Posts Tagged ‘music’
Glen Campbell, R.I.P.
Entertainer Glen Campbell has died at age 81, after a six-year battle with Alzheimer’s. Like Ronald Reagan, he went public with his health, and allowed a documentary to feature his struggles. He deserves kudos for that, but he will probably be best remembered as a country singer with a voice so easy to listen to that people who didn’t like country music suddenly found themselves liking country music a whole lot.
Parts of his life were tumultuous, and his behavior often less than stellar, but his fifth and last wife appears to have been one of the best choices he ever made. He was known not merely for his smooth singing voice and a vocal style which moved easily from pop to country and back again, but also for his ability as a musician, which put him high on everyone’s list. He never learned to read music, but he had the ear and a phenomenal memory, so he could listen to a piece once and then he had it. You don’t get asked to fill in for an ailing Beach Boy unless you’re really, really, good, you know., and Campbell most certainly was.
I will play my Glen Campbell albums this weekend in his honor.
UPDATE: Have a bit more of the man, flaws and genius, from people who knew him well.
Chris Cornell, R.I.P.
I have never been a fan of grunge music, and the genres I am now willing to listen to shrinks annually, but Chris Cornell was very different musically from Kurt Cobain and his other grunge peers, as this article makes clear.
Chuck Berry, R.I.P.
Legendary singer Chuck Berry has died, having spent many of his 90 years belting out hits he wrote and performed for his legion of fans. Unsurprisingly, he was among the first group of performers inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1986.
His 1958 hit “Johnny B. Goode” is the only rock and roll song included on the so-called “Golden Record” affixed to the Voyager spacecraft that was launched into space in 1977.
UPDATE: Have some remembrances, here.
Al Jarreau, R.I.P.
In case you don’t know, Jarreau was a noted jazz and rhythm and blues singer. He gained more commercial appeal after writing and singing the lyrics for the hit 1980’s TV show “Moonlighting”, but I enjoyed him primarily for his scat singing, which done well is one of the finer points in jazz music.
Puppy party…
I’m tired of politics, so I’m offering you an adorable moment when a litter of Alaskan Malamute puppies hear music for the first time.
Toots Thielemans, R.I.P.
If you or your children listened to Sesame Street, you heard the distinctive harmonica in the opening theme music. That was Thielemans, but he was so much more than that, both musically and personally. If Quincy Jones calls you “one of the greatest musicians of our time,” you are a force to be reckoned with in the jazz world, and that is what he said of Thielemans. Read this to catch up.
