Died On This Date (November 14, 2011) Jackie Leven / Scottish Singer-Songwriter
themusicsover Jackie Leven
June 18, 1950 – November 14, 2011
Jackie Leven was an influential Scottish folk singer who actually first found recognition as part of a new wave band, Doll by Doll. The group, formed by Leven in 1975, was critically acclaimed, but never quite caught on like many of its peers, perhaps due to their darker sound. Following the break up of Doll by Doll in 1983, Leven went on to have a notable solo career during which time he released over 20 albums. In 1984, Leven was randomly attacked and strangled which left him unable to speak for nearly two years. In 1994, Leven signed with the influential Cooking Vinyl Records, who was also home, at one point of another, to Billy Bragg, Prodigy, Killing Joke, and the Lemonheads, to name a few. He released his final album, Wayside Shrines And The Code Of The Traveling Man, in September of 2011. Jackie Leven died of lung cancer on November 14, 2011. He was 61.
Thanks to Paul Bearer for the assist.
What You Should Own
Ann Spencer Gates was a Boston area disc jockey and later, publicist for Matador Records. Moving from Buffalo to Boston for college in the late ’70s, Gates soon had a radio program on MIT’s hip WMBR radio station. She, along with friend Lisa “Sheena” Bucholz hosted “The Mystery Girls” where they were one of the first to champion such local bands as Lemonheads and Mission Of Burma. By the late ’80s, Gates was living in New York City where she went to work for Matador Records as a publicist, working with such acts as Liz Phair, Pavement, Cat Power and Bettie Serveert. Ann Spencer Gates died on July 6, 2008 after a long struggle with breast cancer.