrounded by her family on February 28, 2024, at the age of 31. Her brother posted on Instagram that she had more art she wanted to share that will be released in due time.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat_Janice
https://www.catjanicemusic.com
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OTHER NOTABLE MUSICIANS’ DEATHS
Mary J. Blige on Entertainment Tonight, 2/24/24: I was going to commit suicide then I realized that my family was more important to me. (She grew up in the Projects, and was sexually molested).
If you are thinking of committing suicide, please think of how much it will hurt your family and friends, and maybe cause them a whole lot of trouble and financial problems. Warning Signs of Suicide – National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988 and 888-628-9454 for Spanish. Learn the signs of someone who may be contemplating suicide.
If you want to know more about any of the musicians we lost, please check them out at http://www.wikipedia.com
February 2024
28: Cat Janice, 31, American singer-songwriter, cancer.
26: Bhakta Raj Acharya, 81, Nepali singer and composer; Jaakko Teppo, 71, Finnish singer-songwriter; Pankaj Udhas, 72, Indian ghazal singer.
25: Bigidagoe, 26, Dutch rapper, shot; Peter “Peetah” Morgan, 46, Jamaican reggae singer (Morgan Heritage); Georg Riedel, 90, Czechoslovak-born Swedish musician.
24: Juana Bacallao, 98, Cuban singer and dancer.
23: Tina Rainford, 77, German singer (“Silver Bird”); Shinsadong Tiger, 40, South Korean record producer (“U&I”, “No No No”).
22: John Lowe, 81, English pianist (The Quarrymen); Roni Stoneman, 85, American Hall of Fame bluegrass banjo player and comedian (Hee Haw).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deaths_in_2024
John Duff Lowe of The Quarrymen and Cat Janice, Sarcoma, Die // Other Notable Musicians’ Deaths
