1962 - March 6, 2010
Singer-songwriter Mark Linkous, who recorded under the name Sparklehorse, has committed suicide, according to a statement on the official Sparklehorse
website.
Linkous made his Sparklehorse debut with the 1995 album
vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot,
which yielded the minor hit "Someday I Will Treat You Good".
Linkous committed suicide with a gunshot to the heart outside a friend's house in Knoxville, Tennesee on March 6, 2010.
| 2/27/2010 | 58 | T-Bone Wolk | Hall and Oates bassist | Heart Failure | New York |
T-Bone Wolk
December 24, 1951 - February 27, 2010
T-Bone Wolk, longtime bassist with Hall and Oates, has died of a heart attack at age 58. Wolk joined Hall and Oates in 1981.
From 1986 to 1992, he played in the "Saturday Night Live" house band on TV alongside Hall and Oates guitarist GE Smith.
Wolk was one of the hardest working sidemen in popular music. He worked with Charlie Musslewhite, Jewel, Jellyfish, Billy Joel, Roseanne Cash, Elvis Costello, Shawn Colvin, Carly Simon and many others.
He also co-produced several Hall And Oates albums.
| 2/14/2010 | 57 | Doug Fieger | The Knack, singer | Cancer | Woodland Hills, California |
Doug Fieger
August 20, 1952 - February 14, 2010
Doug Fieger, singer for the rock band The Knack who had a smash hit in 1979 with "My Sharona", died at his California home after a 5-year battle with cancer. He was preceded in death
by Bruce Gary, the Knack's drummer, who died in 2006.
"My Sharona" was written about Sharona Alperin, a 17-year-old high school student who had caught the eye Mr. Fieger. Sharona Alperin is now a high-end real estate agent in Los Angeles. She
maintains a website at www.MySharona.com.
| 1/21/2010 | 62 | LA Johnson | film producer | Heart Attack | Redwood City, California |
Larry Johnson
June 11, 1947 - January 21, 2010
Larry Alderman (L.A.) Johnson was an American film and music producer, director, and editor best known for his long association with musician Neil Young. He worked on the
Woodstock film and produced Neil Young's film,
Journey Through The Past.
Kate McGarrigle
February 6, 1946 - January 18, 2010
Kate McGarrigle, a Canadian folksinger who sang in a duet with her sister Anna, has died of clear-cell sarcoma, a form of cancer, at her home in Montreal at age 63.
Kate McGarrigle is the mother of singers Rufus Wainwright and Martha Wainwright and the ex-wife of Loudon Wainwright III.
Bobby Charles
February 21, 1938 - January 14, 2010
Bobby Charles, born Robert Charles Guidry, was a Cajon singer and songwriter. He wrote Fats Domino's, "Walking To New Orleans" and Bill Haley And The Comets', "See You Later Alligator."
Worked with Dr. John, The Band and Clarence "Frogman" Henry .
Charles played with The Band at their farewell concert, The Last Waltz. He
played on the song "Down South in New Orleans" with Dr. John and The Band. However,
the performance of this song did not appear in the film based on the concert. On film, Charles appeared only briefly as a backup singer in the concert's final song, "I Shall Be Released."
His songs have been recorded Kris Kristofferson, Ray Charles, Delbert McClinton, Etta James and Gatemouth Brown.
Teddy Pendergrass
March 26, 1950 - January 13, 2010
Teddy Pendergrass, R&B's reigning sex symbol in the 1970s and '80s who later had a devastating car accident that left him paralyzed, has died at age 59.
He broke into the R&B world in the 1970s as a drummer for The Cadillacs, then as a singer for Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes on a string of hits, the biggest of which was the smoochy classic "If You Don't Know Me By Now."
After going solo in 1976, Pendergrass became known for the love ballads "I Don't Love You Anymore,"
"Close The Door" and "Turn Off The Lights," and for playing ladies-only concerts.
In March 1982, a horrendous car accident left him trapped in his Rolls-Royce. When extricated, he was left with spinal cord injuries that paralysed him from the waist down and confined him to a wheelchair.
After rehabilitation, he recorded the album
Love Language, featuring the 1984 ballad "Hold Me", a duet with a then-unknown Whitney Houston. He
also performed at Live Aid on July 13, 1985, then continued to record throughout the 1980s and 1990s.
In his lifetime, Teddy Pendergrass was nominated for four Grammy Awards and won the award for best male R&B vocal performance for "Joy" in 1989.
Jimmy Lee Lindsey Jr.
May 1, 1980 - January 13, 2010
Garage-punk artist Jimmy Lee Lindsey, better known as Jay Reatard, was found dead in his Memphis home. He apparently died in his sleep at age 29.
| 1/12/2010 | 27 | Jimmy O | rock singer/songwriter | Earthquake | Port-au-Prince, Haiti |
Jimmy O. Barikad
1982 - January 12, 2010
Jimmy O. Barikad, known as Jimmy O, was a Haitian hip hop artist, who was born in Port-au-Prince and lived in New York City.
Shortly after the January 12, 2010 Haitian earthquake, Wyclef Jean told Anderson Cooper on CNN that he had received a text message saying that Jimmy O had died. Barikad was found
crushed in his vehicle in downtown Port-au-Prince.
Barikad was part of the Barikad Crew with Wyclef Jean, and was, alongside Jean, a member of the Yéle Haiti Foundation. Three other members — Sean Walker Sénatus aka K-Tafalk, Junior Badio aka Déjavoo, and Jhonny Emmanuel aka Dade — died in June 2008 in a car crash.
Willie Mitchell
March 23, 1928 - January 5, 2010
Willie Mitchell ("Papa Willie") was a singer, trumpeter, producer and arranger.
Willie ran Royal Recording in Memphis, Tennessee. He worked for The Home Of The Blues record label as a producer and then ran Hi Records in the 1970s.
Hi Records released albums by Al Green and other popular Memphis soul artists including Syl Johnson and Ann Peebles.
Mitchell and Al Green revived their successful recording partnership in 2003 when Green recorded
I Can't Stop, his first collaboration with Mitchell since 1985's
He is the Light. Their 2005 follow-up project was
Everything's OK.
Tony Clarke
1941 - January 4, 2010
Tony Clarke was best known for producing the music of The Moody Blues from 1966 to 1979. He started his career with Decca records as a session player,
but also served as a songwriter and promoter. He was assigned as a producer for the Moody Blues when the group starting fading after their first hit, "Go Now."
After the Moody Blues went on hiatus in the middle of the 1970s, he produced the album
Blue Jays, by Moody Blues members Justin Hayward and John Lodge. He worked to have the band reunite, and when they did, he produced their 1978 comeback album,
Octave.
In recent years, Clarke worked with artists such as Clannad and Rick Wakeman. He also produced music for the late Nicky Hopkins as well as a number of film soundtracks.
2009