Deaths, tragedy and litigation in Music for Saturday 5th April 2014 (LOTS of deaths today) 1981, Canned Heat singer Bob The Bear Hite died of a heart attack aged 36. (1970 UK No.2 & US No.26 single Lets Work Together). Played at both the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival and the 1969 Woodstock Festival. 1983, Danny Rapp, leader of 50s group Danny and the Juniors committed suicide in a hotel in Arizona by shooting himself. (1958 US No.1 & UK No.3 single At The Hop). 1984, Marvin Gayes funeral took place at The Forest Lawn Cemetery, Los Angeles; Smokey Robinson, Stevie Wonder, Quincy Jones, Berry Gordy and other Motown singers, writers and producers, attended the service. 1994 - Roy Smeck, guitarist/banjoist, dies at 94 1994, Kurt Cobain committed suicide by shooting himself in the head at his home in Seattle. Cobains body wasnt discovered until April 8, by an electrician who had arrived to install a security system, who initially believed that Cobain was asleep, until he saw the shotgun pointing at his chin. A suicide note was found that said, I havent felt the excitement of listening to as well as creating music, along with really writing . . . for too many years now. A high concentration of heroin and traces of Valium were found in Cobains body. His death was officially ruled as suicide by a self-inflicted shotgun wound to the head. 1995, Jimi Hendrixs one-time girlfriend Monika Dannerman committed suicide, two days after losing a court battle with another of the guitarists ex-lovers. 1998, British drummer Cozy Powell (Colin Flooks) was killed when his car smashed into crash barriers on the M4 motorway near Bristol, England. 2002 - Layne Staley, American musician (Alice in Chains) (b. 1967) 2006, Marion Suge Knight staved off receivership by seeking bankruptcy protection for himself and his music label, Death Row Records. The record producer had been ordered to pay more than $100m (£57m) to a former associate who said she had helped start the record label in 1989. Lawyers for Mr Knight said he did not have the money to pay the judgement, and was forced to seek federal protection. 2006, Gene Pitney was found dead aged 65 in his bed in a Cardiff hotel. The American singer was on a UK tour and had shown no signs of illness. 2007, Former Kiss guitarist Mark St. John died from an apparent brain haemorrhage at the age of 51. St. John was Kiss third official guitarist, having replaced Vinnie Vincent in 1984 and appeared on the album Animalize. 2011, A statue in tribute to Nirvana singer Kurt Cobain was unveiled in his hometown of Aberdeen, Washington, The unveiling marked the 17th anniversary of Cobains death, which occurred on April 5, 1994. The statue designed by local artists Kim and Lora Malakoff was of his signature Fender Jag-Stang guitar. The concrete guitar was eight and a half feet tall and also featured a ribbon with lyrics written on it from Nirvanas On a Plain. It reads: One more special message to go and then Im done and I can go home. 2012, Jim Marshall, who made rock ’n’ roll rawer and noisier by inventing the Marshall amplifier died at a hospice in London, aged 88. 2013, Mark Knopfler cancelled two shows in Russia in protest over what he called the countrys crackdown on human rights groups. The former Dire Straits frontman pulled out of the gigs in June after Russian authorities searched the offices of organisations including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International. Critics said the raids were an attempt to crush government dissent.
Posted on: Sat, 05 Apr 2014 12:45:39 +0000
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